Can Your Laptop Run Today's Games?
Last updated on 12/03/2010
E3, an annual conference in which the video game industry unveils their new games and technology, took place last week. As usual, the event left gamers with plenty to be excited about. However, the million dollar question is...will your laptop be able to run all these new games?
By Mike Lynch
Gaming on a Budget
Serious Gaming, Serious Laptops
Getting Started
It's a common misconception that you need a monster machine to play PC games. If your laptop has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 256 MB video card, 1GB of RAM, and about 5GB of free hard drive space, then the odds are good that you'll be able to run most of today's top games. The HP Pavillion DV6 (left) is a good example of a solid computers that goes a step beyond the specs outlined above. It features a (roughly) 16" display, costs about $800, and will meet or exceed the hardware requirements for almost all of today's games. So if you want to play the latest PC games but money is pretty tight, never fear -- you don't need to shred your budget.However, before you purchase that budget system, bear in mind that a machine like the ones above will be able to play current games, but will come with few, if any, gaming-related bells and whistles. The sound, the speed, and the quality of your games' graphics may be scaled down in order to accommodate the less-powerful hardware inside your machine. And don't forget: The minimum hardware requirements for your games will increase over time. A machine that is average today will likely be inadequate next year. So if you enjoy playing PC games, but you tend to stick with current-generation games (or older), and graphic effects and sound quality aren't a major concern, then you're a perfect candidate for one of the machines I've outlined above.
Gaming Workhorses
However, if you want to get maximum performance from your games and you want to ensure not only that you can play today's games at maximum efficiency but tomorrow's as well -- you need a full-on gaming laptop.
If you want a gaming laptop, you can't do much better than the Alienware M17x (left). This machine absolutely blows the minimum requirements away and will easily run the latest games for years to come. Not only that, but it includes a number of amenities meant to enhance your gameplay experience, including a 17-inch glass display and 5.1 surround-sound.
The M17x is an intense gaming laptop; however, it comes at an equally intense price! If you're in the market for something powerful but not quite as pricey, check out the Alienware M15x (a sibling of the 17x), the Toshiba Qosmio, or the ASUS Republic of Gamers line. These are powerhouse laptops that will leave you positioned to play the latest games for years to come.
Peripherals
A few other things to consider: You don't want to play PC games using the touchpad. Trust me, it stinks! You're going to need a solid gaming mouse, and one of the best reasonably priced gaming-mice on the market right now is Logitech's MX 518, an ultra-precise and responsive laser mouse.
Also, your laptop builds up a ton of heat when it runs games, and heat is bad. If you intend to do a lot of gaming, you definitely want to buy a cooling pad. This will ensure that your machine is able to eliminate heat as efficiently as possible, making your machine easier to handle while extending it's lifespan.
Can Your Laptop Run Today's Games? Comments & Questions (write your own!)
Allison Clark (10/04/2010)
So I'm on a really tight budget. So tight, my birthday + xmas combined have to make the price for a new laptop. I'm one for really high-res screens, but it doesn't have to be big. It must be gaming; I play WoW, SC2, and DA:O. I'm also big on graphic arts, Flash, PS, and Flame/Mesh rendering. (alas I'm limited to freeware on my 3D art!) I'm strongly considering the M11x for its power to price ratio, but I want to make sure that there isn't a better/cheaper one out there. Thanks!
reply to this comment (Mike Lynch — 10/04/2010)
Another thing to consider re: the M11x is the fact that it's built for gamers. Another system may present you w/ sexier technology or specs, but how do you know that everything will work together properly and make your games run optimally? With an Alienware system, you can rest assured that your machine is built for gaming. For example, there are definitely a few laptops out there offering more processor power (for example: amzn.to/9UlDNm) for less money; however, the M11x far surpasses them w/ its 1 gig graphics card.
reply to this comment (Drew — 09/30/2010)
Gateway - Laptop / AMD Athlon™ II X2 Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 320GB Hard Drive / 2.1 Ghz
...Would this be able to run Team Fortress 2 on medium or at least low settings?
reply to this comment...Would this be able to run Team Fortress 2 on medium or at least low settings?
(Mike Lynch — 10/04/2010)
Yes, but that's cutting it a bit close -- what sort of graphics card?
reply to this commentMike W (09/17/2010)
Suggest me a $800 (ish) laptop - that can run Civ 5 - screen of 15-17 - size not so important - as I want to plug this into a larger display when at home. I'm guessing an I3 with a decent grphx card and 4g ram ?
reply to this commentjustin (09/28/2010)
You should clearly pay the money for alienware, even if its got dells support it looks outstanding and can oust a macbook pro with ease......nothing compares exactly to it, I have one with 4gb of ram, 500gb hd, ati radeon 5850 with 1gb dedicated gddr5, which is key.....most important for playing civ 5
reply to this commentpogi2st (09/16/2010)
TAKE THE MSI GX640 HARDCORE GAMING.. BEST THAN ALIENWARE AND G73 LAPTOP OVERPRICED.. THE GX640 SOLID PERFORMANCE AND MOST OF ALL VERY AFFORDABLE YOU CAN PLAY ALL IN MAXIMUM SETTINGS CHECK OUT AT YOUTUBE GX640 ALL NEW GAMES ARE POSSIBLE TO PLAY AT VERY HIGH SETTINGS.
reply to this commentashu (09/16/2010)
i will buy laptop for gaming plz suggest me dell or samsung and ati is better or nvidia
reply to this commentdmcn (08/31/2010)
I'm thinking of buying a new laptop and was wondering if these specs would be good enough for gaming:
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Mobile Processor i7-840QM (1.86GHz) 8MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 5650 PCI Express - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BEKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
Hard Disk Partitions
300GB, 200GB
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
reply to this commentProcessor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Mobile Processor i7-840QM (1.86GHz) 8MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 5650 PCI Express - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BEKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
Hard Disk Partitions
300GB, 200GB
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
(Mike Lynch — 09/01/2010)
yeah, that's solid -- you'll do just fine w/ those specs
reply to this commentMike (08/29/2010)
I want to know if a macbook would be able to run wow
reply to this comment (Gerlinde — 09/10/2010)
Yes, you can play WoW on a MacBook Pro. I have my HD partitioned with Bootcamp, and have run WoW under Windows XP.
reply to this comment (Andy — 08/16/2010)
To Answer you question without a specific price range...seeing as there isnt one listed, i would look at the asus g73. It is price at 1500$ which may be a bit steep. You lose some of the flashiness that comes with a alienware laptop, but then again your not paying for the stupid name. Hope this helps.
reply to this comment (stuart hatlen — 08/09/2010)
im buying my first laptop and was wonderin what type of laptop i should get, i dont care bout size looks or manufacture. as long as at plays games and has storage, its fine, what would work for this?
reply to this commentTom (07/22/2010)
I just want some thing that can play games from say, 2007 backwards, i dont care about new flashy graphics, as long as can play games like team fortress 2, or half life 2 on high detail smoothly, it would also have to be fairly cheap, any suggestions?
reply to this comment (Zach — 07/28/2010)
Lots of new laptops should be able to handle games like those. However, watch out for lag in Team Fortress, all of the players might create some noticable lag. I recommend the alienware m11x, as long as you don't mind small screens.
reply to this commentJeff (07/15/2010)
I keep reading about the Alienware product... What about Vodoo or Falcoln Northwest? I am gettin more into graphiphic arts and my Latitude D830 just can't handle it. My frineds tell me that I need a gaming rig. Really, which is the best unit?
reply to this comment (Mike Lynch — 08/11/2010)
Voodoo and Falcon Northwest laptops (and desktops) are amazing, but they're also crazy expensive (a Falcon DRX laptop could easily cost you $3,000+). Are they the best? Hell yeah! Are they affordable? Hell no! Alienware laptops are cool because they're gaming machines but they're still realistically priced -- know what I mean? Gateway and ASUS have some solid gaming machines as well.
reply to this commentSgh77 (09/24/2010)
Best rig in the world is x7200 Clevo
reply to this commentMohamad Fadel (06/29/2010)
i want to know if core i720QM or 740Qm whatever , is faster than core 2quad QX9000 or something like that. exactly i want to know the clock speed number of core i7 for example : we say core 2duo T6600 or core 2 duo P7450 or core 2quad Q9000 etc.. i want to know that number related to core i7 (is it T ,P or Q and how much is the number)..
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