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The Sony WH-1000XM4 won’t reinvent noise-cancelling headphones – and they don’t need to
Rumors of the Sony WH-1000XM4 – the successors to the best headphones we've ever tested – have been ramping up in recent months, coming to a head when a Walmart listing that appears to describe all the specs of the new headphones was leaked.
While the existence of the XM4s is yet to be confirmed by Sony, the Walmart listing revealed the kind of changes (or lack thereof) we can expect over the Sony WH-1000XM3.
- Sony WH-1000XM4 release date, price, and rumors
- Read our Sony WH-1000XM3 review
- The best noise-cancelling headphones of 2020
Now, normally we would expect a brand to make some significant changes when bringing out a successor to its last pair of headphones. In this instance, however, we’re relieved that Sony hasn’t tinkered too much with its class-leading noise-cancelling headphones.
Instead, it looks like the company is making some very considered tweaks to the XM3, which could genuinely improve the user experience without detracting from a winning design. As they say, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.
What’s new with the Sony WH-1000XM4?
According to the leaked listing, one of these tweaks is the ability to connect more than one audio source to the headphones at once; multipoint pairing is something users of the XM3s have been calling out for, and it will allow you to pair the WH-1000XM4s with your laptop and your smartphone at the same time.
There should also be a slight improvement to the sound quality. A feature known as “Edge-AI” can restore the detail lost in highly compressed audio files by upscaling them in real time, which Sony says delivers sound “as close as possible to that of a wired connection.”
Wireless headphones have long been considered inferior to their wired counterparts in terms of audio fidelity, so this tweak will likely appease audiophiles who haven’t yet committed to cutting the cord.
Connectivity in general should be improved too, as Sony makes the leap from Bluetooth 4.2 to Bluetooth 5, which brings faster pairing times, connectivity over longer distances, and stronger pairing in high traffic areas.
The Sony WH-1000XM3.
Anyone who has used the Sony WH-1000XM3s to make phone calls should notice an improvement in the sound quality as well, with a feature called Precise Voice Pickup that uses the headphones’ five microphones and advanced audio signal processing to make your voice sound clearer.
The noise cancellation that made the Sony WH-1000XM3s so popular is also due an upgrade. According to the leaked listing, a feature called Adaptive Sound Control will “learn to recognize locations you frequently visit, such as your workplace or your favorite cafe.”
“In addition it automatically detects what you’re up to – for example, walking, waiting, or traveling – and then adjusts ambient sound settings to best suit the situation,” says Sony. This is a feature that’s already been brought to the XM3s via a firmware update, so we've had a bit of a preview already.
These are all smart tweaks to already-great features. So what’s staying the same with the Sony WH-1000XM4?
What’s staying the same?
Aside from these little tweaks and upgrades, the new XM4s seem to be very similar to their predecessors.
It looks like there won’t be any material changes to the design of the Sony WH-1000XM4s, which we think is a great thing. We loved how comfortable the XM3s felt, with big padded earcups and a soft headband.
They also looked great, with a sleek, minimalist build that appeals to a wide range of people, and we liked the touchpad controls – another feature that will be making a return.
The sound quality shouldn’t change substantially either, aside from that AI upscaling feature that will help to curb the data loss from highly compressed files. Judging from the leaked listing, the XM4s will use the same 40mm drivers as their predecessors and support for Sony’s LDAC transmission technology – and as the XM3s are among the best-sounding headphones on the planet, we’re happy to see that the audio profile hasn’t been tweaked too much.
Some may be disappointed to find that there’s no improvement to battery life – but with 30 hours of juice, the Sony WH-1000XM3 weren’t exactly short-lived. Plus, with a return of USB-C fast charging, the XM4s shouldn’t take too long to top up.
A considered approach
Sony has a history of making careful tweaks to its products with each upgrade, and it’s something we’ve seen with the brand’s noise-cancelling 1000X range before.
It’s a great way of instilling a sense of trust in the products, and it makes us feel confident that each new upgrade will bring genuinely useful updates, rather than skin-deep design changes that don’t really improve the experience of using the headphones.
Sony wouldn’t be able to be subtle with its upgrades to the 1000X series if the original product wasn’t so good – and in a market where every company is trying to outdo one and other with headline-grabbing features like gesture controls and built-in AI (like the TicPods Pro 2), it’s a risky move to let the sound, feel, and look of the headphones speak for itself. That's especially true with the first-ever Apple over-ear headphones looking like they're going to launch in a matter of weeks and shake up the headphones market.
Trends (or gimmicks, if you prefer) like virtual 3D audio, bone conduction, and crazy form factors (see: the Bose Frames) may come and go – but we don’t think there will ever be a time when people won’t want a great-sounding pair of noise-cancelling headphones that do their job with minimal fuss.
Hopefully, that’s exactly what the Sony WH-1000XM4 will do when they’re finally released – and with this recent leak, it’s only a matter of time before we can get our hands on them and find out for ourselves.
Can't wait until then? Check out the best Sony WH-1000XM3 deals we've found today:
Nearly 100 Apple Stores in the US will reopen this week, but most won’t let you inside
Almost 100 more Apple Stores are reopening in the US this week, but in most locations, they still won’t let you walk inside: instead, they’re offering curbside or storefront service only.
Apple Stores began reopening in early May with a four-state rollout, which expanded to 11 states later in the month. The next wave of openings will enlarge that list to 28 states, with the majority of locations located in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas, according to 9to5Mac.
It’s not totally clear why some locations are permitting in-store service while others aren’t, but it likely depends on local laws in various state, which have had different approaches to reopening public spaces as the coronavirus outbreak continues. Most of the Apple Stores reopening this week are restricted to curbside and storefront service only, but those that allow in-store service are almost all located in California, Florida, and Texas.
It’s also not clear when locations that only offer storefront and curbside service will open further to allow customers inside, but in the meantime, they’ll still permit order pick-ups (say, if you order an iPhone 11 for in-store pickup) and Genius Bar appointments so long as folks engage in state-required protective measures, like wearing masks and/or submitting to temperature checks.
- iPhone SE 2020: the long-awaited mid-range redux from Apple
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020): our thoughts on the newest version of the powerhouse
- iPad Pro (2020): our hands-on with the newest iPad Pro
Apple Store reopenings: a different case in different countries
Following the course of the coronavirus outbreak, Apple Stores in China closed in February and began reopening in March right as the company confirmed that US stores would be closed ‘until further notice.’
While that seemed indefinite, a leaked internal memo revealed Apple had set a target of early May for reopening US stores, and has followed that projected window. Given the company has safely reopened Apple Stores across countries recovering from the Covid-19 outbreak, we’ll likely see more US locations turn their lights back on in the coming weeks.
- iPhone 12: the most powerful yet affordable iPhone on the market
The DualSense PS5 controller is packed with fancy features – but they won’t get used
In a blog post that came seemingly out of nowhere, Sony finally revealed the new DualSense PS5 controller. It marks a radical departure from the DualShock 4, but the redesigned pad will share one thing in common with its predecessor – developers will continue to ignore almost all of its unique features.
And that’s a shame, as the DualSense is stuffed full of exciting and potentially game-changing technology. Sony wants to tingle your fingertips and massage your palms in a variety of interesting ways using haptic feedback and adaptive triggers – and I’m all for it.
We’ve seen the tech used effectively in VR controllers, but if you’re new to haptic feedback it basically means you’ll feel more of what you see on screen – the sludginess as you drive a car through mud or the tension of pulling back a bow string as you shoot an arrow, for example.
The problem is – and I hate to admit this – that these features will largely be ignored by everyone but Sony’s first-party studios. History has shown us time and time again that even if you design a console entirely around a distinctive input device (hello, Nintendo Wii), third-party developers will still find a way to ignore 95% of a controller’s special qualities.
- PS5 release date, specs, news and features for Sony’s PlayStation 5
- The DualSense PS5 controller keeps one of the DualShock 4’s best features
- Wow that PS5 controller is ugly, isn’t it?
Ignored and underused
Let’s take a look at the DualShock 4 as our primary suspect. It’s got a lovely light bar which can change color to reflect what’s happening in a game, such as flashing white if you’re using a torch, or turning red if your health is low. How many games use it in this way, though? The answer is: barely any.
Next up, the DualShock 4 touch bar. If you ever needed a more concrete example of developer apathy in full effect, it’s that battery-draining touch bar. We saw Killzone: Shadowfall, a PS4 launch title, use the touch bar in some interesting ways – as did Infamous: Second Son. But how many other games can you name that transform the experience in any meaningful way using this feature? Probably no more than a handful, because basically every game just uses it as an oversized map button. Brilliant.
What about the PS4 accelerometer? A feature that’s been around since the SixAxis controller, which launched with the PlayStation 3. When did you last play a video game that used the accelerometer for something other than a silly gimmick? Yeah, didn’t think so.
Features schmeatures
But hold on. Maybe it’s because those features were rather superfluous. I mean, come on, a flashing light that you can’t even see most of the time? Who cares! Members of the court, may I present to you exhibit B: HD Rumble on Nintendo Switch.
The masters of cramming quirky technology down gamers’ throats, Nintendo always tries to introduce some bizarre new input system into their consoles. With Nintendo Switch it was no different. We were promised the sensation of feeling ice cubes in a controller – because of course we were. Despite the technology genuinely wowing in games like 1-2-Switch, it’s basically been ignored by even Nintendo themselves, and hasn’t come close to reaching the potential we were promised.
Still in denial? Okay, let’s wrap this up with one more sorry example. You might not know this, but the Xbox One controller has impulse triggers. And they’re freaking awesome and never, ever get used.
Do yourself a favor and play any of the Forza Motorsport games on Xbox One and you’ll experience a fingertip-defining moment that will make every other racing game seem a little sad in comparison. The triggers rumble and respond according to where your tyres are on the track, so you can physically feel the sensation of a wheel locking up, moving over gravel and responding to torque. It’s so damn good, but clearly not a priority for any developers.
One feature fits all
So why does this worrying trend constantly happen? Truth be told, it all comes down to time and money. Video games are extremely expensive to make, and require a lot of resources to do so. There’s no monetary benefit to developers spending the extra time to code for features that are specific for one console. Occasionally it can happen, but it’s an anomaly.
The odds are stacked against the DualSense controller, then. There’s no doubt that we’ll see some truly awe-inspiring moments from Sony’s first-party studios (firing Aloy’s bow in Horizon: Zero Dawn 2 is a given for the adaptive triggers), but try not to feel too disappointed if half the time these features come as a pleasant surprise, rather than a new standard moving forward.
- DualSense could hint at more – the biggest PS5 design clues we've spotted
Best laptop games: 20 games for laptops that won’t melt your machine
Look through our list of the best laptops games 2020 has to offer, and take your pick. If you’ve just bought a brand-new gaming laptop sporting the most powerful processor and the best graphics cards, it will most certainly be able to handle the most demanding games out there. And, it’s only right to test its gaming prowess by playing the top AAA titles on it.
Though even if you’ve only got a budget gaming laptop that can only see you through less graphics-heavy games, don’t worry. There’s also quite a few options out there for you. In fact, that’s what we’re here for.
From the best PC games like Far Cry 5 to the best indie games like Cuphead, and even beloved classics like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, we gathered all the best laptop games out there in one place. Whatever your play style, schedule and hardware, we’re willing to bet there’s something on this list that you’ll enjoy.
- Once you’re looking for something meatier, check out our best PC games
- CPU: 2 GHz
- RAM: 4 GB
- GPU: Intel HD 3000 or better
Whether he’s at LucasArts, Double-Fine or working in a new indie studio, veteran developer Ron Gilbert is certain to serve up a slice of veritable gaming gold.
The tradition of flawless output keeps going with Thimbleweed Park, a pixel art point ‘n’ click adventure that harkens back to the glory days of Maniac Mansion while weaving it together with a very modern eye for creativity.
It’s essentially a murder mystery graphic adventure, where FBI agents Reyes and Ray – who don’t in any way resemble another famous couple of fictional, UFO-chasing members of the Bureau – arrive in a sleepy town to investigate a murder most horrid.
The way it intertwines a truly clever story and a cast of unusual yet instantly memorable characters is something most games with far bigger budgets miss completely. Is it any wonder that it tops our best laptop games list?
- CPU: Intel Core2 Duo E8400, 3.0GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+, 3.0GHz or higher
- RAM: 2 GB
- GPU: Geforce 9600 GT or AMD HD 3870 512MB
You might be turned off by the tremendous amount of challenge it poses, but we promise you that Cuphead is worth a shot. If you don’t already find its vibrant, whimsical art style delightful, then you might be convinced by some backstory of how it was made.
Cuphead is from indie developer Studio MDHR (short for Studio Moldenhauer), named for the two brothers who started the project, Chad and Jared Moldenhauer. In fact, the whole company is made up of family members and friends who sought out to finish their dream project.
Marija Moldenhauer, Chad’s wife, was responsible for the inking and clean up in this hand-drawn ode to 2D platforming classics like Mega Man and 1930s Fleischer cartoons like Betty Boop. And, if the 19 bosses aren’t enough for you, Cuphead is getting a major DLC next year featuring new bosses, areas and a new playable character.
- CPU: 2 Ghz
- RAM: 2 GB
- GPU: 256 mb video memory, shader model 3.0+
If you’re obsessed with farming sims (and, considering how well the likes of Farming Simulator and Harvest Moon sell, there’s a few of you out there), then few games will get you jumping for agricultural joy more than the enchanting busywork of Stardew Valley.
Taking cues from the Harvest Moon games, Stardew Valley's top-down point of view and cutesy characters feel blended together seamlessly, making it one of the best laptop games available.
It doesn’t seem all that exhilarating, tending to fields, growing produce and raising livestock – but that’s the beauty of it. There’s a special kind of peace to the mundanity of Stardew Valley’s minutia as you expand your farm, catch some fish down at the river and even head into the village to strike up friendships (and maybe something a little more) with a cast of NPCs. Farming has never been so much fun or addicting.
- CPU: Intel i5 Quad-Core
- RAM: 4 GB
- GPU: Intel HD 4000
In more than a few ways, we’re inclined to describe Night in the Woods as Life is Strange meets Bojack Horseman. The interactive dialogue bits are reminiscent of the former while the overarching themes of dealing with mental health issues ring true in the latter.
Night in The Woods itself was developed in Unity by Infinite Fall, the virtual studio comprised of coder and composer Alec Holowka and Twitter jokester slash illustrator and animator Scott Benson. Together, these two have designed not just a game, but a stunning world full of relatable characters that should hopefully resonate with you.
You take on the role of Mae, a cat who dropped out of college and recently returned to her hometown of Possum Springs. It’s a completely narrative-driven game, as modern point-and-click adventure games tend to be, with very few gameplay hooks that will hold your attention. So, if you’re into Telltale Games or Life is Strange, Night in the Woods might be the best laptop game for you.
Best of all, it will run fairly smoothly on integrated graphics, given that it has an attractive, but not highly demanding, art style. Surely, this is a title we’ll be talking about for years and years to come, even if it was snubbed at The Game Awards.
- CPU: 1.2GHz
- RAM: 512 MB
- GPU: DirectX 8-compatible graphics card with at least 32MB of video memory
You might wonder whether Hotline Miami’s neon-drenched ultraviolence would exist if the film Drive had never been made, and while it’s hard to miss just how eagerly it doffs its bloody mask at the Gosling classic, the end result is an utterly magnificent little indie title and among the best laptop games to date.
With pixel art invoking that top-down look of Grand Theft Auto’s retro years, Hotline Miami indulges in its almost psychedelic violence. The concept is pretty basic: don on a mask (each one is styled on an animal and adds its own buffs, debuffs and unique abilities), enter a stage and coat the walls with the blood of your enemies.
Add buckets of neon, a synth soundtrack that will have you sewing a scorpion onto the back of a white jacket in no time and one crazy storyline to the mix, and you have a classic in its own right.
- CPU: Intel Core i3-2100T @ 2.50 GHz / AMD Phenom II X3 B73
- RAM: 4 GB
- GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4850 or NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
While it’s a 2018 title and has a reasonably massive following, your laptop’s integrated graphics can still run Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. It has mostly the same forgiving system requirements as its predecessor, so if you are a fan of that game, you should be able to engross yourself in this best laptop game as well.
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire drops players on the Deadfire archipelago and tasks them with hunting down a rogue god. And, just like its predecessor, it features rich storytelling and deep RPG gameplay that harkens to the days of Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights.
While all the backgrounds are in 2D and viewed from a top-down point-of-view, they’re still lovely to behold. Plus, the numerous spell effects will keep you bewitched as you work your way through the intense and tactical combat.
And, because it's coming from Obsidian, a studio known for making the best RPGs of all time, you can be confident that you’re getting an adventure, and one of the best laptop games, that’s worth every penny.
- CPU: 1.5 GHz Core2Duo
- RAM: 2 GB
- GPU: OpenGL 1.4 or better
If somebody told you a game about working in a border control office would be one of the most addictive games ever, would you scoff and walk off shaking your head?
Well, you might give a little indie gem by the name of Papers, Please a chance. Set in a fictional take on the Eastern Bloc, you’re an immigration clerk tasked with processing refugees from a hostile neighbouring nation.
The core concept is simple: check each person’s documents against a clear set of rules, process those who meet the requirements and detain those with false papers.
The game is created to test your attention to detail, as well as the strength of your moral compass. Sometimes you’ll have to decide if specific sympathetic characters should be granted asylum, even if it goes against the rules.
The twist is good performance effectively feeds you family, while mistakes put their lives in danger. It’s dark, but engrossingly so.
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
- RAM: 4 GB
- GPU: Integrated GPU / NVIDIA GeForce 510
We all know how aggressive geese can be. Well, thanks to Untitled Goose Game, you can walk a mile in a goose’s webbed shoes. And, not just any goose – a crappy one at that. You can already tell how this slapstick-stealth-sandbox game is going to be just from the title, which is really more like a non-title.
If you enjoy causing mayhem, you’ll enjoy this game. As a goose, you’ll run around ruining people’s days by setting up pranks, stealing their stuff and just being really annoying. In fact, the more miserable the humans are, the better. So, you should be ticking off every objective in your ‘to do’ list, which include things like trapping a kid in a phone box, for example. What better way to let off some steam after that crappy day you’re also having?
- CPU: 2GHz+
- RAM: 3 GB
- GPU: 512MB
Part role-playing game, part bullet hell shooter, Undertale is a game like no other. The fact that this remarkable game is the work of one man is impressive, considering the depth of consequence developer Toby Fox has built into Undertale’s world.
In the small boots of a child who’s fallen into a monster-filled world beneath the earth where only the quick thinking survive, you’ll encounter brutal bosses.
The fact you can befriend bosses as well as battle them changes the fabric of the story, and shows that it’s not just NPCs that offer crucial moments of dialogue. It’s a game of empathetic reflection, where your actions dictate how a boss or monster reacts to you.
Aggression leads to more powerful attacks against you, while avoiding retaliation will soften the blows. Strange and seductive in its own special way, Undertale is a curio definitely worth chasing and one of the best laptop games to play right now.
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64X2
- RAM: 2 GB
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 100 series (512 Mb) or Radeon HD 3xxx or better
When it comes to CCGs (collectible card games), Hearthstone does a pretty impressive job of keeping you and your deck of animated cards entertained throughout – but what happens when you want something a little less innocuous? You give a CCG with a unique spin such as Chronicle: RuneScape Legends a gander.
Based on the classic lore of Runescape, Chronicle blends card-dealing with the 3D setup of a RPG. Cards represent real characters and enemies that appear across a 3D-rendered pop-up books.
Cards are played successively, with player characters facing each one (ranging from foes to curses to stat buffs), before facing off against one another at the end. It’s bizarre, brilliant and categorically worth your time.
Hey, it’s even got new single-player content when you don’t want to test your mettle against other users. Not too shabby for a low-spec CCG.
- CPU: 2GHz
- RAM: 1GB
- GPU: Card with 128MB+ dedicated memory
FTL sounds like an ultra-hardcore game when you’re talking about it: a real-time strategic space roguelike. A roguelike is a game that makes you start from scratch when you die. However, FTL is actually perfect for pretty casual laptop gaming. You can even get it for iPad, in fact.
You tool up your star ship, recruit your crew and do your best not to get annihilated as you take an important message from one end of the galaxy to the other. Screenshots don't really give FTL justice, as all you see is a blocky graphic of your ship, not really its spacey surroundings.
However, it's the best laptop game for public play: nothing on-screen to make you feel too embarrassed or keep fellow passengers glued to your screen, if you play on train journeys.
- CPU: dual-core 2GHz
- RAM: 2GB
- GPU: DirectX 9 compatible
Few games stay relevant as long as Skyrim. It should feel old and antiquated, but a mod scene has kept it relevant in the past half-decade. Being so old has also meant not as powerful hardware has been able to catch up with its real-life spec requirements.
It'll run pretty well on Intel Core-series processors from the last 2-3 years, and even plays pretty well on some recent Atom/Pentium CPUs on its lowest settings. If you have a real dog of a laptop, there's also a mod that'll cut down the settings even more than the game itself allows, called Ultra Low Graphics Mod. Imaginative naming.
It’s one of the best laptop games to date, and many agree – in case you've been locked in a cupboard for the past five years, Skyrim is a massive open-world RPG that won countless 'game of the year' awards when it was released back in 2011.
- CPU: 1.7GHz dual-core
- RAM: 2GB
- GPU: Intel HD 3000 or newer
Remember the game that received millions and millions of dollars of funding on Kickstarter back when such things were unheard-of? That's Broken Age, the point 'n' click platform made by one of the people who came up with Monkey Island back in the 90s.
It didn't exactly and single-handedly revive the genre. However, it’s still a fun tale that is nowhere near as frustrating as most of the early 90s exploits, most of which are best viewed through a pair of rose-tinted nostalgia specs. From a distance.
You play as both male and female characters, skipping between chapters in their respective stories to make sure the narrative doesn't get stale. We're steering clear of spoilers, so we'll let you uncover it on your own.
- CPU: 1.7GHz
- RAM: 512MB
- GPU: DX 8.1 compatible card
You might head straight for 2D games when you think of title that'll work with pretty modest hardware. However, some once-fancy 3D games work very well with non-gaming laptops. Valve's Source engine is especially good at working with less powerful GPUs, making classics like Half-life 2 play delightfully on modern integrated graphics hardware.
If you're not up for a thinking person's FPS like Half-Life 2, you might want to check out fantastic first-person puzzler Portal 2 instead. It is also based on the Source engine. Portal 2 takes the portal gun from Half-Life 2, which makes teleporting holes in walls, and makes a whole game out of it. It’s possibly one of the best games of all time, actually, and of course, of course among the best laptop games ever.
- CPU: Intel Pentium D
- RAM: 2GB
- GPU: Intel HD
It's easy to think of Minecraft as retro in some way, but it's actually far more groundbreaking than some of the nay-saying haters would have you believe. It is not just for kids, either. Try it, you might just like it.
This world-building classic was never out to wow audiences with its Crysis-style graphics, but its highly scalable visuals let you tweak Minecraft to suit any machine. As well as being able to experiment with the draw distance and the few visual effects the game uses, you can alter the field of view as well.
Minecraft is also best-suited for laptop gaming, as you don't need to be very accurate with your cursor. This is handy if you're using a trackpad rather than a mouse.
- CPU: 1.6GHz
- RAM: 1GB
- GPU: x1950 Pro, 7900 gt
Take 90s platform aesthetic, add a roguelike twist, a completely modern random level generator and a few RPG sprinkles to the mix, and you have Rogue Legacy. It's one of the most addictive indie games of the last decade – not to mention, one of the best laptop games.
You play as a knight type, leaping right into a castle full of nasties. When you die, and you will die, you return as one of that warrior's descendants. The castle will be different, as will the class of your character. While you have to start from scratch every time, you can unlock bonuses by collecting gold from chests in the castle.
This is the bit that makes it more accessible than a true roguelike game, where you really have to start from square one when you die.
- CPU: 2GHz
- RAM: 1GB
- GPU: Nvidia HD 4450
Don't Starve is an outrageous little game where you wander around in a somewhat twisted nightmarish world, exploring and picking up supplies to try to survive, day by day. When the sun goes down, awful creatures start prowling in the shadows. If you don't build a fire, you're a goner.
You also have to eat to keep yourself healthy, and even your mental health deteriorates if you don't find out ways to pep yourself up.
There are some nice visual effects in Don’t Starve, but as a predominantly 2D near-top-down game, it's happy to work with all but the lowest powered laptops.
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo
- RAM: 2GB
- GPU: Intel HD 1000
If you don't mind tempting addiction in your laptop gaming, Hearthstone is a title not to miss. It is a little like nerd classic card battle game (and also video game) Magic: The Gathering, but much better-suited to quick, casual play.
Like many other modern casual games, however, you'll likely end up playing for a lot longer than five minutes. And it feels even more "right" on a laptop than a bulky desktop.
It's a Valve game and, like most Valve titles, fares extremely well on lower-end hardware. It officially supports the Intel HD 1000 integrated GPU, from way back in the Sandy Bridge generation half a decade ago.
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo
- RAM: 2GB
- GPU: Intel HD
Is Civilization the ultimate "PC" game? Many of us have spent a handful of full days working through Civilization's virtual recap of the ages of man, whether it was back in the 90s, or just last week. Civilization V has more of the laid-back vibe that previous Civ games, but that makes it more accessible if you're looking for something to kill 30 mins, rather than 3 hours.
It'll work on almost any Intel Core series laptop from the past five years, but if you find yours still isn't up to the task, don't forget Civilization IV. Despite being old, it still works fine on Windows 10 through Steam.
- CPU: Core 2 Duo
- RAM: 2GB
- GPU: Intel HD 3000
EA gets a lot of flak. It was rated as the most despised company in America two years in a row, after all. However, it doesn't half know how to court a big audience. And that means making sure games like The Sims 4 work on just about everything.
This infamous lifestyle sim even has a "laptop" mode created for systems that can barely make it through the title screen of The Witcher 3. The game itself is very much business as usual: you slog through a virtual life, making bucks and designing living rooms. Or doing your best to torture some poor virtual peon by locking them in an inescapable toilet.