If you’re looking to buy a laptop, you may have noticed that laptops with graphics cards are more expensive. Many people aren’t sure if they should spend the extra money or not. You might be asking, “should I get a laptop with a graphics card?”
A laptop with a graphics card will come in handy if you want to do low-profile gaming on your laptop, or if you’re a graphics designer, photographer, or digital artist.
But should the average consumer get them? Is it even worth it to buy a laptop with a graphics card? In this post, we’ll look at these things in detail. Let’s get started.
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Should I Get A Laptop with Graphics Card?
If you require better graphics performance from your laptop, you should purchase one with a graphics card. Most people think they’re powerful enough and can use them to do everyday tasks without thinking twice. They do, however, have some drawbacks, as do most things.
There are a few things to consider before purchasing a laptop with graphics cards—
Lower Performance
When it comes to performance, laptops can’t compete with PCs. A laptop with a graphics card will not be as powerful as a PC. You will notice lag spikes, software running a bit slowly, and your graphics card becoming bottlenecked more often than not.
So, if you buy a laptop with a graphics card, you should know that it will only work at a mid-level level. If you need to do something that takes a lot of power, you should look at an alternative option. Don’t worry; we’ll get to it later in this article.
Battery Life
When purchasing a laptop with a graphics card, battery life is an important factor to consider. Your laptop must power the GPU in the same way that it powers other components. This will use up a lot of power from our battery.
It takes a lot of power to run graphics apps. If you run graphics-intensive apps for extended periods of time, your battery life will gradually deplete. Because the battery life of a laptop is limited, this becomes a major issue.
When there is a power outage, performance suffers as well.
GPU Compatibility Issues
This is another significant issue. As laptops aren’t as powerful as PCs, most top-tier, latest-generation graphics cards aren’t supported with them. Even if they are, you will have to pay a little more for them.
Non-Upgradable
Say you buy a laptop today, but in a few years, you find that its graphics card isn’t strong enough to run your important apps. This wouldn’t be a problem for desktop computers, since you could just swap out and upgrade the parts you need.
However, unlike PC parts, laptop parts cannot be upgraded. This is probably the biggest disadvantage of purchasing a laptop with a graphics card. The GPU that comes with your laptop will be the one you have for the rest of your life.
So, if you’re going to buy a laptop with a graphics card, make sure it’s powerful enough and will work for you for at least 5 years.
When Should You Get A Laptop with GPU?
In some cases, laptops with dedicated GPUs are an excellent choice. If you fall into one of the following categories, a laptop with a GPU is a good choice.
Casual Gaming
Gaming is everyone’s favorite computer activity. It’s easy to get lost in video games and forget about the stresses of real life.
If you like to play games for fun on occasion and consider yourself a casual gamer, a laptop with a GPU would be perfect for you. Even though laptops can’t handle heavy-duty games like PCs can, most casual and mid-level games run pretty well on them.
A fun hobby could be playing games every now and then. Like the famous saying “everything in moderation,” playing games on your laptop in moderation won’t hurt you in the long run.
Graphic Designer/Video Editor
You’ll need a laptop with a graphics card if you enjoy graphics design or video editing as a hobby or as a profession.
The marvel of the twenty-first century is that every job is now remote. Graphic design and video editing are two jobs that can be done from anywhere in the world. And for a remote job, you’ll need a remote computer — the laptop.
Graphics design and video editing don’t require a lot of heavy graphics. Most of the time, getting work done is easy if you have enough RAM and a decently powerful GPU.
If you’re looking for a laptop to use for graphics editing work, make sure it comes with a GPU. This is just what you need.
Digital Artist
Digital art encompasses a wide range of disciplines, including 3D rendering, high-resolution image processing, and much more. Professionals in this field have the option of picking a laptop with a graphics card.
However, one disadvantage is that digital art usually requires a lot of graphics processing. When rendering too large files with lots of small details, your laptop’s GPU might slow down quickly.
For professional-level digital art, you might need to spend more money on a high-end GPU and CPU instead of a cheaper one.
Other Cases
If you are an architect, you’ll need a laptop with a GPU. Architects need to use complex software like Adobe AutoCAD, which needs a powerful graphics processor.
Similarly, research scientists benefit from GPU graphics processing power. As graphics cards can effortlessly solve complex mathematical equations, many scientists use them for their work.
GPUs are also useful for more amusing occupations such as cryptocurrency mining. Crypto miners use computers to solve hard math problems, just like research scientists do. In this situation, a GPU can help crypto miners in the same way that it can help scientists.
Overall, getting a laptop with a GPU is not a bad idea at all if your job requires the execution of a GPU.
Is Gaming on A Laptop A Good Idea?
Gaming is a major reason why people consider getting laptops with graphics cards.
People of all ages like to play their favorite games and make friends and happy memories while doing so.
But is it a good idea to play games on a laptop?
Most of the time, you can play light games on a laptop.
However, when it comes to running slightly more complicated and heavy games, laptops can sometimes struggle.
The Downsides of Laptop Gaming
To help you decide, let’s look at some of the things that don’t work well with gaming on a laptop.
Lag Issues
As previously stated, laptops cannot compete with PCs when it comes to running heavy games and software.
As a result, lag issues may be common if you choose to run a slightly graphics-heavy game on your laptop. The game may be choppy, and the overall frame-rate count will be lower.
You’ll need a more powerful CPU and GPU to avoid lag spikes. This can affect prices. However, if you can afford it, this will not be an issue.
Overheating and Heat Dissipation Issue
Compared to other devices, laptops heat up quite a bit. This is because of the small size of the device. This could cause problems because when a laptop gets too hot, the parts inside slowly start to fail.
Getting rid of heat is another problem. Due to the lack of ventilation in a laptop, all the heat within it is unable to escape. Large cooling fans for the CPU and GPU are impossible to fit, which becomes an issue.
When your laptop’s parts get too hot and the heat stays inside, the overall performance goes down and games have trouble running. To fix this, you can buy a laptop cooling pad that can manually pull heat out of the laptop and help it run better.
Less storage space
Laptops have limited storage space and can be slow at times. Due to its small size and lack of upgradeability, a laptop can’t usually have terabytes of storage. This usually means they have either a slow HDD or a faster, but limited, SSD storage option.
Games must constantly read and write data to the memory. If your memory isn’t fast enough, you may experience poor gaming performance.
To avoid this, ensure that your laptop has enough SSD storage. Also, when installing a game, make sure it’s on an SSD rather than an HDD.
Insufficient RAM
The majority of people buy low-cost laptops with less RAM, such as 4 GB or 8 GB. This is a pretty low number when it comes to games.
Games take up a lot of memory. To get maximum performance, the majority of your games have to run on the RAM. Unfortunately, this isn’t possible with some laptops. As a result, you may notice a decrease in frame rate and overall performance.
Display Resolution
The majority of laptops have a low screen resolution. They typically have 720p screens with a maximum refresh rate of 60 Hz.
This isn’t ideal for gaming. For the best experience, you need a sharp 1080p or maybe 1440p display and a high refresh rate, like 90 Hz or 120 Hz. Unfortunately, most laptops cannot afford such features.
When it comes to gaming on a laptop, we recommend sticking to light games. You’ll be able to save the components of your laptop and have the best experience possible this way.
When you stick to low-intensity, light gaming, the issues mentioned above won’t have as much of an impact on your gaming. As previously stated, “everything in moderation.”
Best Solution for Gamers: Gaming Laptops
We’ve talked about how gaming on regular laptops isn’t a good idea up to this point in the article.
Even if your laptop has a graphics card, other factors may prevent you from getting the best performance from it.
But what are your options if you’re a die-hard gamer?
Fortunately, serious gamers can purchase gaming laptops.
Gaming laptops are extremely powerful devices that can match the hardware and performance of many high-end PCs.
They can handle the most intense graphics work and can run even the most demanding games ever made.
Check out the list of:
- Best Gaming Laptops Under $600
- Best Gaming Laptops Under $700
- Best Gaming Laptops Under $800
- Best Gaming Laptops Under $1000
- Best Gaming Laptops Under $1500
- Best Gaming Laptops Under $2000
- Best Gaming Laptops Under $2500
Why Gaming Laptops are Perfect for Playing Games
Let’s go over some of the reasons why gaming laptops excel at any gaming or graphics-intensive work.
Superior Performance
Because of their powerful CPUs and top-of-the-line GPUs, gaming laptops do not experience lag like regular work laptops. They also have better GPU compatibility than standard laptops.
Low Temperature
Because gaming laptops are typically thicker and can house multiple cooling fans for both the GPU and CPU, heat dissipation isn’t an issue.
More RAM and faster storage
Slower storage is also not an issue, as gaming laptops have large and fast SSD storage, such as 1 TB SSDs. They also have more RAM, such as 32 GB or even 64 GB, which allows them to breeze through any task with ease.
Vibrant Screens
Finally, gaming laptops reign supreme in terms of screen resolution. Many of them support 144 Hz gaming with a compatible GPU, allowing you to have the best gaming experience possible.
All things considered, you should get a gaming laptop if regular laptops with a graphics card don’t work well for you or if you want the best gaming experience.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can laptop graphics cards be replaced?
They aren’t, unfortunately. Laptop graphics cards are permanently installed and cannot be removed or replaced. The GPU that comes with your laptop is the only one it will ever have.
Before you buy a laptop, double-check the graphics card model because you’ll be stuck with it for a long time.
What can I do to make my laptop’s graphics more powerful?
Although you can’t upgrade a laptop’s graphics card, you can use an eGPU to boost its performance. An external graphics card, also known as an eGPU, is a device that connects to your laptop via a USB cable and boosts its graphics performance. They’re made specifically for laptops and work perfectly with them. Learn more about upgrading your gaming laptop here.
Can I play games on my work laptop?
Most likely, you can’t. Work laptops typically have a good processor but a poor graphics card. And you can’t play games well without a GPU.
Having said that, see if your work laptop has a dedicated GPU. Work laptops may have graphics cards that are low or mid-level. You can use it without any trouble to play light games.
Should I buy a gaming laptop as a student?
Yes, you can. As a student, the only bad thing about getting a gaming laptop is that it is heavy. Since gaming laptops have more hardware than regular laptops, they are heavier. This makes it a little hard to move them around.
However, this should not be a problem because the weight gain is usually only a couple of pounds. You can still use the laptop on your lap and take it to class without any problems.
Final Thoughts
You should now be able to determine whether you should purchase a laptop with a graphics card.
Finally, even if you don’t need a graphics card on your laptop, we suggest getting one if you can afford it. Graphics cards help a computer run faster and better overall.
If you have a dedicated GPU on your laptop, you will have a smoother gaming and photo/video editing experience. We hope you will make wise decisions. Cheers!
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