Are mobile (laptop) graphics card as bad as they're made out to be?

[Baseley09]

When I check out modern laptops, the reviews for the cards are less than stellar usually, you get a default review of you can run COD 4 & Left 4 Dead well but will struggle on Crysis.

Is that right on these 1gb etc cards, I can still rock COD4, L4D to a medium/high level on my 2005 256mb Geforce 8600 desktop with 2gb ram, and ran crysis at 20 odd fps on low/med.....NFS Shift on medium 30fps etc....surely these modern laptops can outperform my aging beast?

[EvilBoris]

I've got an ATI HD560 in my new laptop, I'd say it ran crysis about the same as my 8600GTS.

[apatia77]

If you buy a top of the range gaming laptop then I am sure it'll run all pc games with decent settings as most games for the past few years are just console ports.

Be prepared though to spend a lot for one.

[dataDave]

I'm on a GeForce 9500 with this one and it should piss WoW, but it doesn't (my 8800 back home waltzed it to ****).

New Alienware incoming though!!

[apatia77]

Check Rock laptops, you can buy SLI laptops. I bet these can run any game maxed.

http://www.rockdirect.com/

But the prices

[NemesiS]

My old M17X had X-Fire 4850's. Jizzed over most desktops, never mind laptops, but you pay for that premium. There was nothing it wouldn't run at full res.

Atm, though i'm on an Acer 8930G which i picked up for ?300 after i flogged my M17. It has a 9800GT (512MB) with a 2.8 C2D and it runs every game i've tried upto now. Superb piece of kit for the money, it plays everything my AW did and on that basis, probably the best laptop i've ever bought.

Also i wouldn't worry so much about how much RAM is on a Video card as that doesn't really mean squat if the GPU is ****e and bottlenecks. Card manufacturers like to throw numbers at you to give a false impression.

If you're after a cheap lappy to perform, i'd go for one with (worst to best): 3870, 4850, 5870 or Nvidia 8800GTX, 260GTX & upwards . All these, even the early cards, will crunch graphics calculations so you won't go far wrong.

In fact look here: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...ist.844.0.html

[briareos_kerensky]

Keep in mind that a powerful GPU produces a good amount of waste heat and is power-hungry, so if you plan to use the laptop as a portable device (opposed to desktop replacement for home/office use), you'll might want to invest in the larger battery available, but do not expect that it will last long under full stress.
Also top-end GPUs need a good heat sink, so expect more weight (heat spreader) and louder fan.

If you aren't planning to use it outside or while traveling, these drawbacks will barely affect you.

[NemesiS]

I can't believe i forgot that. B.Kerenskys post above outlines the major downside of having a decent mobile GPU.

HEAT HEAT HEAT and anything power intensive creates heat heat heat inside.

A laptop cooler is a must and any gaming laptop worth having isn't worth using on battery.

DO NOT buy a dell XPS. You have been warned.. Quite possibly, the most insanely designed SLi GPU layout in the known universe

Stacked one on top of another..LOL. And Dell wonder why they had something like a 7 in 10 return rate of fried 1730's

Brilliant laptop for half an hour tho

[Baseley09]

Yeah cool words taken in heed, just musing over my next computer step, not intending on top tier gaming was just getting bummed out by the mobile gpu reviews I was reading, I'll probably pop for a Vaio or HP, the later power laptop we use at work is dead snazzy....and expensive.

[abigsmurf]

Notebookcheck is an invaluable site for determining how good a Laptop GPU is. Don't assume that a laptop GPU will perform the same as the like named desktop version.

I believe at the moment a decent Par card for laptops is the 330m/335m. As the next round of die shrinks start to hit, there'll be a massive boost in the power of GPUs. Not sure when that'll happen though.

If you post your budget I could probably recommend a laptop/set of specs.

[Baseley09]

Indeed i've seen some vids of the 330m in action, looks reasonably strong and I see it's included in the Vaio all in one desktops & imacs.

No budget just looking for PC solutions at the minute im tempted by those all in one Vaios with ze bluray etc but the money is a bit mental, and I really don't need touchscreen.

[abigsmurf]

Check out the Samsung ones too. Believe they do a bunch with 5650's which are pretty nice.

[NemesiS]

Why does it need to be HP or Sony?

You can get better grunt for less money if you buy a lesser brand. MSi do some fabulous laptops for around the £500 mark as do Acer and Samsung and some of the other brands. If you go the 2nd hand route then you can really pick up some bargains.

Having said that tho, laptops now are fairly cheap in the main unless you go for a bells and whistles customised behemoth.

[Baseley09]

Why does it need to be HP or Sony?

For sure it doesn't have to be, just my brand loyalty rising to the surface. That and I feel the need to spend money on things that look nice rather than perform well

[abigsmurf]

One warning I'd give about Acers. They're probably the cheapest of the big manufacturers and you can get some phenomenal specs for the money from them but... The build quality is reflected by the price.

Samsung do some fairly nice looking laptops (the R series is nice and curvy)