4 reasons why you don’t need a powerful graphics card in your laptop

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When buying a new PC, it's important to match all the components to create a harmonious overall look. This is even more important when choosing the best gaming laptops, since you can't replace most of the components. While you might be tempted to go all out and buy a laptop with an RTX 4090 graphics chip, you don't have to. It's better to temper your expectations and look for something that's better suited for gaming on the go. Let's talk about why that is and what you should do instead.



4 Your frame rates won't be that different

AI upscaling and frame generation can increase FPS instead

Black Myth: Wukong gameplay on Acer Predator Helios 16 (2024) screen

Gaming on any platform involves making trade-offs, the benefits of which diminish as you get closer to flagship components. Gaming handhelds with lower-powered components get around this problem by using screens with Full HD resolution or lower (most of the time) so that frame rates don't suffer too much. It's often the same with gaming laptops, with 1080p displays at 144Hz being fairly common. Adding a powerful mobile GPU to a lower-powered display is overkill. Sure, it'll get you more FPS, but at the cost of cost and heat generation.


The introduction of upscaling technologies like Nvidia's DLSS, AMD's FSR, and Intel's XeSS combined with frame generation can deliver higher framerates on more basic hardware while largely preserving the visual fidelity of raster rendering techniques. This means you don't need to buy the most expensive laptops with flagship GPU chips; you can get similar performance with mid-range GPUs. Even with these technologies, some games will still require lowering settings to achieve playable framerates, regardless of the hardware in your gaming laptop, so buy a cheaper laptop and use settings to get the FPS you want.

3 They generate too much heat

Nobody wants their womb to burn

An angled view of the Alienware x16 R2 gaming laptop.


Modern PC hardware is pushed to the max at the design stage and can be difficult to keep cool even in a PC tower with adequate fans and airflow. You can probably imagine what these chips do when they are shrunk down to fit into the available space in gaming laptops. The problem is not just the chips, but also the space the cooling solution has to take up, and that is getting smaller and smaller as gaming laptops shrink to near ultrabook size.

Take the 2024 Razer Blade gaming laptop range, for example, two of which I've tried out over the past month. The 18-inch model has an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, while the smaller 14-inch model has the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070. I noticed fan noise significantly more on the 18-inch model, with the more powerful GPU chip reaching over 70 degrees Celsius under gaming load. The less powerful RTX 4070 doesn't get as hot, which improves the overall temperature of the laptop. This means I can still comfortably touch the metal areas on the 14-inch model while gaming, which was a bit uncomfortable on the larger model. Opting for an RTX 4060 will reduce heat even further, and at lower resolutions you might not even notice the drop in frame rate.


2 Your display may not even be stretched

Even the best laptop GPUs have problems with high Hz or resolutions

The Alienware x16 R2 on a workbench.

Gaming laptops are often sold with high refresh rates, resolutions, or both as selling points for the display. But high-resolution screens are still a minority of users. According to Steam's monthly hardware survey, Full HD (1080p) is still the most popular screen resolution. That's understandable, as it's the preferred resolution of competitive gamers who prefer high refresh rates for lower frame times to gain a small competitive advantage. Even 1440p is easier to use at higher refresh rates, but looks cramped on smaller screens. Gaming laptops are better when they have easy-to-use displays and more modest GPU chips to power them.


Gaming in 4K is difficult for desktop PCs, and even gaming consoles that target 4K have a modest FPS target of either 30 or 60 FPS, depending on how demanding the title is. Should gaming laptops even include 4K displays? The Razer Blade 18 has a 4K display at 200Hz, but the mobile RTX 4090 can't fully utilize it without dialing down the settings. Games like ForzaHorizon5 Fortunately, at Extreme settings, it managed over 130FPS, but only after DLSS was turned on for upsampling. The other AAA titles I tested, like Cyberpunk2077 And Alan-Wake 2, were happier at 1440p than at 4K, where they struggled to exceed the 60 FPS we recommend for smooth gameplay.

If the most powerful mobile GPU can't handle 4K gaming, what hope does a mid-range GPU chip have? Save a ton of money and get a gaming laptop with a more modest resolution and GPU, and stop chasing specs that don't matter.


1 You don't have to play on Ultra

Turn things down a notch or two

Razer Blade 15 11 on a table

Instead of choosing the most powerful GPU chip for your gaming laptop, try something a little more controversial. Turn your in-game settings down a notch or two and see how it goes. Because of the size of laptop displays and their typical resolutions, you may find it difficult to tell the difference between setting levels. What you'll immediately notice is how much smoother gameplay seems because you're increasing your frame rate by turning down the settings, and that always has an immediate impact on the gaming experience.


While I'm tired of wanting to play on Ultra, especially since my desktop has a GeForce RTX 4080 Super, I have no qualms about lowering the game settings when using a laptop. There's no point in expecting a smaller machine to be up to the task of modern game engines, no matter how hard the marketing departments try to convince you otherwise.

Even if you are a gamer, you don't need a powerful laptop GPU

The popularity of portable gaming devices has shown that there is a place for gaming at lower settings and resolutions away from the desk. Sure, a gaming laptop isn't quite as portable, but you can do more things with it, including productivity tasks if you need to. The point is, you don't need the more powerful mobile GPU chips; you just need the right setup to enjoy the games at the settings that the less powerful GPU chips can offer.

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