Will it Craft?

BobbyDigiBobbyDigi ? R U #Hats !TX Icrontian
edited December 2010 in Minecraft
I am in the market for a Netbook for the Fam and the only extra requirement above typical Netbook activities (surf, 'Book, 'Tube) is that it runs Minecraft smoothly (TheKid is getting it for her birthday and it will be easier on The Storm Trooper if there is another Minecraft compatible system in the house).

I'm looking at Dells right now unless another recommendation pops out at me. Specifically a Inspiron Mini 10 (1018) Netbook:
Windows® 7 Starter
Intel® AtomTM N455 (1.66GHz/667Mhz FSB/0.5MB cache)
1GB DDR3 SDRAM
Intel® NM10 Express Chipset
Integrated Intel® NM10 (video)

So the question is, Does anyone have experience Minecrafting it up on a netbook? Is the integrated video on these little guys enough?

Thanks for any recommendations / thoughts

-Digi

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    Bobby, I have an older MSI Wind 120 in the house, I'll run minecraft on it to see how it plays out.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    HP Mini 311 or Asus EeePC 1215N.
  • ErrorNullTurnipErrorNullTurnip Illinois Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    I've got a friend running MC on his laptop. IIRC, he's got a 1.6GHz with 1.25G of ram. His frame rates are a bit on the low side, but still "playable" with a reduced view distance. It's not really smooth, though.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    just make sure you get a 6-cell battery, preferably a 5600mAh over the 4400mAh one. Gives me over 10 hours on my netbook in UNE.

    I got mine dirt cheap, and while the HP Mini 311 and Asus 1215N are nice ION netbooks, for that price you can get a laptop with dual core, 15" screen, 3-4GB RAM, ATI HD4200 or better graphics, DVD burner blah blah you get the point.
  • pragtasticpragtastic Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    I'm pretty sure as it stands you'll want a lappy w/ more cpu than gpu if its going to run Minecraft. I've run it on my 311 a bit and it's a little on the disappointing side if you ask me. Best luck I've had was when turning graphics down and overclocking to about 1.9ghz on the cpu.
  • pragtasticpragtastic Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    Also, as a reference, I watched Minecraft push my e8600 (oc to 4ghz) to an avg 70% cpu usage per core. The game is wildly inefficient right now and probably won't get better until some sort of gpu support is added.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    Well... it IS written in java... not exactly the most efficient of platforms to build ANYTHING in.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    Oh yeah, and as for my answer to the original question in this thread, I'd go with an Asus netbook personally. I <3 my 1005ha... from a quick look at NewEgg, I'd say their 1015 and 1215 lines both look pretty compelling.
  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    I Minecraft just fine on my Acer AspireOne, though I do have to switch the graphics from Smooth to Fast, or it gets just a little bit jerky at full screen.
  • BobbyDigiBobbyDigi ? R U #Hats ! TX Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    Thank you everyone for the input, here's my lineup right now

    Link
    (ignore the ASUS Eee PC 1001, I'll prob be getting that for my step daughter, she doesn't Minecraft)

    Most of the specs are very similar if not the same, The one thing I'm looking at is the Graphics Processor: Intel GMA 3150 or Intel GMA 500, which one is better?

    I'm leaning towards the Acer Aspire One AO533-23096 as it doesn't share video memory, and has some other differences such as the upgraded battery Fatcat mentioned. CB, what's the specs on yours?
    primesuspect wrote:
    Bobby, I have an older MSI Wind 120 in the house, I'll run minecraft on it to see how it plays out.

    Interested in the results of this, $50 cheaper is appealing.

    Thanks again,

    -Digi
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    I would not recommend any netbook that doesn't use NVIDIA ION. The difference is night and day.
  • BobbyDigiBobbyDigi ? R U #Hats ! TX Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    :-S quick search shows a $200 price jump when you go with Ion... ok, Maybe I'll hold off 'til I can find a rockin' deal on an Ion.

    -Digi
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    Meh... ION... kind of defeats part of the point of getting a netbook (namely the cheap factor)
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    To each their own. I consider the small form factor of the netbook to be more important than the price (to a point).
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    Yeah, but if I'm going to spend the money on a laptop with a decent graphics card, I want a screen that can show it off to go with it. At least 14".... but as you say, to each their own.
  • BobbyDigiBobbyDigi ? R U #Hats ! TX Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    Thrax wrote:
    I would not recommend any netbook that doesn't use NVIDIA ION. The difference is night and day.

    Can I ask you to elaborate on this? Do the Atoms not surf well? Any input on java games? Specifically POGO and Cafe/Hotel games in Facebook (This is one for Sugar).

    To explain I am actually in the market for 3 Netbooks, only 1 of them needs to Minecraft. The other two will just be used for surfing, Facebook Games, Google Chat, web sort of stuff.

    I think I'll pull the trigger on a ASUS Eee PC 1001 for my step daughter to be able to do the above listed tasks and a Acer Aspire One AO533-23096 for the family. If it doesn't craft well then I'll continue the search or expand out to the possibility of a 12-14" notebook.

    -Digi
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    Long story short, the graphics chip in the Atom stinks. YES, it will stutter trying to play back even standard def videos. Flash games? You can forget it. Stuttermania. That pretty Windows 7 Aero interface? It's hell on wheels for the IGP in the Atom.

    ION will, at the very least, open more of the CPU's horsepower for your benefit. Flash will actually, you know, work. So will YouTube.

    As I said, it's night and day.

    All that said, Minecraft may be somewhat sketchy no matter what netbook you run. It does not use GPU acceleration, it's not very optimized (alpha), and there's a surprisingly high number of things going on for such a simple-looking game. It's all CPU. At least with ION, the Atom won't have to render Aero *and* Minecraft.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    I disagree with the above.

    I have a non-ION Asus netbook. 1005HA-P to be precise. I'm able to play flash games just fine (Evony, Boxhead, various games posted on the forums over the past year). Standard def video? No problems for me. I've even watched Hulu at acceptable framerates on it. High def... of course not, it's a freaking netbook... it doesn't even have a high def display anyway.

    Of course I am running Linux... perhaps Thrax's curmudgeonly view of non-ION netbooks is more related to Window's performance on them :P
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    I run Ubuntu Netbook Remix on my MSI Wind. ;)
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    I dunno what to tell you then... perhaps its the fact that the 1005ha runs the N280, not the N270 thus 1.66GHz with a 667MHz FSB instead of 1.60/533, but I don't have many of the problems you do. I'm running UNR as well.
  • BobbyDigiBobbyDigi ? R U #Hats ! TX Icrontian
    edited December 2010
    I've got an Atom 1.66 GHz with 1GB Ram on Win XP (Dell Mini 10) here at work. I'll borrow it and have Sugar run it through her dailys. Will report back.

    Thanks again for all the insight guys. It's why Icrontic is so Rad.

    -Digi
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