Gaming laptop to play minecraft

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Just get a laptop which uses an Intel HD 4400 graphics core. Minecraft isn't really that demanding and it will play fine. Here's a link to Minecraft being played on a Sony VIAO Duo 13 using the Intel HD 4400 @ 1920x1080 resolution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQjfTzpqG90

I tested Star Trek Online with the Intel HD 4400 (disabled the Radeon HD 8850m in my Dell Latitude) and it plays the game well enough on 1600x900 resolution with medium graphic settings.

The 14" Lenovo Z40 can be purchased for $579 directly from Lenovo. It is 4.6lbs so it should not be too heavy for a 10 year to carry for a short period of time if necessary. It sports a nVidia GT 820m and it also has a 1920x1080 resolution screen (you can always lower it)...

gazum123

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Nov 4, 2011
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INdeed a budget would be good.

For minecraft it isn't very gpu hungry so it doesn't need anything too fancy a 620m would work. Your really looking at a laptop with a faster single thread performace and also clock speed. If you can get a 3ghz+ i5 that would really help especailly if he goes into modpacks.
 

Joeteoh99

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Jul 20, 2014
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Although Minecraft doesn't focus too much if the graphics, the 620M will not do well. Never get a graphics card below a 650M or 750M or 850M, they are not suitable for gaming.
 
It will depend on the settings you are looking to play the game at. If you are a casual gamer that doesn't care about graphics then a laptop with a gt 640m or intel hd 4600 graphics should be enough. If you want mid to high range then anything higher than the gt 650m should be enough.
 
Just get a laptop which uses an Intel HD 4400 graphics core. Minecraft isn't really that demanding and it will play fine. Here's a link to Minecraft being played on a Sony VIAO Duo 13 using the Intel HD 4400 @ 1920x1080 resolution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQjfTzpqG90

I tested Star Trek Online with the Intel HD 4400 (disabled the Radeon HD 8850m in my Dell Latitude) and it plays the game well enough on 1600x900 resolution with medium graphic settings.

The 14" Lenovo Z40 can be purchased for $579 directly from Lenovo. It is 4.6lbs so it should not be too heavy for a 10 year to carry for a short period of time if necessary. It sports a nVidia GT 820m and it also has a 1920x1080 resolution screen (you can always lower it).

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/z-series/z40/#customize

There's also the 14" ThinkPad E440 for $556. It's a business laptop and ThinkPads are generally designed to be a bit more rugged than their consumer laptops, plus you get corporate level tech support should you need it. However, there is a cost... there is no dedicated graphics chip (not that you need one for Minecraft) and it has a 1366x768 resolution screen. It comes with a Core i3-4000m which has the Intel HD 4600 graphics core. It's more powerful than the HD 4400, but not powerful as the nVidia GT 820m.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/e-series/e440


Lastly, there is the 15.6" ThinkPad E545 selling for $479, however, I recommend that you spend the extra $70 to upgrade the APU to the AMD quad core A10-5750m for a total cost of $546. That APU comes with the Radeon HD 8650g which was the most powerful integrated graphic core until AMD released the Kaveri generation APU not long ago. It is a little bit more powerful than the nVidia GT 820m. Again, it only has a 1366x768 resolution. The default AMD dual core APU has a pretty weak integrated graphics core... much weaker than the Intel HD 4400.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/e-series/e545/

Note: The ThinkPads only come with 4GB of RAM while the Z40 laptop comes with 8GBs of RAM. You can increase the RAM to 8GB for an additional $80, or can purchase a 4GB stick of RAM yourself and install it yourself for $45 - $50.


Of the three laptops, the Z40 offers the bang for the buck. However, if you prefer to have a laptop that is a bit more rugged (I don't recommend throwing across the room), then the ThinkPads may be worth looking into.
 
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