Hello,
I'm considering getting the Toshiba Satellite P25-S676 Notebook.
This has a 17" wide format monitor and an S-video out jack to connect to television.
I have a wide format television I'd like to use with XTR.
Has anyone used XTR with their TV as their monitor?
How did it work out?
Is their any reason to buy a laptop with one kind of monitor or another for best results with XTR?
Any comments appriciated.
Thanks

I use Reflex XTR on my home PC connected to a 36" big screen TV. It looks absolutely fantastic. I prefer this method over sitting hunched up close to a CRT. Make sure your laptop has enough "oats" to run XTR smoothly. I get about 60 fps on my backup PC and 80 fps on my gaming PC. I don't think I would settle for anything less than 59 fps.

Thanks, Joe

The Toshiba I'm looking at has a P4 3.4GHz processor, 800 MHz front bus
512 MB memory
NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5700 graphics card w/ 128 MB memory

How do I find out how many fps I will get with this?

You will have enough horsepower with that setup. Can't tell you how many fps you will get without actually running the program. My backup PC is an AMD 2100 with a Nvidia Ti4400 & the gaming rig is an AMD 2700 with an ATI 9700pro.

Not a bad backup PC. Your gettin 60fps with your backup...not bad.

I get 60 fps with v sync on with v sync off i get 150 to 240 fps.
What is the V sync and how important is it?
I have a new hp multimedia P4 3.0 ati 128 x300 pci-express.
I have also ordered a VGA to HDTV adaptor from ATI and see how it works on my HD TV.
I dont even use a computer monitor anymore

If you plan using the Laptop's LCD monitor for movies/games (including XTR), then one of the most important things to check is the screen speed. LCD monitors react slowly, so if you have fast movements during the game, there will be ghosting effect on the screen. For instance, the new IBM T42 laptops with 15 inch screen, has very low screen speed comparing to other IBM laptops, and is not suitable for games / movies.

Yaniv.

Wow! What happened? I haven't seen a slow laptop screen in literally years!

Must be some cost cutting venture. I've seen ALL laptop manufacturers cutting corners to get their price point down. Well, you get exactly what you pay for!

The IBM T42 is a 2.5+ k laptop. No saving by IBM... The 15 inch screen is ment for presentations, so it is capable of very wide view angle (about 160 degrees or so). They had to compremise about the speed...

Yaniv.

V-sync means the framerate is syncronised to the refresh-rate so the fps never goes higher than the refresh-rate of the screen. It's best to leave it on, the monitor can't show framerates higher than the refresh-rate anyway, and if you leave it OFF you can get tearing in the picture which is disturbing (horizontal split in the picture for a plit-second).

If you're using a S-video cable to the TV you only get a resolution of 720x480 if you live in the USA (720x576 in europe), so it's going to be hard to fly. The picture quality and resolution will suffer. No matter what resolution you set the display to the graphics adapter will scale it down to 720x480 before it is sent out of the s-video port. This is beacuse s-video can only handle NTSC or PAL.

Hey thanks for the V-sync answer. I am using s-video. Hopefully the VGA to HDTV adaptor from ATI will fix my resolution. THe adaptor connects to a HDTV using componet cables which is the minimum for HD. I do have an hdmi connection on the tv but its hooked up to a upscaler dvd player. The reflex looks pretty good on a hd tv. THe desktop of the computer sucks on the tv. If the adaptor does not work i am leaning on buying another video card with an hd output. ITs $320. The adaptor is only $39.

Going to HD TV was the best thing I did. Dont know why people are so opinionated on here when they have not experienced it first hand. If you have not experienced it dont adivse anyone.
800xl video card hooked with componet in to HDTV and its in high difinition. ITs not hard to fly at all and it rocks.


Check your Six

HDTV here also. I own all the major sims - XTR, AFP,and G3. Res is 1766x922 on a 16x9. Looks and works GREAT. No over or under scan. I fly full screen and frame rates are fine. No V-Sync

P4 3.2Ghz
1G DDR 400Mhz
800Mhz FSB MB
nVidia 6800 GT OC 256mb
Frame rates with detail and physics maxed on G3 - which everyone agrees is the most CPU/GPU intensive - +70fps on ground and 120-150fps in the air. CLOUDS on.

Hi, with that set up you should be able to run Reflex XTR just fine... However, you could use a little more GPU power and ram for other games like Battleifeld 2, Haflife 2, etc. Also, I did some research on the Toshiba Satellite P25-S676 this is what I found on the internet: lowest price 1,999.99 highest price at circuit city 2,599.99[X(]. Now the hard drive is what will make a good difference on the speed of your computer. I found out that the P25-S676 has a 5,400rpm HD, thats ok but if you want it to fly I would go with a 7,200 rpm hd which I couldn't find any with the P25-S676. In addition, I'm around a laptops 5 days a week, from shcool and stuff so I know this stuff. My friend has a 17 in screen on his sony vaio laptop, I think its cool, but its too BIG. I mean its allmost like a desktop.... i believe that 15.4 inch screen is big enough, just about the right size, especially for the fourms! I'm running at 1280X 800 and its awsome with a 15.4 in screen. Now here comes the good stuff: http://www.discountlaptops.com/index...&model_id=1175 check out that laptop, I hear Sager is very good! If you do decide to get it look what it has:

15.4" WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050) Active Matrix Wide Screen Display (back order)
3.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 HT (550) Processor w/ 1MB L2 Cache
256MB DDR3 ATi MOBILITY™ RADEON® X800 Video Card / 16x PCI-Express {Holy ####! OMG, you will FLY with this GPU!!!!!!!!!!!! PCI EXPRESS!!!!
40 GB Hard Drive (5400 RPM) {There is an option to change this to a 60gig 7,200 rpm HD, 95$ more, but thats what you need!}
1024 MB DDR ****M (400 MHz) {This will make everything faster!}
Internal 8X DVD / 24X CDRW / 24X CD-ROM Combo Drive w/ Software
Built in 56k V.90 Modem
Built in 10/100/1000 Fast Ethernet / LAN Network Card {nice! It has the option for gigbit internet, (1,000) which is nice in a t1, t3,etc... environment.}
FREE! - Wireless (Wi-Fi) Lan Card 802.11g (54 Mbps) {54 mbs is good for internet surfing and games!}
12-cell Smart Lithium Ion Battery
No TV Tuner {You don't need this, its not worth the 130$, it has a s-video, and a DVI external monitor port which you can use with fast 12ms or 8ms response time lcd monitors!}
Free Bluetooth and Free 7-in-1 Flsh Card Reader for Flex Bay {this is nice, especially for digital cameras, digital camcorders, etc...}
Integrated Video Camera / 3-in-1 Card Reader / 6 Internal Speakers {It has a sub woofer, how much better can it be????}
Auto-switching AC Adapter (150W; 100-250V)
Free Carry Case {Nice!}
*FREE* Notebook Essentials Software {Yep}
No Operating System Installed {Just get Windows XP, and you will be fine.}
Factory 1-yr parts & labor warranty w/ lifetime technical support {get at least 2 years and you will be set!}
Final thoughts: the screen is 15.4 inches and it has a resolution of 1680X 1050 which is even better, you will be able to see so much! I bet you could be lookn on the fourms and have msn messenger, or AOL instant messenger up and running on the side all at the same time because of the 1680x 1050 resolution.

NOTE: All of this stuff is are my opinons, as everyone elses is....If you agree with me on this setup and laptop, please say if you think this is a good laptop... so neil huebner has a better background on the world of laptops, and what he should purchase.

Thanks for your time and good luck,

Matthew