If a gaming laptop is not for you (by budget, size, whatever) but want to play, there are many laptops with enough power to play most games, even at the lowest detail and resolution in a gaming laptop. Look at these features:
Graphics card (GPU)
- Is the most important for games.
- If you find a laptop with high end graphics that suits you, you can find one with mainstream graphics cards. Current options consist of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 and 5650 and Nvidia GeForce 400M GT series (GT 420M, GT 425M ...). The previous Nvidia GeForce GT 330M and GT 335M are also good choices.
- If you find the Acer Aspire 5943G with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 a good price, go for it, even if you use DDR3 memory instead of GDDR5 is more powerful than any mainstream graphics cards.
- This kind of graphics normally only found on laptops 14 "or larger, but some laptops 13 "or less with good graphics .
- Do not focus much on the amount of graphics memory: 512 MB is enough for any graphics in this category. For high-end graphics and ATI Mobility HD 5800 series and Nvidia GeForce GTX is better up to 1 GB.
- Most games do not need a very powerful processor to run correctly, but some, especially strategy games have much better performance with faster processors.
- With this in mind, an Intel Core i3 is sufficient in most cases, but CPU-intensive games work best with a more powerful processor, an Intel Core i5 or i7.
- For the AMD Phenom II X2 fast as the P620 (2.8 GHz) should provide a similar power to a Core i3, but many Phenom II X3 and X4 operate at lower frequencies (typically around 2 GHz) and provide a lower yield, since many games are optimized for fast 2-core processors.
- Beware of low voltage Intel processors since the models can confuse a bit. If a "U" in model number (eg Intel Core i7 640 U M), the processor is a low voltage version will have a much lower performance than normal (although the battery will last longer).
- In short, if you have to choose between good graphics and a good processor, the GPU should be given preference, but if you can afford a more powerful processor, choose it, just in case.
- Do not worry too much about it, if you have 4 GB of RAM will not have problems. Up to 4 GB to 8 GB does not benefit much gaming performance , so it is better to use the money on other improvements.
Suggestions
Many laptop brands meet the above conditions:
- Acer : the Aspire with a "G" in model number with dedicated graphics, although they are often as low-end ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470.
- Asus : all N series models are mid-range graphics card, and in some model of the series A, K and X graphics can also be found acceptable.
- Dell : all laptops in the XPS series have Nvidia GeForce GT 400M series are configurable and therefore are an excellent choice. You have 3 sizes to choose from (14.0 ", 15.6" and 17.3 ").
- Hewlett-Packard : the Pavilion series has a good price / performance ratio between the models and 15.6 "(dv6) and 17.3" (dv7) there are several models with mid-range graphics (usually ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 .)
- Sony : The Vaio series E , consisting of EA models (14.0 "), EB (15.6") and EC (17.3 "), can be configured with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650, while the Vaio F (16.4 "), which has a more careful and better quality (and therefore more expensive) has the Nvidia GeForce GT 425M. All models are configurable.
- Toshiba : some models with good graphics in the series Satellite L655 (15.6 ") and A660 (16.0 "). The Qosmio F60 is also equipped with an Nvidia GeForce GT 330M, but comes out quite expensive.
