Hey all,
When they announced and showed the Surface i was skeptical and i didn't care much. But then i started to think about something, maybe it could replace my current laptop, which has these specs
Specs
CPU : Intel Core I3 , M 330 @ 2.13GHz
CPU Clock Frequency : 2.13 Ghz
System memory : 4GB
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 , 512MB
Windows 7 , 64 bit.
My question is, how good will the Surface be in terms of gaming?
It's not the most powerful machine in the world, but look at it like this...
It has 30+ years of games that will work fine straight out of the gate.
And that's kinda cool.
I'm sure that a Surface could replace your current laptop, but the same price, you could probably get a much better spec fat laptop.
I suppose it depends how highly you rate portability.
Well if it plays current gen 360 games, or maybe next gen even... Doesn't that mean that through the proposed Smartglass system, you could play a game at home via your Nextbox and then transfer it to Surface and play it at work (for example)?
With 5470 it won't play next gen games, but it sure can play current gen games in low-medium or even high quality visuals. With decent resolution.
Orbit, why would it play 360 games? It's a tablet PC.
Why wouldn't it? Microsoft are banging on about interconnecting everything, why not have a pc tablet that lets you take the 360 experience everywhere you go?
Interconnecting everything if you have other devices.
so it's probably going to play Xbox 360 games... If you have Xbox 360.
Thats not what the SMart Glass is about it just a way to put HUd and menus on the tablet so you don't have to do it on the TV. Also if it did play 360 games it would be silly because MS would have to make one of those controllers on the screen obstructing the view of the game. It would be backasswards to do something like that and I doubt devs are gonna go back to older games to make a tablet control system.
Because its... not an Xbox? It doesn't have the internal hardware of the Xbox? It's not as simple as just "making it happen". Especially when you start using different parts. That causes all sorts of crazy compatibility issues.
Don't get me wrong though, a portable Xbox would be kinda cool.
I wasn't thinking so much about the bigger games... More like the indie/Xbox live stuff. Plus didn't VG247 say it had a port that could be used for a controller?
Yeah, it's incredibly unlikely that Surface will be running xbox360 games unless it's via some sort of remote play streaming tech.
Having console games run on PC hardware is rather complicated, you'd basically have to develop a port for every single game, or run them through an emulator, and I don't think those specs would support xbox emulation, even if the specs could realistically handle the game if it was ported, you typically need a lot more power to emulate hardware AND run the game at the same time.
I think Surface has potential as a really usable device, but it will really depend on how 3rd party takes to it. I don't use any MS software outside of Windows itself, so when they say IE and Windows Media applications are going to be on there, you're not really selling the product to me.
@ G1GAHURTZ
Well, i really like the idea of having a tablet and laptop in one. That's basically how you can consider the Surface. It's also gonna be great to use when i go on trips or events like GC, where i will be typing stuff down while listening/watching demonstrations. It's all gonna depend on the price of the thing and how much i get for this Sony laptop. I like that the Surface has HDMI, if i game on it...i can hook it up to my plasma.
@Orbit. You can use a wired 360 controller on PC, if you download the relevant drivers for it. That's been the case for years.
The simple fact that Surface uses completely different hardware makes it incredibly unlikely, and a compatibility nightmare.
Computer hardware doesn't work like that. You change a chipset and a game can going from working perfectly to not at all. Change a graphics chip and that causes all manner of even more convoluted issues.
The indie and XBLA games aren't going to be any easier to get working just because they're smaller.
Ah i see... Tech was never my strong suit :)
I highly doubt any games from the Xbox's library will make it to the Surface, however, the tablet looks to be in the mid-range when it comes to power, so I'd guess you could play most modern games at low to mid range.
But then here comes the big question:
If you're buying it for games, primarily, why not buy a real laptop for the same price, and be able to play it even better? Sure, they're slightly bigger, but they're quite a lot better, since you don't have to cough up so much money to get a touchscreen going.
Now if they offer some sort of streaming service, that would be another matter entirely. Nothing will ever replace real time gaming in my opinion though. Especially not "the cloud".
@Giskard
I already said it's going to be replacing my laptop. Which in my case would be...writing articles for our gamesite,watching videos, and simply browsing the internet. And for during events where i need to write things down during presentations and what not, the tablet aspect would come in great handy. Gaming is still mostly done on my 360 and PS3, but i might also play a game or two on the Surface. But gaming is definitely not my reason to get one..i was just curious if it was great for its, specs-wise.
Well, do you really need an expensive tablet for all that journalistic work?
Surely it would be better to pay a lot less and get a laptop? They're not that much bigger, and are easier to write on that a tablet, by far.
It won't be any better than an Ultrabook with an Intel HD 4000 GPU, it's not a gaming machine. Here's how the GPU performs (keep in mind that these PCs have superior CPUs). http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000-Benchmarked.73567.0.html
You must log in to post.
© videogaming247 Ltd.
