Thin and light ultraportable laptops are non gaming systems. Focusing more than on productivity and battery life for working on the go, these sort of laptops aren't equipped with enough integrated graphics horsepower to take on today'southward pop triple-A titles. Nimble machines like ultrabooks leave gaming to their larger gaming laptop brothers, which merchandise off portability for pure discrete GPU power.

But just like gaming laptops take become thinner and more portable over the years, integrated GPUs in most ultraportables are not as useless as they once were. Information technology is actually possible to game on an ultrabook, it'southward just a matter of choosing the game and its settings carefully such that it'south not besides intensive for the 15W Intel CPU in most depression-power laptops.

With this in listen, we've tested 34 games on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon: from current AAA titles to older second platformers, to give you an idea of what games are actually playable on modern ultraportables.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon we used is the entry-level model with an Intel Kaby Lake Core i5-7200U, 8GB of RAM and a 1080p display. The i5-7200U is substantially the base U-series CPU you lot'll find in ultraportables, with two cores, iv threads, a base of operations clock of 2.5 GHz, and a boost clock of 3.ane GHz. The integrated GPU is an HD 620 with 24 execution units clocked up to 1000 MHz.

All the testing in this commodity is reflective of the entry-level ultraportable experience, but of form yous tin can find laptops with more powerful CPUs like the i7-7500U, which delivers about five percent (!) more graphics performance. Occasionally you might besides meet ultraportables with Iris Plus graphics, which utilise CPUs like the i7-7567U with double the GPU execution units, but these laptops are rare, so our testing is largely representative of most standard ultrabooks.

Electric current AAA Games

The get-go group of games I tested were triple-A titles, ranging from new games like Prey to titles like The Witcher 3 from a few years back. All of these games were designed to be played on at to the lowest degree Xbox One console hardware, and all require some form of discrete GPU to meet their 'minimum' requirements.

Game Year Settings Used Experience
Batman: Arkham Knight 2015 Didn't launch at all
Battlefield 1 2016 Crashed earlier loading
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided 2016 720p Lowest At best, 20 FPS
Fallout 4 2015 720p Lowest 24 FPS
Mass Effect Andromeda 2017 Crashed at loading screen
Prey 2017 720p Lowest 18 FPS
Spotter Dogs two 2016 720p Lowest 6 FPS
The Witcher iii: Wild Chase 2015 720p Lowest 16 FPS with horrible input lag

It wasn't surprising to discover that, as ultraportables don't meet the minimum requirements to play any of these games, none could be played at a reasonable quality level. A number of games didn't load at all. The Witcher three was plagued with input lag that made the game completely unplayable, and every other championship failed to hit even 25 frames per second on the everyman possible quality settings at a mere 720p resolution.

It'southward rubber to say that if you lot're trying to play a triple-A title released in the past iv years on a modern ultrabook, you're going to have a bad fourth dimension.

Older Games

Evidently nosotros have to go farther dorsum in time and attempt to play a wide range of games from 2004'south Grand Theft Machine: San Andreas right upwards until 2022's Tomb Raider. Depending on the game in question, it may come as a surprise that some of these titles are very playable on ultraportables if you lot're willing to sacrifice visual quality.

Game Year Settings Used Experience
Alan Wake 2012 Didn't launch
Assassin'south Creed 4: Blackness Flag 2013 720p Lowest 25 to thirty FPS
Borderlands 2 2012 720p Lowest 35 to 50 FPS
Dead Island 2011 720p Lowest lx+ FPS
The Elder Scrolls Iv: Oblivion 2006 1080p Max, no AA fifty to threescore FPS
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim 2011 1080p Low Preset, 4xAF 35 to 45 FPS
Far Cry 3 2012 720p Lowest 30+ FPS
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 2004 1080p Very High, no AA forty+ FPS
Minecraft 2009 1080p High 100+ FPS
Portal ii 2011 1080p Medium, no AA sixty+ FPS fifty-fifty in intensive maps
Sleeping Dogs 2012 720p Low Preset fifty FPS
The Witcher 2007 1080p Medium 35 to threescore FPS, but cutscenes can dip to 15 FPS
Tomb Raider 2013 720p Low Preset
1080p Low Preset		 65 FPS
30+ FPS

Of all the games I tested from 2022 and before, only two titles were unplayable. Alan Wake didn't launch, while Blackness Flag hovered under 30 FPS at the lowest settings. Every other game was playable, admitting oft at the lowest settings at 720p. Some of the older titles like Oblivion and GTA: San Andreas were quite playable at 1080p, while I was surprised that a game similar Far Weep 3 was comfortably playable on the lowest settings.

Esports Games

I'yard not a big fan of esports titles personally, merely I did load five of the most popular ones onto the ThinkPad X1 Carbon to see if they were playable on integrated graphics. Here are the results.

Game Year Settings Used Experience
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 2012 720p Low Barely forty FPS
DOTA 2 2013 768p Medium fifty to 60 FPS
League of Legends 2009 1080p Medium l to 60 FPS
Overwatch 2016 720p Low Mostly 60 FPS with dips into the 40s in heavy gainsay
Rocket League 2015 900p Performance Style 60+ FPS

Of the five games, the only 1 I'd say isn't playable is CS: Get, as yous actually will desire to play at above 60 FPS, which integrated graphics simply cannot hitting. Information technology'south ameliorate news for all the others. Overwatch is playable on the lowest possible settings if you are willing to put upwards with the occasional dip below 60 FPS in heavy gainsay, while Rocket League achieves 60 FPS without much issue at 900p.

Ii other extremely popular esports titles, DOTA 2 and League of Legends, are known for beingness more forgiving on hardware, especially the latter which was able to run comfortably at 1080p using Medium settings. Using High was too possible but severe slowdowns in heavy fights are not worth it. DOTA two is also very playable admitting at reduced resolution, likewise on Medium settings, so y'all can striking close to threescore FPS about of the time.

Indie and 2D Games

There are two categories of games that are almost e'er playable on low-end hardware with integrated graphics: indie titles, and 2D games. Games that fall into these categories tend not to be particularly graphically intensive relative to triple-A titles, so most tin can be enjoyed on laptops.

Game Yr Settings Used Experience
Bastion 2011 1080p, no AA xl FPS
Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons 2013 1080p 25-30 FPS
FTL: Faster Than Light 2012 1080p 200+ FPS
Gone Home 2013 900p, Fastest Preset 30+ FPS
Ori and the Blind Forest 2015 1080p xxx+ FPS
Rayman Origins 2011 1080p 60 FPS with occasional dips into the 40s
Stardew Valley 2016 1080p Comfortable 60 FPS lock
The Witness 2016 Dynamic resolution, everyman settings thirty to 60 FPS

Similar with games from earlier 2022, well-nigh of these indie titles are very playable on ultraportable hardware. The feel in some of these isn't ideal: games like Bastion and Ori and the Blind Forest would be better at sixty FPS, but can't manage that level of performance in integrated graphics and have limited (if any) graphics settings. Others like Stardew Valley are perfect for weak laptop hardware.

Wrap Up

While ultraportables aren't as suited to gaming as true gaming laptops, it's still possible to play a wide variety of games on the integrated graphics you'll discover inside. Trade-offs will have to be made: resolution, quality levels and frame rates, but with the right kind of expectations your nimble business machine can deliver decent, playable results -- and that's kind of the idea.

Of the eight current triple-A titles I tested, none were playable. All the same, x of 12 triple-A games from 2022 or earlier could be played at low item settings, with v of those 10 running comfortably at 1080p. Two titles – Oblivion and GTA: San Andreas – ran at about maximum quality settings.

Esports titles were easier on the hardware, with Overwatch and Rocket League hitting acceptable frame rates at low item settings. CS: Go was playable just at less desirable sub 40 FPS functioning. Both League of Legends and DOTA ii can be played on Medium settings, LoL in particular looks bang-up running smoothly at 1080p.

Other games certainly suited to ultraportable hardware, 2d and indie titles, of the eight games tested, but i failed to striking a consistent 30 FPS, while every other title ran reasonably well, including newer 3D games like The Witness.

The concluding tally stands as follows: of the 34 games I tested, 22 ran and were playable on the Core i5-7200U. Eight of these games ran at resolutions beneath 1080p, while ix needed to exist run at the everyman possible detail settings. Nine games ran at almost maximum settings, five of these nine were indie titles.

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That's a surprisingly good result for hardware that'southward known to struggle playing 3D games. The lowest detail settings may non look the prettiest, only heading into Skyrim on a laptop is yet an enjoyable experience even if you don't have proper gaming hardware available.