Meeting laptop gaming requirements can be difficult although, laptops are now the go-to device for many computer users. While they offer the same functionality as desktop computers, they are often limited in performance and durability. Gamers, in particular, are the most affected group. Most laptops cannot handle the high-end power-demanding games. Before installing a game on your laptop, you need to investigate if your laptop meets the gaming requirements.
Most of the time, games will provide you with information on the game download page. They would list some minimum specifications that your laptop must meet before you can run the game. Let’s see what requirements are needed before you can run heavy games comfortably.
What Game are you playing?
System requirements for gaming vary greatly, so picking a laptop would be mostly based on how much gaming you do. For example, EA sports recommends that your system should meet the following requirements if you want to run FIFA 15.
- OS: Windows V/7/8/8.1 -64-bit
- CPU: Intel Q6600 Core2 Quad @ 2.4Ghz
- RAM: 4GB
- Hard Drive Space Required: 15.0 GB
- Minimum Supported Video Cards: ATI Radeon HD 5770, NVIDIA GTX 650
- DirectX: 11.0
During its time, FIFA 15 could only run on the best laptops, these were also expensive. If you aren’t worried about your budget, then you can as well get a game-dedicated laptop. However, for folks like me who must make every penny count, we are looking to make the most of the little we have. Gaming laptops cost thousands of dollars and quickly run obsolete as more demanding games are released.
If you’re not a hardcore gamer
Lighter games like Minecraft don’t demand de creme de la creme of laptop hardware and software. If you are okay with playing older games that don’t make need heavy graphic processing then you can be more flexible about your decision. Games like Minecraft can run smoothly on most decent and even old laptops.
- CPU: Intel Core i3 3210 or equivalent
- RAM: 4 GB RAM
- HDD: 180 MB to 1 GB available space
- GPU: Intel HD Graphics 4000 or equivalent
- 400 Series or AMD Radeon HD 7000 series
- OS: 64-bit Windows 7 or later
- Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768 or better
As you can see, the specs are quite minimal compared to some other games.
Gaming Laptop Components
The laptop is in reality a mobile desktop computer and is equally as complex. However, not all components are important in determining the kind of games your laptop can run. Laptop gaming requirements are the first criteria to check before going shopping for a gaming laptop. Well, all components that make the PC operable are important, but the most important components for running games on your pc or laptop are the GPU, CPU, Display, and Ram.
Graphics card/GPU
When it comes to gaming the graphic card housing the GPU is more important than the CPU. An average CPU can run most games, but the games are built to use the GPU.
While some games use the CPU, the bulk of games still rely on the GPU, so this is one of the most important considerations when purchasing a gaming notebook. Currently, Nvidia GeForce GTX or RTX GPUs are found in the majority of gaming notebooks. How do you know what GPU is suitable for gaming?
How to Know the grade of laptop GPU?
First, you should find out what year your laptop was produced. The older the model, the older the technology of the GPU. It’s not a brainer that older GPU would not be as effective or powerful enough to run modern games. As time goes by, older technology becomes obsolete. It is the standard rule for all tech and GPUs are not left out.
secondly, GPU manufacturers usually have a production line with a model or series number. The higher the model number of a particular series of GPUs, the better the GPU. This is an important point to note because not all laptops produced in 2022 are featured with high-end Graphic cards.
For example, the Lenovo legion 5-15 is equipped with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti discrete graphics released on 09/2021. Yet, it is a much better-performing gaming laptop than many newer models.
Nvidia has models with complex names and different series franchises so it is best you do your homework before making a decision
GPU memory
For 1080p gaming, get a card with at least 6GB of memory, preferably 8GB or more. If you play with all the settings turned up or install high-resolution texture packs, you’ll need additional memory. More than 8GB is great if you’re gaming at very high resolutions, such as 4K.
Clock Speed
Somewhat significant. Some cards with the same GPU (for example, an RTX 3060 Ti) will be factory overclocked to a slightly higher speed, resulting in a 3–5% variance in frame rates. Memory speed, core counts, and architecture must all be considered in addition to clock speed. On cards with the same GPU, better cooling frequently takes precedence to overclock speed.
Memory speed
It’s significant. Faster memory, like a higher clock speed, can make one card faster than another. Because of the improved memory bandwidth, the GTX 1650 GDDR6 is approximately 15% quicker than the GTX 1650 GDDR5. It’s worth noting that features like AMD’s Infinity Cache on RDNA 2 can assist limit the number of memory accesses, so bandwidth isn’t the primary consideration.
CPU Processor
The CPU is the next important factor to check if your laptop meets gaming requirements. While modern laptops are shifting away from depending on the CPU for gaming, it is still moderately important and would impact your gaming experience. Unlike, GPU, CPUs are easy to identify, the most famous CPU brand is the intel.
Luckily, Intel doesn’t give its franchises complex names like Nvidia and other Graphics Processing unit manufacturers. I’m sure you’ve used Intel before and have seen something like, “Intel corei5” on the case of your laptop before. The higher the number after “core” the better. Be ready to spend some bucks though.
How to know if a laptop processor meets gaming requirements
To know if your laptop meets gaming requirements, the first thing is to check the specification for the model of the processor. Then compare the spec of the laptop processor with the minimum required spec of the game. I wouldn’t be too worried about this because like I said, most games are more GPU demanding than they are CPU. However, you should make sure you have at least a core i5 6th generation laptop processor or similar. Also, do not forget to check the GPU of the laptops.
Note how many cores of the processor
Each generation of CPU has many varieties or grades. For example, the Core i5 has up to 10 generations. The greater the generation, the better the laptop.
If you want to play games, a budget/mid-range 6-core processor with a discrete graphics card would suffice. If you frequently switch from gaming to heavier jobs and back, a laptop with an 8-core processor is recommended.
You will get a superb gaming machine with that (an 8-Core laptop), capable of running current games as well as future titles for a few years. Just make sure it has a good GPU and plenty of RAM and storage.
Intel vs AMD: Which laptop CPU meets gaming requirements
There are just two options if you’re seeking the greatest CPU for gaming or the finest workstation CPU: AMD or Intel. This has resulted in an almost religious following for both groups, as well as the ensuing AMD vs Intel flamewars, making it difficult to acquire unbiased advice regarding which processor is best for you. However, in many circumstances, the solution is obvious. It’s currently a landslide victory for Intel among most users.
This does not imply that AMD is lacking behind, it is rather the fact that Intel’s new release the “intel Alder Lake chip series” has proven to be the most productive amongst both and offers more than just gaming performance.
For almost everyone, price is the most essential factor, and AMD has consistently outperformed the competition in terms of value. The company offers a slew of benefits, including full overclocking on most models and complementary software that features the cutting-edge Precision Boost Overdrive auto-overclocking capability.
To conclude, it all down to which suits your requirements best and how much you are willing to let go.
Display
You want to enjoy your gameplay, to do that, the game should be pleasing to the eyes. The display monitor renders the game visually, how good it is rendered depends on the quality of the monitor. With display, factors should be considered when getting a laptop to meet your gaming requirements.
Screen resolution
The screen resolution defines the number of pixels on a display which is referred to as a pixel count. A higher resolution means more pixels, and more pixels mean more visual information may be displayed (This means your screen would look pretty awesome and realistic).
Don’t make the error of thinking the wider the display- the better the resolution. No, it doesn’t work that way. To know how much resolution your computer has, you would need to look up the specifications manual. It is usually written as “1028 x 768”. The higher the number the greater and better the resolution. Also look out for specifications that mention “HD, FHD” etc.
Many popular cards are fine for gaming at 1080p resolutions at 30-60 fps, but for resolutions near 4K with high in-game settings on the most demanding titles, you’ll need a high-end card. As a result, make sure your GPU is paired with the greatest gaming monitor for your needs.
Screen refresh rate
To get the most out of a monitor with triple-digit refresh rates, you’ll need a strong graphics card and processor. If your panel only supports 60Hz and 1080p, there’s little point in paying more for a powerful card that can push pixels faster than your display can handle.
As your screen refreshes the image faster, games will feel more responsive and fluid.
The smoother games feel, the higher the refresh rate of the monitor, but this isn’t necessarily the greatest option for everyone. Every day of the week, a 360Hz monitor will outperform a 144Hz monitor in terms of performance. Before you buy a high refresh rate monitor, you need to think about a few things. This will determine the maximum refresh rate your system can handle.
Hard disk speed
Not that important but can offer some minimal improvement to game performance. Modern hard disks are available in a variety of storage capacities. Smaller storage devices don’t make sense for gamers because of the installation needs of modern games. Typically, drives with capacities ranging from 500GB to 2TB are chosen depending on cost and performance. SSD capacity is beginning to overtake HDD capacity.
Both HDDs and SSDs are suitable for gaming. You should have no problems if your HDD has enough space to store your games (current games range from 20GB to 180GB for a single installation) and is fast enough to support the visuals.
In terms of gaming, HDDs fall short of SDDs in terms of load times. SSDs don’t have spinning elements, so they’re ready when you are, with speedier load times and a slew of other advantages.
Is fan one of the requirements for laptop gaming
Also, consider getting an external cooler for your laptop if you intend to do long hours of gaming on your system. Laptops are known for having very poor ventilation systems, this frequently causes the laptop to overheat. An overheated GPU and CPU would cause any laptop to trip off or initiate a process that might affect game performance. It’s not that important and there are certain adjustments you can make to reduce the heat but having an external fan pad would be great.
Bottom Line
For you to run heavy games on your laptop, it must meet a certain number of requirements. These criteria mostly comprise of physical components of the laptop such as the GPU, CPU, display, and others mentioned in this article. Of all the listed components listed here, the GPU is the most important component of the laptop with regards to gaming. Certain laptops are specifically built for gaming like the Lenovo legion 5 series. However, this can be very expensive.
Knowing what kind of games you would run on the system is the first step to make before getting a laptop that meets the gaming requirements.
