Guild Wars 2

I didn’t know where to put this, so I apologize if it is in the wrong place.

I need to get a new laptop and would like to get some suggestions for a good all around machine that will be able to play the game on high settings without lagging out. Someone suggested that I look at the Alienware 14 or 17 inch models, but I don’t really keep up with the technology so I don’t know if there are any other brands/models to consider.

I appreciate any assistance!

Well there isn’t a laptop who will run the game on high settings without lag.
Laptops are far inferior than a desktop of the same price.
But if you really want to have a laptop for gaming, go for a 15 inch. 17inch laptops are just to heavy. And think about your budget too, you will not find any laptop less than 1300€ who can run the game on medium without lag.
So find a nice 15" widescreen, they are far more powerful than a 17" with the same specs (since the resolution is smaller it can work better). But that is my opinion knowing i own an acer aspire 5740G who is almost 3 years old, and manage to run the game pretty well.

hoegarden.4287:

Well there isn’t a laptop who will run the game on high settings without lag.
Laptops are far inferior than a desktop of the same price.
But if you really want to have a laptop for gaming, go for a 15 inch. 17inch laptops are just to heavy. And think about your budget too, you will not find any laptop less than 1300€ who can run the game on medium without lag.
So find a nice 15" widescreen, they are far more powerful than a 17" with the same specs (since the resolution is smaller it can work better). But that is my opinion knowing i own an acer aspire 5740G who is almost 3 years old, and manage to run the game pretty well.

It’s been said many times over that a desktop model is far more powerful than a laptop counterpart but if you need the mobility there are quite a few companies out there that produce very good laptops for gaming. MSI, Alienware, Asus, etc.

Personally I’d recommend this one:

http://www.amazon.com/G55VW-ES71-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Notebook-Black/dp/B007Z9WWDW

It’ll run the game very well and has a very efficient air design so that it keeps its components very cool compared to other gaming laptops.

I use the older model of this one (G74SX) and can run the game very well with most settings on high.

I hope u have deep pockets. As above have pointed out , u wont get a laptop that can play GW2 on high without FPS droping unless u spend insane amounts.

Graphics wise u would need a 670m at minimum. A 680m or 7970m recommended, maybe even a SLi setup.

CPU wise at minimum u want a 3630QM. Recommened a 3740QM or 3820QM.

Any laptop with those in it will already have enough RAM, HDD space, a good screen, etc, and will cost over $2000, likely $2500+ if u get the higher CPU’s.

But unfortunatly thats what u would need. Even then WvW will be sub 25 FPS since the CPU’s cant be OverClocked.

SolarNova.1052:

I hope u have deep pockets. As above have pointed out , u wont get a laptop that can play GW2 on high without FPS droping unless u spend insane amounts.

Graphics wise u would need a 670m at minimum. A 680m or 7970m recommended, maybe even a SLi setup.

CPU wise at minimum u want a 3630QM. Recommened a 3740QM or 3820QM.

Any laptop with those in it will already have enough RAM, HDD space, a good screen, etc, and will cost over $2000, likely $2500+ if u get the higher CPU’s.

But unfortunatly thats what u would need. Even then WvW will be sub 25 FPS since the CPU’s cant be OverClocked.

Ya know, this is getting a little absurd. You and a few others keep repeating this ‘mantra’ to almost anyone that asks for spec advice for a system that can run GW2 and it’s almost entirely false.

I run a 2-3 year old gaming laptop (Asus G74SX) with a 560m Nvidia graphics chip and a 2nd generation I7 and the game runs very well. I use a mix of high and medium settings in a windowed 1920×1080 and I get 40-50fps typically in Lion’s Arch and anywhere from 50-100fps (depending on where I am, how many people are around and what is happening) in PvE in open world and dungeon runs.

Now, that being said, in WvWvW it’s a bit different. If I run with 20-30 people and 30-40 people roll up on us and a battle ensues, you’re right, my frame rate goes into the toilet (sub-20fps) and that’s the case with most people out there even with high end systems. I don’t disagree that the game needs more optimization for higher frame rates on high end systems.

But to sit here and say that you need to spend 2-2.5k on a system to get good settings is just flat false. The game can look very very good on mid-high settings spending around $1500 on a gaming laptop (like I linked above).

Jand

The OP said he wanted high setings with no low FPS.

So what i sugested is accurate.

Unless the OP of any thread says otherwise i will recommend specs that give the asked for FPS through out the ENTIRE game if possible and without any horrible Dips in FPS.

As a gamer, myself and many others dont like to accept anythigg other than ~60fps as a Minimum FPS. Now thankfully GW2 doesnt requir such precise and tight timing for combat so u can lower that Figure, but even still to keep the lowest possible FPS from droping below 50FPS in PvE still requirs, at high setitngs, a beafy GPU.
And for the CPU no laptop can keep FPS above 30 in WvW. 30 being the absolute minimum FPS u want in any game. Again as a gamer.

Now if u can put up with lower than those figures in the respective areas of the game. Then the OP can by all means say so and i will adjust my recommendations accordinngly.

Its always better to ‘over recommened’ and have the user happily surprised at the performance, than to ‘under recommend’ and have the user dissapointed with performance.

SolarNova.1052:

The OP said he wanted high setings with no low FPS.

So what i sugested is accurate.

Then I guess the question is: What is ‘low fps’ to him? I agree that 60fps is what I hit as well but many others find that 30 fps is perfectly fine. It’s purely subjective.

SolarNova.1052:

As a gamer, myself and many others dont like to accept anythigg other than ~60fps as a Minimum FPS. Now thankfully GW2 doesnt requir such precise and tight timing for combat so u can lower that Figure, but even still to keep the lowest possible FPS from droping below 50FPS in PvE still requirs, at high setitngs, a beafy GPU.

There’s a big difference between ‘high’ and essentially ‘ultra’ settings in this game. You also have to consider the resolution as well which is a big factor. Also, I’d be willing to bet that the OP isn’t as precise as you’re guessing as to what is ‘high’ as opposed to really good looking graphics. But if it’s important I’m sure he’ll specify that.

SolarNova.1052:

And for the CPU no laptop can keep FPS above 30 in WvW. 30 being the absolute minimum FPS u want in any game. Again as a gamer.

For the sake of being accurate, if you customize a high-end Alienware laptop and spend a few thousand dollars you can most definitely achieve results as to what you just said.

SolarNova.1052:

Now if u can put up with lower than those figures in the respective areas of the game. Then the OP can by all means say so and i will adjust my recommendations accordinngly.

Its always better to ‘over recommened’ and have the user happily surprised at the performance, than to ‘under recommend’ and have the user dissapointed with performance.

Except for the fact that ‘over-recommending’ can lead to a $500-$1000 increase in price. Just a minor footnote there.

Jand

In any case, there are several Youtube videos that you can watch that show this laptop in action playing GW2 and you can judge for yourself.

http://www.amazon.com/G55VW-ES71-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Notebook-Black/dp/B007Z9WWDW

Jand

In any case, 15,6 inch is the max for a gaming notebook. Above it will need a better gpu, less you will need binoculars to see what you are doing :p
My acer is almost 3 years ald and it can run the game pretty well too. It has 8gb ram, i5 cpu, and an amd 5XXX hd gpu. I haven’t done any WvW on that one yet. But for pve it’s all i need. But again we come to the price. I paid that one back then 1300€ so that will be the lowest price you will find now who can manage the game pretty well. But getting 60 fps all the time… go try to buy a computer of NASA to achieve that :p

As long as you have an intel i5 and 4gb ram, you’ll be able to play GW2 decently on lowest graphics. I know because I use my company laptop when I’m not at home (which is pretty often)

If you use your laptop as you main gaming device, I would suggest one with x64 windows and 8gb ram, ssd and dedicated videocard. Any will do but obviously, the more dollars, the better your experience.

Thanks for the replies everyone! To clarify, I will only be doing PvE in it, but want it to have good performance.

Jandus, thanks for the link.

How much of a hit to performance would I take not having a SSD?

How would the game run on a computer with these specs?:

•3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
•Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
•14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600×900) with WLED backlight
•8GB2 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
•750GB 7,200 RPM SATA + 32GB mSATA Caching SSD
•Slot Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW)
•2 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M with Optimus™

The main draw back of that spec would be the 650m GPU. you would likely be using medium settings to get good FPS.

SSD’d only help with loading times.
If u have a beasty CPU and GPU a SSD can also help reduce stutter but in a laptop i doubt u will notice any improvment in that area.

I just read a pc magazine which featured a dell inspiron 15 with an new generation i3 and a hd4000 graphics card. 4GB ram and 500gb HDD. Cost: 400 euros.

I am adamant that this machine will give you sufficient performance for playing on the move. Don’t expect it to run WvW on max, but you should get by with medium in the open world. If getting by is all you need on a laptop, this one would be perfect.

As others said, laptops are not ideal for gaming, and if they are capable, they aren’t really portable any more

Nonetheless, I’m on a laptop myself, which I have mostly to play games…

- i7 3610QM (quad core with 2.3 GHz – number of cores matter more than clock speed)
- 16GB Ram
- Radeon HD 7970M
- 240 GB SDD
- 15.6 inch full HD resolution

It’s built-to-order from PC Specialist in the UK, and it cost about £1,500. That’s somewhere between US$ 2k and 2.5k

I would have gone for Alienware, but they couldn’t deliver (then) recent graphics cards. ETA was that time beyond 2 months, which was unacceptable for me.

As to performance:
In normal PvE easily 100 FPS and more on almost maximum graphics settings.
In WvWvW I have to tune down settings a bit, otherwise a big battle will not be playable as FPS then flaps between 30 and 100+. In lower settings I can survive even big zergs there (graphics-wise, not the actual fight)
After all, for me personally gameplay is a bit more important than the shiniest graphics. But the laptop does do better than expected on all counts.

But as I said earlier, that’s not really a laptop any more. The machine is bloody heavy (okay, I’ve got a second small SDD in there, and a traditional HDD, which add to the weight no doubt). But after a full English Breakfast, I can carry it for a while if I have to.

Laptops are expensive if they need to be somewhat competitive. For me the lack of space and inclination to sit at my desk to play a game were the reasons. But if that doesn’t bother you, a desktop is way cheaper for better results!

Hope this helps.