Laptops All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies- P43: Okay, I’ll admit it: I’ve got a strange biography. I’ve been a writer all my life. My first semi-pro job was sports editor of my high school newspaper. (Go Commodores!) After college I was a political reporter for daily newspapers in Ohio and New York (I covered four national nominating conventions and two Presidential campaigns) and a correspondent for The Associated Press. And then, in 1983, I gave in to my inner geek and became the first Executive Editor of PC Magazine, back in the days when most people asked, “What is a PC?”. | 394 Book V Pỉaụinạ with Multimedia Chapter 4 Gaming with a Laptop In This Chapter Gaming to the outer fringes Tricking out a laptop for gaming Extreme processors and laptops et us together agree on two very important and quite disconnected Awfacts The first computers were designed for very mundane tasks like totaling up the profits at an ancient Babylonian tag sale or mechanizing the manufacture of a knitting mill. Given the chance nearly every man and woman will attempt to turn even the most sophisticated of tools into a toy. Therefore it comes as absolutely no surprise that as soon as the first personal computers began arriving in homes and offices games began to arrive on computers. Among the first simple card games like solitaire basic shoot-em-ups and simple adventure games that used keyboard commands and the player s imagination to conjure up an imaginary world of twisty turny passages and bizarre underworld creatures. And then it should be even less a surprise that when the first laptop computers arrived in the marketplace the push was on make them available as portable gaming machines in addition to managing huge product databases human resources files and e-mail on the road . Stuffing a Wild Laptop In many ways a modern laptop computer is a mini-me version of a desktop computer It can do or be adapted to do anything a full-sized computer can. The solution isn t always neat and elegant though. The original concept for a laptop was to bring together all the disparate pieces of a desktop machine keyboard mouse monitor and speakers among them into a single small two-part box. Today a laptop lets you play most any game available on a desktop. The trick though is this finding a way to play the game at a speed volume and clarity that equals or surpasses the capabilities of a desktop machine fully tricked out with upgrade accessories and doodads. 396 Stuffing a Wild Laptop The good news It s possible. The bad news You need to start with an absolutely .
