Gaming Laptop ComputersGaming laptop computers are sold in a lot of sizes and shapes. Just calling it a gaming notebook or gaming laptop computer doesn't make it one though. The graphics are the key to quality gaming and the newest, fastest setups will play everything at any settings, just like the fastest desktop cards. Benchmarks show that the AMD Radeon HD 6990 X2 (crossfire) is the fastest mobile graphics setup and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M SLI is second. AMD has owned ATI for a few years and has finally gotten around to changing the labeling. Both these are 2 card set ups, and use a lot of power and generate a lot of heat. They are the fastest single cards too, although there are some other SLI or X2 solutions like the Nvidia GeForce GTX 485M SLI which will also play everything faster than them. This will help you choose the best graphics card. Another key is processor speed. This is the market segment that Quad core and Xtreme mobile processors are aimed at. The new Core i7 mobile processors excel for gaming also. The older Quad and Exteme processors use a lot of power and generate a lot of heat. The i7s use a lot of power also. Some information about how Intel identifies a laptop processor is here. Many people want the faster 7200 RPM hard drives. These also use more power and generate more heat. Solid state drives a frequently installed in laptop gaming computers, despite their price, because they have shorter seek times and use less power. You will get a better experience with gaming notebooks with the faster RAM, and probably want 8 G.B. of it. Most people think that sound is very important to their gaming and want upgraded audio and external speakers. You will want a large, full high definition, wide screen display. That means WUXGA (1920X1200). The best card I've seen in a 13 inch laptop is the ATI Radeon HD 6650M. It will play just about all games at reasonable settings. It will far surpass the most common new integrated solution from Intel, the HD Graphics 3000 which isn't really suitable for gaming. You will often see Nvidia GeForce GT 525 and 540 cards available in better 15 or 16 inch laptops. They are between the GeForce 9600M GS or GT cards GeForce 9800M GS or GT cards. You can't play most new games at the higher settings with them. From ATI, the roughly equivalent cards are the ATI Mobility Radeon 6650 and 6700 series. You usually will not see the cards that will run every thing except Crysis in laptop gaming computers with displays smaller than 17 inches. These cards include Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS and GTX cards and Nvidia GeForce GTS 160 M and higher. On the ATI side its Mobility Radeon 4850 and up, including 3850 X2 cards. There is a total of about 25 GPUs that fit in this group. It splits about 3 to 2 between single and multi-card (SLI or Crossfire) solutions. If you are looking to buy the best gaming notebook, you are looking at the opposite end of the spectrum. An ultra thin laptop will come closer to running new higher end games than a net book, but any ultra thin with a video card good enough to run these well would lose most of any battery life advantage it might have and run quite hot. I would expect a lot of burn outs unless there is a break through in cooling technology. The "most people" I describe above can use either net books, the new ultra thin latops, the older thin and light (or ultra portable) notebooks or mainstream laptops. A gamer who is insisting on buying a gaming laptop computer needs a high end mainstream laptop preferably with a 17inch or larger display. gaming laptop computers to gamng laptop |