Considering switching back to windows

[Alteran195]

Ive been spending a lot of time lately at Microsoft stores and best buys playing with all in one windows 8 computers, and i'm seriously considering ditching apple and buying one.

Before that I just would like to find out a couple of things:
1. The main reason i want to switch is for playing RTS games on a touch screen, the thought of doing that just seems awesome.
->Can windows 8 run older xp games? I only really play a couple new rts games (Starcraft 2, civ 5, the new Sim City when it comes out) which will run fine I'm sure, but the main ones I'm worried about are Empire Earth 2, Age of Empire 3, Homeworld 2, Star Wars Galactica Battlegrounds, and Star Trek Armada 2.

2. Is there a decent all in one that can play games well? I don't know much of anything about graphics cards anymore.
->I mainly play older games, the only newish games I play are Starcraft 2, WoW MOP, Diablo 3, Civ 5, and when the new Sim City comes out ill be playing that.

Thanks for any input you guys might have

-Alteran

 

[inteller]

whatever you get, make sure to get 1080p res unless it is a small screen (less than 11) I've seen a bunch of laptops (cheapos) at the store with 15" screens and 720p res...looks like crap.

 

[TrophyNostalgia]

Windows 8 and Games

Ive been spending a lot of time lately at Microsoft stores and best buys playing with all in one windows 8 computers, and i'm seriously considering ditching apple and buying one.

Before that I just would like to find out a couple of things:
1. The main reason i want to switch is for playing RTS games on a touch screen, the thought of doing that just seems awesome.
->Can windows 8 run older xp games? I only really play a couple new rts games (Starcraft 2, civ 5, the new Sim City when it comes out) which will run fine I'm sure, but the main ones I'm worried about are Empire Earth 2, Age of Empire 3, Homeworld 2, Star Wars Galactica Battlegrounds, and Star Trek Armada 2.

2. Is there a decent all in one that can play games well? I don't know much of anything about graphics cards anymore.
->I mainly play older games, the only newish games I play are Starcraft 2, WoW MOP, Diablo 3, Civ 5, and when the new Sim City comes out ill be playing that.

Thanks for any input you guys might have

-Alteran

I can't guarantee on the older games (they vary greatly and there's no real way to throw them all together to say if they all work), but typically I've found that Windows 8 can handle any game that was able to be played on Windows 7. For example some games I was concerned about was Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic I and II (which were only designed for Windows XP) and they run just fine on Windows 8. I would venture to say that almost any game designed for Windows XP will run on Windows 8. The only game I have ever had trouble with is Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. (I can almost guarantee Age of Empire 3 will work as that was a much later release in the Windows XP era, I think it was even designed to work on Windows Vista.)

I also have Civilization V which I run in high graphics mode (not very high, because I need a better graphics card), so to give an approximate spec ideal to aim for, my Dell XPS 17 laptop features:

OS: Windows 8 Pro
Processor: Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU @2.00GHz
RAM: 6.00 GB
Type: 64 bit OS
Harddrive: 1 TB Harddrive
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M (1 GB)

Hopefully this gives you an idea of what to aim for. I got this laptop about two years ago and it handles most newer games in a "higher" graphics mode.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[Alteran195]

I can't guarantee on the older games (they vary greatly and there's no real way to throw them all together to say if they all work), but typically I've found that Windows 8 can handle any game that was able to be played on Windows 7. For example some games I was concerned about was Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic I and II (which were only designed for Windows XP) and they run just fine on Windows 8. I would venture to say that almost any game designed for Windows XP will run on Windows 8. The only game I have ever had trouble with is Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. (I can almost guarantee Age of Empire 3 will work as that was a much later release in the Windows XP era, I think it was even designed to work on Windows Vista.)

I also have Civilization V which I run in high graphics mode (not very high, because I need a better graphics card), so to give an approximate spec ideal to aim for, my Dell XPS 17 laptop features:

OS: Windows 8 Pro
Processor: Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU @2.00GHz
RAM: 6.00 GB
Type: 64 bit OS
Harddrive: 1 TB Harddrive
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M (1 GB)

Hopefully this gives you an idea of what to aim for. I got this laptop about two years ago and it handles most newer games in a "higher" graphics mode.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions.

Forgive me if this sounds like a really stupid question, like I said since I bought a mac my knowledge of graphics cards has dropped to none, other then integrated usually isn't the best option.

If the GT 550m a dedicated card? or is it integrated.

That seems like its the biggest issue I'm coming across, if I find an all in one with a processor better then an i3, it'll have intel integrated graphics.

 

[TrophyNostalgia]

Integrated vs. Dedicated

Forgive me if this sounds like a really stupid question, like I said since I bought a mac my knowledge of graphics cards has dropped to none, other then integrated usually isn't the best option.

If the GT 550m a dedicated card? or is it integrated.

That seems like its the biggest issue I'm coming across, if I find an all in one with a processor better then an i3, it'll have intel integrated graphics.

To be honest graphic cards have changed so much as of late so I'm not sure. I'm quite certain that it is dedicated. I know in general integrated cards are typically your generic basic graphics cards that come on your average computer. Integrated are usually sub-par and extremely underwhelming when it comes to gaming. However as long as you have a 1 GB - 3 GB graphics card you should be more than fine to get at least medium to high-end graphics on most games.

What I do know though is that if you want decent gaming, you want a dedicated graphics card.