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Laptop Gamers & LAN Parties Go Hand In Hand
{mosgoogle}There very few activities in life that are more fun than a LAN party. If you haven't been to a LAN party before then you owe it to yourself to check it out. The biggest reason for gamers not being part of a LAN party is because of the work required to haul all their computer gears from home to the LAN. In the past this has prevented many gamers from attending LAN parties. It takes as much as 3 or more trips from computer room to car to pack up the computer, monitor, and accessories. Then it takes another 3 or more trips from car to LAN party room to set up. Then you have to do it all over again to get this stuff home! No wonder I had trouble getting people to come to my LAN!
Laptop gamers don't have this problem. With today's high power mobile processors and video cards, laptops are every bit as powerful as their bigger desktop brothers. The appeal of a gaming laptop, especially as it pertains to LAN parties, is overwhelming. With a gaming laptop, you can arrive at the LAN while everyone is half done setting up and be all set up before they're done. When the party is over, just put everything back into the laptop bag and you'll be the first out the door, while everyone else is making trips to the car.
With LAN partying in mind, I've decided to show you what I pack inside my laptop bag when heading to a LAN party. One thing for sure, this definitely beats lunging around a desktop!
The Laptop Bag
The bag I use to carry around my gear to the LAN happens to be the bag that came with my Dell XPS M170 gaming laptop. The bag is custom fitted for the Dell notebook and I highly recommend you order it if you're going to buy an XPS. You can get this same bag without an XPS but it won't have that cool XPS logo on it.
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Dell XPS M170 Gaming Laptop
{mosgoogle}At the very heart of the laptop bag is the Dell XPS M170 gaming notebook. Now personally, I don't like Dell all that much. However, as a mobile gamer I have to give credit where credit is due. Dell has produced one hell of a gaming laptop with the XPS M170. This thing is just wicked.
The XPS M170 takes advantage of Intel's Pentium M high performance and energy efficient processors to offer the best combination of processing power, weight and battery life. The 17 Wide Screen 1920x1200 UXGA screen with TrueLife provides a vivid, high resolution viewing experience whether you are surfing, watching a DVD or dominating your gaming opponents. Created for the power user who demands uncompromising performance, the XPS M170 brings notebook computing to a whole new level.
At every LAN party I attend, the big XPS never fails to attract attention. Many people comment that it's more powerful than their desktops, and they would be correct. With an NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Ultra (Go 7800 optional) the XPS can run just about any game you can throw at it. The system is not cheap but it's not out of reach either.
Ulti-Mat Aluminum Mouse Pad
Directly above my Dell XPS M170 is where I keep my mouse pad. The Ulti-Mat differs from any other mouse pad I've ever used - it's made of Teflon coated aluminum and it's one of the slickest mouse pad you've ever going to come across. I got this pad direct from http://www.ulti-mat.com.
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Logitech MX518 Gaming Grade Mouse
{mosgoogle}The left pocket of my laptop bag is where I keep my Logitech MX518 gaming mouse. The Logitech MX518 is a Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse that features 1600 dpi resolution with ability to downshift on the fly to as Low as 400 dpi. Any PC gamers will tell you they look to their mouse for a winning edge in a combat game. In the past the choice of mouse setting was always a choice between maximum speed or optimum precision. With the new Logitech MX518, gamers no longer need to choose between the two.
The corded Logitech MX518 builds upon the success of the award-winning Logitech MX510 Optical Mouse, and adds even more power and control. Because lag can mean the difference between victory and “game over,” the MX optical engine uses a 16-bit format to send data – the typical mouse uses 8 bits – enabling the mouse to transmit 8,000 bits of information per second. The result is flawless performance – with no lag or skipping.
Without software, the two + - buttons above and beneath the mouse’s scroll wheel increase and decrease the mouse resolution during game play to three preset resolutions – 1600, 800 and 400 dpi. With the new gaming-specific version of Logitech SetPoint software, a gamer can program as many as five levels of resolution, ranging from 400 dpi to 1600 dpi.
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Logitech Premium USB Headset 350
{mosgoogle}Most LAN party gamers use headphones not because they want to be nice to the the person next to them. They use it because they don't want to pack their heavy speakers to the LAN party! The speakers the comes with the XPS sounds decent but they don't produce enough volume to overcome the noise of a typical LAN party. This is where the Logitech Premium USB Headset 350 comes in.
The Headset 350 isn't that great for music but it excels at gaming. The noise-canceling microphone filters out unwanted background noise for improved performance. This is very important when playing team LAN games. If you're teammates can't hear you because of background noise, chances are your team isn't going to win. And when you just want to use the headphones, you can move the mic boom up and out of the way.
The headphone use a 40mm driver with powerful neodymium magnets for its strength and light weight properties. The drivers are housed in a cup enclosure that cover the entire ear for better bass reproduction. The enclosure features a plush earpad cushion and is a attached to an adjustable headband that holds the head very firmly. The best feature of the Premium USB Headset 350 is the simplicity of the system. No software is required for installation. Just plug the unit into any USB port and Windows will do the rest.
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Asus WL-530g Pocket Wireless Router
{mosgoogle}Sitting under my Logitech headset is the world's smallest wireless router. I normally only use this when traveling on trips, but because the unit is so small, I bring it along to the LAN parties as well. You never know when it might come in handy.
At some LAN parties, I use the WL-530g to setup a little private network for myself and friend. We're still plugged into the main LAN, but our private network offers us better security and higher speed. The WL-530g allows you to setup a wireless network anywhere where network sharing is needed. The unit is equipped with four 10/100Base-T Ethernet ports to sync up with PCs, laptops, and other network devices like a hub or VoIP phone.
Just because the router is small doesn't mean it lacks for feature or power. The Asus WL-530g offers all the performance, network security and ease of use that anyone should need in a wireless router. The difference is this is a router you can take anywhere.
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Miscellaneous Stuff
{mosgoogle}On the right side pocket of my laptop bag is where I keep some extra NIC cables. You can never assume that the LAN party will have extra cables for everyone. It's always a good idea to pack one of two with you.
The last thing I keep in my laptop bag is a USB reading light. I've been to a few LAN parties where it was quite dark and having the reading light helped me to see my keyboard.
All together, the total weight of the Laptop bag comes in at just 15 lbs. Whiles this can not be considered feather light as far as mobile traveling goes, it's considered a God send for gamers who frequent LAN parties. What would you rather take to a LAN party? A full blown PC desktop, with separate monitor, keyboard, mouse etc. that will require multiply trips to the car? Or one 15 lbs laptop bag that holds everything?
Once you start gaming at LAN parties with a Laptop, you'll never go back to a desktop again. |
