What Games Can Ultrabooks Really Play?

[Julio Franco]

Integrated graphics in most ultraportables are not as useless as they once were. It is actually possible to game on an ultrabook, it's just a matter of choosing the game and its settings carefully. We've tested 34 games on a ThinkPad X1 Carbon to give you an idea of what games are actually playable on modern ultraportables.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/article/1446-play-games-ultraportable-laptop/

 

[SirDigby]

I'd like to see a version of this done with a laptop using a GTX 940M, as this is common in the laptops that are meant for light gaming, but aren't considered 'gaming' laptops.
I got mine for £600, i5, 8GB RAM, 940M etc, where gaming laptops normally start at £900.

 

[Evernessince]

I'd like to see a version of this done with a laptop using a GTX 940M, as this is common in the laptops that are meant for light gaming, but aren't considered 'gaming' laptops.
I got mine for £600, i5, 8GB RAM, 940M etc, where gaming laptops normally start at £900.

Your results will be similar to the ones posted in this article.

 

[Humza]

That's a good number of games, though I'd have liked to see how Metro 2033/Last Light fared. Just for fun, I don't intend to buy one these. hehe.

 

[Andy Jones]

I'd like to see a version of this done with a laptop using a GTX 940M, as this is common in the laptops that are meant for light gaming, but aren't considered 'gaming' laptops.
I got mine for £600, i5, 8GB RAM, 940M etc, where gaming laptops normally start at £900.

Your results will be similar to the ones posted in this article.

Unlikely, the U processors generally hit their power envelope limit and throttle before anything else (I have an i5-6267u for example, it happens all the time!) the GPU having its own separate power envelope is a massive advantage, plus the fact ram is not shared with the GPU.

 

[Steed]

I'd like to see a version of this done with a laptop using a GTX 940M, as this is common in the laptops that are meant for light gaming, but aren't considered 'gaming' laptops.
I got mine for £600, i5, 8GB RAM, 940M etc, where gaming laptops normally start at £900.

Your results will be similar to the ones posted in this article.

Dont aim lower than a GTX 950M ....
The passmark scores put it at nearly double the Intel HD 620

GeForce GTX 950M 1,807
Intel HD 620 945

 

[Bas Keur]

That's why the most super exclusive super sport car models will sit your *** on a carbon bucket with a leather strap to close the doors. It has one purpose, being mobile. Stream with Steam or go with an external GPU and take the 15% loss. Or don't, and get a heavy mofo.

 

[bobalazs]

This was a much needed test, thank you for it!

 

[Nobina]

Mobile GPUs are something I would avoid. If you get a laptop just go with integrated GPU cause dedicated ones are the first thing that will die and with it you can just throw that laptop in the bin. They offer little performance increase, run hotter (which is the main reason they die so easily) and use up a lot of battery. You're not getting a gaming laptop anyway so you can probably live with iGPU performance. Cons outweigh the pros IMO so I would just avoid them. This is just my experience if someone has a good record with dedicated GPUs in laptops then sure, go ahead.

 

[ET3D]

I'm waiting to see what AMD brings to the table with Raven Ridge. For now, I'm pretty happy with my Dell XPS 13 (Core i5-6200U). I've had more problems with graphical glitches than with performance for the games I tried, but at least Intel is fixing them (the bug in Life is Strange got fixed).

By the way, thanks for the article. This will help me know some more what to expect from the XPS 13.

 

[Reehahs]

The U in these processors stands for "Useless".

 

[Igrecman]

No word in the article about how hot the laptops get?
That's the first thing that is making me pass on buying one for gaming

 

[senorroboto]

I'd like to see a version of this done with a laptop using a GTX 940M, as this is common in the laptops that are meant for light gaming, but aren't considered 'gaming' laptops.
I got mine for £600, i5, 8GB RAM, 940M etc, where gaming laptops normally start at £900.

Your results will be similar to the ones posted in this article.

I disagree, the 940M should be between 20%-80% faster than the HD 620 in the i5-7200U, depending on the game/benchmark used.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

This list would look a whole lot better if companies would just use the iris chips intel makes. Why every company goes with the inferior 620 over the 640/650 is beyond me.

Maybe once AMD gets its rear end into gear and releases a competent APU, we will finally advance past 2012 era integrated graphics.

I'd like to see a version of this done with a laptop using a GTX 940M, as this is common in the laptops that are meant for light gaming, but aren't considered 'gaming' laptops.
I got mine for £600, i5, 8GB RAM, 940M etc, where gaming laptops normally start at £900.

Your results will be similar to the ones posted in this article.

I disagree, the 940M should be between 20%-80% faster than the HD 620 in the i5-7200U, depending on the game/benchmark used.

Absolutely. Games tell a very different story then artificial benches. Real games heavily favor the 940m.

 

[Evernessince]

I disagree, the 940M should be between 20%-80% faster than the HD 620 in the i5-7200U, depending on the game/benchmark used.

Wow, you managed to disagree with my point and agree with it at the same time.

I said "Your results will be similar to the ones posted in this article."

20 - 80% will still net you similar findings to which the article found.

"While ultraportables aren’t as suited to gaming as true gaming laptops, it’s still possible to play a wide variety of games on the integrated graphics you’ll find inside. Trade-offs will have to be made: resolution, quality levels and frame rates, but with the right kind of expectations your nimble business machine can deliver decent, playable results -- and that's kind of the idea."

So tell me that the above does not hold true for the 940M. Seriously, why do people always have to nit-pick to try and prove a point.

 

[Nero7]

Well mine has an i7 7500U and a 940MX but the results aren't much better. Like it is maybe twice as powerful or so but you still can't play anything that isn't like 10 years old or uses 2D graphics.

That's a good number of games, though I'd have liked to see how Metro 2033/Last Light fared. Just for fun, I don't intend to buy one these. hehe.

Below 10 fps on the lowest possible settings. Or maybe they wouldn't launch at all.

Mine can do Stalker CoP on medium with like 30fps. Modern Warfare 3 runs on low in 720p also with about 30fps. Shockingly Age of Empires 3 is also on low - medium and 30fps.

 

[RevD14]

I'd like to see a version of this done with a laptop using a GTX 940M, as this is common in the laptops that are meant for light gaming, but aren't considered 'gaming' laptops.
I got mine for £600, i5, 8GB RAM, 940M etc, where gaming laptops normally start at £900.

What Ultrabook is that? I've been looking for a 13.3 with a 940M but can only find the Asus Zenbook UX303UB.

 

[SirDigby]

Dont aim lower than a GTX 950M ....
The passmark scores put it at nearly double the Intel HD 620

GeForce GTX 950M 1,807
Intel HD 620 945

Well it's a bit late now I've owned it for a year. :')

 

[SirDigby]

What Ultrabook is that? I've been looking for a 13.3 with a 940M but can only find the Asus Zenbook UX303UB.

It's an ASUS K501UB 15.6 inch Notebook, with i5-6200U. The HDD is shite so I swapped out with a 250GB SSD and runs pretty well.

 

[SameScene]

Well it's a bit late now I've owned it for a year. :')

I guess it is good enough as long as you do not stick with hardcore gaming. I even have an Intel USB stick for playing Retro games.

 

[Danny101]

So AAA gaming on normal laptops are about 5 years behind

 

[SirDigby]

I guess it is good enough as long as you do not stick with hardcore gaming. I even have an Intel USB stick for playing Retro games.

I do have a gaming PC as well, so it really is only for light gaming or seeing me through the odd training course with work.

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

You can't take one laptop and generalize it's results over a whole category. You also have other factors that weigh into a game's performance, such as RAM speed, drive speed, LAN speed, NIC speed, server speed, heating/cooling, OS and OS version, dedicated GPUs or various brands, etc. This isn't a test of any significance.

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

I'd like to see a version of this done with a laptop using a GTX 940M, as this is common in the laptops that are meant for light gaming, but aren't considered 'gaming' laptops.
I got mine for £600, i5, 8GB RAM, 940M etc, where gaming laptops normally start at £900.

Your results will be similar to the ones posted in this article.

I'd like to see a version of this done with a laptop using a GTX 940M, as this is common in the laptops that are meant for light gaming, but aren't considered 'gaming' laptops.
I got mine for £600, i5, 8GB RAM, 940M etc, where gaming laptops normally start at £900.

Your results will be similar to the ones posted in this article.

No they won't. There's a HUGE difference between the Intel GPUs on these laptops and a dedicated GPU from NVidia or AMD.

 

[Evernessince]

No they won't. There's a HUGE difference between the Intel GPUs on these laptops and a dedicated GPU from NVidia or AMD.

People really don't know how to read.

""While ultraportables aren’t as suited to gaming as true gaming laptops, it’s still possible to play a wide variety of games on the integrated graphics you’ll find inside. Trade-offs will have to be made: resolution, quality levels and frame rates, but with the right kind of expectations your nimble business machine can deliver decent, playable results -- and that's kind of the idea.""

Like I said, the summary of the article still holds true for the 940M. Serious trade off must still be made. Also, the 940M is a low end GPU. If your definition of huge is 40% or less, I'd call you hyperbolic.