Hi would this laptop be suitable for zwift?
Lenovo yoga slim 7
Graphics card
Integrated Intel® Arc™ Graphics
RAM
16 GB LPDDR5X (7467 MHz)
Processor
- Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 125H
- 14-core
- 4.5 GHz
- 18 MB cache
Storage
512 GB SSD
Screen refresh rate 60hz
The specs seem okay but I’m struggling to work out about the graphics card will it run okay or will it cause screen freezing/ lag like my old laptop does
Thanks
I don’t think any PC laptop with integrated graphics is really “good” for Zwift but it will work, it shouldn’t be bad. I would need to know the details about your old laptop to offer any comparisons or suggest how the old laptop might be made more stable. You can use the search function on trainerdx.com to see what kind of graphics quality and frame rates people are getting with the CPU in that laptop.
Hi Paul
I’m currently using a really old MacBook that’s been remapped with windows 10 if you like when I couldn’t get it to update any further with apple. According to system info it’s 8gb intel i5 4258u with intel iris 5100 graphics
It works fine with zwift for what I use it for with workouts etc but usually on a ride I’ll get a bit of screen freezing that normally lasts a few mins so I have to run the companion app alongside on my phone for when that happens.
I’m not massively into computers so don’t really know all the little bits
I’m budgeting here at around £600 tops really as I’ll only use the computer for zwift and a bit of basic use cycling wise creating routes on Strava , Garmin connect etc
Sounds like that might be a MacBookPro11,1, hardware model A1502 from late 2013. The Lenovo is definitely a much better machine than that. Often Windows machines with Intel integrated graphics benefit from installing the latest video driver downloaded directly from the Intel website, but if you can afford to replace that old dog I would definitely do it.
If you still have any interest in getting a Mac, I would recommend a used MacBook Pro or Air with an M1 or later CPU. Those will get a higher graphics profile in Zwift compared to the Lenovo, and they perform quite well. eBay would be a good place to find one, and it would be considerably less than £600. Integrated graphics on a Mac with an M series CPU is much better for Zwift than integrated graphics in a PC.
If you want to stick with Windows and you must have a laptop, the best advice I can offer is to choose the highest CPU clock speed rather than a high core count in the CPU, because Zwift is not optimized to make use of many cores so most of the CPU goes unused. If you don’t require a laptop and could get a desktop machine instead, the M4 Mac Mini is a great option for a pre-built machine to run Zwift and I think it matches your budget (though you would need a keyboard and mouse, which could be obtained from a charity shop for next to nothing). Mini PCs are a poor choice for Zwift but the Mac Mini works quite well.