Laptop for RowPro

[Phoerig]

I'm strictly Apple products only, and don't want to battle both my wife for her MacPro and the inevitable frustration of trying to figure out Parallels, Boot Camp, etc. (I'm tecnhically challenged).

I found a Dell D630 on Craigslist...

http://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/sys/3724524853.html

Would anyone mind verifying if this would work as a RowPro mule?

[Carl Watts]

I would avoid using a laptop at all costs unless you have no other choice.

The graphics in them is just not up to the job to get really good frame rates. Digital Rowing must have lost countless potential owners of RowPro when they see it run on a laptop and blame the software when its a hardware issue.

I guess many people have looked at those "Chunky" graphics and thought the same as I did, it takes nothing to run this ! Well Three graphics cards later before I could get 75fps on the highest quality setting ! The third card was a HD6670 about the best I could get for a small form factor Hp at the time.

You only need an old 6 or 7 year old PC so these are just about being given away free these days but a decent graphics card in the PCI-E slot.

We are also still awaiting the native mac version of RowPro and V3.3 for Windows 8 has been out for months now so just do not know what the delay is.

If you only run RowPro on a Windows 8 PC then you really don't need to know very much about the operating system, just double click on the application and away you go.

[Phoerig]

Thanks.

So... If I find an old desktop and update the graphics card I can hook it up to a spare plasma and be all set?

[Carl Watts]

Thanks.

So... If I find an old desktop and update the graphics card I can hook it up to a spare plasma and be all set?

Thats what I did. The graphics cards come with HDMI output and I fed this into an old Philips 42" Plasma that was getting thrown out due to intermittant audio.

You can create a stand alone PC just for RowPro for next to nothing. The spare IBM Thinkpad PC for mine was just thrown out in the street and so got it for free.

The costs for mine were really just a wireless G PCI card and a graphics card. It does help to have some PC hardware skills to do this on the cheap. or else I guess some people just purchase a "Gaming PC" and your good to go out of the box without spending the time on it.

RowPro is a truely amazing bit of software and I would be lost without it these days. The Online rowing transforms what is a boring bit of static equipment otherwise. It's worth the effort to set-up and I would have bought a Mac if it only ran on one of those.

[djh]

A modern laptop is fine. I use one with an i5 chip and a graphics processor and it works well.

Note that you can run RowPro in degraded 2D graphics (never actually done this!) and your old Dell should be able to keep up. You'll at least be able to see your relative position in the row, without the nice 3D graphics.

[Phoerig]

OK, back to the MacPro option... Is that worth trying to figure out parallels and getting a version of Windows installed?

[Bob S.]

OK, back to the MacPro option... Is that worth trying to figure out parallels and getting a version of Windows installed?

In retrospect it was not worth it for me, but then I date from the first quarter of the last century, so I am basically a 20th century man trying to survive in the 21st. I use computers but am often baffled by them. If the idea of racing online appeals to you, it would probably be worthwhile. Otherwise, no.

Bob S.

[Carl Watts]

As stated several times before it's not racing Bob !

Well it probably is for you as an older user I can see how it doesn't have the same appeal as everyones pace is probabably faster than yours, but we all have that to look forward to one day.

Very little of the Online rowing is actually racing. You simply cannot "Race" 5 days straight every week and hence it's called "Training".

Agreed the Online rowing is not for everyone and I thought it would be huge myself but it is not and I think it is due to many peoples perception from "Racing" to the fact that most people hate coming last.

You can of course just get Online and row by yourself so it's exactly the same as your doing now but with the graphics. This may seem pointless, however its the main reason I sugested to Digital Rowing that they start an "Online Annual Metres Board" so at least you can have a crack at something thats not strickly pace related, doesn't change a thing about what your currently doing except pressing a couple of extra button to set-up a row and it encourages what appears to be over 80% of RowPro users who have the licenced software but NEVER row a single metre online for some reason.

Still would never recomend a laptop unless someone out there can post the exact model they have and what sort of frame rates they are getting if it's over 50 fps in the "Live Water" setting.