In general, the system requirements for eroge are quite low as compared to regular modern games. If I recall correctly, even the most intensive title that has been translated only lists a 1Ghz as recommended (800Mhz required) and 256MB RAM (128MB required). The one really useful suggestion I have (especially if you have a large collection) is to make sure what you get has plenty of hard drive space, since compression of game resources is quite inefficient (if it is compressed at all).
Nitro+ lists a PIII, 1 GHz, 256MB RAM at least and a P4, 512 MB RAM as recommended for Kishin Hishou Demonbane and PIII, 1GHz, 256 MB RAM at least and P4, 1.6GHz, 512 MB as recommended for Azathoth-D ~ Youto Saisoku Densetsu ~ as well.
Graphic-wise, they list any NVIDIA GeForce (with AGP and PCI-Express bus) or any ATI?Radeon (with AGP and PCI-Express bus) with 32 MB VRAM at the latest and a NVIDIA GeForceFX, GeForce6000, or GeForce7000 or a ATI Radeon9000 RADEON with 64 MB VRAM as recommended for Kishin Hishou Demonbane.
As for “system requirements for eroge are quite low as compared to regular modern games”, the records I know are Giga’s Baldr series (Baldr SKY Dive 2 lists a P4, 1 GHz, 1 GB RAM at least and P4, 2 GHz, 2 GB RAM as recommended) and FrontWing’s upcoming TimeLeap Paradise (at least a P4, 2 GHz, 1 GB RAM, GeForce6000 with 128 MB VRAM and a Core2Duo, 1.5 GB RAM and more, NVIDIA GeForce7600 and more)… and of course the 3D companies such as TEATIME (LoveDeath3 lists at least a P4, 1.6 GHz, 1 GB RAM, GeForce6 or RADEON X, 128 VRAM and P4, 2.6 GHz, over 1GB RAM, 256 VRAM as recommended).
dont get the 7inch eeepcs, i personally wouldnt recommend it for playing games
specs like olf mentioned should be okay; just get a laptop that runs a pentium M/centrino processor with a non-widescreen display with a dvd drive and you are good to go
i have been following craigslists almost everyday and refurb laptops of those kinda can be at the price range you suggested. so in addition to ebay i suggest that you look through your local craigslist listings too (although of course be aware of the risks involved, but then you are getting a cheap laptop not an iphone or macbook)
I have a pc which Kind of sucks,Intel Pentium IV processor(1.8 GHZ) 256 Mb Ram, No graphics card, Intel 845 G chipset ( U probably get the idea). I Am able to play all of My ero games, that includes a decent range.One game that didnt work was Sexy Beach 3.Now that I have a good laptop, I dont use the pc that much.
So, with in your price range, I’d suggest:
Intel Pentium IV(800Mhz - 1 GHZ)
512 MB ram(1 gb woud be great)
A graphic card, if you can get one with it.
And lots of disk space.
Most ero games work great on WinXP, so U probably can save on not getting Vista.( Personally, I prefer XP with SP3).
The minimum configuration I can think of(I was able to play Princess Waltz, which is probably the most graphically detailed of the novels I have):
Intel Pentium III (800 MHz), 256 MB ram, No graphics card ( directx 9.0 c did the job for me), have arnd 80 GB of space for your stuff.
Hope that helps a bit.
yes widescreen laptops will deform game screens - but only if you choose to play it full screen
but i thought u r just looking for a cheap laptop for a couple hundred bucks? most of the laptops in the Pentium M era should have 4:3 non-widescreen displays, unless you are looking to spend a bit more money on something newer
I see you’re a fellow American. That being the case, have you checked out a local Best Buy?
They carry a lot of great specs for low prices in the Acer line.
There’s also the Asus line, if you’re willing to splurge in the higher prices.
Don’t own an Acer, but I do have an Asus. It’s like Alienware specs for one-third the price. 8) :twisted:
the only reason why i recommend against 7inch eeepcs is not because of the screen size, but its because of the screen resolution it offers. their screen is only 800x480 in resolution. for older games that have 640x480 thats fine, but nowadays the norm screen size has gone up to 800x600 if not HD for some. so on a 800x480 screen it wont fit no matter what and you will not get to see the bottom of the screen (i tried).
so get a screen that has at least 600 pixels height, 768 just to be safe. most older pentium M laptops have at least 1024x768 screens so they should be fine. netbooks with 8.9" or bigger screens normally have 1024x600 size which should be okay too
lots of places sell refurbished 8.9" screen netbooks such as the hp mini and acer aspire one and eeepc (not the 7inch ones i mentioned) for like 200 bucks for less…hell i have seen 10-inch acer aspire netbooks sold as refurbished too (but for 300 i think), so if you are looking for cheap solutions netbooks are also an option. these netbooks have a 1024x600 resolution in general (but i think some of the hp ones have less than 600 height so watch out for those)
HOWEVER, netbooks generally do not have optical drives so u cannot install your game discs (there are a few exceptions though; i do happen to own a 8.9" netbook that has a builtin dvd burner) so unless you have an external optical drive via USB or you plan to play download editions only, you might want to stick to the ones you have been looking at
but there are cheap traditional laptops they sell at computer stores at clearance for quite cheap (300-400?) so i wouldn’t recommend against taking a walk to the computer store nearest you either. one issue with refurbished laptops, or at least the only big issue i have, is battery life because its second-hand the battery is bound to be less than brand new
hope that helps