Which sim software for laptop

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samiamPA

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samiamPA
Simmers - looking for a recommendation.

I have a new-ish laptop that I'd like to set up for some practice for IFR. I know it's not fast enough for simulating the scenery, but I don't care about that.

It's a 1.1 Ghz Celeron with 4gb SDRAM and of course an integrated graphics card, Windows 10.

Would you recommend FS2020, Xplane11, or some older software given the speed of the computer? Ease of setup is important to me.

Thanks.
 
Oh wow okay. I was thinking at least FSX (2006) which is much easier to find on Ebay, you don't think even that would run IFR graphics on a decent laptop?
 
You MIGHT be able to run FSX in low graphics mode
 
I made a simulator for my hangar a few years ago. A slow computer for flight simulation can be more than frustrating to anyone trying to learn IFR skills. I would recommend that you invest in a desktop computer running Windows 10, at least 8 GB memory, a fast gaming type mother board, and SSD drive, and a decent video card with lots of memory on the video card.
 
kshaw said:
I made a simulator for my hangar a few years ago. A slow computer for flight simulation can be more than frustrating to anyone trying to learn IFR skills. I would recommend that you invest in a desktop computer running Windows 10, at least 8 GB memory, a fast gaming type mother board, and SSD drive, and a decent video card with lots of memory on the video card.
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Overkill for IFR. The OP isn't looking to build high-end, FAA-approved-quality system, just wants to practice.

High end graphics aren't needed nor the gaming mother board nor a high-end video card but at least 8 GB memory, more if possible.

The downside of the OPs system is too little memory, slow CPU and Windows 10. Any software is going to be battling with Win10 for resources.
To the OP: if you have the interest and ability, you might be able to add more memory by yourself. Check out crucial.com for details.
Your best best is an older version of FX, as pointed out earlier, 2004 would be perfect.

Forget Xplane 10 or 11, and FS2020, as both require resources that your laptop can't be upgraded to. Check out the System Requirements on both programs and you'll see what we're talking about.
 
samiamPA said:
FS2020
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Unless you want a "game" with nice graphics then FS2020 really sucks as an actual flight tool. The flight dynamics are awful and don't model anything remotely well.

samiamPA said:
Xplane
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Yes! The folks at Laminar Research actually work to develop models that obey the laws of physics

FS2020 nothing more than a visual themepark for wannabe pilots.
 
samiamPA said:
Oh wow okay. I was thinking at least FSX (2006) which is much easier to find on Ebay, you don't think even that would run IFR graphics on a decent laptop?
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By today’s standards, you don’t have a decent laptop, sorry to say.
 
murphey said:
Overkill for IFR. The OP isn't looking to build high-end, FAA-approved-quality system, just wants to practice.

High end graphics aren't needed nor the gaming mother board nor a high-end video card but at least 8 GB memory, more if possible.

The downside of the OPs system is too little memory, slow CPU and Windows 10. Any software is going to be battling with Win10 for resources.
To the OP: if you have the interest and ability, you might be able to add more memory by yourself. Check out crucial.com for details.
Your best best is an older version of FX, as pointed out earlier, 2004 would be perfect.

Forget Xplane 10 or 11, and FS2020, as both require resources that your laptop can't be upgraded to. Check out the System Requirements on both programs and you'll see what we're talking about.
Click to expand...
I agree with you that scene graphics is not needed for this, but a fast response is critical. Suppose that you are initiating a standard rate turn to the right but the artificial horizon has a lag before displaying the proper response. In the meantime, you have concluded that you need to increase the rate of the turn because the artificial horizon has not responded. Now, the artificial input catches up and displays a 60 degree bank. If you do not have an immediate response to control inputs, you cannot learn anything. My suggestion is to go to the software developer's site and look at their recommended hardware and follow those guides. You should look for at least 30 frames per second for a good experience.
 
kshaw said:
I agree with you that scene graphics is not needed for this, but a fast response is critical. Suppose that you are initiating a standard rate turn to the right but the artificial horizon has a lag before displaying the proper response. In the meantime, you have concluded that you need to increase the rate of the turn because the artificial horizon has not responded. Now, the artificial input catches up and displays a 60 degree bank. If you do not have an immediate response to control inputs, you cannot learn anything. My suggestion is to go to the software developer's site and look at their recommended hardware and follow those guides. You should look for at least 30 frames per second for a good experience.
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Really? If I'm practicing IFR, I'm never (almost never) more than a standard rate turn, which in many of our spam cans, is 12-15 deg and fast response is entirely subjective. You want a realistic sim, the OP wants to practice IFR. If I need a 60 deg bank in IFR, I'm in real trouble because the train of events leading up to this point should have been identified far in advance. Hence the reason for learning partial panel, for cross-checking instruments and not relying on a single instrument such as the AI.

Installation - both are tedious. One advantage of X-Plane is the ability to load small amounts of geography rather than the entire world. Definitely cuts down the installation time but be warned, even older versions still needs lots of disk space.

I repeat my original comments - the latest and greatest MSFS and X-Plane cannot be run on the OPs system. But X-Plane 9 and 10 as well as MSFS 2004 will work just fine. My very old HP tower, still running Win7, runs MSFS2004 and X-Plane 9 just fine. As for X-Plane 11....well, for that I have a Mac with 32 GB memory and 3.2 GHz 6-core i7 chip. Oddly enough, I rarely use it for anything aviation, but it runs X-Plane just fine when I'm demo'ing various software packages.
 
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