Guild Wars 2

What’s the minimum I could expect to pay for a laptop that could play GW2? And does anyone have any suggestions for the best way to get one cheaply?

I already have a desktop that can play the game at close to max settings but my husband recently started playing too and we’d really like to be able to play together.

It has to be a laptop because we don’t have space for another desktop and I’m looking to pay as little as reasonably possible because it will mainly be used for other things (work, facebook, maybe some old school games) and it’s not worth paying hundreds of pounds more for occasional GW2 sessions, especially when I really don’t mind playing on minimum.

Danikat.8537:

and I’m looking to pay as little as reasonably possible

You could buy any cheap sub 700$ laptop and it’ll work. The problem is laptops aren’t made for gaming this means that you don’t get as much performance as you would from a desktop PC, the lifespan of a regular laptop will be reduced drastically when you use it for gaming.

A desktop pc can be small (m-atx) and be cheap.

According to the minimum system specs, you need at least Intel 3000 HD graphics (integrated graphics that come with pretty much any lower end Intel motherboard) and an Intel Core Duo CPU, which I would assume (hope) any medium quality laptop would provide. That being said, it’s a good thing you don’t mind minimum graphics, because at those settings, you are probably sitting at “lowest” setting for everything.

I used to have a Lenovo laptop, got it in 2011 with Windows 7. It had Intel Core 2 Duo and integrated graphics, but I was able to play WoW, Diablo 3, etc on low graphics just fine.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-IdeaPad-Y510p-Notebook.97470.0.html

its around 800 dollars with dual GPU.
Just remember to look for the model with i7 47oo MQ CPU…not the I5

I don’t recommend you to play on a laptop. I fried my laptop because I played GW2 without a cooling pad for like 30 minutes. This game warms up computers too much.

If you really want a laptop, I suggest you to never ever play GW2 without a cooling pad. Or even taking your laptop to bed or dusty places. Remember that you should give it to service for cleaning at least once per 6 months. After you lose your guarantee, you can clean it yourself, it’s not that hard to open it and asseble it back.

edit: I used Zalman ZM-NC3000. It did a perfect job (when I used it) and it is even ultra silent.

Ever since I left WoW over four years ago, I’ve played MMOs exclusively on laptops, and every laptop I’ve chosen has run the games I play on medium settings just fine. Sometimes I play with a cooling pad, other times I don’t. As long as you don’t smother the computer while playing, or cover the exhaust ports, normally you’ll be fine.

Now, I’m currently using an Asus K53S model laptop with:
i7 (2630 QM) processor
NVIDIA Geforce GT540M graphics card.
6gb RAM
600gb HDD

I’ve had this thing for a couple of years now, and it can run TERA, Rift, FF14, and GW2 all around medium settings. I’m not picky about super high fps as long as there’s no lag, so avg of 25-30 fps with these specs is perfect for me. I got this model for no more than $450 on ebay. Check ebay, and look forlaptop models with generation 3 or 4 i7 processors. Then from there, look at laptops that have HD4000, NVIDIA, of ATI graphics cards, and you’ll be fine. (my wife plays on a HP laptop with a HD4000 graphics card and i5 processor, and she runs low settings perfectly fine)

All in all, if you wanna play on a laptop, there are ways to play on a laptop. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise