It is astonishing to think that the first video game was only developed in the early 1950′s as a design project for A.S. Dougal’s PhD degree. This video game was a simple version of Tic-Tac-Toe. It took two decades for the first commercial home game console to be released, this being the Odyssey that was designed by Ralph Baer and released by Magnavox. The Odyssey came programmed with twelve games. In 1971, a year before the home game console was released, Nolan Bushnell, along with Ted Dabney created the first arcade game – Computer Space, which was based on Nolan’s earlier game Spacewar! However it was the next year that Nolan Bushnell (with assistance from Al Alcorn) truly hit gold, with the release of their arcade game Pong! It soon became a household name, and everybody wanted to be the master of Pong! Seeing the appeal of the game, Atari (Bushnell and Dabney’s recently formed company) released Pong! as a home video game in 1975.

Now, more than three decades later computer gaming has become a billion dollar industry. Pong! although still looked at in nostalgic remembrance, is only but a distant memory. From these humble beginnings a gargantuan industry has developed. Today, true gamers realize that there are many factors involved in choosing the best notebook out of all the gaming laptops and PCs on the market. If mobility is a great need, a laptop or notebook is the only option. However, as we all know there are thousands of different laptops, with unmentionable amounts of specifications available on the market at present. When looking to buy gaming laptops, the following factors should be taken into consideration:

Processor The most important component of your laptop and the part that will need the most consideration is definitely the CPU. For serious gaming enthusiasts, anything below a 2 GHz processing speed will not be suitable as most of the games that have been made available within the past year need at least a 1.6 GHz processor for optimum effect.

Memory After the Processor (CPU), the memory space is the most important aspect to consider. A low memory will slow down your computer’s processing speed tremendously which will result in a lot of frustration. Newer games need a lot of memory space and thus we recommend a RAM memory of no less than 1GB – 2GB is the better option. When looking at memory speed, do not settle for anything less than 667Mhz.

Graphics Graphics is also an important factor when buying a gaming laptop. No matter the game you play – be it a strategic game or an action packed game – you will need a very good graphics card. We recommend that you look at graphic cards with 512MB dedicated memory, but even this could be insufficient.

Hard Drive It is astonishing to think that only a few years ago a 100GB hard drive seemed to be more than sufficient for even the biggest and best gamers out there. Now, you cannot settle for less than 500GB, and even that can prove insufficient. Luckily when your hard drive becomes too full, you can easily purchase an extra portable hard drive, which comes in sizes up to and exceeding 1 TB.

Optical Drive With the optical drive (CD, DVD ect.) you can settle for something a bit cheaper as this does not rely on specific speeds or other necessities. The only thing you need to consider is if you want a multiformat (DVD RW) DVD burner.

Display No self-respecting gamer will settle for a gaming laptop with a screen size less than 19 inches. Go with maximum resolution available on the screen size of your choice, as this will enhance your viewing pleasure whenever you decide to pop in a movie dvd or blu-ray disc. It will also seem to greatly improve the graphics output of your chosen game.

After reading this article, it should be clear that buying a gaming laptop takes a lot of thought and decisions. If you are new to gaming, then do not try to take on this challenge without consulting with a professional. Shop around; do not settle for the first great thing you see. The selling of computers is a competitive business and anyone will try to sell you their product – even if it is not the best.

Michael Stanton is a gaming laptops expert. He currently owns the NP8662.