I bought this laptop a little over a week ago to aid me in my uni studies. One of the main reasons for this purchase was to ensure I have gaming capabilities.
I am hardly a computer expert but have a solid knowledge of most basics.
The laptop is running on Windows 8 (64 bit), has an intel i7-3517u processor. It is thin so doesnt have CD drive so only option is to download off steam for games. Basically the downloads seem to go fine. I can run the games but regardless of how modern/ demanding they are; stuttering and sound issues take place. Its not necessarily frame rates but more like random slowdowns, its hard to describe.
The games I have tried are GT Legends, Race Injection, Raceroom racing experience and today Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge 2. They are hardly the most mainstream games but compatibility especially for the recent rugby game should be high for Windows 8, yet in the graphics setting it still only recognises Intel 4000.
I am aware of the switchable graphics catalyst center and have set all these games to high performance and had my laptop running plugged in but they stay on Intel 4000 graphics which are awful. I originally updated drivers and catalyst software but doing so seemed to make functionality disappear. I couldnt right click and configure graphics that way and all the ATI/AMD programs were in random formats so I did a system restore. I know about BIOS but that sounds risky and I am not quite sure how I access it. I have updated the graphics card driver directly through device manager on control panel as well.
Everytime I download and install the games it seems to leave my hard disk fragmented, it was at 15% fragmentation today so I have to constantly defragment for some reason. Whether downloading the games causes this I do not know.
Some assistance would be greatly appreciated. I just never thought playing games could be so complicated.