How To Play Games on a Non-Gaming Laptop

Everybody loves gaming and every gamer wants to have a perfect gaming laptop. The gaming industry has developed tremendously in recent years.

And manufacturers are churning out some excellent gaming laptops for the users. Gaming Laptops are a bit bulkier and comprise some powerful internal hardware, and are often very trendy.

So Can You Play Games on a Non-Gaming Laptop?

They come with an aggressive shell, RGB LEDs, and advanced cooling. But all these things are not necessary to play games.

So you don’t have to buy an expensive gaming laptop to enjoy gaming. You can enjoy gaming with a mid-range laptop comprising decent hardware, it will definitely serve you for gaming and can be a good substitute for an entry-level budget gaming laptop.

But you have to be careful about the games that you play and make some sacrifices. You should have a laptop that comprises specifications that matter.

No need to have tons of storage space or loads of memory. All you need is an exceptional processor and a proper graphic chip. Don’t bother about a 4K screen or a backlit keyboard.

Solid onboard Graphics:

All gaming laptops and desktops usually comprise a dedicated graphic chip or card. And because of this, they have extra power to exhibit pretty games at higher resolutions and swifter frame rates.

But if the laptop that you’re looking to get comprises a relatively recent Intel processor or one of AMD’s new APUs (Accelerated Processing Unit), then the onboard graphics can be unexpectedly effective without a dedicated chip.

You just have to stick to the indie games, esports titles, or primitive AAAs then there is a world of gaming potential. Any new Intel laptop comprising a Core i3, or Core i5 CPU will be efficient and will play overwatch at low settings with much ease.

As this hero-based FPS needs just an Intel HD 4400 GPU – a graphics core found in some laptops that are not that much old.

There are plenty of Games To Pick From:

If you are on a budget and it’s difficult for you to afford a laptop with that kind of hardware or you’re not into FPS, don’t bother, there are still many options out there.

The games that you can play with onboard graphics are Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, DotA 2, Rocket League, and the Half-Life series.

You can also enjoy Hearthstone it’s a striking living card game and its specifications are even lower than that of Overwatch.

If you look outside the domain of AAA games and esports games, there are some exceptional independent games that look delightful and run quite smoothly without a heavy graphics processor behind them.

There are some interesting survival games with a unique style and if you like spaceship games then there is a game by name faster than Light it’s a challenging spaceship management action game that you can enjoy.

So you don’t have to worry too much just act smart and begin your gaming experience. When you use a non-gaming laptop as a PC gamer, you can always make some software developments and modify the in-game setting to see how a game looks and performs.

You can enhance your gaming experience on a non-gaming laptop by getting onboard graphics or entry-level graphics cards like Nvidia MX 150.

Keep your system up-to-date:

Your drivers should be always updated. This is not just a general idea it will certainly enhance your gaming performance when you keep your entire system up to date.

Particularly when you have onboard graphics, ensure that Windows is updated as it’s the best way to get the most from your GPU.

Your gaming experience mainly depends on the GPU. Having a discrete GPU will certainly help as it allows you to run any game on your non-gaming laptop, but if you don’t have a discrete GPU, you will have issues while gaming. 

The gaming experience can also be affected by different factors like thermal design, CPU, and RAM.  And when you deal with dedicated graphics processors from Nvidia or AMD though, you can download the new drivers from their respective websites.

Altering in-Game Settings:

When you adjust in-game settings it will definitely make a huge difference in how a game looks and performs.

When you play a slower-paced game with attractive vistas, it’s possible for you to turn on more graphics options and run the game closer to your laptop’s native resolution.

Factors such as post-processing effect, view distance, foliage levels, and texture quality, can all make a game look much more attractive. And never forget about your FPS, you should never dip below 30 as an average or the game will start to feel very ruffled.

It’s better to stay away from effects like anti-aliasing, which can be very resource-intensive, and vertical sync or V-Sync. You can use one of the options if you see lots of screen-tearing, but use it only when you need it badly as it too can really sap your system’s resources.

If you want to play something more fast-paced or competitive, then frames per second are arguably more crucial than visual quality.

To enhance that you’ll want to turn off any advanced visual effects, particularly motion blur, and turn shadow and texture quality to a minimum.

The game will not look great, but gaming is all about fast moves and if you’re going head to head with someone, it’s better to have a faster game as it will help you play faster too, and that can be a game changer.

As we have discussed above you can definitely enjoy gaming on non-gaming hardware and it’s possible to enjoy some of your favorite games, but you will definitely miss something.

Like there are some games that If you try to play on a laptop at the minimum specifications, simply won’t be as gripping as they would be on a gaming PC with the ideal hardware for the job.

Most of your opponents usually have a gaming laptop or a PC and if you’re trying to go up against them on a screen that’s confined to 60 FPS, you are at a competitive flaw.

Gaming on a non-gaming laptop is definitely viable but you will not experience the true beauty of their virtual worlds, a more robust laptop or a gaming PC, can make a world of difference.

As it will allow you to see higher quality textures, genuine shadows, faster frame rates for fluid motion, extinguished edges, clear faces, and others.

Gaming is all about challenges, there are many games that put you in a situation where you have to think.

Games related to puzzles and mysteries, to managing virtual cities or empires offer everyone the chance to take on a problem and find a solution for it.

Not only kids but anyone who plays these video games progresses in three areas: planning, organization, and flexible thinking.

So no matter which laptop you have just enjoy gaming and encourage your kids also. As the gaming industry is growing very fast same as with professional sports, the chances of becoming a professional video gamer are also there.

Conclusion on How To Play Games on a Non-Gaming Laptop:

So after reading all this stuff you know now that gaming is definitely possible on a non-gaming laptop.

But before you run games on a non-gaming laptop, it’s always better to check the condition of the machine, whether it’s in the best possible condition or not.

Free some memory by getting rid of unwanted programs (browser and chat apps). If you do this then certainly you can enjoy the extraordinary gaming experience.

And lastly don’t forget to see whether your device can manage the heat properly as some games run slow when laptops become hot.

You can handle this issue also by just opening up your device and cleaning the internal elements. In this way, the effect will be minimal.