Crysis

Publisher: Electronic Arts

We patch Crysis to v1.21 and run it in DirectX 10 mode with High detail settings at the native resolution of the laptop's screen with 2x AA and no AF to give a reasonably real-world test.

We load a save game in the Relic level and play the game for roughly three minutes, following a strictly defined sequence of actions and movements. We repeat this test three times, or until a reliable set of results is achieved. The consistent results are then averaged to give the figures below.

This is the best way to test how the CPU and GPU affects game performance, as the game will be generating AI and physics and game rules for the CPU to perform. A timedemo addresses a CPU in a noticeably different way.

World in Conflict

Publisher: Ubisoft

We fancied re-visiting World in Conflict for this review, for no particular reason. Crysis is the game we use to compare gaming laptops to each other, but we like to run at least one other game to see what the performance is like. We patched World in Conflict to v1.011 and tried to run the game at the native resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 with 2x AA.

Battery Life

We test each laptop for how long it can last when gaming, as gaming laptops are frequently pitched along the lines of 'gaming on the go' and 'fragging on the train'. Before testing, we turn off the low battery warnings and ensure that the laptop is set to use its whole battery life before dying. We run an applet that updates a text file with the time every minute, and then load our Crysis save game and let ourselves die and respawn. Once the battery dies, the applet won't be able to write any more, so we have our start and finish time.


See the Results Analysis page for our take on what these numbers mean.