Buying the Best Gaming Laptop

If you're in the market for a new gaming laptop there are some certain things you should look out for. This article will explain the various factors you should consider when buying the best laptop for your gaming needs.

Processor

The processor inside your laptop will have a lot of influence on how your games will play. You will need a fairly fast processor to be able to run the latest games at good quality. I would recommend a dual core processor, such as an Intel Core Duo or an Intel Core 2 Duo if you can get your hands on that. You should also make sure the processor has a speed of at least 2.0 GHz or so.

Memory

The amount of memory (also known as RAM) is another key factor in choosing your gaming laptop. The more memory you have onboard your laptop, the faster your games and other programs will run. I would aim for a minimum of 1 gig of memory, but at least 2 gigs if you’re going to play the latest games.

Hard Drive

The size of the hard drive will determine how much you can store on your laptop. 60, 80, and 120 gigs are common sizes, although you can certainly find larger. The size of your laptop’s hard drive may not be that much of a concern because you can always get an external hard drive later on and store all your files on there without clogging up your laptop’s hard drive.

Graphics Card

This is perhaps the most important component in a gaming laptop. Without a dedicated graphics card, your laptop won’t be able to create the surreal 3D graphics that the latest computer games offer you. Avoid a laptop with ‘integrated graphics’.

You usually cannot upgrade a graphics card in a laptop computer, so be sure you buy a laptop with a good graphics card. The two main types of graphics cards around today are the ATI Radeon and the NVIDIA GeForce series. Be sure to get one of these cards inside your laptop. If you’re going for a GeForce card, get at least a GeForce 7400 or a GeForce 7600.

Screen

The size of the screen is something to keep in mind too. The larger the screen, the better the viewing experience. But they are also quite more expensive as you go up in size. Laptop screen sizes range from 14" to 15", all the way to 17" and above.

Operating System

Window’s Vista has recently been released so most newer laptops have it installed. If you have any reasons to go with Windows XP instead there’s nothing wrong with that. XP will still be widely used for quite a while, until Vista takes over the reigns.

Drives and Ports

Most laptops these days have a DVD burner built in already, so you shouldn’t need to worry about your laptop not having one. And take note of how many USB ports the laptop has. The more the better. If you need special ports such as Firewire or Bluetooth, then check for these as well.

Hopefully you should now have a better idea of what to look for in your new gaming laptop. Keep in mind that there are no tricks in buying a good laptop, you pretty much get what you pay for.

If you want to know more about gaming laptop computers then check out Julien’s website on how to Build Gaming Computers.