SimCity on a Netbook?

[John Kirby 1]

 Would it be possible to run Simcity 4 on a netbook?

[B33Rm47 1]

most likely not because it doens't have a disc drive, belive me i used to have one and i couldnt run it!!

[John Kirby 1]

But if I were to buy a drive that I could plug into the computer via usb ports, would it run properly? Or would this manner of playing be way tooo slow?

[FlyHigh 178]

I'm not sure but I think you could. You yould need another computer with a cd drive and a tool like PowerISO. You could then create an .iso of the cd, transfer the iso file to the notebook (use your imagination) and run it there (again, using PowerISO). 

[John Kirby 1]

Originally posted by: FlyHigh

I'm not sure but I think you could. You yould need another computer with a cd drive and a tool like PowerISO. You could then create an .iso of the cd, transfer the iso file to the notebook (use your imagination) and run it there (again, using PowerISO). quote>

Haha, in layman terms?

[Jumpthefence 74]

Originally posted by: FlyHigh

I'm not sure but I think you could. You yould need another computer with a cd drive and a tool like PowerISO. You could then create an .iso of the cd, transfer the iso file to the notebook (use your imagination) and run it there (again, using PowerISO). quote>

I think that's something like turning the CD into a file, then transferring it onto the netbook(?).

My suggestion is to not use Simcity on a netbook. They're designed to be small and compact and mini and stuff, so they don't have the large, bulky hardware to run Simcity at the speeds it needs to. They were designed to surf the Internet. And not much else.

Heck, my father has an Acer netbook, and I can't even play Doom at full speed. But it works, so...

[jsieczka 19]

Using an external drive as the optical drive Simcity 4 should have no problem running on a new netbook. The recommended stats are low by modern standards at CPU: 1 GHz or faster RAM: 256 MB or more Video: 32 MB or greater supported Direct 3D. The game is 6 years old now, so it isn't running top end specs.  I tested it on mine and it ran with out issue.

[John Kirby 1]

Originally posted by: jsieczka

Using an external drive as the optical drive Simcity 4 should have no problem running on a new netbook. The recommended stats are low by modern standards at CPU: 1 GHz or faster RAM: 256 MB or more Video: 32 MB or greater supported Direct 3D. The game is 6 years old now, so it isn't running top end specs.  I tested it on mine and it ran with out issue.quote>

On a netbook?

[jsieczka 19]

yep

[Ryusuke516 1]

I don't think it would run too good if you have an external drive connecting through usb because even though usb 2.0 is "high speed" in reality, it is quite slow (only 400 mbs/s). Fire wire is not much faster, only 480mb/s. If you were to however use a newer port called eSATA (short for exernal SATA, i forgot what SATA stands for), it should run alot faster as eSATA 2.0 has 3gb/s for and 1.5gb/s for eSATA 1.0, but i don't think that netbooks have eSATA ports.

I have seen netbooks with 1gb of ram, and 1ghz dual core CPU before, which may be plenty, just need to make sure that it has eSATA if you want to use external drives.

[John Kirby 1]

Originally posted by: Ryusuke516

I don't think it would run too good if you have an external drive connecting through usb because even though usb 2.0 is "high speed" in reality, it is quite slow (only 400 mbs/s). Fire wire is not much faster, only 480mb/s. If you were to however use a newer port called eSATA (short for exernal SATA, i forgot what SATA stands for), it should run alot faster as eSATA 2.0 has 3gb/s for and 1.5gb/s for eSATA 1.0, but i don't think that netbooks have eSATA ports.

I have seen netbooks with 1gb of ram, and 1ghz dual core CPU before, which may be plenty, just need to make sure that it has eSATA if you want to use external drives.quote>

Thanks, very helpful

[nangolio 1]

All the net books I've seen have the 1.6 ghz Intel Atom, 1-2GB of RAM, and a CD drive so..

The computer I had that ran SC4 had a 1.3ghz Intel Celeron, 128mb RAM, and the GeForce 2MX

[cmdp123789 710]

of course you can play on a notebook.... I have one with simcity installed and it works... it's an HP and it's got everything... cd drive 4 usb ports...2 gb ram....it works... but u need a good one

[Larks2242 251]

I would think the netbook is not capable of running simcity

[SC4BOY 20]

Originally posted by: Jumpthefence

Heck, my father has an Acer netbook, and I can't even play Doom at full speed. But it works, so...quote>

Doom's demands on a system's graphics are MUCH MUCH greater than SC4

Simcity used to run on some pretty crappy equipment by today's standards, so unless you try it you, just won't know.. its certainly worth a try unless that is your only place you're gonna use it

You would still have to address the CD startup issue. If you're getting a notebook I would strongly advise getting an external CD/DVD player which connects by USB, eSATA, etc. In fact I'd advise ALL folk to have one for install, backups, copy protected CD's etc..  They are about $100 US and a good investment.

[John Kirby 1]

Thanks I might get one, not sure.

[doorknob60 11]

I have a laptop (not a netbook) with a Pentium M 1.3 Ghz, 1 GB of RAM, and Intel 855GM graphics. It's like 7 years old It runs SC4 great (in Linux, didn't try it in Windows, probably the same about if you have XP). It's not a netbook, but because of its age, the stats of it are actually very similar to netbooks.

[donkey_kong_jack 0]

Yes simcity runs perfectly fine with a netbook. All the people I've heard of try to do it have been succesful. The only downside is that you need to buy an external disk drive. Mine cost $80 Canadian.

You might want to also check this out:

www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm

[PAULM0RRIS 0]

I downloaded SimCity 4 deluxe off the GAME website onto my small windows 7 basic netbook and if i'm honest it actually runs better on this than my Pentilum 4 desktop. I thought it would be slow but on this is runs really fast.

[jason leo 485]

I downloaded SimCity 4 deluxe off the GAME website onto my small windows 7 basic netbook and if i'm honest it actually runs better on this than my Pentilum 4 desktop. I thought it would be slow but on this is runs really fast.

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