Laptops - iGP vs GPU Questions

[Jebula999]

Hey Peeps,

So with load shedding getting rather annoying, I was looking at getting backup power at home.
But the idea of spending 25k-35k for a few more hours of screen time a day just makes me sick -_-

So then I thought, well why not spend say 10k-15k on a laptop, and use that in the dark times as well as being a handy companion when moving around?

Not looking at something to play AAA games on or run at 4k 144Hz, just something to fill the gaps.
When reading write-ups and articles I get mixed feedback, same laptop, different sites, state between 1-9 hours of battery and 10-250fps.....
Which of course doesn't help when I'm potentially looking to have a battery for at least 4 hours. But just can't find viable information.


Now the main questions I have are the following:

1. What is the general battery life of a laptop while playing games (low-med settings, nothing major, maybe like WoW, V-Rising, LoL, Dota) with an:
   • iGP with Ryzen 7 / i7
   • GPU with Ryzen5 / i5
2. What would the performance difference be (Roughly here, like 10%? 20%? 50%?) (From what I could find, these are the same price range)
   (Side note, I'm happy with 60fps, don't need anything more. so getting 100-200 fps is pointless for me)
   • I can either get something with a Ryzen 5 + 4GB RAM + RTX 3050 + 256GB SSD
   • Or a Ryzen 7 + 20GB RAM + 1TB SSD (No dedicated GPU)

Some examples of laptops I've looked at potentially getting.
iGP:

• Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 82KU00V2SA AMD Ryzen 7 5700U
• Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ADA6 82KR006DSA AMD Ryzen 7 3700U

GPU:

• Victus by HP Laptop 15-fb0017ni AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
• Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 15ACH6 82K200U2SA AMD Ryzen 5 5600H

Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated, as well as any advice on what to look for.
I have gaming rig at home, but when it comes to laptops, I'm clueless.

 

[charizarding]

I can't really speak for my current laptop BUT i had an HP Omen i7 9750h rtx 2080 that i used during loadshedding. i underclocked the snot out of it because it was overheating so it drew less power than normal also.

I would get maybe 1 hour of gaming time and the game looked like hot garbage because it switched from the 2080 to the iGPU. I mostly used the battery to give me chance to finish up whatever i was doing and wait until loadshedding returns.

I can maybe test with my current laptop later, Its a ASUS ROG with RTX 3060 & Ryzen 7 6800H

 

[AinsleyHarriott]

I would not suggest getting a gaming laptop, especially on the cheap side. I also would not recommend getting ANY of the Ryzen 3000 mobile processors, they suck and use 2GB memory for the iGPU.

Maybe look at the ThinkPads on Carbonite, you can get a modern one basically new in your budget, great build quality etc.

Edit:

Here's one with all the bells and whistles

ThinkPad

 

[Jebula999]

I would not suggest getting a gaming laptop, especially on the cheap side. I also would not recommend getting ANY of the Ryzen 3000 mobile processors, they suck and use 2GB memory for the iGPU.

Maybe look at the ThinkPads on Carbonite, you can get a modern one basically new in your budget, great build quality etc.

Edit:

Here's one with all the bells and whistles

ThinkPad

Thanks for the input.

The budget is "semi" flexible, and would rather spend a few more and get something that works better than pay less and regret it a month later.

Any thoughts of performance difference? Not sure how one would even convey the difference, but are we talking from say a capable 120fps down to 30-40, or more like 120 to 60.

Just trying to get a sense of what I might be giving up going with an IGP.
Or does the more RAM and better CPU outweigh the benefits of the GPU in some cases.

 

[goldfritter]

One thing to note. You can get a DC powerbank to power the laptop for way cheaper than a normal inverter. Something like this: 25000mAh Laptop Power Bank 5V 9V 12V 19V 20V 3A External Battery Pack (92.5Wh)

If I understand it correctly, you plug the laptop directly into the DC power output of the powerbank, and then it can charge a laptop much more efficiently than a normal UPS with the normal laptop AC/DC adapter. Obviously just make sure the voltage and amperage correspond.

The benefit of this is that you can run the laptop on the higher-power "plugged-in" mode for much longer. So you can get full gaming performance for most/all of the duration of load shedding, for much less randelas than it would've cost you to run a desktop PC for the duration.

 

[Switch]

The benefit of this is that you can run the laptop on the higher-power "plugged-in" mode for much longer. So you can get full gaming performance for most/all of the duration of load shedding, for much less randelas than it would've cost you to run a desktop PC for the duration.

Windows should allow you to change this to the maximum performance mode in the power management settings, at the expense of battery life and premature battery replacement.

Thanks for the input.

The budget is "semi" flexible, and would rather spend a few more and get something that works better than pay less and regret it a month later.

Any thoughts of performance difference? Not sure how one would even convey the difference, but are we talking from say a capable 120fps down to 30-40, or more like 120 to 60.

Just trying to get a sense of what I might be giving up going with an IGP.
Or does the more RAM and better CPU outweigh the benefits of the GPU in some cases.

If strictly sticking with the igpu then you want to try, contrary to what was posted earlier, get a ryzen cpu and preferably a ryzen 6000 series. You want to try avoid alder lake based cpu (unless there is near desktop class cooling) because unfortunately those mobile cpu run extremely hot and use a lot more power relative to the current average. Having said that, a low tier gpu like a 3050 is still far better than any igpu currently available on graphics performance.

In all cases however don't expect strong battery life on the long term, gaming laptops are not really geared for long term gaming on battery power.

 

[Badsector]

I heard the AMD Ryzen notebook CPUs like the Ryzen 5 5600H consume less power than its Intel counterpart. Is that true?

 

[moedeez]

The new 6000 series Ryzen have the 680m igpu, (ryzen 7 and above) or the 660m (Ryzen 5 or below)
They are fairly capable igpu's based on rdna2, tons of reviews on them, but I only found 1 thread with people actually trying to game on them and benching battery life.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ZephyrusG14/comments/u9i4jz

Any thoughts of performance difference? Not sure how one would even convey the difference, but are we talking from say a capable 120fps down to 30-40, or more like 120 to 60.

Just trying to get a sense of what I might be giving up going with an IGP.
Or does the more RAM and better CPU outweigh the benefits of the GPU in some cases.

That depends on the games I reckon, you seem to play lighter games so you could easily get 1080p decent frames on rdna2 igpu.
But i reckon you'd be aiming more in the range of 60-80 frames at 1080 med/high settings.
Also, would you be willing to sacrifice frames for battery life, the higher the frames the higher the draw...

Spoiler: Gameplay benchmarks

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/tpj3px

 

[Jebula999]

Sorry not sure how to quote peoples replies and respond at once...

I think I might have oversold the battery requirement while typing, as I will most likely purchase a powerbank capable of charging a laptop like @goldfritter mentioned.

I think my main concern then is the performance increase with an iGPU worth the decrease in CPU&RAM as apposed to going for a better CPU and 2x-4x the RAM at the same price point.
I know dedicated GPU's will always be better, but HOW much better?

If we say picked the 2 options below which are the same price:

• Ryzen 5 + 4GB RAM + RTX 3050
• Ryzen 7 + 20GB RAM (No GPU)

I would imagine the dedicated GPU will most likely be better, but does the better CPU and more RAM close that gap at all?
Will I be dumb for only getting 4GB RAM just so I can have a dedicated GPU, because I would imagine I won't get far with 4GB, my current rig has 32GB...
I'm not clued up on how laptops handle and manage resources, hence all my questions which probably sound silly.

Like @moedeez mentioned, I tend to play "lighter" games, even my gaming rig currently still only rocks a Ryzen 5 and 1080Ti...
As long as I get 60FPS or above I am happy, as the monitors I use are capped at 60FPS anyway.

Am I trying to put a 2L engine in a Toyota Etios by taking the dedicated GPU with lower overall specs?

 

[moedeez]

I think my main concern then is the performance increase with an iGPU worth the decrease in CPU&RAM as apposed to going for a better CPU and 2x-4x the RAM at the same price point.
I know dedicated GPU's will always be better, but HOW much better?

OK CPU with ok dedicated GPU is generally better than good CPU with integrated GPU, not an exact science but as a general rule of thumb.

If we say picked the 2 options below which are the same price:

• Ryzen 5 + 4GB RAM + RTX 3050
• Ryzen 7 + 20GB RAM (No GPU)

Are refering to the VRAM? As in the ram dedicated to the GPU?

I would imagine the dedicated GPU will most likely be better, but does the better CPU and more RAM close that gap at all?
Will I be dumb for only getting 4GB RAM just so I can have a dedicated GPU, because I would imagine I won't get far with 4GB, my current rig has 32GB...
I'm not clued up on how laptops handle and manage resources, hence all my questions which probably sound silly.

At this point in iGPU time, the best IGPU is better than only a discrete 1050 (in some cases).
Probably the RTX 3050 would be better than the 680m (Please check individual laptop GPU TDP as this makes a difference)

But nobody should run a windows machine with less than 8gb of ram, and someone else mentioned a good point.
8gb RAM with igpu only gives you 6gb usable ram as 2gb is reserved by GPU.

Am I trying to put a 2L engine in a Toyota Etios by taking the dedicated GPU with lower overall specs?

love this analogy

 

[Jebula999]

Are refering to the VRAM? As in the ram dedicated to the GPU?

I was being dumb and confusing the 4GB VRAM listing as actual RAM for the whole machine.
I see they come with 8GB and 16GB respectfully, my bad.

So I think the answer is to rather go for (As an example) a Ryzen 5 5600U, with 8GB-16GB RAM and dedicated GPU (With a power bank on the side)
As apposed to a Ryzen 7 5700U, with ~20GB RAM (Which still needs a power bank on the side)

For the same price, I think the 4GB less RAM and downgrade in CPU is then far out-benefited by the dedicated GPU when it's needed and just getting a beefy powerbank to chug along the extended blackouts.

Thank you all, I really appreciate the input, you've made the path a bit clearer.

 

[jollyjon]

Hey Peeps,

So with load shedding getting rather annoying, I was looking at getting backup power at home.
But the idea of spending 25k-35k for a few more hours of screen time a day just makes me sick -_-

So then I thought, well why not spend say 10k-15k on a laptop, and use that in the dark times as well as being a handy companion when moving around?

Not looking at something to play AAA games on or run at 4k 144Hz, just something to fill the gaps.
When reading write-ups and articles I get mixed feedback, same laptop, different sites, state between 1-9 hours of battery and 10-250fps.....
Which of course doesn't help when I'm potentially looking to have a battery for at least 4 hours. But just can't find viable information.


Now the main questions I have are the following:

1. What is the general battery life of a laptop while playing games (low-med settings, nothing major, maybe like WoW, V-Rising, LoL, Dota) with an:
   • iGP with Ryzen 7 / i7
   • GPU with Ryzen5 / i5
2. What would the performance difference be (Roughly here, like 10%? 20%? 50%?) (From what I could find, these are the same price range)
   (Side note, I'm happy with 60fps, don't need anything more. so getting 100-200 fps is pointless for me)
   • I can either get something with a Ryzen 5 + 4GB RAM + RTX 3050 + 256GB SSD
   • Or a Ryzen 7 + 20GB RAM + 1TB SSD (No dedicated GPU)

Some examples of laptops I've looked at potentially getting.
iGP:

• Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ALC6 82KU00V2SA AMD Ryzen 7 5700U
• Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ADA6 82KR006DSA AMD Ryzen 7 3700U

GPU:

• Victus by HP Laptop 15-fb0017ni AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
• Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 15ACH6 82K200U2SA AMD Ryzen 5 5600H

Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated, as well as any advice on what to look for.
I have gaming rig at home, but when it comes to laptops, I'm clueless.

Morning mate. I might have a solution for you.
Here's what I did.
I have the following setup.
1 x Ordinary car battery. ( 652 size )
1 x cheap matter charger that I bought from the local china shop ( R400)
1 x 400 amp inverter bought from the local china shop.
1 x solar charge controller
Here's what I did:
I connect the charger direct to the battery.
The battery gets connected to the charge controller and the inverter connected to the controller.
I also run a 12v china shop cigaret lighter extension from the charger to charge phones etc.
I run my laptop and external HDD as well as my Huwai router from the inverter.
The setup gives me about 6 hours of backup time.
Hope this helps.
More than welcome to contact me for more info.