Which video card do you need in your laptop?
Choose video card laptop
It's important that your laptop's video card is powerful enough for the tasks you'll be performing with it. So ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I want an AMD or NVIDIA video card?
- What am I going to use my laptop for?
What types of video cards are there?
The video cards that you'll find in a laptop are by AMD or NVIDIA. Both of these brands have a wide range, although NVIDIA's top video cards are often slightly more powerful than AMD's. For example, the AMD Radeon RX cards are dedicated, while NVIDIA has the GeForce series as dedicated video cards. Both manufacturers have video cards for every usage situation. Think in advance what you want to do with your laptop and select the right video card based on this.
Do you want to use the internet or edit photos?
Do you simply want to watch a video on YouTube, check Instagram, or retouch your holiday photos? If so, you don't need a dedicated video card. A laptop without dedicated video card will suffice. If you want to work on photo editing, you do have to keep into account that you need at least an Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 processor to be able to work smoothly.
Do you want to edit videos?
For video editing, the processor and RAM are important. But the video card also has an impact. How big this impact is depends on the editing software you use. For example, DaVinci Resolve is known as a program that relies heavily on the video card. A dedicated video card ensures that your project renders faster. Choose a video card with at least 4GB VRAM, such as the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super.
Do you want to game?
If you want to game, you have to ask yourself which games you want to play and on which settings you want to game. The more graphically demanding the games are, the more powerful the video card has to be to play with a stable amount of frames per second. Choose at least a GTX 1650 card if you don't play too many graphically demanding games. If you want to play every game on the highest settings, you should opt for at least an RTX 3060. This way, you also have enough power for the future.
Do you want to play games in virtual reality?
If you want to play games in VR, you need a powerful video card, and, of course, VR gear. The very minimum video card requirement for VR is a GTX 1060. If you want your games to run more smoothly or the quality of your virtual surroundings to increase, you should opt for a RTX 2070, 2080, or even a 2080Ti. This way, you'll know for sure that your VR games look good and the optimal frames per second can be reached.
