Hi, I'm planning to buy a new laptop and I'd like to know the minimum specifications to look for, so that I can comfortably develop games. By comfortably, I mean that the hardware shouldn't be a bottleneck at any point. (I know a desktop is a better choice for the screen size, but that's not an option here for me).

I'm just a hobbyist game developer, but I don't want the option of developing graphically intensive games pre-emptively taken away from me by having bought the wrong laptop.

My budget is at $1000. I looked at some 4GB RAM laptops. Then I read some reviews which said that with 4GB RAM , rendering tasks do take much longer time.

A friend finally suggested that if I need a laptop which gives me room for any kind of gamedev work, then the minimum config should be this:

1. Minimum 8GB DDR3 memory

2. Intel i7 (4th gen)

3. Nvidia/AMD GPU

4. 15 Inch screen with 1920 x 1080 resolution

5. 512 GB HDD

All laptops with the above configs weigh easily more than 2.5 kgs.

My question: Are the above configs really necessary? Is there a way to drop some of them and thus have a lighter weight laptop?

Yes. Look for smaller screen sizes.

With that budget, you can have an entry/mid-level GPU, and 8gb of memory. It won't be enough for next-gen, but then again, you might not need next-gen. However, I don't think you can find one that's under 15 inch that easily.

If you do insist on sub-15inch though, all you'll get is entry-level GPU.

Maybe a cheap Asus RoG? I haven't looked at their current ranges, but they had some nice systems last I checked (which was in 2010-2011 I think...).

Pay special attention to the GPU used in the laptop, they are typically the weak link. Typically a small laptop won't come with a high end (mobile) GPU.

Cheers!

Personally, I prefer developing on the lowest-end hardware (cheapest) because I know that if I can make something run awesome on that, then my game will be playable by everybody, and not just those who can afford a high end machine. I'm not saying that this is the right way, I just thought I'd share my strategy.

Two most important things for me are RAM and solid state drive. The RAM is by far the most important though. Basically any GPU works well enough for all the things I do. If you want to work with the latest OpenGL features or whatever then a more modern GPU should be on your priority list. Otherwise I feel that any dedicated GPU will be fine, so you can get a pretty cheap one.

4 GB of RAM is not enough for a 64bit OS, imo. You'll want at least 8, but you can always replace these yourself if you find some laptops with only 4. The SSD is extremely nice for compiling and just turning on the machine in general. Right now I'm stuck with a laptop that has a nice GPU but only 4 GB of ram. Even though I have a nice SSD for the OS, the RAM shortage causes constant hard drive thrashing and it's just ridiculous.

I spent around 900 on my laptop about 2 years ago, so I'm sure you can find what you need for 1k.

A friend finally suggested that if I need a laptop which gives me room for any kind of gamedev work, then the minimum config should be this:

Sorry but this is complete nonsense. I'm currently working on a 2D/OpenGL game in C++ on a 2008' thinkpad with 2gig ram and a core2 duo cpu. Absolutely no issues here. Drawing/Spriting also works very well. If you work with C/C++ you can speed up the debug-cycle using makefiles (or equivalent) so you automatically only compile to the object file(s) you actually work on. It's not suitable for making 3D games with high polycount though.

So the answer is as always "it depends".