So are "gaming" laptops the only laptops that have separate graphics cards now?

[Dennyd1]

There was a day, primarily in the build-it-yourself era, and the choose-your-components era of Dell and a few others where one could buy a standard laptop at a feasible price and still get the benefit of having a separate graphics card with it's own dedicated GPU and RAM.

Today, outside of gaming laptops, I can't seem to find any laptops with separate graphics cards.

Just because we don't want to pay the price of a "gaming" laptop doesn't mean that we don't want separate video cards to power certain games or other applications.

 

[Entomber]

Let me get this straight, you want a laptop that isn't designed for gaming performance to have high performance on gaming?

Current Intel processors have relatively good graphics processing with the onboard graphics.

 

[game junky]

Short answer, yes the majority of laptops with non-integrated GPUs are gaming laptops. There are some budget options on the market from Dell, HP & Lenono which allow you the option to select a GPU but at the end of the day it all comes down to the following questions: How important is weight/size? How important is screen quality? How important are design aesthetics? How much power do you need? How much battery life do you need? How much are you willing to spend?

For me personally, I rock a convertible laptop for work (Yoga 2 Pro) and a builder gaming desktop at home. Convertible works better for me because of my work needs - uber quick boot, awesome screen quality, good balance of battery life and performance and good thickness and weight for that level of performance. For me, it's more important for me to be able to boot up and login while sitting in my seat waiting to take off than being able to play the latest and greatest whenever and wherever. The i7 w/ built-in GPU is more than capable of running Left 4 Dead 2 @ 1080p on Medium settings which is more than enough enjoyment for me when on trips.

Only you can choose what is most important to you, but I still think the combo of performance desktop and portable tablet/laptop is the way to go

 

[Bolin]

"Only you can choose what is most important to you, but I still think the combo of performance desktop and portable tablet/laptop is the way to go"

*It's the best way to for people like me in my opinion

There's never an universal "way to go"

 

[Dennyd1]

Let me get this straight, you want a laptop that isn't designed for gaming performance to have high performance on gaming?

Current Intel processors have relatively good graphics processing with the onboard graphics.

No, I just want the benefits of a dedicated video card.

I've tried integrated graphics, and even with the capability of 5GB of video memory, it sucks by comparison to a single GB dedicated video card.

 

[Dennyd1]

Short answer, yes the majority of laptops with non-integrated GPUs are gaming laptops. There are some budget options on the market from Dell, HP & Lenono which allow you the option to select a GPU but at the end of the day it all comes down to the following questions: How important is weight/size? How important is screen quality? How important are design aesthetics? How much power do you need? How much battery life do you need? How much are you willing to spend?

For me personally, I rock a convertible laptop for work (Yoga 2 Pro) and a builder gaming desktop at home. Convertible works better for me because of my work needs - uber quick boot, awesome screen quality, good balance of battery life and performance and good thickness and weight for that level of performance. For me, it's more important for me to be able to boot up and login while sitting in my seat waiting to take off than being able to play the latest and greatest whenever and wherever. The i7 w/ built-in GPU is more than capable of running Left 4 Dead 2 @ 1080p on Medium settings which is more than enough enjoyment for me when on trips.

Only you can choose what is most important to you, but I still think the combo of performance desktop and portable tablet/laptop is the way to go

From what I understand, an uber-quick boot is accomplished easily by using an SSD instead of an HDD. I haven't used SSD's much, so I can't really say.

 

[Entomber]

if you want the benefits of a dedicated video card, then you're going to have to pay for it. Not all laptops that have dedicated video are "gaming" laptops, some of them are so-called "enterprise" laptops but they are still more expensive than laptops that do not have any dedicated video card.

In general, "gaming" laptops are so labeled because they offer superior performance, not only in games, but also other software that is demanding on your laptop's hardware. It just so happens that the most common demanding software is games, and that is where the highest demand and selling point is.

If you wanted something kind of like that, try looking at something like a Dell XPS or other such customizable laptops which allow you to select a dedicated GPU which isn't necessarily the high-end gaming type. Be warned that it's still going to be a comparable price to a "gaming" laptop anyways, if it has similar specs.

 

[Dennyd1]

if you want the benefits of a dedicated video card, then you're going to have to pay for it. Not all laptops that have dedicated video are "gaming" laptops, some of them are so-called "enterprise" laptops but they are still more expensive than laptops that do not have any dedicated video card.

In general, "gaming" laptops are so labeled because they offer superior performance, not only in games, but also other software that is demanding on your laptop's hardware. It just so happens that the most common demanding software is games, and that is where the highest demand and selling point is.

If you wanted something kind of like that, try looking at something like a Dell XPS or other such customizable laptops which allow you to select a dedicated GPU which isn't necessarily the high-end gaming type. Be warned that it's still going to be a comparable price to a "gaming" laptop anyways, if it has similar specs.

I realize that. I was just hoping that I can have a dedicated video card and a half-decent cpu, and RAM can just be upgraded later on if needed. Everything else isn't as important to me. I don't need top-quality sound, I don't care about having a separate sound card. I don't care about the LCD being high def, though they are all just about 1080p by now.

 

[Bolin]

if you want the benefits of a dedicated video card, then you're going to have to pay for it. Not all laptops that have dedicated video are "gaming" laptops, some of them are so-called "enterprise" laptops but they are still more expensive than laptops that do not have any dedicated video card.

In general, "gaming" laptops are so labeled because they offer superior performance, not only in games, but also other software that is demanding on your laptop's hardware. It just so happens that the most common demanding software is games, and that is where the highest demand and selling point is.

If you wanted something kind of like that, try looking at something like a Dell XPS or other such customizable laptops which allow you to select a dedicated GPU which isn't necessarily the high-end gaming type. Be warned that it's still going to be a comparable price to a "gaming" laptop anyways, if it has similar specs.

I realize that. I was just hoping that I can have a dedicated video card and a half-decent cpu, and RAM can just be upgraded later on if needed. Everything else isn't as important to me. I don't need top-quality sound, I don't care about having a separate sound card. I don't care about the LCD being high def, though they are all just about 1080p by now.

from what I can read I am pretty sure you don't know what a 2nd GPU is for

 

[k1114]

There are current gen discrete gpus that are weaker than igpus but usually you won't find laptops with them. Back in the day igpus were always the lowest. There are plenty of lower end dgpus and you will find plenty of laptops with them. These are by no means considered gaming. What is your budget?

 

[velo3100]

Yes there are laptops that have discrete gpus that are not originally designed for gaming but can be used for it. For example quadrino gpus are the professional version of geforce cards but they are capable of playing games.