Gaming on high-end laptops: Is it possible? The test shows it
1.10.2017
Translation: machine translated
Video: Linus Konetschnig
Digitec readers disagree on whether you can actually game on a laptop. And if so, how well. "One way to find out", I thought to myself, sat down with the Porsche Book One and played.
The Porsche Book One was my faithful companion during the IFA. With it in my luggage, I wrote my articles in Berlin during seemingly endless night shifts. The Book One has one or two quirks, but nothing that would have got in the way of my work.
I was almost ready to return the device, because I can't keep test devices forever. More often than not, I regret having to say "goodbye" to a device. But in the comments on the review of the Porsche Book One, a question came up that became a topic of discussion. You know the internet. It goes something like this:
The question is whether you can play a bit of gaming on it. Have you never played a round of Overwatch with it? - Simon.laube
My answer would have been: No, I didn't. I worked over 100 hours in eight days. I really don't feel like gaming. If there's anything I want, it's sleep.
The answer on the internet usually goes like this:
In principle, you can't game on laptops. - Fumo
So the discussion goes back and forth. So I thought I'd give it a go. But since I thought that Mad Max would go better with a laptop named after a car, I gave it a try. Also involved: video producer Linus Konetschnig, who looked over my shoulder with his camera.
The first driving test goes about as well as in real life
The Porsche Book One is a laptop in the upper price and performance class. In theory, nothing stands in the way of gaming on the box. A glance at a few key specs is enough to come to the conclusion "could work". But that is rather vague. It could also mean: 640x480 with 256 colours. The question is rather: How well does it work?
First the working device:
- Intel Core i7-7500U dual core processor
- 16 GB LPDDR3 RAM
- Intel HD Graphics 620
Gaming sounds different. But not so different that it is completely absurd that the Book One could not cope with "Mad Max". So put Steam on it, Mad Max on it, updates on it and off you go.
In the first round, the Book One wants to play the game on 3200x1800 pixels at 59 hertz. Hahahaha. That's extremely optimistic. And that's exactly how it plays: not at all. The graphics are more of a kind of time-lapse with individual frames appearing on the screen at five-second intervals. Fraps reads out two frames per second, but it feels like even less.
We are tinkering
"The graphics, eh?" asks Linus. He had already predicted this when setting up the cameras and it was obvious. So we try to reduce the graphics. Since 3200x1800@59Hz was completely unplayable, I take a good step down.
- 3200x1800@59Hz: Two frames per second
- 1920x1200@59Hz: unspielbar
- 1920x1050@59Hz: unspielbar
- 1600x900@59Hz: unplayable
- 1440x900@59Hz: playable, but crap
- 1024x768@59Hz: playable, but still rubbish
- 800x600@59Hz: passable
- 640x480@59Hz: playable, but unworthy of the game and the player
The result speaks for itself: If you really want to play a game, then the Book One will certainly do the job. But if you want to play Mad Max with high demands on the graphics, then you are ill advised to use the device. The clouds of dust behind my car look like they did in 1997, the sky is grey and the view is poor. It's simply no fun.
But here's the thing: Just because Mad Max doesn't work doesn't mean that Overwatch or FIFA aren't playable either. Each game has its own graphical peculiarities and is optimised differently. This explains why the ten-year-old game Crysis still runs on so few systems with the highest graphics values.
Conclusion
If I really wanted to play a Mad Max mission to the end, then I would definitely do so on the Porsche Book One. But it has to be important and not just "a bit of a chase". But if there's even the slightest chance that I can do it on a system that has more graphics power, then I'll take it.
So, that's it. Why don't you give it a try? Just because you can and because you might want a good laugh. <p
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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