Help with choice for new laptop

[AndrewBiro]

I have a licensed copy of Railmaster and Elink and Elite and am very happy with them. I am running them on an old laptop but would now like to get a touchscreen notebook-type machine for this (and other) purposes.

 

Do I need one with a DVD drive?

 

The choice for machines with a touchscreen and a DVD drive is limited and they are a bit more expensive than those without a DVD drive, ie can I download the Railmaster demo program, de-activate my copy on my laptop, and use the activation code that I have

 

to activate the demo copy on my new machine?

 

Also I understand Railmaster won't run on Microsoft's Surface machines - are there any other limitations on the type of notebook/laptops that I can't use?

 

 

[idlemarvel]

Ref DVD you don't need one for RM, as you describe you can download the demo version then apply your activation code to get the full features. I run RM on a netbook with no DVD.

I am not aware of other limitations but a quick email to RM support would

 

be a good idea before you splash out.

[Fishmanoz]

Andrew, I'm with Dave above on this. And if it runs Windows 7 or 8, it will. E fine. Not sure about Windows RT though. For that do as Dave says and email RM Support from within the Help window of RM.

[Fishmanoz]

That's will be fine.

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

Microsoft have somewhat confused the situation with their tablet offerings.

 

The Windows Surface tablet is a device using an ARM processor so does not run full windows as we know it, but "Windows RT". In fact to call it Windows RT is a misnomer as

 

it implies that it runs a version of Windows. The 'Windows' it runs may in some respects look like the new Windows 8 however is 100% incompatible. No program designed for the Windows oeprating systems (98, XP, Vista, 7 or 8) will run on the Surface tablet.

 

To

 

add more confusion, Microsoft do a second tablet called the Surface Pro, however this much more expensive machine has an Intel processor and so runs 'proper' Windows 8, which means it can run normal Windows software designed for laptops and desktops and also

 

RailMaster. In reality the Surface Pro machine is a touch-screen laptop PC in the form of a tablet.

 

RailMaster does not require a great deal of procesing power or RAM and will work happily on older PCs running XP, Vista and also 7 and 8.

 

We tested

 

the Surface tablet (running the ARM RT 'Windows' system) to try and get it to run the RailMaster HandHeld app which runs on Apple iPods, iPhones, iPads, Andrid tablets and phone, however we could not do it. This is because Microsoft have locked down this tablet,

 

not allowing certain fundamental third party technologies to run on it which RailMaster HandHeld requires, so you cannot use the Microsoft Surface Tablet running RT with RailMaster at all.

 

[AndrewBiro]

HornbyRailMasterSupport said:

Microsoft have somewhat confused the situation with their tablet offerings.

The Windows Surface tablet is a device using an ARM processor so does not run full windows as we know it, but "Windows RT". In

fact to call it Windows RT is a misnomer as it implies that it runs a version of Windows. The 'Windows' it runs may in some respects look like the new Windows 8 however is 100% incompatible. No program designed for the Windows oeprating systems (98, XP, Vista,

7 or 8) will run on the Surface tablet.

To add more confusion, Microsoft do a second tablet called the Surface Pro, however this much more expensive machine has an Intel processor and so runs 'proper' Windows 8, which means it can run normal Windows

software designed for laptops and desktops and also RailMaster. In reality the Surface Pro machine is a touch-screen laptop PC in the form of a tablet.

RailMaster does not require a great deal of procesing power or RAM and will work happily on older

PCs running XP, Vista and also 7 and 8.

We tested the Surface tablet (running the ARM RT 'Windows' system) to try and get it to run the RailMaster HandHeld app which runs on Apple iPods, iPhones, iPads, Andrid tablets and phone, however we could not

do it. This is because Microsoft have locked down this tablet, not allowing certain fundamental third party technologies to run on it which RailMaster HandHeld requires, so you cannot use the Microsoft Surface Tablet running RT with RailMaster at all.

[AndrewBiro]

Ah! Light Dawns. Thank you!

 

So Railmaster will run on a computer (laptop or notebook) that run Windows 8 (8.0/8.1) but NOT Windows RT. Confusing.

[RDS]

@HornbyRailMasterSupport

Thank you for an excellent explanation.

[Augustus Caesar]

A very good explanation by RDS @HRMS for you ANdrew and it's a pity I wasn't around a few days ago I could have said almost the same thing. I've been away from these forums for a few months with business and other issues, not serious, but trains have taken

 

a back seat.

 

I come on only to reiterate what has been said and that I know this first hand... the Windows RT tablet, though coming down in price all the time, runs a differnet OS as my friend found out when he thought he knew best. He's not a rail

 

modeller but wanted a tablet running 'Windows' for other things so bought this without asking me and got caught out. The system is fundementally different and has no real baring on Windows per say apart from the fact it 'looks' like Win8. It is a poor machine

 

and needs to be avoided unless you know all about it and are happy with what it DOES do.

 

I have no way of knowing what you have decided to go for but as a techie my favoured laptop makes are Acer, Asus and occasional Toshiba's and Vaio's from Sony in

 

that order. You could purchase a machine similar to one I got recently... an Acer V5-121. It is 11.1 inches in screen size, runs Windows 8 Home Premium, has an excellent battery life and will do fantastically well for your layout. It takes about 16 seconds

 

to boot to Windows! It's what I chose although the screen size may be too small for some. My concentration will be on the layout when done and not the screen though so it doesn't matter. This machine was less than £250 from Argos and is running fantastically

 

well.

 

However, it's down to personal choice at the end of the day and many variables will sway your choice. This model does not have a DVD drive but I bought one later on (USB external) to use with other machines I fix as a business and have found it

 

very useful of course for the V5 too.

[AndrewBiro]

Thanks. i have been looking at Acer ans Asus machines, partly becuase they are readily available at a variety of retailers (including Tesco's) and I can look before I buy. looks like a Christmas present!