Can the Microsoft Surface run FFXI and FFXIV well?

[Toth]

Do they work on this thing? I was thinking of getting a solid school tablet / laptop but I would like one that can handle 11 and 14 for some occasional on the go gaming.

[orinthia]

Assuming you meant the surface pro2, that'll run ffxi easily. The pro2 has an i5 with intel's 4400 graphics. My brother has one and tried to run skyrim on it. On low settings it ran pretty well. I'd imagine FFXIV would run just not at high fps. Intel's integrated will run anything, you just won't be terribly satisfied with the fps on anything but low settings (though some games don't turn into visual crap on low, so not a big deal sometimes).

Not sure what else you're expecting. If it's the RT model, that won't run anything except apps from the app store. iow, avoid the RT models, since you may as well just get a cheap android tablet at that point.

[Toth]

Thanks orinthia. I am still debating what to get. My focus is on an easy to use laptop/tablet, with the added bonus of being able to play 11 or 14 as needed. Graphical overload is not my necessity. I just want the game to play smoothly.

[Gredival]

Unless there is a very specific reason why you want an ultrathin with a detachable keyboard ("tablet"), I'd urge you to consider simply getting a mainstream 11-14" notebook. For example, my 2010~ laptop (m11x) is able to play XI on beyond max settings with full 3rd party after effects using a nVidia 335M. I'm not sure about what settings it could handle for XIV, but I would imagine it's at least playable.

You should be able to get a much better machine today for $300 less than a Surface Pro2 that would be better equipped to handle the heat and stress from gaming and definitely run XIV better. Something like this: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops...-series/y510p/

And if you want to go really cheap, someone at Buy Sell Trade is selling a lightly used laptop with comparable hardware to my laptop: http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/119...top-circa-2010

[Ratatapa]

Anything can run XI now

[The Stig]

I can confirm a SSD, i5, 4gb ram work (ultrabook) laptop does not play FFXIV smoothly, but it's playable. However, it uses Intel 4000. I'm sure a 4400 won't be far off in terms of performance. My choices of resolution were limited too, I couldn't go lower than 1280 for some reason.

My desktop i7 (3770s) however can run FFXIV fine, not that smooth but playable (I used using the Intel 4000 for a while). In this instance I'm unsure if it's because the i7 is just that more powerful and was able to push it around better though.

Either way I won't choose either to play it with. However I am trying to find a laptop with the Iris (Intel's onboard GPU) to test.

[Isiolia]

Unless there is a very specific reason why you want an ultrathin with a detachable keyboard ("tablet"), I'd urge you to consider simply getting a mainstream 11-14" notebook.

Surface Pro is dual digitizer (touch and Wacom stylus), and they are (or were) selling the original Surface Pro 128GBs for $499 while supplies last. Might be reasons anyway, I dunno.

Though, in general, I'd agree. Ultrabooks aren't the thing to try and game on.

[Gredival]

Surface Pro is dual digitizer (touch and Wacom stylus), and they are (or were) selling the original Surface Pro 128GBs for $499 while supplies last. Might be reasons anyway, I dunno.

Though, in general, I'd agree. Ultrabooks aren't the thing to try and game on.

I actually think the $500 Surface Pro is a great deal for those that prize the portability, but I don't know how that will handle XI compared to the Pro 2, much less XIV.

[shepardG]

Xiv is fine on my surface pro 2, wish I had tge 256gb ver. Though as it has 8 gigs. Just dont run coil or CT and youll be fine.