Few questions on gaming with laptops

[stevenc152]

Hi, Im looking to purchase a laptop in the up and coming month, I have a powerfull PC and a huge in depth knowlage of computers but not so much in laptops. Last laptop i have (still works) is about 7 years old and is probbly slower than you phone.

So heres some questions ive been wondering about.




1. Grapics cards - 520/540/550 and 555M, Which of these runs games well, I know higher numbers better etc but that all changes from what ive heard with laptops. How well does games run (not on full ultra detail) but at a rate which looks good and runs well.

2. Buying with OS system, I have spare keys from the MSDNA so saving an extra 80 pounds and putting it to good use, How would this effect the install (windows 7 does most but getting a hold of any drivers etc from the company ie. Card readers is always anoying.

3. Processors - Whats the difference in performance between the i5 and i7 cores (dont say numbers). Desktop machines have a 7% ish increase between 2500k and 2700k but how does this effect in game performance or general activitys?

4. Screen resolution - I dont get the concept behind the 1900x1200 range (most pcs run on 1400x900 or 1680x1250, thats 20" compared to 15" laptop, Benchmarks for these cards all run at max settings so its kind of hard to find a actual benchmark for standard screen res.

5. Ram on Laptops - Is there any need to go beyond 4 or 8GB, Ive been playing on 4 for years and never had any bottlenecks but does this also happens for laptops?



If anyone could shine some light i would give you a hug and a cookie, thanks

 

[prastis]

If you could tell us your budget we could help you deciding on specific parts! and enlighten you on the issues you have

 

[PCS]

Hello Steve

1. I would recommend the GT 555M if possible for the best gaming experience. A desktop GT 550 will out-perform a notebook GT 550 so the higher the better for gaming. If your budget has room for an upgrade, consider a Vortex II as we have the GTX 460M on special offer at the moment, while stocks last: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/vortexII-15/

2. All drivers are provided and we install an unactivated version of Windows by default (even if you don't order an operating system). If you have an OEM key you can just pop this in. Otherwise, after re-installing you can install any drivers that are not part of WHQL from the drivers discs provided.

3. When you're browsing the web or watching a movie, there is not much difference in terms of performance. However, once the CPU is pushed in games, and especially when the game can take advantage of all 4 cores, the i7 are much better.

4. Most laptops are run at full HD (1920 x 1080) and unfortunately most benchmarks are run at this resolution. You can of course reduce this but the clearest picture is at full HD.

5. Bottlenecks are possible on both laptop and desktops, but 8GB is more than enough for most uses. Worse case scenario you could upgrade the RAM quite easily in x years time for a performance boost.

 

[stevenc152]

If you could tell us your budget we could help you deciding on specific parts! and enlighten you on the issues you have

600-700 to start with, if all goes well over the next few days alot more (job interviews)

Hello Steve

1. I would recommend the GT 555M if possible for the best gaming experience. A desktop GT 550 will out-perform a notebook GT 550 so the higher the better for gaming. If your budget has room for an upgrade, consider a Vortex II as we have the GTX 460M on special offer at the moment, while stocks last: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/vortexII-15/

2. All drivers are provided and we install an unactivated version of Windows by default (even if you don't order an operating system). If you have an OEM key you can just pop this in. Otherwise, after re-installing you can install any drivers that are not part of WHQL from the drivers discs provided.

3. When you're browsing the web or watching a movie, there is not much difference in terms of performance. However, once the CPU is pushed in games, and especially when the game can take advantage of all 4 cores, the i7 are much better.

4. Most laptops are run at full HD (1920 x 1080) and unfortunately most benchmarks are run at this resolution. You can of course reduce this but the clearest picture is at full HD.

5. Bottlenecks are possible on both laptop and desktops, but 8GB is more than enough for most uses. Worse case scenario you could upgrade the RAM quite easily in x years time for a performance boost.

thanks for clearing that up, hopefully buying mine this or next week, fingers crossed for a job