Why do some games barely run at all while others run great? (laptop, RAM)

[User1771]

So I have a dell Insperon laptop and I would like to know: How come some games that I play can run well on ultra high settings while others barely can handle on my computer? An example would be: Rome II Total war can run on my computer at the max graphics. While Shogun II that came out 2 years or so ago has trouble running on it at all at the lowest graphical settings. Same thing with Guild Wars II can run at max graphics. But Skyrim and Oblivion have difficulty playing at medium graphics. Why is that? Why do some games preform better while others do not?

[Skunk Workz]

It's about the type of graphics cards that those games require.

Most of the games like Skyrim are designed with a specific GPU in mind, and without that level of card, can't render graphics the way the developers intended them to.

[NHDave]

Look at the hardware requirements for your games, for the ones that run bad your laptop is likely below what is required for smooth operation. Graphics (as Skunk mentioned), CPU, and RAM are the top 3 to look at.

[Dude111]

Yes I think your right Dave.... Some MAME games run better than others.... The more intensive ones do not run as well!

You hit the nail on the head bud!!