Question Most suitable laptop for genshin impact

[zxspecky]

I'm looking at getting a new laptop for my daughter around 400 - 500 uk pounds.

can i buy anything new to play genshin impact on?
Here are system requirements...

Genshin Impact minimum requirements​

• Memory: 8 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030
• CPU: Intel Core i5-4460
• File Size: 30 GB
• OS: Windows 7

Genshin Impact recommended specs​

• Memory: 16 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
• CPU: Intel Core i7-6700
• File Size: 30 GB
• OS: Windows 10

.............................
i've seen these choices so far:


1. Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 Intel Core i5 8GB 256GB GTX 1650
Intel Core i5 11320H Processor GeForce GTX 1650 Graphics card
(for £500)

or this:

2. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 | 14 inch Full HD Laptop | Intel Core i5-12450H| 16GB RAM | 512GB SSD
Graphics Chipset Brand - ‎Intel,
‎Integrated Graphics RAM Type ‎DDR4 SDRAM Graphics Card Ram Size ‎16 GB
Graphics Card Interface‎ - Integrated
(at £485)

and a bit over budget is this:

3. Medion Erazer Crawler E30 Core i5-12450H 8GB 512GB GTX 1650
15.6 Inch Windows 11 Gaming Laptop
Intel Core i5 12450H Processor
GeForce GTX 1650 4GB Graphics card
15.6 Inch Full HD 144Hz Screen
8GB RAM
512GB SSD
£550

Or
4.
Asus TUF F15 Core i5-11400H 8GB 512GB RTX 2050 144Hz 15.6 Inch Windows 11 Gaming Laptop

Intel Core i5 11400H Processor

GeForce RTX 2050 4GB Graphics card

15.6 Inch Full HD 144Hz Screen

8GB RAM

512GB SSD

(£600) over budget but hmmm

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I'm looking at getting a new laptop for my daughter around 400 - 500 uk pounds.

can i buy anything new to play genshin impact on?
Here are system requirements...

Genshin Impact minimum requirements​

• Memory: 8 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030
• CPU: Intel Core i5-4460
• File Size: 30 GB
• OS: Windows 7

Genshin Impact recommended specs​

• Memory: 16 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
• CPU: Intel Core i7-6700
• File Size: 30 GB
• OS: Windows 10

.............................
i've seen these choices so far:


1. Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 Intel Core i5 8GB 256GB GTX 1650
Intel Core i5 11320H Processor GeForce GTX 1650 Graphics card
(for £500)

or this:

2. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 | 14 inch Full HD Laptop | Intel Core i5-12450H| 16GB RAM | 512GB SSD
Graphics Chipset Brand - ‎Intel,
‎Integrated Graphics RAM Type ‎DDR4 SDRAM Graphics Card Ram Size ‎16 GB
Graphics Card Interface‎ - Integrated
(at £485)

and a bit over budget is this:

3. Medion Erazer Crawler E30 Core i5-12450H 8GB 512GB GTX 1650
15.6 Inch Windows 11 Gaming Laptop
Intel Core i5 12450H Processor
GeForce GTX 1650 4GB Graphics card
15.6 Inch Full HD 144Hz Screen
8GB RAM
512GB SSD
£550

Or
4.
Asus TUF F15 Core i5-11400H 8GB 512GB RTX 2050 144Hz 15.6 Inch Windows 11 Gaming Laptop

Intel Core i5 11400H Processor

GeForce RTX 2050 4GB Graphics card

15.6 Inch Full HD 144Hz Screen

8GB RAM

512GB SSD

(£600) over budget but hmmm

Welcome to the forum.

2 wont work specs wise for Genshin. 1.2.4 all will. Obviously 4 is the most powerful of those on paper, and 1 has a tiny SSD that would make me discount it, Genshin appareently takes about 80 GB now on its own. That leaves 3 and 4 really.

I hope @ZedClampet and @BeardyHat wont mind me tagging them in. I dont use any laptops so I cant really speak as to build quality between brands and maybe they can here.

 

[ZedClampet]

I'm looking at getting a new laptop for my daughter around 400 - 500 uk pounds.

can i buy anything new to play genshin impact on?
Here are system requirements...

Genshin Impact minimum requirements​

• Memory: 8 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030
• CPU: Intel Core i5-4460
• File Size: 30 GB
• OS: Windows 7

Genshin Impact recommended specs​

• Memory: 16 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
• CPU: Intel Core i7-6700
• File Size: 30 GB
• OS: Windows 10

.............................
i've seen these choices so far:


1. Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 Intel Core i5 8GB 256GB GTX 1650
Intel Core i5 11320H Processor GeForce GTX 1650 Graphics card
(for £500)

or this:

2. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 | 14 inch Full HD Laptop | Intel Core i5-12450H| 16GB RAM | 512GB SSD
Graphics Chipset Brand - ‎Intel,
‎Integrated Graphics RAM Type ‎DDR4 SDRAM Graphics Card Ram Size ‎16 GB
Graphics Card Interface‎ - Integrated
(at £485)

and a bit over budget is this:

3. Medion Erazer Crawler E30 Core i5-12450H 8GB 512GB GTX 1650
15.6 Inch Windows 11 Gaming Laptop
Intel Core i5 12450H Processor
GeForce GTX 1650 4GB Graphics card
15.6 Inch Full HD 144Hz Screen
8GB RAM
512GB SSD
£550

Or
4.
Asus TUF F15 Core i5-11400H 8GB 512GB RTX 2050 144Hz 15.6 Inch Windows 11 Gaming Laptop

Intel Core i5 11400H Processor

GeForce RTX 2050 4GB Graphics card

15.6 Inch Full HD 144Hz Screen

8GB RAM

512GB SSD

(£600) over budget but hmmm

I'm in the US, and I don't think we have Medion brand here, at least I don't recall seeing/reading about them. I did a little bit of research, and I think the Asus build quality is probably higher. I'm not a big fan of the keyboard, for one thing, on the Medion. From my experience with them, they'd have to be replaced pretty quickly, but I could have just had bad luck on the two I owned.

I've had an Asus Tuf before. The fans were loud and the laptop ran fairly hot, but that's almost certainly going to be a problem of the Medion, too. At that price range it's going to be hard to find perfection, but I trust Asus to make a decent product, and I've never heard of Medion, so I have no choice but to recommend Asus. Plus, the Asus is just a more capable gaming machine based on the components.

 

[BeardyHat]

I have been summoned...

That said, I may not be the best person to ask, as I don't play Genshin Impact and I don't recommend buying "Gaming Laptops" specifically, which there are a few reasons for:

1. Consumer grade laptops, even the most expensive of them, are generally trash. They're difficult to repair, if at all even possible. I've worked on various types of hardware for many years now and have found that this is universally the case. The last one I worked on was a Toshiba, which had somewhere around 22-screws just to get the bottom of the case open.

2. Gaming laptops simply do not last, at any price point. I've owned a few myself, including a 14" Razor Blade and I've had issues with all of them, including failed components that weren't replaceable. I suspect a lot of this has to do with sheer heat generation, which not only causes failures, but makes them downright uncomfortable to use and sometimes not even possible due to how their cases/keyboards heat-up. This may not be an issue for a lower end game like Genshin, but I still wouldn't risk it.

3. Consumer/Gaming laptops generally just feel kind of cheap and junky to me. This is largely personal preference, but all the stupid RGB all over them, weird hinge designs, strange layouts and on and on.

So what do I game on and what do I suggest? Pretty much any Thinkpad. Sure they're not exactly gaming laptops, but there are numerous models that sport dedicated GPU's and are perfectly comfortable for playing most games, especially something like Genshin (I haven't played or tried it myself, so I'm going based on listed specs). Not only will you get something with a dedicated GPU, but it'll also be generally reliable, easy to repair, but it'll also have a fantastic keyboard, as well as a pretty solid trackpad and an excellent trackpoint (though most people don't use it. I love it).

You can find Thinkpads all day with dedicated GPU's, the one I'm currently running is a T480s, which has an MX150 in it, which is roughly equivalent to a GTX 1030, however, I have repasted it with high quality thermal paste and regularly run it with a +225Mhz Core clock and +1000Mhz Memory clock and can play most everything that I want at 1080p, settings range from Low-High depending on age and graphical intensity of the game. You may even be able to get away with something newer with an integrated Radeon 680M, which is currently rivaling some older dedicated GPU's (such as mine) and that should have no issues with Genshin.

Anyway, I'm getting long winded (as usual), but here's an older Thinkpad X1 Extreme, 15.6" sporting a 1650 Ti and here is a review from Notebook Check. I can't speak to this particular model as I tend to prefer a 14" form factor, but these have always been appealing to me and I've been buying Thinkpads exclusively for about 10 years now.

 

[zxspecky]

thank you very much for all the replies.
I've been looking at Lenovo ThinkPads.
I think i've found one below on laptops direct but i'm not sure what version the Radeon Graphics card is (if its r7 or what)
laptops direct

 

[BeardyHat]

thank you very much for all the replies.
I've been looking at Lenovo ThinkPads.
I think i've found one below on laptops direct but i'm not sure what version the Radeon Graphics card is (if its r7 or what)
laptops direct

I'd probably hold off on that one, as it's a Vega 7 integrated graphics. Not bad by any means, but I'd look for another laptop with a newer processor integrating the 680m.

You can check and see what graphics processor each individual chip has over at Notebook check

 

[ZedClampet]

I'll trust BeardyHat, but those little gpu processors wouldn't do the job for me because of what I use my laptop for. I need as many CUDA cores as I can get. As such, I don't have any practical experience with mobile processors. Everyone's needs are different, and in your price range it may be a good move.

It's very possible that after you settle on one that you can find someone on YouTube who has benchmarked it in your game.

BeardyHat is also definitely on target regarding the reliability and durability of most gaming laptops. You can certainly find durable ones, but not anywhere near your price range. Cheap laptops are lucky to make it two years. Very lucky.

Another option for you with a similar performance profile would be the Steam Deck, which is a handheld gaming PC kind of like the Nintendo Switch, but more powerful.

 

[BeardyHat]

A Deck is definitely not a terrible idea, though I struck it from my own post as Genshin isn't on Steam, which means a third party installer and possibly running something like Lutris for Wine. While it's not necessarily I mind doing, I don't think most people are interested in futzing with Linux issues.

As far as as my recommendations: I Zed is correct in that generally my preferred machines are lower power/lower end. I don't typically play graphically intensive, newer games on my machines, so it's never much of a problem for me. Generally, the only AAA games I might play on my laptop are pretty old, so results may vary.

 

[Brian Boru]

a new laptop for my daughter

Welcome to the forum

Just checking: is a desktop out of the question?

 

[ZedClampet]

Welcome to the forum

Just checking: is a desktop out of the question?

Our kids needed them for school, so we kind of killed two birds with one stone, but laptops and children don't mix (or maybe it's just children related to my wife), and I was constantly swapping out new screens and keyboards.

 

[zxspecky]

Just checking: is a desktop out of the question?

Yes need a laptop so she can take it between my house and her mum's house and probably a friends house too.

 

[zxspecky]

Cheap laptops are lucky to make it two years. Very lucky.

Thanks I'll opt for extended warranty if I can

 

[zxspecky]

but I'd look for another laptop with a newer processor integrating the 680m.

You can check and see what graphics processor each individual chip has over at Notebook check

thanks. notebook checker looks like a really informative site but I don't understand a lot of it, I don't know what i'm looking for and i'm not sure what 680m is?

 

[BeardyHat]

thanks. notebook checker looks like a really informative site but I don't understand a lot of it, I don't know what i'm looking for and i'm not sure what 680m is?

Basically, the 680m is the latest "integrated" graphics for AMD APU's (APU is a combination of CPU and GPU) and is roughly equivalent to a lower end dedicated GPU. The current 680m is more powerful than my GeForce MX150, for example.

But AMD has older versions, usually called "Vega", they have Vega 7, 8 , 11, etc, etc. These aren't bad by any means, but they're not as powerful as the newer 680m and are more on par with a lower end dedicated GPU from yesteryear.

So, if you're looking at a laptop and you find it doesn't have a dedicated GPU, your best bet is to head on over to NotebookCheck. Let's take the Lenovo Ideapad you posted earlier and do a little more digging: It says at the top of the page "Radeon Graphics Card", which is technically true, but a bit of a...misdirection? The implication is that it's a dedicated GPU, but if we scroll down on that page and click on the "Dimensions and Spec" tab and then scroll down some more, we can see it has it listed as "Integrated Graphics". So, how do we find out what Integrated graphics it has? We head over to NotebookCheck.

So we know integrated graphics are integrated directly into the processor, so we can go ahead and input the processor type (Ryzen 5-5650U) into NotebookCheck, which you can do at the top of the page in the search bar. Doing that brings up a list of items, but what we want is the "Benchmarks" page, click that. All we really need to do here is read the opening paragraphs, as on the 5th paragraph, we can see:

In addition to the six CPU cores, the APU also integrates a Radeon RX Vega 7 integrated graphics card with 7 CUs and up to 1800 MHz.

That gives us the information we want as far as graphics processor goes and from there, we can copy/paste the Vega 7 information into the search and find some benchmarking of that particular unit, so you can get a general idea of how it performs.

Hopefully I'm not overloading you with information here, I know it's a lot, but this will give you the tools to more effectively pick something that will meet your specified needs.

The basic gist is this:

1. If you buy something with an AMD processor, be sure that it has the Radeon 680m GPU and not Vega, as the 680m will more meet your needs.
2. If you buy something with an Intel processor make sure it has a dedicated GPU listed. This will be anything from Nvidia. Intel does integrated their own Iris Graphics and while not terrible, are not going to be what you're looking for.

Lastly, it seems like you're looking at new machines in particular. In this instance, it doesn't really matter if you go with my previous suggestion of Lenovo Thinkpads, as Lenovo's consumer devices (such as the Ideapad, posted earlier) are in general on the same level of quality as any other brand, so just pick whatever gets you the most bang for your buck. I just prefer Thinkpads because I'm technically inclined and can repair them as needed and am not worried about a warranty.

Hope this helps!

 

[ZedClampet]

Basically, the 680m is the latest "integrated" graphics for AMD APU's (APU is a combination of CPU and GPU) and is roughly equivalent to a lower end dedicated GPU. The current 680m is more powerful than my GeForce MX150, for example.

But AMD has older versions, usually called "Vega", they have Vega 7, 8 , 11, etc, etc. These aren't bad by any means, but they're not as powerful as the newer 680m and are more on par with a lower end dedicated GPU from yesteryear.

So, if you're looking at a laptop and you find it doesn't have a dedicated GPU, your best bet is to head on over to NotebookCheck. Let's take the Lenovo Ideapad you posted earlier and do a little more digging: It says at the top of the page "Radeon Graphics Card", which is technically true, but a bit of a...misdirection? The implication is that it's a dedicated GPU, but if we scroll down on that page and click on the "Dimensions and Spec" tab and then scroll down some more, we can see it has it listed as "Integrated Graphics". So, how do we find out what Integrated graphics it has? We head over to NotebookCheck.

So we know integrated graphics are integrated directly into the processor, so we can go ahead and input the processor type (Ryzen 5-5650U) into NotebookCheck, which you can do at the top of the page in the search bar. Doing that brings up a list of items, but what we want is the "Benchmarks" page, click that. All we really need to do here is read the opening paragraphs, as on the 5th paragraph, we can see:

In addition to the six CPU cores, the APU also integrates a Radeon RX Vega 7 integrated graphics card with 7 CUs and up to 1800 MHz.

That gives us the information we want as far as graphics processor goes and from there, we can copy/paste the Vega 7 information into the search and find some benchmarking of that particular unit, so you can get a general idea of how it performs.

Hopefully I'm not overloading you with information here, I know it's a lot, but this will give you the tools to more effectively pick something that will meet your specified needs.

The basic gist is this:

1. If you buy something with an AMD processor, be sure that it has the Radeon 680m GPU and not Vega, as the 680m will more meet your needs.
2. If you buy something with an Intel processor make sure it has a dedicated GPU listed. This will be anything from Nvidia. Intel does integrated their own Iris Graphics and while not terrible, are not going to be what you're looking for.

Lastly, it seems like you're looking at new machines in particular. In this instance, it doesn't really matter if you go with my previous suggestion of Lenovo Thinkpads, as Lenovo's consumer devices (such as the Ideapad, posted earlier) are in general on the same level of quality as any other brand, so just pick whatever gets you the most bang for your buck. I just prefer Thinkpads because I'm technically inclined and can repair them as needed and am not worried about a warranty.

Hope this helps!

I wish you had been here when the woman from Serbia was looking for a $300 laptop for gaming (used prices in Serbia are very good). I know next to nothing about integrated graphics. Several of us worked the thread, but we were laser focused on dedicated gpu's and ended up being pretty unhelpful since we're also lacking in mobile gpu info. Your posts have really helped me out here.

 

[BeardyHat]

I wish you had been here when the woman from Serbia was looking for a $300 laptop for gaming (used prices in Serbia are very good). I know next to nothing about integrated graphics. Several of us worked the thread, but we were laser focused on dedicated gpu's and ended up being pretty unhelpful since we're also lacking in mobile gpu info. Your posts have really helped me out here.

That's what you get when you're a weirdo that mostly games on the most portable thing they can find.

Sure I have a midrange desktop, but why not see how I can push an old business laptop instead?

 

[zxspecky]

Hope this helps!

Yes that is all very helpful thanks.
I've also found another comparison site called versus.com which was another help.

Looking at the comparisons for my low budget i think the Medion Erazer Crawler E30 seems to shine through with a decent processor and graphics card - it gives me more bang for the buck at £550 (650 euro / 700$ ) and 2 year warranty.

• Medion Erazer Crawler E30
• Intel Core i5 12450H Processor
• GeForce GTX 1650 4GB Graphics card