Nerdistan

As PC’s get smaller and laptop computers increase in power the line between them gets blurred unless you take a look at the extreme sides of the spectrum. Desktop computers are getting streamlined and thin and notebooks, particularly for gaming and so called desktop replacements are getting bigger and more powerful. I think its getting to the point where the speed of laptop computers is able to compete with desktops. The price gap is also not as big as it used to be either. Laptop computers have declined considerably in price and this makes them a more appealing alternative as they have the added versatility of being wireless and mobile. No need to keep them set up in any particular area as with desktops that’s for sure. There is also a level of privacy and that personal feeling with laptops as they are not usually something shared with others. Desktop PC’s tend to be family purchases for all members of a family to use.

The graphics processor is one of the most important things to think about when buying a gaming laptop. Two options exist in this deparment. Nvidia or ATi? Since AMD aquired ATi things have slowed down for them where as Nvidia has been racing ahead without any restriction of bigger plans in place, only concentrating on releasing the fastest mobile graphics processors as rapidly as they can. This technology seems to be changing every single year and Nvidia seem to have the edge.

The processor, ram and video card are things to pay attention to when you are buying gaming laptops. You need a processor with a minimum speed of 2GHz and it should have 2 cores. Minimum requirements for ram are 2GB if running Vista but 3GB is recommended for the best performance. To play games you need to have a dedicated viedo card. Usually you get 256MB dedicated graphics ram. I think an Nvidia 8600M gpu should be good for playing all the latest games well. For hardcore gamers get only the top of the range graphics cards.

With the future of notebook computers looking bright it seems we will only see more and more innovations coming out over the next few years which will come in all form factors. Power users can now think of the gaming laptop as a serious choice. Cheap laptops are also getting advanced and more portable.