Best Netbooks for Gaming
This post is not for all you mega-serious gamers out there who wouldn’t even consider playing on a netbook; it’s for those few people who would like to get a netbook that doubles up for some not so tech-heavy games, or something that they can play on while travelling.
There are some important netbook components that you should look at for gaming -
Graphics
For games to be enjoyable, they should run smoothly. The Atom series featured in most netbooks isn’t quite upto the task, but a lot of the blame should fall on the graphics package. Both the Intel GMA 945 and slightly improved GMA 500 just don’t cut it. The HP Mini 311 and ASUS 1201N are two netbooks which break the mould and feature the much more powerful Nvidia Ion platforms. The Acer AS1410 features the powerful Intel GMA 4500MHD and the MSI U210 (12.1″) an ATI Radeon X1250.
RAM
There was a point of time when 1GB of RAM was the shit. Now it’s the norm on piddly little netbooks. Of the netbooks mentioned previously, the HP Mini 311 Windows Home Premium model features 2GB of RAM, which can be upgraded to 3GB. The ASUS 1201N also comes with an inbuilt 2GB, but is extendable to a massive 8GB of RAM! Other netbooks with 2GB inbuilt are the Acer AS1410 and MSI U210, but this may be the maximum memory due to limited upgrade slots. Check before you buy.
Processor Speed
Intel’s Atom series of processors run on about 90% of netbooks out there. While this is a nice lightweight series that’s great for basic tasks such as browsing, reading documents, and maybe playing solitaire or minesweeper; it’s not going to sail through Call of Duty 4. Other options include netbooks like Gateway’s LT3100 that is run by the AMD 64 110, or newly announced MSI U230 with the AMD Neo X2 Dual Core (and ATI Radeon HT3200 graphics).
Gaming Netbooks with Specifications
We’ve looked at the top 5 netbooks out there with enough firepower to run most games on.
- Screen: 12.1″ 1366 x 768 Display
- Processor: 1.6GHz Intel Atom Dual Core N330 Processor
- Graphics: Nvidia Ion Graphics Platform
- Memory: 2GB DDR2 RAM (8GB MAX)
- Hard Drive: 250GB HDD (5400 rpm)
- OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
- Battery life: 5 hours
- Amazon Price: $499
2. HP Mini 311
- Screen: 11.6″ Widescreen 1366 x 768 Display
- Processor: 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor
- Graphics: Nvidia Ion LE Graphics (895MB memory)
- Memory: 2GB DDR2 RAM (3GB MAX)
- Hard Drive: 250GB HDD (5400 rpm)
- OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
- Battery life: 6.25 hours
- Amazon Price: $532
3. MSI U210
- Screen: 12.1″ Widescreen 1366 x 768 Display
- Processor: 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 Processor
- Graphics: AMD ATI Radeon X1250
- Memory: 2GB DDR RAM (4GB MAX)
- Hard Drive: 250GB HDD (5400 rpm)
- OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
- Battery life: 5 hours
- Amazon Price: $419.99
The MSI U230 has similar specs but with an ATI Radeon X3200.
4. Acer AS1410
- Screen: 11.6″ Widescreen 1366 x 768 Display
- Processor: 1.3GHz Intel Celeron 743 Processor
- Graphics: Intel GMA 4500 MHD
- Memory: 2GB DDR2 RAM (667 MHz)
- Hard Drive: 250GB HDD (5400 rpm)
- OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
- Battery life: 6 hours
- Amazon Price: $434.99
- Screen: 11.6″ Widescreen 1366 x 768 Display
- Processor: 1.2GHz AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core L310 Processor
- Graphics: ATI Radeon 3200
- Memory: 4GB DDR2 RAM (667 MHz)
- Hard Drive: 250GB HDD (5400 rpm)
- OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
- Battery life: 5 hours
- Amazon Price: $599.99
Filed under: netbook lists
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