More games that will run an (almost) any nongaming laptop. Which games will run on my laptop

You play as Cuphead or his brother Mugman. The style from the 1930s is reminiscent of the old ‘visit the snack bar’ animations with their anthropomorphic popcorn and dancing sodas. Coupled with a cool soundtrack, the game provides a fun experience whether you are watching someone else die or playing alone.

What Are The Minimum Requirements For A Gaming Laptop? [2021]

Knowing the minimum requirements for a gaming laptop can help you choose one that suits your needs. Choosing one with the right specs will help you achieve the perfect balance between power and portability.

Gaming laptop manufacturers such as Asus, Origin PC, MSI, Razer, etc make laptops with different specifications to meet the needs of different consumers.

But it is precisely this reason that makes it difficult for users, especially newcomers to computer games, to decide what’s right for them. When it comes to gaming laptops, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

The minimum requirements you need depend on the requirements of the games you want to play, any other software you want to run, and the type of games you plan to make; casual, mainstream or heavy.

But in general, a decent laptop should meet at least the following minimum requirements:

Ingredient	Specification
Processor	Intel Core i5 H series or AMD Ryzen 5H equivalent
GPU	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 480
Aries	At least 8 GB
Screen resolution	1,920 x 1,080 pixels
SSD	128 GB
Hard drive	500 GB
Operating system	Windows 10 (64-bit)
Video output	HDMI 2.0 compatible
USB ports	1 x USB 3.0 port and 2 x USB 2.0 ports

Note: These specs are not standard, but a laptop that meets the above specs shouldn’t have problems playing most modern games smoothly.

Understanding Minimum vs Recommended Game Requirements

The minimum specs are the lowest specs that the game developers have confirmed that the game will perform properly to their standards, while the recommended specs are measured against the default values ​​by which the developers want the game to run for the best gaming experience.

If you like to play games at higher settings, use the recommended settings. The minimum requirements allow the games to run in the basic version or slightly higher, but you may not be able to get the most out of the graphics.

Typically, when setting the recommended and minimum requirements, game developers do not test their games on outdated or weaker hardware as they assume their customer base will have better / up-to-date hardware.

Usually, the minimum and recommended settings are usually listed on the official website of the game manufacturer. For example, Call of Duty system requirements are listed here.

Sites like Can You Run It, Game-Debate, or PC Games Benchmark help determine the minimum and recommended system requirements for a specific game.

As die-hard gamers don’t mind spending a few extra dollars to get the best gaming gear even at the highest settings, hardcore games require a high-end laptop (~ 150,500 and above).

Outcast: Second Contact

A remake of an almost-forgotten cult classic from 1999 that was one of the first open-world games. It still has a fairly retro look at low res, so it worked quite well on our Core i5 laptop after setting the “normal” graphics options and lowering the resolution one step from Full HD, with frames per second in the last 20 years.

Are these 1993 and 1995 Star Wars classics aging gracefully? No, not really. But thanks to a recent re-release, you can now play them on modern computers. It will be a real nostalgic shot for gamers of a certain age, and the digitized live action footage is a lot of fun. The best thing about playing 25-year-old games is that they work great even on modest hardware.

Unreal Gold

Epic’s Unreal Engine powers many modern games, but the original 1998 game still has its appeal as the more sophisticated brother of the more famous Doom. The Gold version, usually available for free up to $ 10, works great. But depending on your PC, it may require an Epic-approved fix, which can be found at oldunreal.com.

A fun little strategy game of survival that looks and feels like the isolated arctic horror movie The Thing. This time around, they’re more glowing alien things than shape-shifting monsters, but there’s still a lot of crafting, survival, and stealth for your little group of survivors. It worked great with medium detail settings.

Cuphead’s visual aesthetic is truly unique – it’s the only game we’ve ever seen that mimics the early 1930s “rubber snake” animation style in a crazy 2D game. You need sharp reflexes to complete the game, but not much in terms of computer power.

Can I Run It: Our Guide

Manual Method: Check The Product Page

This method was discussed above, but you’ll basically want to find the recommended specs for the game. If the game is on Steam, just search the game and then view the product page. From there, you should be able to scroll down and it is fairly easy to find your results under the “System Requirements” section.

If the game is not available on Steam, you’ll have to do a little more work .. try Googleing something like “game title system requirements” instead. For example, a Google search for “Overwatch System Requirements” takes me to this page from Blizzard!

If you want to save yourself some work, you can also try…

Tool Method: SystemRequirementsLab

SystemRequirementsLab is a tool that you can use to automatically determine if your computer can run the game or not. It’s a little more in-depth than using product pages – especially ones that aren’t as detailed as they should be – but won’t be as accurate as finding benchmarks or considering special scenarios where you can run the game even though you’re not meeting its requirement ; he’s such a pedant. (More on that later!)

When run once, the tool saves system information as a cookie in the browser. Until you clear your browser data, you can go back to SystemRequirementsLab and check for compatibility with different games!

Best Method: Find Benchmarks That Match Your Setup!

However, the best method is not to use any tool or product page.

The best method is to find benchmarks or videos of people playing the game with your specifications. For example, if you own a GTX 760 like I do, you can search for, say, “GTX 760 PUBG” and get a video similar to the one we posted below of a player using PUBG with this graphics card.

You can check out our own Youtube channel that we just launched, we have some fantastic benchmark videos of various PCs we tested recently, including the latest Ryzen 3000 processors and the Radeon 5700 XT graphics card we’ve tested in over 15 games.

The video above is one of our newest and shows us playing the whole range of the newest and greatest AAA games including PUBG, Fortnite, Dota 2 and many more. We test the latest AMD Ryzen 3700X with a Radeon 5700XT graphics card and 16GB DDR4 RAM.

You see, product pages aren’t always accurate. Sometimes they overestimate the system requirements, and sometimes (usually with older titles that are still being updated like Team Fortress 2) they underestimate them.

The only way to be sure how well your system is running the game is to start the game yourself. It’s relatively easy to do with Free-to-Play titles, but if the game isn’t F2P, the next best way is to find the current video of a person with similar specs running the game in action, like us!

Below Minimum Requirements?

Suppose you don’t meet the minimum requirements on the product page, or so says SystemRequirementsLab. The first thing you’ll want to do is strategically googling to see if that’s really the case.

However, what if you cannot find a matching benchmark or are still not satisfied with the performance you see?

Well, you may still have other options. This is a PC game and the best part about playing on this platform is that the options are almost endless.

For Valve games like Team Fortress 2 and CS: GO, there are countless performance configuration files you can use to boost FPS.

There are also other tools you can use to squeeze a little more out of your system, such as Windows 10 Game Mode or Razer Game Booster.

Lastly, if it’s just a single component and it’s not a huge difference in performance, it’s usually not a problem. Overall, the GPU will be the biggest problem, followed by the CPU and possibly the amount of RAM used.

By using UserBenchmark, you can get a good idea of ​​how big the difference is between the program you are using and the recommended components. However, if you’re still new to the scene, you should consider seeking advice before purchasing a game that you may not be able to get started with.

However, at the end of the day, there will be scenarios where you just won’t be able to run the game at a satisfactory level of performance. Recently, some modern titles may even refuse to run if you have less than 6 GB of RAM on your system, although this is usually not much.

If you are unable to launch the game and have spent real money on it, we recommend that you receive a refund. Steam, UPlay, GOG, and Origin offer a full refund for this scenario! Most brick-and-mortar stores offer this as well, but you’ll need to keep your receipt if you’re returning a game.

Then check the system requirements for the game you want to run. You’ll usually find this information on the game’s website or on the website of any store that sells it. For example, it is located at the bottom of every game page on the Steam store.

Untitled Goose Game

One of the best indie games to hit 2019, Untitled Goose Game, is something incredibly unique. You play as a disgruntled goose. Your job? Wreak havoc on a community of unsuspecting, innocent villagers by sneaking around pubs, gardens, and market stools, stealing valuables and honking incessantly.

Set in a quaint English village, the low-poly, simplistic yet highly effective art style means it’s the perfect laptop game to spend an afternoon tormenting the locals – it’s also pretty good for relieving stress.

Stardew Valley

Created by solo developer ConcernedApe, Stardew Valley is a love letter to farming games like Harvest Moon. You escape the gray grind of life as a nameless corporation creature and head to the countryside to transform your grandfather’s farm and the nearby town into an abundant haven with the help of fantastic forest elves called Junimos. With cute, homemade pixel graphics, a relaxed pace and the fact that you really only need the directional keys and right and left clicks, Stardew Valley is the perfect laptop game.

Moreover, Stardew Valley is a great co-op game – team up with up to three friends and build a farm together in multiplayer. As of Stardew Valley 1.4, you can even play with your friends on the Four Corners map, which divides the farm into different regions, each with its own advantages. The update adds a cornucopia of new features and cosmetics, but if you want to add Japanese buildings or Pokemon skins to your game to recreate the Pokemon game on PC, you’ll need our guide to the best Stardew Valley mods.

UserBenchmark will be an indispensable tool for comparing the power of your own system with the “recommended” and “minimum” specifications on the game page. As an example, let’s take a look at the Steam page for Devil May Cry 4 (and its minimum / recommended specs) to see if I can run this game.

Brutal Doom

Liquefy demons, slay the hellishspawn and push your enemies down the drain with the power of any dual-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, and a graphics card with 256MB of VRAM.

Brutal Doom is a bit different than any other game on this list. You’ll have to do some work – and you’ll need to have the original Doom / Doom 2, their different shareware versions, or have your own free WAD files that you want to run. This list includes installation instructions and some links to free maps, which are great for playing with the mod if you don’t have any of the official WADs.

As for what Brutal Doom is – this is the version of Doom you’d want to play if it were made today in a modern FPS engine. New alternative weapons are available for your starting pistol. Pistols now have a loading mechanic. There are alternative weapons to the Plasma Rifle and the BFG 9000, and you can find and use some enemy weapons that were not previously available in the game. Features such as mouselook, aiming and jumping have been implemented. There is a fast rolling motion to avoid fire, a new lethality mode and additional difficulty levels.

In short, it is amazing.

Among Us

Learn not to trust friends and family by using: Intel P4 2GHz, Nvidia GeForce 510, 250 MB hard disk space.

Among us, a group of 4-10 players is competing against each other. 1-3 players are cheaters and the rest are crew members. The task of the crew members is to complete a certain list of tasks and discover who the Cheaters are. The scammers are tasked with pretending to be crew members while sabotaging a ship in hiding. If your family manages to stay Zen during the four-hour Monopoly games, try to challenge them.

An adventure game from 2014 that draws inspiration from classic adventures from previous decades. This makes sense as the Kickstarter sensation comes from the mind of designer Tim Schafer (Psychonauts, Grim Fandango). Apart from the screen resolution, there aren’t any graphics settings to deal with, and no problems launching the game.

Untitled Goose Game

Untitled Goose Game from the independent publisher Panic Inc is a newer title. Players take on the role of an unbearable city goose. The city is divided into sections, each with a set of missions or tasks to complete, such as stealing items or tricking villagers into doing something. The game mixes stealth and puzzle elements, and developer House House, oddly enough, said it takes inspiration from Mario 64 and the Hitman franchise.

With its simplified graphics, it’s easy to let this game fly under your radar, but its gameplay is fun and silly enough to be a good pick for low-end systems. Its only drawback is that it is too short. Most players can complete it in a few hours.

Buy from: Epic Games Store, Steam (later this year)

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami is a top-down shooter, launched by Devolver Digital in 2012. You play as the unnamed protagonist (fans refer to him as “Jacket”) in 1989 in Miami. The game is divided into chapters, each of which has several stages. The missions begin with a phone message in which Jacket finally confronts a Russian mafia operation. The goal is always gruesome to eliminate all the bad guys in this location.

When starting each stage unarmed, Jacket must sneak, at least until he finds a weapon or a melee weapon. He also has access to masks that can be found on the bodies. Each disguise has unique powerups to help you get through the scene. While it’s an action game, it’s also a bit puzzle-oriented as players need to figure out how to complete areas without killing, which isn’t easy. If you cannot jump on an enemy, you will likely die and have to restart the level.

Its retro graphics combined with an 80s-inspired soundtrack give it almost the atmosphere of GTA: Vice City. Its design makes it great for playing in short bursts, such as while waiting to board at an airport.

The game’s veteran age means it still works perfectly on any hardware imaginable, the only caveat is that you’ll need a reasonable internet connection to play it. It’s also very easy to use when it comes to the control scheme – as long as you can click and use the number keys, you’ll be on an equal footing with everyone else.

Check Your PC’s Specifications Manually

We’ll cover the more automatic method later, but we’ll look at the manual method first. You need to know your computer’s hardware – first and foremost, the speed of the processor, the amount of RAM, and the details of your graphics card. You can find this information in a number of different ways, including browsing laptop specifications on the Internet.

However, the easiest way to find all these details is with the System Information tool. We recommend Speccy (the free version is fine), made by the same company that makes the excellent CCleaner. Download and install Speccy, then run.

The main summary screen shows what you need to know:

• Processor type and speed in GHz.
• The amount of RAM in GB.
• The model of your computer’s graphics card and the amount of RAM your graphics card has on board.

Then check the system requirements for the game you want to run. You’ll usually find this information on the game’s website or on the website of any store that sells it. For example, it is located at the bottom of every game page on the Steam store.

Compare the information shown in Speccy with the details listed in the game. Pay close attention to the requirements for the CPU, memory and graphics card. After remembering your basic PC hardware, checking system requirements is as simple as browsing them and comparing them to memory.

You’ll want to note the difference between the minimum requirements and the recommended ones. The minimum requirements are what it takes for the game to work at all. Typically, you will need to run the game on the lowest settings, and it may not be a fun experience. If your PC meets the recommended specs, you’ll have a better time playing this game. You may not be able to tweak all your graphics options to their maximum settings, but you should find a nice, playable balance.

Automatically Compare Your PC’s Specifications to a Game

While it’s not too difficult to figure out your computer’s specifications yourself and compare them to the game’s requirements, you can often have your own computer for it. To check system requirements automatically, use the Can You Run It website. This site is backed by many large companies, including AMD.

We recommend running the System Requirements Lab Detection desktop application before using this website. If you don’t, you’ll be prompted to run it the first time you search for a game. Install this application and it will scan your computer’s hardware before sending you back to the site by setting a special cookie that identifies your hardware. This way you won’t have to install any Java or ActiveX applets.

After running the tool, visit the Can You Run It website and start typing the name of the game you want to find in the Search Game box. The box will automatically suggest titles so you can choose the game you want. After selecting the game, click the “Can You Run It.

The results page allows you to see how your computer performs against the game’s minimum and recommended requirements, including CPU, graphics, RAM, Windows version, and free disk space.

And now that you have the detection tool installed, you can check as many games as you want in the future. Just remember that the detection tool works by storing a cookie so that your browser can retrieve the hardware information. If you clear your cookies, you will have to restart the detection tool.

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Chris Hoffman
Chris Hoffman is the editor-in-chief of How-To Geek. He has been writing about technology for over a decade, and for two years he was a columnist for PCWorld. Chris has written for The New York Times, has been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations such as NBC 6 in Miami, and his work has been covered by news sites such as the BBC. As of 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read nearly a billion times – and it is right here at How-To Geek.
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