Mobile GPUs and Laptop LCD's - what to look for in a gaming laptop?

[Idontcare]

Kinda clueless when it comes to the mobile GPU landscape but I'd love to get a laptop that can play Dragon Age (and preferably Dragon Age II when it is released) with all the eye-candy turned on while plugged into the wall.

Not looking for gaming while on battery.

Is the current gen of mobile graphics chips up to this task on say a 15" 1440x900 or 17" 1920x1080?

For example, this ASUS G72 laptop...with those specs should I expect to be able to comfortably play dragon age?

Also, is the LCD up to the task? Or are laptop LCD's still pretty much crap when it comes to ghosting and so on?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Wait for LLiano.

 

[Wreckage]

Well that's not a current gen graphics chip. Something more like this, maybe.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220869

(That was just a quick search for a Laptop with a DX11 card that was not too expensive).

 

[apoppin]

Kinda clueless when it comes to the mobile GPU landscape but I'd love to get a laptop that can play Dragon Age (and preferably Dragon Age II when it is released) with all the eye-candy turned on while plugged into the wall.

Not looking for gaming while on battery.

Is the current gen of mobile graphics chips up to this task on say a 15" 1440x900 or 17" 1920x1080?

For example, this ASUS G72 laptop...with those specs should I expect to be able to comfortably play dragon age?

Also, is the LCD up to the task? Or are laptop LCD's still pretty much crap when it comes to ghosting and so on?

AMD and Nvidia just released the HD 6000 series and GTX 500 M series at CES this week. i got to check them out yesterday.

As i understand it, basically a HD 6970 M is equal to HD 6870 desktop GPU performance-wise and the GTX 585 M is close to a desktop GTX 470 in performance.

So the new mobile chips are damn fast. And you can get SLI or Crossfired notebooks - eyefinity can even work with your AMD notebook. The LCD is usually of high quality in the best enthusiast notebooks and you can have 1920x1280 resolution.

The issue is price. They are quite expensive compared to their desktop counterparts. i am looking forward to evaluating notebooks from AMD and Nvidia's partners pretty soon.

 

[mnewsham]

AMD and Nvidia just released the HD 6000 series and GTX 500 M series

Basically a HD 6970M is equal to HD 6870 desktop performance-wise and the GTX 585 M is a GTX 470 in performance.

Most people dont have a budget of 3k+ for a laptop, i just want a nice 15.6 inch screen with the 555M personally :awe:
Just need to find a decent price on one now.

 

[apoppin]

Most people dont have a budget of 3k+ for a laptop, i just want a nice 15.6 inch screen with the 555M personally :awe:
Just need to find a decent price on one now.

Did the OP mention "budget" ? My answer is not all about "you"

He asked for the state of *current* mobile GPUs and i got him the very latest news. What is now coming available is quite fast.
:whiste:

However, i will quote myself again:

The issue is price. They are quite expensive compared to their desktop counterparts.

 

[mnewsham]

Did the OP mention "budget" ? My answer is not all about "you"

He asked for the state of *current* mobile GPUs and i got him the very latest news. What is now coming available is quite fast.
:whiste:

However, i will quote myself again:

You must have ninja'd me, when i posted the 2nd half of your post wasn't there.

 

[happy medium]

Dragons Age recommended system...

Recommended Specifications

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space

And Dragons Age 2

Recommended:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz Processor or equivalent, AMD Phenom II X3 Triple core 2.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 2GB (4 GB Vista and Windows 7)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater, NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DirectX 11: ATI 5850 or greater, NVIDIA 460 or greater
.

 

[mnewsham]

Dragons Age recommended system...

Recommended Specifications

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space

Dragon Age 2 comes out in march.

 

[Wreckage]

Dragons Age recommended system...

Recommended Specifications

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space

DAII however....

Recommended:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz Processor or equivalent
CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 Triple core 2.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 2GB (4 GB Vista and Windows 7)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
Video: NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DirectX 11: ATI 5850 or greater
DirectX 11: NVIDIA 460 or greater

 

[Skurge]

Dragons Age recommended system...

Recommended Specifications

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space

And Dragons Age 2

Recommended:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz Processor or equivalent, AMD Phenom II X3 Triple core 2.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 2GB (4 GB Vista and Windows 7)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater, NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DirectX 11: ATI 5850 or greater, NVIDIA 460 or greater
.

It would interesting to see what DX11 stuff is in the game.

 

[happy medium]

I'd grab something like this.

ASUS G73Jh

Anand review.....
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3662/asus-g73jha2-affordable-xlsized-gaming/10


Price? about $1,500
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...JXMYZPXSRSV6Q0

 

[apoppin]

You must have ninja'd me, when i posted the 2nd half of your post wasn't there.

:ninja:

Me?
()

If the OP is not in a big hurry, i'd suggest he wait. Even if the 6000M series or GTX 500M series is too expensive, there will be a lot of older series GPU laptops probably going on sale pretty soon.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-550M.42264.0.html

You'll want the GPU in the laptop to be class 1. They list them in a rough order.

You'll want to get a quad core processor at the least, and the i7s will be the fastest.

A lower resolution will be less demanding on the video card.

 

[Idontcare]

Wait for LLiano.

Will Llano have enough oomph to push DAII? Or are you mentioning this option more from the "this will drop prices on everything even if you don't actually buy one for yourself" perspective?

I'd grab something like this.

ASUS G73Jh

Anand review.....
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3662/asus-g73jha2-affordable-xlsized-gaming/10


Price? about $1,500
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...JXMYZPXSRSV6Q0

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-550M.42264.0.html

You'll want the GPU in the laptop to be class 1. They list them in a rough order.

You'll want to get a quad core processor at the least, and the i7s will be the fastest.

A lower resolution will be less demanding on the video card.

Thanks guys! :thumbsup: Definitely tells me the price-range and answers the LCD quality question. Very much appreciated.

AMD and Nvidia just released the HD 6000 series and GTX 500 M series at CES this week. i got to check them out yesterday.

As i understand it, basically a HD 6970 M is equal to HD 6870 desktop GPU performance-wise and the GTX 585 M is close to a desktop GTX 470 in performance.

So the new mobile chips are damn fast. And you can get SLI or Crossfired notebooks - eyefinity can even work with your AMD notebook. The LCD is usually of high quality in the best enthusiast notebooks and you can have 1920x1280 resolution.

The issue is price. They are quite expensive compared to their desktop counterparts. i am looking forward to evaluating notebooks from AMD and Nvidia's partners pretty soon.

I see, I see. My timing would probably be around June, so hopefully that means the majority of the goodies that are going to come to the mobile market from the 32nm CPU + 40nm GPU generation will be available. AMD might not have their 32nm CPU products in the field then, but I'm thinking that a mobile Sandy Bridge will probably be an adequate choice if I am left with no other competitive choice at the time.

My price target is $1500 but I'd splurge to the upside if it made the difference between a 15" or a 17" screen. I'm not looking for an uber gaming laptop, but I know I will want to be able to play DAII on it so I am willing to wait 6-9 months if that is what it takes to time my purchase in alignment with the technology availability and pricepoints.

 

[Wreckage]

AMD might not have their 32nm CPU products in the field then, but I'm thinking that a mobile Sandy Bridge will probably be an adequate choice if I am left with no other competitive choice at the time.

I would suggest a discrete graphics card for optimal gaming.

 

[Idontcare]

I would suggest a discrete graphics card for optimal gaming.

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply I was looking to SB for its integrated GPU capabilities, just that the CPU itself would meet the horsepower requirement.

If mobile SB can't then I doubt Llano will. And we are way to far out to even contemplate the merits of mobile Bulldozer at this time.

 

[Lonyo]

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply I was looking to SB for its integrated GPU capabilities, just that the CPU itself would meet the horsepower requirement.

If mobile SB can't then I doubt Llano will. And we are way to far out to even contemplate the merits of mobile Bulldozer at this time.

Well looking for SB might be worthwhile if you want a usable laptop which you can also game on, with an NV discrete card in there as well, for the power switching thing.

If you only really want gaming and don't care about battery life then you could consider AMD, but really if you want a portable laptop with reasonable battery life, something NV + Intel is the way to go.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I'll revise my statement: Even Intel's Core i3 or i5 dual core + hyperthreading processors would be acceptable, if you were trying to decide between one of those and one of AMD's quad cores. The Core iX series rules mobile CPUs, and Dragon Age should be no different since it seems to like the Core iX series too. So you could probably go for an Intel Core iX, any class 1 GPU, and a resolution of 1600x900 to get a good experience. 1366x768 resolution is very common on sub-$1000 laptops, so if price is a concern then you'd have to settle for this resolution with gaming hardware in a laptop, because that's just about all anyone offers. 1080p resolutions are typically more expensive, especially when paired with adequte gaming hardware.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

My best advice is to spend money. Sounds like you want a good gamer with a nice screen. No way around it except it's gonna cost. You try to go cheap and I guarantee they've cut some corners somewhere. Expect to spend minimum $1200 with the super high end near $2000. Right now best gamer for the money is the g73's. The 1080p screens faired pretty well in the anandtech reviews. A high end 1080p is a must.

 

[Wreckage]

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply I was looking to SB for its integrated GPU capabilities, just that the CPU itself would meet the horsepower requirement.

If mobile SB can't then I doubt Llano will. And we are way to far out to even contemplate the merits of mobile Bulldozer at this time.

Yeah SB + Optimus would be pretty sweet.

 

[ugaboga232]

If you want a 15.6 incher that has some semblance of portability and battery life (though not much) the new p150 Clevo (find it on xoticpc.com) has a 485m (which is a 2gb, low clock 560), new sandy bridges, and an 8 cell battery. It is 2000 for a good build however. The 485m looks to be about about 40-50% faster than the last gen mobility cards. It should come out end of january.


If you want something cheaper, I would look at MSI, Asus, and Sager. I have a gx640 with a 5850 which I can oc to 5870+ speeds if need be and it is light and has good battery life for its size. You can probably pick it up for cheap but I recommend rkcomputers for its heatsink upgrades. The g73 and g53 are the good asus gaming laptops. Clevo has the w860 and w880 for last gen, and the p150 and p170 for the next gen.


Pricewise, the gx640 is pretty close to 1000 to 1200 for a good system that should last a while (it has pretty much the equivalent to a 5770 as the gpu). The new 6970 is basically a 6850 desktop gpu while the 485 is a lowclocked 560 (just reiterating, but the 485m will draw a good bit more power it seems).