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Gaming Laptop Buying Advice

Although it’s possible – or so they say – to play games on laptops with Intel’s integrated graphics chip, it’s most likely an uncomfortable experience. If you plan to play any recent games, you’ll need to step up to a laptop with a discrete graphics card from either Nvidia or ATI. Unfortunately, besides boosting graphics performance a great deal, this will also inflate both the cost and size of your laptop. If you want to play any recent games comfortably, however, discrete graphics is an absolute must.

Size and Heat Issues

Just like in desktop computers, more powerful laptop graphics cards generate a great deal of excess heat. This is why it’s impossible, or at least very impractical, to combine high-end graphics with a small frame. The best graphics cards you find in 12-13 inch laptops are generally Nvidia’s 8400M GS or ATIs HD2400, and these are barely enough to play modern games like Crysis at comfortable frame rates.

To find a really capable GPU, gamers have no alternative but to move up in size to at least a 14-inch screen, but even 14-inch gaming laptops are rare – most alternatives can be found in the 15-17 inch desktop replacement segment.

Mobile Graphics Cards

Two of the most common gaming graphics cards for laptops right now are GeForce 8600M from Nvidia and Mobility Radeon HD2600 from ATI. These two provide enough performance for most recent games although not necessarily at the highest possible resolution and/or with maximum details.

If you want more power, you could opt for an SLI-configured laptop with two graphics cards working in unison, but in doing so; you have to cope with a larger screen – at least 17 inches. They are also quite costly.

If you can hold on until the second half of 2008, a number of new models are scheduled for release from both Nvidia and ATI, which all promise better performance without added heat or power consumption. Then again, that’s always the case, isn’t it? Expect the new chips to show up first in Asus and Dell laptops.

Gaming Laptops – Recent Models

One laptop that’s definitely worth mentioning in this context is the Alienware m15x – if you can afford it. It can be configured with the fastest components currently available, including an Nvidia 8800M GTX, the world’s fastest mobile GPU. The best part is that it’s all crammed into a 15-inch frame. It’s a real gem, but it’s no cheap laptop – it will set you back between $2,500 and $4,000.

Another less costly but very capable machine is the Asus G2SG, a 17-inch gaming laptop/desktop replacement with the powerful 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and an Nvidia 8700M GT, an upgrade of the 8600M GT. The whole design of the laptop is fully geared at gamers, with highlighted gaming buttons and flashing LEDs.