Problem with Dell Studio 15... Can't play games well

[Guest]

i have a dell studio 15 laptop, one year old..

i have an intel core 2 duo t6500 2.1ghz, 4gb ram, 256mb mobility radeon 4500.

i can't play world of warcraft even at the lowest settings, and in 25 man raids i get like 10 fps on lowest. my friend has a similar laptop and he's able to pull off 30 fps on lowest settings in 25 man raids. is there something wrong with my computer? he's got an acer with about the same specs.

 

[rpg123]

I don't recall a Radeon 4500, there is a 4530 and 4570. You may have an Intel 4500. A program called GPU-Z will give you the details of your graphics card.

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

Once you identify your gpu update the graphics drivers. Generally, turning down things like view distance, shadows, and resolution help the most. Also, some addons are badly optimized resource hogs, try disabling them. With this being a laptop, make sure you have it set to high performance mode. Keep it well ventilated also with nothing blocking the vents, maybe point a fan at it while gaming, many laptops will protect themselves from overheating by downclocking. gl