HD graphics or Nvidia graphics in laptops (Performance/Battery life)

Yuki Core

Honorable
Aug 1, 2013
25
0
10,590
I am looking for a laptop with good battery life, and normal performance, so that I would be still able to play e.g. Guild Wars 2 in low graphics settings or better.

HD 4600 seems the most powerful from the intel graphics chips, which are supposed to use less power. But most laptops with HD 4600 still get about 1:20 Hours on load. I don't understand. Is win8.1 really so badly optimised that it gets half the battery life chopped off, compared to OSX.

It only gets worse with laptop's equipped with GPU's like 840m or 850m. Although they are only about 300grams heavier because of it, and they get quite similar battery life.

Lenovo G510 - i5 4200M - 48Wh battery - 2.5Kg - Tomb Raider low : 39.6 fp/s - 1h 34m on load
Asus X750LN - i7 4500U - 44Wh battery - 2.8Kg - Tomb Raider low : 129.1 fp/s - 1h 17m on load
(Results found @ Notebookcheck.net)

What's the point of HD graphics? This doesn't make any sense!!! Those were just first results I got when searching for each graphics cards. Sure the Asus has i7, but that should only lower the battery life, and it has smaller battery.

Does anybody have an answer?
 
Solution
Normally, the Lenovo would get a better battery life than the ASUS, but the ASUS has an i7 4500U. The U indicates that this processor uses less power and it's more efficient with battery life. However, the trade-off is the performance compared to a strictly mobile i7 processor (M).

Additionally, NVIDIA has made their mobile GPU's more power efficient than previous models, which is why integrated cards don't give a huge boost in battery life.

If you can get the ASUS in your price range, I'd say go for it! It's a great option with reliable performance. :)

Traciatim

Distinguished
Nov 11, 2006
80
0
18,610
On board graphics pretty much suck for gaming. You need a dedicated video card with it's own memory for gaming. HD Graphics are fine for playing flash games, and general day to day activities, but if you actually want to play any 3D games at respectable frame rates at 1080p then you really need a dedicated video card to do that.

Though, AMD's higher end APU line is actually a pretty good compromise, the graphics that are build on are actually acceptable for 720p low setting gaming if you are looking for something small, light, and cheap.
 

geofelt

Distinguished
HD graphics is not intended for fast action gamers. You want a laptop with a discrete graphics chip for that. Such chips are power hungry and will not run long on battery power alone.
The reason you get high fps on the asus is that it has a discrete graphics chip.
Late in the year, broadwell might address that some.
 

Yuki Core

Honorable
Aug 1, 2013
25
0
10,590


What do you mean by discrete chip? I've always thought that intel's graphics were made not only for compactness and lightness of mobile devices, but also for improved power efficiency. And on idle they use a lot less resources, but on load they use as much as a mid-spec GPU.

What laptops can you recommend for me currently? I want a decently priced light, battery efficient laptop. around 500 Euro's, with low end gaming capability. I game on high end PC at home, and I don't want to bring a 3kg power-station with me, and also not a jello machine. Is there no balance in laptop market?

I might have to wait for broadwell, but I don't expect magic. It promises to be more power efficient, but I'm not sure if it will fix the power usage/performance ratio, most likely it will only slightly improve it.
 
Normally, the Lenovo would get a better battery life than the ASUS, but the ASUS has an i7 4500U. The U indicates that this processor uses less power and it's more efficient with battery life. However, the trade-off is the performance compared to a strictly mobile i7 processor (M).

Additionally, NVIDIA has made their mobile GPU's more power efficient than previous models, which is why integrated cards don't give a huge boost in battery life.

If you can get the ASUS in your price range, I'd say go for it! It's a great option with reliable performance. :)
 
Solution