Thanks for the help guys. I am new to PC gaming and not that savvy. In fact, I only downloaded steam because The Orange Box was $1.99 on sale and I have always wanted to play those games but never got around to on consoles because I heard there were a lot of problems with them and PC was the way to go. I am playing Half Life 2 with an Xbox One S controller and aside from the screen tearing, it looks fine. I made sure both TOB and Portal 2 could run on my PC before I bought them. I am not sure I understand all those command screen but maybe there is a youtube vid that can show me the step by step process.
For those telling me to just buy a $600 or whatever PC, LOL!! First off, I mostly see gaming laptop for around $800 for the lowest and like $1200 for the highest that can run todays games. I currently don't have any room for a desktop and I only spent $200 on my current Laptop that I have had for a year now. I didn't buy the laptop to play games on and am mainly a console gamer but my understanding is that these games should run fine for me. I have not tried Portal 2 yet as I am currently obsessed with Fallout 4 GOTY for PS4 but I am assuming if TOB has screen tearing, a newer game like Portal 2 will as well although I haven't checked for sure yet.
PC gaming is too expensive for me. All 3 main consoles combined would cost me like one lowend gaming PC and I wouldn't have access to any exclusives. I bought my One S for $175 brand new(Wal-mart glitch years ago). Switch for like $200 or so brand new(99 cent store lego dimensions return to Target for full price store credit trick plus 5% Red card discount) and I think like $225 for a brand new Darth Vader PS4 2 or 3 black fridays ago after it was on sale and I sold the Disney Infinity that came with it. So the $600 or so I spent on all 3 consoles would most likely not buy me a laptop that could run all the current games in 1080p at 30 or 60 fps and again, I would miss out on all the exclusives. Free online yes but I rarely play online and the extra cost does not justify it IMO.
All my drivers are up to date according to my comp and it says Intel 620 when I go check it. That's the first thing I tried.
I have a gaming laptop and run most games at either 900p or 1080p with a Haswell i7, 16 GB of RAM, NVidia GTX 960M 4GB, and W10. I can throw pretty much anything at it. I run most of those games at either 30fps or 60fps with Medium settings or better. That includes games like Fallout 4, WWE 2K15+16, Dishonored 2, Dying Light, etc etc. I spent around $820 on it, few years back.
So, I did throw
HL2 Episode 1 at my Nuvision Intel integrated graphics tablet last night (IPS screen, 2 GB of RAM, Intel Trail Bay processor, Intel integrated graphics, W10 64-bit), which retails around $150 (got it on sale for like $60). Without even mucking around w/ trying to write some config files, I was loading old saves from different areas to try and trip it up to get Syncing and/or Tearing issues. I actually got no issues. I was running at 640x480 and did try w/ VSync on or Off - still, was either 60fps or better. So, I don't know if you should go into Options and mess w/ other lower resolutions (640x480, 720p, 1080p, whatever); turn some stuff on or off in the Advanced Graphics menu; or what. I also have no clue what you're using for a monitor either - so you do want something that's solid there too (which can do 60hz or better).
Not all PC games, especially older ones, are all roses and that they'll just run properly. Games sometimes don't just start and run properly, from picking up and just playing. B/c hardware and software (we're on DirectX 11+12 now) change so much here and so many different variables for configurations - well, some things can just go off b/c they weren't built for newer hardware and/or software you're running on. Some of them, you are actually going to have to muck around w/ graphics settings; config files (such as INI files) and toss in some commands; and whatnot until you hopefully find something that actually works and sticks. $200 ain't going to do much for you with a laptop for PC gaming, so....yeah, don't expect miracles here.
Always check PCGamingWiki of a said game; a game's Discussion Boards and the Guides on Steam; and whatnot as those could cite a lot of issues and maybe even have ways to work around them.
If you want to get into PC gaming seriously - you will learn how to catch stuff on sale. So, keep waiting - as you never know when stuff might pop-up. WalMarts and their clearance sections are known for this - as they've had surprisingly solid stuff reported for cheap for PC desktops and laptop on these boards, Reddit, and other places. Always look for systems w/ NVidia or AMD graphics cards, as I've found over the years, it's a lot easier to muck around w/ games and use their specific software to override and force things like framerate caps, syncing methods, different AA/AF settings, etc etc. A lot of times, I've found, it's as simple as using their cards & their software - if you can figure out what to do, find solutions online, or whatever.
