The main task of a regular laptop is to make it so that you can work with it anywhere, anytime. But games are another matter: the functions of a typewriter are not enough here, high system performance is needed. We’ll tell you how to navigate when choosing a powerful laptop.
How a gaming laptop is structurally different from a regular one?
The design of gaming laptops is different from ordinary ones: their hardware and cooling system were created for many hours of work at maximum load. In comparison, conventional laptops can only deliver full performance for a short time and operate at reduced frequencies for most of the day.
Today’s gaming laptops combine high performance and portability. Also, gaming models are often equipped with specialized gaming keyboards with protection against accidental clicks, good acoustics, and high-quality displays.
How to find out the game model
To find out if the laptop you have chosen really belongs to gaming models, you should study the information on the manufacturer’s website: usually, they clearly and clearly write what the model is for. Gaming laptop models are available from all manufacturers.
Also, the gaming model can be recognized by the presence of a discrete gaming video card: for example, NVIDIA has a GeForce GTX or GeForce RTX. GeForce MX graphics won’t work for gaming.
The appearance is also different: usually, it is an aggressive design, bright RGB-backlit keyboard, and other elements. There are gaming models that are designed in a restrained style, but I have not yet met working laptops with a gaming design.
What’s important for gaming laptops in 2021?
Before choosing a laptop, you need to understand what games you plan to play because the system performance requirements for all products are different. The ratio of future victories and defeats of the player depends on whether the system and the video card match them.
The main indicator of performance in games is FPS, that is, the number of frames per second issued. High FPS allows you to increase the accuracy and sensitivity of control, react earlier to enemy actions in the gameplay, and get an advantage that is important for victory. For regular games, 60 FPS is considered sufficient, for e-sports – 120 or higher. The indicator depends on the GPU – the graphics processor of the video card.
Higher speed means more chances of winning. So, other things being equal, it is better to choose a model with a more powerful GPU.
What’s important about an NVIDIA gaming graphics card?
Gaming laptops are equipped with advanced graphics cards. For NVIDIA, these are models with high performance and energy efficiency – the ratio of performance per watt (W) consumed.
The current generation is the GeForce GTX 16xx series and GeForce RTX 20xx series. RTX models are more powerful, provide real-time ray tracing support, and accelerate artificial intelligence algorithms. There is no point in choosing laptops with earlier graphics – these are outdated models that cannot support modern games.
Game Ready drivers will provide comfortable gameplay in games. The system will determine the optimal configuration settings for the laptop for the most beautiful picture at 60 FPS – just launch the GeForce Experience utility and press one button. In it, you can also switch to special drivers for STUDIO working applications – they will ensure stability when working with photo, video, computer graphics and accelerate dozens of working applications.
Ray tracing is important: in games, it allows you to achieve photorealistic picture quality. Lighting, shadows, reflections in scenes become natural and interactive.
Tanks, Fortnite, or CS: GO. They can be installed with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 and more powerful GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphics cards – they can easily cope with competitive games at 60+ FPS.
We can single out notebooks in the category with the optimal balance of performance and price. As a rule, they are equipped with GeForce RTX 2060, GTX 1660 Ti GPUs – these will pull any game at high settings at 1080p.
What else to look for when choosing a gaming laptop?
Before buying, I recommend that you read the reviews of the models you are interested in. You can visit the Gaming Beasts website that offers gaming guides, hardware lists, and reviews, so you have better knowledge and information. Everything that cannot be changed in a laptop is worth checking by the user and professional reviews: display, keyboard, video card, and if you don’t want to sit with headphones on, also sound.
A common problem with laptop screens is low brightness and low color gamut. It is better to choose displays with a color gamut of at least 90% sRGB and brightness of 250+ cd / sq. m. It’s good if the display supports NVIDIA G-Sync technology: it will provide smoother gameplay, without tearing and jerking images.
A lot of tricks can await with keyboards: the strange arrangement of keys, poor-quality mechanisms, and a generally weak design. Need to check and try when buying or read reviews.
It is important to find out what they say in reviews and reviews about the cooling system (CS). Insufficient heat dissipation will manifest itself during long games: the system will slow down to reduce heat generation and avoid overheating. CS efficiency and endurance directly affects iron performance.
What are the features of a gaming laptop?
Users are often worried that the laptop makes a lot of noise and heat during operation. This is fine as long as nothing slows down in games. The fact is that the filling of an average gaming laptop generates up to 200 watts of heat during operation. Radiators are usually relatively compact: for efficient heat dissipation, they need to drive large volumes of air through them, and the fan has to run at high speeds.
Another common question: is it possible to play on battery power or is it necessary to connect the laptop to an outlet. Most gaming laptops will drastically reduce performance without external power, so you won’t be able to play for a long time without an outlet.
NVIDIA has a special Battery Boost technology that allows you to extend battery life by up to 2x at the cost of reduced graphics quality and limiting the maximum number of frames. This will be useful to complete the level, save, and exit. With a GeForce RTX card, it is worth enabling DLSS 2.0 in games that support this technology – this will extend the battery life by about 20% more.