Best gaming laptops

Anyone and their grandmother can make a gaming laptop. All it takes is a chassis, a few high-powered components, some garish stickers, and boom -- you've got yourself a gaming rig. But not all gaming laptops are created equal, especially those that are ready-made. Here's our guide to separating the wheat from the polygon-chucking chaff.

When choosing a gaming laptop, your first concern should always be the graphics processing unit. The faster this component is, the better your games will run. Avoid any machine that has an integrated Intel graphics card, unless your idea of gaming is a few casual rounds of solitaire while the boss isn't looking.

We'd recommend Nvidia GeForce and ATI Radeon graphics cards. The specific models within these brands change frequently, so it can be nigh on impossible to keep up. But, as a general rule, the higher model numbers within a product series deliver better performance.

The amount of memory allocated to the graphics card isn't particularly important, so don't be fooled by this element of the specification. More meaningful clues as to a GPU's performance can be found by looking at the number of pixel shaders and the memory bandwidth.

Even better performance can be obtained by opting for a laptop that uses two graphics cards simultaneously. ATI's CrossFireX and Nvidia's SLI multi-card technologies work in slightly different ways, but both provide more performance than a single card would, particularly when running games at higher resolutions and with special image effects enabled, such as anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering. If you like your games with all the pretty effects switched on, twin-card set-ups are the way to go.

Once you've got your graphics card sorted, you'll need to consider the CPU. Generally speaking, this will dictate the overall speed of your computer, regardless of whether you're gaming or simply surfing the Net. A fast CPU can bring out the best in a fast graphics card, so, if you've got the cash, our advice is to buy the fastest one you can afford. Currently, the cream of the gaming CPU crop is the Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition, but you can get great gaming results with non-Extreme Edition CPUs, as well as CPUs in the Core i5 range.

Screen resolution is another important consideration. Generally speaking, games look better at a higher resolution, although playing at higher resolution demands more graphics-processing power and can slow your games down. Personally, we wouldn't go for any resolution below 1,680x1,050 pixels. If you're serious about your gaming, you'll need to choose a laptop with a resolution that approaches, or surpasses, 1,920x1,080 pixels.

Check out a few examples of the best gaming laptops we've recently reviewed below. With your new-found knowledge, you should be able to make a more informed purchasing decision.