Best ultra book style computer that can play some games

[DeadOfKnight]

I installed the brand-new 3DMark demo this evening:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/223850/

Ice Storm: 36974 (194.7, 168.1 and 84.9 fps)
Cloud Gate: 3995 (20.3, 21.2 and 8.08 fps)
Fire Strike: 633 (2.78, 11.9 and 1.13 fps)

I think this is where AMD Kabini is going to have an upper hand.

[leor]

Well it looks like desktop graphics aren't going to be too exciting this year, what's the mobile situation looking like?

Right now the best mobile GPU that balances power with mobility seems to be the 650M. Rumors suggest that Haswell's graphics performance is going to be close to the 650M, so will disctete mobile GPUs not be worth it in 2013, or are nvidia and amd going to come out with something worth buying?

[Spyder22446688]

Rumors suggest that Haswell's graphics performance is going to be close to the 650M, so will disctete mobile GPUs not be worth it in 2013, or are nvidia and amd going to come out with something worth buying?

I can't imagine Nvidia and AMD will sit there and let Intel take them out of the market. I anticipate that both will release new, better performing products to replace the 650M. Also, demos aside, I bet Haswell only performs on par with the 630M, which is a substantial step down from the 650M (based purely on my internal conjecture). An achievement, sure, but not enough for many mobile gamers. Still, it's hard for me to click "buy" on a new laptop today when I know Haswell is going to offer such a large leap in GPU performance tomorrow.

[JohnC]

Well it looks like desktop graphics aren't going to be too exciting this year, what's the mobile situation looking like?
Right now the best mobile GPU that balances power with mobility seems to be the 650M. Rumors suggest that Haswell's graphics performance is going to be close to the 650M, so will disctete mobile GPUs not be worth it in 2013, or are nvidia and amd going to come out with something worth buying?

The performance may be close in few select games, but you're forgetting that Nvidia (as well as AMD) tries to optimize their drivers for many games and they release the new drivers pretty often... Intel, however, is not very committed to such things (optimizations for wide range of games and frequent driver release), regardless of their future "promises".

[leor]

The performance may be close in few select games, but you're forgetting that Nvidia (as well as AMD) tries to optimize their drivers for many games and they release the new drivers pretty often... Intel, however, is not very committed to such things (optimizations for wide range of games and frequent driver release), regardless of their future "promises".

But will it be enough to matter? Let's split the difference and say Haswell performs like a GT640, do AMD and Nvidia have anything coming out in the next 3 or 4 months that will draw the same amount of power but perform like a 670?

All i see out there right now is a 730M that is listed to perform like a 640M. AMD has an 8000 series chip out but the only machine I've seen it in is the poster child for all that is wrong with the PC laptop industry.

I know there is a lot of time until Haswell is out, but the press releases, roadmaps and lack of any new architecture on the horizon leave me with a distinct "meh" feeling.

[drfish]

Got a new one to watch, the Clevo W230ST. I actually prefer the 11.6" form factor to 13.3" but this sure looks nice in a lot of ways. I'll be jealous of the backlit keyboard for sure. Also 1080p is nice but I would be fine with something lesser like 1600x900 at that size and for gaming with a mid-range mobile GPU...

Still waiting for the awesome AMD APU based 11.6"-13.3" gaming laptop...

[axeman]

Leor, viewing angles like that represent everything that is wrong with the laptop market.

I don't understand how more people don't complain, because unless you're viewing super-bright, primary colours, they basically unusable.

My Dell Studio17 had one of the better TN screens on the market, and even then, coming from a 15", IPS, 1920x1200 panel, it was like having cataracts and staring at the sun.

What I don't understand is how they get away with using TN panels that are SO BAD. TN itself has weak viewing angles, but I honestly never see such godawful panels in desktops. Laptops have brought about an all-new low, where you can get (brace yourself):

• Low brightness
• Bright black levels
• Screen-door effect
• High-gloss coating
• poor colour gamut
• horrific colour accuracy (deltaE of 15+)
• Input lag
• Ghosting and smearing
• Uneven brightness
• backlight bleeding

...all rolled into one.

Truly, utterly, /facepalm.

I guess the excuse is that it's easy to adjust the screen to the appropriate angle on the laptop screen. Some folks even prefer it because of the side effect of added privacy. It drives me nuts though, too. If it's got a TN panel, it better be a 400 dollar laptop, because putting up with that on a spendy machine is just throwing good money after bad.