Laptop

[VARN]

I was thinking about buying this computer. It says that it has an integrated intel HD graphics card. The games that I may play are Savage 2 and Minecraft

 

Savage 2 Requirements

Minimum:
Processor - 2.2GHz Pentium 4 / AMD 2000+ or faster
RAM - 1GB of RAM
Video Card - 128MB fully DirectX 9.0 compliant Geforce or Radeon
Windows XP, Win2k or Windows Vista
Network Connection Required 

Recommended:
Processor - 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo / AMD 3500+ or faster
RAM - 1.5GB or higher
Video Card - 256MB Geforce 7800+ or Radeon X1900+
Network Connection Required (Broadband) 

 

Minecraft

Recommended Requirements: (game should be running at least 60 fps, or 30 fps when it is loading chunks)
CPU: 2.0+ GHz multi-core processor, 2.5+ GHz single-core processor
RAM/Memory: 2.0+ GB for Xp, 3.0+ GB for Vista/Win 7/Mac OS, 4.0+ GB for all 64-bit Operating Systems
Graphic Card: ATI/Nvidia independent card that support OpenGL 2.0 with 128+ MB of dedicated G-RAM
Hard Drive Space: 256+ MB of free space

 

I do not know how to compare different brands of graphics cards; will this laptop meet my needs?

[Octarine]

I can't speak for savage 2, but minecraft should run perfectly well, it does with no problems on my Corei3 4Gb RAM Dell Studio, so I dont see any reason why it shouldnt be better on yours

 

as for graphics cards, since basically allll laptops come with the annoying integrated ones, I dont think theres any great way of knowing before you buy it/test it.

One little note, my brother bought a pretty good laptop a year back (dell inspiron) with the usual 4Gb ram, and quad processor, but the graphics card wouldnt even do anti-aliasing.

Maybe look up how good acers tend to be performance-wise in general? Should give a good idea of what you can expect

[Hegelstad]

No it will not meet your needs at all.

 

Minecraft will run properly, but a real gpu could prove to be even better, and its certainly needed for Savage 2.

 

I'd go for a quality Asus laptop with any Nvidia graphics card.

[The Observer]

Integrated graphics cards will work well for Minecraft, no doubt, but if you want to play anything advanced (I can't speak for Savage 2 because I've never played it), you will need an actual graphics card and not an integrated one.

[VARN]

How can I tell if it is possible to upgrade the graphics card?

 

What about something like this StarTech USB VGA External Dual/Multi Video Adapter.

[Guy]

In laptops, it is very hard if not impossible to upgrade graphics cards. I would agree with the above posters and get a laptop with a dedicated card if you're looking to game.

[Gandorf61]

How can I tell if it is possible to upgrade the graphics card?

 

What about something like this StarTech USB VGA External Dual/Multi Video Adapter.

 

All that does is add an adapter to hook an external monitor to your laptop. When buying a laptop you pretty much have to expect that you won't be upgrading any components besides the RAM. A decent laptop would be one similar to this one as it has a Nvidia graphics card which should be able to play the games you want.