Looking for a DOS Gaming Laptop

[MrK]

i've got a toshiba 220cs satellite, works wonder with old stuff

[HappyMeal]

Hey all. I know this thread hasn't been touched in a while, but I just went through this exercise over the last couple of weeks and came up with a winner: an IBM Thinkpad 770x. I've got Dos 6.22/WFW 31, Win98 and WinXP running on the system for all of my legacy games (with no third-party boot manager either. Woohoo!)

For me, audio was always my biggest problem. The I found that a Thinkpad 770x had standard "sound blaster" settings (IRQ 5, I/O 220 and DMA 0/1). My DOS games/demos could find it easily. I fired up Doom on the game side and the TRAN demos on the demo side. All of them worked great and the IBM's screen even attempted the weird video mode of the later TRAN demo. The 770z is nearly identical, but with a faster processor. I *believe* that the earlier models (770, 770e, 770ed) should work as easily though I can't say for a fact.

[tantonowicz]

Nearly a decade has passed and I think this thread is still important.
I fully agree on IBM Thinkpads. A 770Z or 770X works well however they are hard to find by now and switching hard drives is a pain.
I have collected, repaired and used dozens! of IBM Thinkpads during the last years for retro gaming, especially for DOS and Windows 95/98SE.
These are the models I can recommend:

IBM Thinkpadd 755C/CE/CD/CX/CV/CDV
with a Dock I (allows installation of an ISA sound card, for example a genuine Soundblaster Pro)
Screen is a TFT and fast enough for gaming, don't bother with any "S" Models like the 755CS, they have crappy dualscan screens.

IBM Thinkpad 600 or 600E
Excellent choice, very popular, can be still obtained cheap. Easy to repair.
Both feature a Crystal Soundchip with full Soundblaster Pro compability workin in DOS.
The 600E also features the same SECOND Audio Chip like the 700X that will also give you quite decent General Midi Support in Windows 95 and Windows 98SE. Don't get an 600X, it has already an AC97 soundchip and won't give audio support in DOS or most DOS games.
A Selectabase 600 will even provide a gameport with the Thinkpad 600 and the larger Selectadock III allows the installation of PCI and ISA cards making it possible to build insane retro configurations (for example with an AWE 64 Gold, Matrox Mystique and Voodoo 3dfx II)

IBM Thinkpad A30 or A30P
If you also like 3D support integrated my best choice is this combined with a Dock 2631 that will allow you to install a Soundblaster Live.
This is the best setup for Windows 98SE to play DOS games, giving you Soundblaster 16 and General Midi compatible sound, a gameport and 3d acceleration. Also the A30 series has built in floppy and optical drives. It is still possible to buy new batteries for this model.

IBM Thinkpad T40, T41, T42 or T43 (of course also the -P variants)
Combine this with the Dock 2877 to install a Soundblaster Live. It will run most DOS games with Windows 98SE.
It is still possible to buy new batteries for this model.

Drivers
All needed drivers can be obtained from Lenovos End of Live Webpage. (Just google Lenovo EOL)
Setting up the Soundblaster Live can be tricky, but there are enough guides on the web (you need a certain order of installation and only then VFX drivers will do a good job, not the WDM)

Alternatives
I know that most of these setup need an IBM docking station and most of them are very rare by now.
Here is a list of DOS gaming worthy IBM Thinkpads that provide soundblaster compatible sound for DOS games and a TFT good enough for gaming:

380:
Audio
Crystal Semi CS4237
CS4237B / SRS 3D audio

385:
Audio
Crystal Semiconductor CS4236 16 Bit, mono sound (385D)
Crystal Semi CS4236B, mono sound (385ED)
CS4237B / SRS 3D audio, stereo and Subwoofer (385XD)

390/E/X:
Audio:
16-bit SoundBlaster Pro compatible / NeoMagic NMA2 / ISA / full duplex
16-bit SoundBlaster Pro compatible / ESS 1946 / PCI / full duplex

770X:
Audio:
Cirrus Logic CS4239 ISA
Cirrus Logic CS4610 PCI

770Z:
Audio:
CS4239: ISA / SRS 3D audio / FM synthesis / 16-bit playback and record
CS4610: PCI / decodes AC3 into stere

600:Cirrus Logic CS4236
600E:Cirrus Logic CS4239(ISA)/CS4610(PCI) Audio controller mit MPEG2 Audio Decoder

[dr_st]

Most of these Thinkpads provide reasonably good audio solutions for DOS games under Win9x, but few of them also have pure DOS audio capabilities, except perhaps the oldest models.

Pure DOS compatibility in Thinkpads could be had last (I think) in the A20/A21/A22/T20/T21/T22 series (not T23), by means of the CS4624 solution, which has a pure DOS driver with FM emulation (not a high quality one, but at least working).

In the corresponding thread on VOGONS some ancient Toshiba laptops are gaining traction now...