Is it possible to play Planet Zoo on a gaming laptop? If so, which one would people recommend?

[PicklesTheUnicorn]

Hi, as stated in the title, I'm thinking of (maybe) saving to buy a gaming laptop that is capable of running Planet Zoo. I've had a look at the required specs on the game page, but I'm wondering if anyone would be able to point me in the direction of which laptop would be best as I want to make sure that I don't overspend/spend and then find out I've bought the wrong thing.

[daniel.gonzalez.2009]

I used to play Planet Zoo on a gaming laptop. It is very much possible.

[Straw Man]

Well what's your budget? Buying just enough for a 5 year old game just means every other newer game will be a slide show.

[PicklesTheUnicorn]

Good question, I'm thinking $800 - $1,200? To be honest, this is my first time actually thinking of getting anything properly gaming related, so I'm piecing together what I've seen on reddit and all that (and I apologise if what I'm looking for is unrealistic)

[Straw Man]

No, that is pretty serious overkill for Planet Zoo at this point. You're perfectly fine.

You could just about max out the settings with an RTX 4050 or 3060 video card (GPU), which can run as low as $600-700 on a mid-range 1920x1080 laptop right now.

Your budget would allow for better cards like 4060, or just about a 4070, but you would certainly overpurchase for this game in a vacuum.

Couple things though, we're currently right at the end of a GPU cycle, so while prices are starting to drop, laptop GPUs will likely get a faster replacement within a year.

Laptops are also more expensive, more difficult to keep clean and cool, and basically non-upgradeable compared to desktops. If you have to use your computer on the go, well you don't have a choice, but I would personally always recommend considering a desktop PC if that fits your use case.

[PicklesTheUnicorn]

Ah, amazing, thank you for your help! As for a desktop PC, that is another good point. I'll have another think about all of this! Thank you again!

[grampers62]

Laptops and planet zoo.... There are a number of them that can run Planet Zoo but many more that might not even load it. Check the minimum requirements for the game, 16GB of ram *and* 4GB video ram. Many laptops have integrated graphics that share the processor (cpu) between computing and graphics and share ram as vram which makes their power substantially less than advertised. Be sure to research how the laptops you look at do this to get their total power. And yeah, don't forget the cooling properties of those laptops.
Note that many low end desktops use this same tech so be aware of what you are looking at...
And think about what the next generation of games and apps are requiring...

[Just Kevin]

The word 'Gaming' PC is much overused by builders of new and also sellers of used old machines. There's a huge difference between one priced at £600 and one priced at £2,000, but they are often both called Gaming machines. I would suggest that the £600 one is not. Look at the max specs PZ recommends and if you match that or greater, than it should be OK.
But laptops innards are all integrated are they not? A graphics chip? Not a card. And the GC and the CPU sharing the same RAM? I would go for a desktop over a laptop any day! And they can be almost be infinatly upgraded.

[Straw Man]

Gaming PC is a marketing term.

There's laptops with integrated graphics, and laptops with dedicated graphics and VRAM.

There's laptops that have cheap materials, and metal ones. There's ones that have sufficient cooling, and thermal throttling trash.

Considering we're talking about a 5 year old game at this point, I think going mid-range for this is pretty reasonable.

But yeah, desktops are much nicer.

[Ryu_Sheng]

Just Kevin eredeti hozzászólása:

The word 'Gaming' PC is much overused by builders of new and also sellers of used old machines. There's a huge difference between one priced at £600 and one priced at £2,000, but they are often both called Gaming machines. I would suggest that the £600 one is not. Look at the max specs PZ recommends and if you match that or greater, than it should be OK.
But laptops innards are all integrated are they not? A graphics chip? Not a card. And the GC and the CPU sharing the same RAM? I would go for a desktop over a laptop any day! And they can be almost be infinatly upgraded.

Yes and no. Standard laptops tend to have integrated graphics on the cpu. The problem with some of these is that they’re still being labelled as gaming laptops. Which is kind of wrong. Last gen APU’s were actually really strong and gave us the steam deck and other hand held. But I honestly would count them as being good for gaming laptops.

Especially since they’re all soldered to the board and can’t be upgraded.

Proper gaming laptops will come with a dedicated graphics card, upgradable ram and ssd. Depending on your brand and price range.

For a gaming laptop I’d reccomend you look at the old G14 laptops, Especially I think the 2023 variant where they moved to all AMD. Played everything I threw at it.

Just bear in mind if you get a gaming laptop you will need some decent head phones as well. As fan noise can be annoying, but that will depend on your tolerance.

[speerbauch]

I play on a laptop: AMD Ryzen 7 3750H with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx 2.30 GHz, 16 GB RAM
The game is playable for me with zoos up to a max of 2000 guests and maybe 20 habitats. A zoo with a large penguine enclosure and snow was not though, if that info is of any help for you :-)
I would like to get a PC instead or in addition, I feel, that would be the better choice gamingwise.

[Just Kevin]

speerbauch eredeti hozzászólása:

I play on a laptop: AMD Ryzen 7 3750H with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx 2.30 GHz, 16 GB RAM
The game is playable for me with zoos up to a max of 2000 guests and maybe 20 habitats. A zoo with a large penguine enclosure and snow was not though, if that info is of any help for you :-)
I would like to get a PC instead or in addition, I feel, that would be the better choice gamingwise.

2000 guests is not really a lot, I often get up to 8,500. Habitat count depends on what is in them, as per your penguin example where in one habitat there can be 500 considered 'sociable'! Every one of them acting individually. Basically it depends on total size of zoo and what is in it. It's as simple as that really. Even a lot of lights coming on at night can cause noticeable lag in a big zoo. A large complex zoo with lots going on can use a lot of PC power. I would always go for a a desktop because they can be upgraded until they are powerful enough to run a small country, whereas, maybe in, say, 5 years time, a decent 2024 gaming laptop is no longer good enough for games then.

[Straw Man]

It's amazing he's running the game at all on 5 year old integrated graphics.

Pretty cool how APUs are becoming a legitimate budget option, but any sort of recent computer with dedicated graphics is going to be an enormous leap in performance.

[Sherrie]

I moved my game from my PC to laptop because it runs amazingly well. Ive got a tuf A15 gaming laptop with AMD Ryzen 5, its made for high performance games and plays x box games. Im in the UK and you can get one for £600, perhaps cheaper if you wait for black friday.

[Just Kevin]

Well, it would depend on what specs your PC has. But I would suggest that a £600 laptop to be a bit poor, to be honest. But the TUF A15 only has a 15" screen. I will stick to my 29" monitor!

[E↗↗↗↗YA↗↘↗↘HA~~~]

I am even using it to play some AAA games, definitely no problem, but the thing is not about the graphic card, is about this game wasn't optimize