New and Old Computers

Should I keep my old laptop to run older games on?

I would!

Absolutely keep it.
What's going to happen if you try to play one of your old favorites and it doesn't run on the new computer?

I would keep it.

Thanks for the replies. I was afraid of that.

I will keep the old laptop dust free instead of having to go looking for directions on tweaks. I am one terrible tweaker.

Hi Just read through Draclvr thread about Windows 7. I am one of those crazy people who got rid of my old computers XP, Windows 7 and Vista. How I regret it . I hope you have an answer for me. I have all those super classics that I wish to play and find it hard to buy them as download when I have the originals . If I bought a new laptop with windows 7 installed, could I play my old games . I have seen them for as little as £79 I would like your thoughts on this.
Regards
Maggsie

That would depend on what games you wish to play, maggsie - we would first need to know what games they are. There isn't any flat yes or no answer to that question, unfortunately, although I wish there was. That would be the first step. Then we would have to see if the laptop met the system requirements for the games that *would* work.

Marian has said it all... it all depends. I have quite a few games which I already own on disk, but have repurchased as downloads in order to play them on a modern computer. If you really want an old computer, I'd go someplace like Ebay which ships to the UK and see if you can find an old XP computer. Windows 7 has become as much of an issue with old-school gaming as Windows 8.1 and 10 due to some updates.

Oh dear I hoping for a happiness pill LOL. Its games like on your list, Longest Journey ,Still life, Syberia, Dark Fall, Undercover ,Post Mortem ,Omega Stone,Watchmaker and most of all I would love to play Schizm.
Oh happy days.
I will have a look on E-bay. Can you tell me what to look out for.
Regards
Maggsie

Some of those games will play and some of them won't. Windows 7 and up block certain forms of DRM. I'd have to look up the individual games to see if they have it. To be sure about the issue, a good old XP computer is the way to go. It will be kind of a [blip]-shoot when shopping for a computer that old. See what you can find and post a link here and we can take a look at it.

There's a lot of XP machines being offered on Ebay.

HERE

Mostly Dell.

And surprisingly (to me) a load of Windows 98 machines too ....

HERE

Thanks, Mad. There are a lot of options there, some better than others.

Thanks a lot I have never shopped on E-bay before are these xps old, new, if you know what I mean or are they second hand.
Cheers
Maggsie

They are definitely old... you will have to read the descriptions of each one to see if it has been refurbished or is new. I sincerely doubt any of them will be new.

I don't think you'll find any New Old Stock XP era computers.
You're even less likely to find a New Old Stock Windows 98 computer.
You might find New Old Stock parts, like video or sound cards, but even those are getting rarer.

Don't get a computer with onboard graphics (integrated graphics), or if you do, make sure the motherboard has an AGP or PCI-E slot so you can add a video card.

Don't get a little skinny one. They're not likely to have good video and are more likely to have heat issues.

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The best I saw were these two, both with Windows 98SE and nearly identical except for video card.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262806701758
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262805362041

Both have Pentium III 1.4 GHz Tualatin processors, a great choice for a fast Windows 98 computer, and the video cards were high end for their time -- not some dinky low end budget cards.
The GeForce FX5900 card is newer and faster than the GeForce 4 TI 4600.

Both are sold by the same person. Going by the description, the seller supports his work and offers technical support if needed. He has 100% positive feedback.

I'm seeing shipping as US $45.00 (approx. £36.95), but it may be more for a UK destination.
eBay won't let me see what shipping to the UK would be.

The computers aren't really best for games from 2006-2007 like Undercover: Operation Wintersun though.
Whether they'd work with Operation Wintersun depends on what is meant by the DirectX 9.0c requirement. Almost any video card will work with DirectX 9.0c, but that doesn't mean the card is "DirectX 9.0c compliant."
The GeForce FX 5900 is DirectX 9.0b compliant, meaning it supports all DirectX 9.0b features.
The GeForce 4 TI 4600 is only DirectX 8.1 compliant.
Both cards "work with" DirectX 9.0c, but I don't know for certain whether the game requires some DirectX 9.0c feature that they can't support. It's very aggravating that game boxes don't make this clear, and I've gotten caught out when I had a faster video card with more memory than what was listed, but it didn't support some niggling DirectX feature that was introduced in an incremental update, so the game wouldn't start. Does the game actually need a DirectX 9.0c-compliant card or is DirectX 9.0b-compliant OK? Who knows? The FX5900 has a much better chance of working with the game than the GeForce 4 though.

Both computers more than meet requirements for these games
Longest Journey 4CD versions (1999-2000)
Syberia (2002)
Dark Fall (2002)
Post Mortem (2002)
Omega Stone (2003)
Watchmaker (2001)
Schizm (2001)

However if you're interested in many other games from 2006 or later, these computers are probably not the best choice, and you'd be better off getting an XP or 32-bit Vista computer. I didn't see any at the current time that wouldn't need upgrading though.

I don't know what your price range is, but the two Windows 98 computers were a lot more suitable than most of what I saw, and wouldn't require that you add a new video card.

If you want something that costs less or that you can be sure supports newer games from 2006-2007, and are OK with adding a video card, there may be other options.

OMG Its a mine field isn't it My friend has an old lap top XP I think I will take her up on "You can have it" I am going to ask around friends for their old pc LOL
Thank you so much all of you for all the time you have taken to get me this information I do appreciate it.
I will let you know what I get
Regards
Maggsie

You can't beat free. Some games may have problems if the laptop is widescreen, but it doesn't hurt to try if the computer is free.