windows 10 or alienware?

[DrifterKane91]

does alienware computers play old games?...like let's say two worlds 1 or mass effect 1 at the very newest to something like jedi knight dark forces 2...

 

or should i just get a windows desktop 10 for all this and hope all my games work as much as possible?

 

any answers would be greatly appreciated.

[saurusmaximus]

The hangup you will likely encounter isn't the brand of computer, a new Alienware will come loaded with Windows 10 like any other PC, but Windows itself. In my experience, most games older than the mid-2000's don't always play well on Windows 10. Sometimes you can work around it by googling and finding the right .dll files to make an older game work, sometimes not. My advice is to search up the games you want to play and see if they run/can be made to run on Windows 10.

[HeyYou]

Compatibility mode in win 10 is actually pretty good. Worst case, for some of the really old games, just grab DOSBox.

[saurusmaximus]

Compatibility mode in win 10 is actually pretty good. Worst case, for some of the really old games, just grab DOSBox.

Personally, I've never had much luck with Compatibility Mode, I suppose it depends on the game you are trying to run.

[xrayy]

dosbox is great for dos games or try a virtual machine. i use oracle virtual box and win 98. works nicely for some 16bit games.

[HeyYou]

dosbox is great for dos games or try a virtual machine. i use oracle virtual box and win 98. works nicely for some 16bit games.

Does Win 10 Home support virtual machines? I thought it was only Pro, and above.....

 

And yes, running virtual machines in win 10 is awesome. :)

[Techguy46]

I think you should go for WIndows 10 straight away, and there are many custom fixed online to let you play older games.

[IGuardian]

If you are in windows 10, and running a old game using "DirectPlay" In the run box, use the following command:

optionalfeatures

 

Look under "Legacy Components"

Then tick "DirectPlay" and press ok, and allow windows to auto-download the required files for you.

 

You may also want to run the directx runtime from the microsoft store directly.

 

Running games in compatibility mode can help also.

[Kartoflator]

I just switched to Alienware Area-51m, because my previous gaming laptop died 2 months ago...

Well, it kinda still works under Linux Mint booted from pendrive, but trying to launch Windows sooner or later results in various bluescreens, and I can't hear cooling system, so it's most likely hardware problem (tried to do clean Windows reinstall three times and problem persist). I'm still going to have this laptop tested by qualified people, and have it repaired, provided the cost wouldn't be too high...

 

Anyway, I've bought laptop version of Area 51, because I'm from Poland, but work in Germany for the most of the year, and in the flat we rent with my workmates there's just not enough space for desktop, monitor et c.

Hell, not even enough power outlets... And my laptop needs two power bricks, and one of these is almost literally a "brick". That would be even worse with desktop, since I can't just occupy all available outlets around the flat :pinch:

Also, travelling around with desktop and peripherals would be really expensive and problematic (I don't own a car) and our rented flat is way over 1000 kilometers from my hometown in Poland...

 

As of now, my laptop performs quite well. Because of the whole COVID situation, the "euro to polish currency" ratio is very good and I used that to immediately upgrade RAM and buy additional hard drives. Currently I have 3 hard drives, two of which are SSD, 4,25 TB in total, and 64GB RAM. BTW, if you are seriously thinking about buying Alienware, say something like mine, you don't have to stick with Alienware/Dell recommendations. They say Area-51m supports drives up to 1TB, but that's not about hardware really. It's a matter of OS and BIOS. With Win10 and modern UEFI there's no problem running bigger capacities. One of my SSDs is 2TB, another 2.5" mechanical drive is also 2TB and they both work well, no problems initializing them through Windows after installing.

 

Like others have said, running older games is more of a software problem, really. Look, I can't even get to work "Fallout 3" under Win10, and if I'm correct the game would even require "4 GB RAM" patch at some point for rigs with bigger amounts of memory. "The Witcher 3" starts on my laptop automatically on "uber" settings, but I get horrible lags every now and then. I've learned that the game doesn't go well with overclocking, but when I turn OC off, I still get lags, only not that often. Oh, my rig has RTX 2080 OC Ready and 144Hz, G-Sync monitor, btw. So, it must be something about the game itself, rather than hardware. Hairworks, maybe? :laugh:

 

I admit, Alienware hardware is horribly expensive, I was saving money for mine for nearly 6 years, so if you like older games too, you can simply buy a little less "fancy" desktop/laptop in a reasonable price and then just install "GOG Galaxy", buy older games there. Games from GOG mostly come already with predefined settings for modern computers, even with DOSBox already set up if needed, you just install and play.

[DoctorKaizeld]

my view is that Alienware is just overpriced but good stuff. At least from what I see and hear of them. I just built my own computer a few years back and am currently working on a new one to replace it.