Is my laptop sufficient for gaming?

[Mihir Desai]

I own a Dell Inspiron 15R N5110.
Specifications :
Intel Core i5-2450M CPU @ 2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost upto 2.9 GHz
nVidia GeForce GT525M 1GB Dedicated Graphics Memory
8 GB RAM (2x4)
1TB HDD

The thing is I bought this machine in April 2012. Just 2 months after which Dell announced a new Dell Inspiron 15 with 2GB of dedicated Graphics Memory. This left me heartbroken as if I had only waited for two months, I could have gotten myself a better laptop at the same price.

My only concern now is as gaming technology progresses so does the system requirements for every new game. In order to get any game on my machine I am always required to first check it requirements on game-debate.com to verify whether I would be able to get a good frame rate.

My question is should I get a new Laptop this year or can I hold on to it for a minimum of another 1-2 years? And if I do need to change my machine which laptop is recommended in the same price bracket? (i.e approx 600-800 USD). I will need to sell my current laptop however.

P.S.: I won't be able to buy a desktop because, well my desk is very restricted and I don't own that big an apartment either. I want something portable and also something that performs good enough to be able to play atleast half of the newly released titles.

P.P.S.: My most recent trial was with Assassin's Creed 3. It worked very well on my machine even though I had to put it on medium settings and it often lagged in crowded areas.

Please help! Thank You.

Oh! and Sorry for the long post.

 

[Cons29]

judging on the gpu model, a 525m, close to 530 (i may be wrong). if that is accurate, then you should not really expect much from it, esp since laptop counterparts are usually slower. ang a 530 isn't exactly for gaming (maybe casual gaming).
personally, decent gpu's starts at x50 (650, 750, etc) and above.

i like desktops better, unless you travel alot. even with a small apartment, you can still build a decent rig. check out bitfenix prodigy case (would love to own one of these), they are really small but small enough. after that you just need space for the monitor.

p.s., for these low end gpu's, you really dont need 2gb, even if they skap 4gb in there, it would not make a difference gaming wise

 

[jaguarskx]

Well... the GT 525m was pretty much an entry level dedicated graphics chip when it first came out.

Integrated graphic cores (iGPUs) have actually surpassed the GT 525m in overall performance. The following the are most powerful current generation iGPUs in descending order. They are all ranked as more powerful than the GT 525m

1. Radeon HD 8650g (Between the GT 540m and GT 550m)
2. Radeon HD 8610g
3. Intel HD 4600 (Roughly equal to the GT 540m)
4. Radeon HD 8510g
5. Radeon HD 8550g

 

[jaguarskx]

I think you should keep your laptop until gaming performance is too low for your liking.

New generation laptops may be released sometime in May or June. They will have Intel's new Broadwell generation CPUs and by then nVidia's next gen mobile graphic chips should be available as well. Broadwell generation CPUs will likely have around 5% or 6% better CPU processing performance compared to current Haswell generation CPUs, but iGPU performance will probably increase by another 30% or so based on Intel's track record since they released the Intel HD 3000 graphics core in the Sandy Bridge generation CPUs.

 

[Kakorat119]

Hi Mihir Desai,

Your computer is pretty nice. It can handle most games at maybe 20-30 fps. You can hold it for maybe 1 more year before you will need to buy a new one. Maybe starts of 2015. If you want to buy a new one, I'd suggest cyberpower, battalion, sager/clevo and ASUS ROG series. My first pick would be maybe the asus but its 17 inch so it can be a bit of pain

 

[Cons29]

good thing i dont need portability, because i prefer desktops