best laptops for college and gaming 2013 image
Roger
Could this laptop handle some intense gaming, such as 3D/online gaming?
Its a Toshiba Satellite S50-ABT2N22 Laptop
Specs:
ProcessorIntel® Core⢠i5-3337U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.70 GHz) with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology
Microsoft® Operating SystemWindows 8
Memory8GB DDR3 1600MHz (4GB + 4GB)
Hard Disk Drive500GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial ATA)
Graphics ControllerIntegrated Graphics
Optical DriveDVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive
Keyboard OptionsPremium Raised Tile Keyboard (black)
Speakerharman/kardon® stereo speakers
Wireless LAN & Bluetooth®Wi-Fi® Wireless networking (802.11b/g/n) (150Mbps)
Microsoft® Office Software1 month trial for new Office 365 customers
Anti-Virus SoftwareNorton⢠Internet Security 2013 (30-day trial subscription)
Standard Limited Warranty1 Year Standard Limited Warranty (1 Year on Battery)
if i were to replace the graphics card with a 2GB GDDR3 NVIDIA ® GeForce® GT 740M with Optimus⢠Technology then would it be suitable for gaming?
Answer
Integrated graphics is definitely not for gaming so definitely need a better graphics card.Toshiba Satellite P50-ABT2G22 can be a good choice.
Integrated graphics is definitely not for gaming so definitely need a better graphics card.Toshiba Satellite P50-ABT2G22 can be a good choice.
What to look for in a video card?
Rick Ross
I'm getting a new computer this year for college and i want to be able to play games on it. For now, i mostly just play minecraft but i want something capable of playing more graphics intensive games if i want.. The main thing i wanted to know is what makes for a good graphics card. I'm new to graphics cards and i don't really know what the numbers are or whether they're actually good.
Also, i just ordered my hp h8 with the stock HD 7570. Does anyone know if this would be sufficient for most of my needs?
Answer
The Radeon HD 7570 (which is just a renamed 6570) you've ordered is fine for Minecraft and can play most other games on medium settings fine. It can even play games like Call of Duty Black Ops/MW2, Rift and WoW on high (but not ultra) settings, so it should meet your needs.
For graphics cards, only one thing matters- actual performance.
Many people make the mistake of trying extrapolate performance from underlying specs. The truth is, that DOESN'T WORK. Picking cards based upon things like memory bandwidth, core & memory speeds, number of processor cores, amount of VRAM (which is actually one of the LEAST important specs) is an approach that backfires more often than not.
Graphics cards are much like CPUs/processors. Checking benchmarks & test results for the various models is the only reliable method for evaluating both.
For example, if someone tells you to pick between:
a) Quad-core, 3.2 Ghz, 6MB L3 cache
b) Dual-core, 3.3 Ghz, 3MB L3 cache
c) Quad-core, 3.0 Ghz, 6MB L3 cache
d) Hexacore, 3.0 Ghz, 6MB L3 cache
e) Quad-core, 3.6 Ghz, 8MB L3 cache
Those specs alone don't provide enough information, because different CPU architectures aren't equal- some are more powerful than others. For example, choice d the 6-core processor is actually the weakest for gaming- it's a Phenom II X4 1075T. Meanwhile choice b (Core i3 2120) outperforms a (Phenom II X4 955), d, and e (FX-4100) in most games. Choice c (Core i5 2320) is the best by a substantial margin. Knowing whether a processor is a Phenom II, Core 2 Duo, first-generation Core i7 or 2nd generation Core i5 gives us a better idea about it's performance level than the amount of cache, core count, or clock speed.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-fx-8120-6100-4100_6.html#sect0
Now that's just for illustration. With graphics cards it's similar. The biggest factor in graphics card performance is the GPU core that a card is based upon, but that's not reflected by any of the numerical specs. The only place the GPU core is reflected is the card model number- a GT 610 (which is just a renamed GT 520) is weaker than a GT 620 (which is a renamed GT 430) which is weaker than a GT 640, which is weaker than a GTX 650, which is weaker than a GTX 650 Ti or GTX 560, and so on. It doesn't matter if a GT 640 comes with 2GB of video memory compared to 1GB for a GTX 560, the latter is still a much more powerful card. A GT 640 isn't even fast enough to benefit from having that much VRAM.
The passmark rankings at http://www.videocardbenchmark.net are good for finding out what general category cards fall into, but those rankings are only rough estimates- they're not good for picking between cards which are close together.
That's because Nvidia and AMD use completely different GPU designs, and modify them from generation to generation. Some designs perform really well on specific benchmark tests, others don't. Sometimes cards which score slightly higher on Passmark are actually slower in real-world games than cards with a lower Passmark score.
Ultimately what matters isn't which cards perform best on synthetic tests, but which cards perform best in actual game titles. That's why your best resource will be reviews from sites like Anandtech, Techspot, Tom's Hardware, Techpowerup, Guru3D, Xbitlabs, Bit-Tech and Hot Hardware.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2013/03/26/nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti-boost-2gb-review/3
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/18.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gt-640-review,3214-4.html
For laptop/mobile graphics adapters, Notebookcheck has benchmark rankings and some in-game performance:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
For desktop cards, Tom's Hardware publishes a monthly roundup of best values in every price range. It's a good jumping off point because you can see which options fit your budget and then serch out reviews/tests for those models.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
Anandtech has a nice head-to-head comparison link here, just plug in the card models.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/680?vs=536
Good luck!
The Radeon HD 7570 (which is just a renamed 6570) you've ordered is fine for Minecraft and can play most other games on medium settings fine. It can even play games like Call of Duty Black Ops/MW2, Rift and WoW on high (but not ultra) settings, so it should meet your needs.
For graphics cards, only one thing matters- actual performance.
Many people make the mistake of trying extrapolate performance from underlying specs. The truth is, that DOESN'T WORK. Picking cards based upon things like memory bandwidth, core & memory speeds, number of processor cores, amount of VRAM (which is actually one of the LEAST important specs) is an approach that backfires more often than not.
Graphics cards are much like CPUs/processors. Checking benchmarks & test results for the various models is the only reliable method for evaluating both.
For example, if someone tells you to pick between:
a) Quad-core, 3.2 Ghz, 6MB L3 cache
b) Dual-core, 3.3 Ghz, 3MB L3 cache
c) Quad-core, 3.0 Ghz, 6MB L3 cache
d) Hexacore, 3.0 Ghz, 6MB L3 cache
e) Quad-core, 3.6 Ghz, 8MB L3 cache
Those specs alone don't provide enough information, because different CPU architectures aren't equal- some are more powerful than others. For example, choice d the 6-core processor is actually the weakest for gaming- it's a Phenom II X4 1075T. Meanwhile choice b (Core i3 2120) outperforms a (Phenom II X4 955), d, and e (FX-4100) in most games. Choice c (Core i5 2320) is the best by a substantial margin. Knowing whether a processor is a Phenom II, Core 2 Duo, first-generation Core i7 or 2nd generation Core i5 gives us a better idea about it's performance level than the amount of cache, core count, or clock speed.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-fx-8120-6100-4100_6.html#sect0
Now that's just for illustration. With graphics cards it's similar. The biggest factor in graphics card performance is the GPU core that a card is based upon, but that's not reflected by any of the numerical specs. The only place the GPU core is reflected is the card model number- a GT 610 (which is just a renamed GT 520) is weaker than a GT 620 (which is a renamed GT 430) which is weaker than a GT 640, which is weaker than a GTX 650, which is weaker than a GTX 650 Ti or GTX 560, and so on. It doesn't matter if a GT 640 comes with 2GB of video memory compared to 1GB for a GTX 560, the latter is still a much more powerful card. A GT 640 isn't even fast enough to benefit from having that much VRAM.
The passmark rankings at http://www.videocardbenchmark.net are good for finding out what general category cards fall into, but those rankings are only rough estimates- they're not good for picking between cards which are close together.
That's because Nvidia and AMD use completely different GPU designs, and modify them from generation to generation. Some designs perform really well on specific benchmark tests, others don't. Sometimes cards which score slightly higher on Passmark are actually slower in real-world games than cards with a lower Passmark score.
Ultimately what matters isn't which cards perform best on synthetic tests, but which cards perform best in actual game titles. That's why your best resource will be reviews from sites like Anandtech, Techspot, Tom's Hardware, Techpowerup, Guru3D, Xbitlabs, Bit-Tech and Hot Hardware.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2013/03/26/nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti-boost-2gb-review/3
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/18.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gt-640-review,3214-4.html
For laptop/mobile graphics adapters, Notebookcheck has benchmark rankings and some in-game performance:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
For desktop cards, Tom's Hardware publishes a monthly roundup of best values in every price range. It's a good jumping off point because you can see which options fit your budget and then serch out reviews/tests for those models.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
Anandtech has a nice head-to-head comparison link here, just plug in the card models.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/680?vs=536
Good luck!
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Title Post: Is this a good laptop for gaming and college?
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Rating: 100% based on 9998 ratings. 5 user reviews.
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Thanks For Coming To My Blog
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