FSX SP1

Well, I finally bit the bullet and bought a new machine last week. I bought a laptop so that I could use it to fly during the summer when I am often away from home and my regular desk top machine. Naturally, I wanted something fast enough to have a chance to run FSX, but not something that would require a nearby mountain stream to cool the CPU. So, I got a Dell XPS M1710 - not a cheap machine, but less than half of Dave Raine's super computer.

I'm happy to report that I seem to be able to hold 20 FPS at KIAD with the sliders all set "medium high" and the program running in the non-windowed mode. If I go into the windowed mode or slide the airline traffic slider up to 70%, then it drops to 10-18. I have loaded SP1 and that seems to solve the frame freezes I was getting before I installed it. I'd prefer to be running 40 FPS with everything set to the max , but I guess this isn't too bad for a "portable" machine, and besides, I can use this machine to warm those cold airplane cabins.

The next step is to fix the weakest link on the machine, the RAM. I have 1 GB installed, but I've got 4 GB at home I expect to install next week or the week after.

Now to solve the problem of on-line flying under Vista/FSX.

Mike

Jerry,

That reminds me, I've got to install that Lojac software that came in the package. I think there's an option to have them start looking in Georgia.

Mike