Could this cheap Windows XP laptop make for great Windows 98 gaming?

Just because a retro PC that originally shipped in the Windows XP era also offers Windows 98 drivers doesn't mean it's going to be the best experience...and here's a great example.

Sources:
"An Old Faithful - Dell Inspiron 8200," HWM, May 2002.
"Lowered XPectations," Computerworld, November 5, 2001.

----------------------------------------­-------------------------------------

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram! @thisdoesnotcomp

----------------------------------------­-------------------------------------

[tomtom]

Couple of points.

1: dont run more than 512mb of RAM on W98 unless you want to run a patch (forgot the name) this is why youre getting random hangs (esp during 3d mark test) it has to do with AGP iirc
2: i noticed that your system was reporting the GPU as a PCI device. there is a glitch im aware of (at least on desktop w some nvidia cards) under W98 where in some situations you need to install chipset drivers first, and then VGA drivers so that W98 sees the GPU as an AGP gpu and not PCI gpu (it actually does affect performance)
3: try to find an nvidia driver package that has ur gpu, and force install it. i think the issue u were having where u needed dells driver is solely bc ur specific dell branded GeforceGo wasnt present in the INF file for the vanilla nvidia drivers.

Edit : for the MIDI part you can run the Roland VSC3 emulator and get really decent software emulated MIDI. its my go to for systems with awful or no MIDI support. On a system like that theres plenty of overhead to handle it

[urk]

I’m so glad I still have my gaming pc from the early 2000s

[und]

The early XP era is kind of a "forgotten era" of retrocomputing IMO, glad to see you covering it.

[curcapsicum]

Fascinating. I remember this exact type of issues back when it was a current issue! I feel old.

[goor]

I actually just bought and received both an 8200 and 8100 on eBay like a week ago.

I rebuilt an 8100 when I went to college because I couldn't afford to buy a new laptop (it was very old for the time) and part of that was upgrading the GPU inside. I remember it being relatively finicky to get things optimized, but once I did it performed surprisingly well given its age.

That's why I bought them, I want to try to recreate that machine. Really solid laptops imo.

[Cyber_Horse_Studios]

The problem with older pre Pentium 4/ Centrino Dell’s is a number of things that make them tricky to use at times, such as the annoying 3 pin charger, and more common battery issues.

Also, Windows XP in my eyes had 3 eras. The very early Pentium 3 era where machines could barley run it, the Pentium 4 era where machines could mostly run it “okay”, and then the core 2 duo era where machines made XP run very VERY well with the right conditions.

[kirkmooneyham]

I had an Inspiron 8100, with an NVidia card. I ran Win2K on it, and it was a great laptop for the time. It had a lot of great features, and I even did a videocard upgrade on it. It was a machine that gave me confidence, compared to the Compaq I had before that.

[digitalchaos]

I have this same model laptop with the GeForce 4 in it. If I remember correctly, there were some drivers called Omega that worked for it, and well! But I've had a lot of machines and done a lot of things, so I could honestly have it mixed up with another machine of that era. But, it doesn't hurt to give it a look! Good luck, mine was pretty rock solid back in the day and I only use it now for the native serial port for programming some of my older radios. 😎

[RetroPC]

I know I've learned my lesson when it comes to retro laptop computing. I only look for laptops specifically designed for Windows 98 versus trying to make an XP machine run it. It just never works out well.

Great video as always! Getting a new TDNC video that's about retro laptops was a great thing to wake up to! 😊

[jm]

I have a Dell Latitude C840 (the newer/faster) model of this and with modded Nvidia Omega v1.4523 drivers running Dos 6.22 + Win 3.11W, 98SE, and XP.
With an addition ini file mod to add support for the Geforce 4 Go 440 it seems perfectly stable and has similar performance to Win XP using Omega 1.6177 drivers too (both tested in 3dMark 99 Max with Vscync on since there's no off option for using DX8 or overclocking support in 98SE version unlike XP.)
Gets about Vodoo 3 2000 performance due to Vsync but can get upto Desktop Geforce 4 MX 440 SE with Vsync off

[jonasga]

You don't necessarily need to hack a driver. Just dig deeper into archived driver versions. There's almost certainly a few versions between Dell support site driver and the one you tried from Nvidia's current site that didn't work.

[damedolladame]

I love your content man! I'm in Melbourne OZ, and to see people repurpose old laptops, is bloody awesome.

[klwtherd]

My parents first computer was the Dell Inspiron 8200. My father custom ordered it from Dell directly as that was the thing back then. Order exactly what you want, nothing you don't want. This video really brings back memories as his machine was preloaded with Windows XP. Thanks for doing your best to make this very worthy laptop a good vintage machine. I'm still searching for the perfect Windows 98SE or ME laptop for my retro gaming rig. I hope someday you make a video on the PERFECT laptop for that use.

[Spider]

It's crazy how many people had this computer! And I still got mine too! 1.7 Ghz P4m, GeForce4 440 Go 64MB, 40GB HDD, and 768MB RAM (upgraded). I should boot up some GTAIII on it again sometime for nostalgia!

[Adamhc]

WOW, this computer really brings back great memories of playing Unreal Tournament 2003 on a local Lan in the barracks overseas during OEF/OIF. I had the version with the GeForce 4 go 440 with 64 MB (LOL) of video ram. Honestly the Inspiron 8100 that was released just before the 8200 was also a very good machine for a Pentium 3 based laptop. The video cards could be upgraded on both models and shared the same video cad connector if I remember correctly.

[andrewroberts]

I bought the 8000 when they were new as they were literally the fastest money could buy (along with their Latitude twins which had the same electronics in a stronger case).
You could choose ME or W2K and I chose the latter. I initially had problems with some games but slowly figured out how to get Quake 3 and Unreal working well.
I still have the 8000, but it is now 8100 spec with a slightly faster P3 and upgraded video card.
The panel won't do more than 60Hz anyway so the 57fps you were getting is fine in reality, albeit not making the most of what the hardware can do. The hardware, specifically the video card ever so slightly pre-dates XP but was intended for the ME/w2k era as you say, so really even the 8000 is slightly too new to be running 98 (which was always an unstable piece of junk vs the later W2K anyway). Most stuff can be made to run on XP anyway...

[LJfromWV]

The predecessor for this (Inspiron 8000) came with a PIII up to at least 1 GHz and the same GeForce 2Go GPU. Mine came with Windows ME, and even back then, Windows 98 was a pain to install. WinME and WinXP both ran pretty well on it, though.

[noladol]

It's amazing where you can end up just to find working Drivers for old hardware. I had the same problem with my Geforce FX Go5200. Either way, getting old hardware running again with less than optimal drivers is still a win. :)

[lifesman]

the sweetspot is the inspiron 8000. rocks a mobile coppermine PIII and can still have the high resolution screen with a geforce2. officially supports 98 too.

[Markimark]

I still have that laptop that my uncle gave to me, even though it’s not working, if there’s a way to repair it, I would run retro games on it!