Page 1 of Netbooks - Any good for basic gaming ?

I`m looking to get a netbook shortly, mainly for surfing the net, and have seen the various threads on here which relate to them.

However is there any difference in performance, and would they be able to run old basic games (Couple of old favorites, Half-Life and Unreal for example). None of them seem to list anything with regards to graphics chips (shared etc)?

I`m not really bothered about massive amounts of storage or battery life and looking to spend about £250, any recommendations.

Am I being unrealistic and are they only suited for going online ?

Thanks,
Rich.

the won`t have a dedicated or onboard 3d chip so 3d games are gonna be bad. Pre Quake would probably be OK, Doom would run fine :)

The netbooks are purposely low-spec to keep the cost down, so NO, I don`t reckon any of them could cope with gaming, not even on that level.

The simple Windows card games, and flash games online are OK, but nothing you`d load from a disc. Some would say you could upgrade them, but then why bother going so cheap in the first place?

the atom based netbooks run half life & unreal with no problems at all, it`ll run unreal 2004 pretty well too, but you gotta switch a lot of the effects off. i would imagine it would seriously struggle with half life 2 tho.

edit= ps, mines the advent 4211 MSI wind clone, with an extra gig of memory. & i run unreal 2004 on it ;) & occasionaly the usb zero install of unreal 1

This item was edited on Monday, 16th February 2009, 20:16

Thanks for the replies.

Ogster - I`ve been looking at the Advent 4213, how much was your memory upgrade as that would be something I would look to do. I can see from the other threads that you`re happy with your 4211.

Anything else recommended at about the £250 mark ?

cheers,
Rich

tbh all the current atom netbooks are basicaly the same as intell have dictated the gfx chipset used in these netbooks, But be aware there are gonna be dual core atom netbooks very soon.

as for the memory, i got it on ebay for about a fiver (iirc)

i also saw an advent advertised for £249, atom based but it included a sim card port for a 3g sim (mobile broadband) handy if it`s something you`d use ?

My AAO wont run football manager 09 which left me gutted, something to do with screen size or resolution, tried most things i found in forums but never managed to get it to run :(

I wouldn`t recommend the 4213, that model is built by ECS ( a seriously budget level manufacturer). If you want an Advent go with the 4211 which is built by MSI.

Quote:
My AAO wont run football manager 09 which left me gutted, something to do with screen size or resolution, tried most things i found in forums but never managed to get it to run
I tried to install Canon SLR software onto my NC10 but it kept saying "screen res too low". I was desperate to run this software and eventually was able to fool the computer by plugging in a larger monitor which allowed the install. The software still runs fine on the 1024x600 netbook screen.

Haven`t had time to reply but thanks for all the help and suggestions offered.

I got the Advent 4213 in the end as I got a very good price on it. Must say I`m very impressed so far. As for the gaming side of it, I`ve installed a N64 emulator which runs brilliantly (still love Goldeneye!) and am also playing the original Delta Force, which is great for a quick FPS fix !

Thanks again,
Rich.