Does anyone have experience using Windows compatible tablet PC’s as super-portable fighting game setups? I saw some people playing Melty Blood on a SurfacePro 3 recently and it looked fantastic on it. After a quick look on the internet, it seems the hardware in the Surface Pro 2/3’s should be enough to run most older games over emulation (plausibly even PS2) and handle the likes of SF IV at 360/PS3 level settings. They cost way too much compared to the $200 PC I built out of cheap and salvaged parts that does the same thing, but with the high turnover for tablets I figure I might be able to score a deal on a used one if I keep an eye out.
The two things I’m worried about are heat and response time. I guess these things will (severely) throttle the CPU at certain heat levels, though there seem to be cheap portable fan solutions that might help with that. I can’t find any information on what response time is like though. I know IPS monitors are awful for that, but since these things are an entire integrated unit, maybe it’s not as much as of an issue? In any case I can’t find any information about anyone doing gaming related tests on that kind of hardware.
My experience from a Surface Pro 1, SF4 was quite playable at 720p with 60fps the whole time. I think everything was on the Low settings. Heat was an issue though. Every time the fan came on, there was a dip in FPS for a couple of seconds until the Surface basically said “oh yeah, now we have to cool down”. I’m sure I could set the fan to be “on” the whole time while I game, but that’s another story.
Response time seemed fine to me. I plugged in joysticks and fightpads directly to the Surface and even used a USB dongle. Felt fine to me. Had to turn off VSync though. Yes it caused some tearing, but I was just happy to SF4 on the go. The tearing wasn’t that bad though.
I’m sure the Surface Pro 3 with the beefer specs could probably hold up a little better than what I had though.
Bumping this one up since I have some sort of relevant information.
It’s been about 2 weeks since I’ve had my Surface 3 (the new one, the not-Pro). As an aside, the reason I waited for the Surface 3 and didn’t get the older Surface 2 (for much cheaper) was that installing my own stuff (ie, not from the Store) was an important factor for me.
Anyhow, one of the first things I installed on mine was MAME. The 90’s was my favorite era of arcade gaming, so I tested out Hyper SF2, Marvel Super Heroes, SF3 3rd Strike, MK2 on it, while using an arcade stick (PS360+). Worked just fine, and is definitely something I’ll take advantage of in the future.
Sadly, I don’t really own any current/recent PC-based fighting games to test on it.
Absolutely.
It’s not as convenient, though; the Surface’s built-in kickstand makes it great for horizontal games. For vertical shmups (or any other vertical games like Pac-Man), you’d need an external holder/stand.