Before making a purchase of a new laptop that you want to use for gaming, you might want to have a look at this list and some of the benchmarks posted at
Notebookcheck: Comparison of Graphic Cards. Because once you purchase a laptop, there is not much, if any thing, that you can do about upgrading it's video card.
Ranked from Best to Worst via GPUs.
Class 1 High End Graphics Cards
These cards are compareable to enthusiasm desktop graphics cards, like the 9800M GT. The cards have a similar core, as their desktop counterparts, but are clocked lower and often have less shader processors. Modern games like Age of Conan, Race Driver Grid, Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect, or Gothic 3 should run fluently with high details (Crysis should run in medium to high details).
» GeForce GTX 280M SLI
» Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2
» GeForce GTX 260M SLI
» GeForce 9800M GTX SLI
» GeForce GTX 280M
» GeForce 9800M GT SLI
» GeForce 9800M GTS SLI
» Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2
» GeForce 8800M GTX SLI
» Mobility Radeon HD 3850 X2
» Quadro FX 3700M
» Mobility Radeon HD 4870
» GeForce GTX 260M
» GeForce 9800M GTX
» Mobility Radeon HD 4860
» Mobility Radeon HD 4850
» GeForce 9800M GT
» GeForce 8800M GTX
» GeForce GTS 260M
» GeForce GTS 250M
» GeForce GTS 160M
» GeForce 9800M GTS
» GeForce 9800M GS
» Mobility Radeon HD 4830
» GeForce GTS 150M
Class 2 Midrange Graphics Cards
These cards should be able to display all current games with fluent framerates but not all with high detail settings. Especially demanding games like Crysis, Age of Conan, or Mass Effect are only playable with lower settings. Less demanding (and older) games, like Fifa 08, Command & Conquer 3, or Battlefield 2142 can be played with higher detail levels.
» Quadro FX 3600M
» GeForce 8800M GTS
» Mobility Radeon HD 4670
» GeForce 9700M GTS
» Quadro FX 2700M
» Mobility Radeon HD 3870
» Mobility Radeon HD 4650
» GeForce Go 7950 GTX SLI
» GeForce Go 7900 GTX SLI
» Mobility Radeon HD 3850
» GeForce GT 240M
» GeForce Go 7950 GTX
» Quadro FX 3500M
» GeForce 8700M GT SLI
» GeForce Go 7800 GTX SLI
» GeForce Go 7900 GS SLI
» GeForce Go 7900 GTX
» Quadro FX 2500M
» GeForce 8600M GT SLI
» GeForce 9700M GT
» GeForce GT 130M
» GeForce 9650M GT
» GeForce Go 7900 GS
» GeForce 9650M GS
» Quadro FX 1700M
» Quadro FX 1600M
» GeForce 8700M GT
» Quadro NVS 320M
» Quadro FX 1500M
» GeForce 9600M GT
» Quadro FX 770M
» GeForce GT 120M
» GeForce Go 7800 GTX
» Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT
» Mobility Radeon X1900
» Mobility Radeon X1800XT
» Mobility Radeon X1800
» GeForce Go 6800 Ultra
» GeForce Go 7800
» Mobility Radeon HD 3670
» GeForce 9600M GS
» GeForce 9500M GS
» Mobility Radeon HD 4570
» Mobility Radeon HD 2700
» Mobility Radeon HD 3650
» Mobility FireGL V5725
» Mobility FireGL V5700
» Quadro FX 570M
» GeForce 8600M GT
» Mobility Radeon HD 2600
» GeForce Go 7600 GT
Class 3 Low-Midrange Graphics Cards
Lower end of Graphics Cards for users who want to play games. New games should run on these cards, but only with decreased details and mediocre resolution.
» GeForce GT 230M
» GeForce G 210M
» GeForce 9500M G
» GeForce 8600M GS
» GeForce Go 7700
» GeForce Go 6800
» Quadro FX Go 1400
» Mobility Radeon X800XT
» Mobility Radeon HD 4530
» Mobility Radeon X1700
» Mobility FireGL V5250
» Mobility Radeon X2500
» GeForce Go 7600
» Quadro NVS 300M
» Mobility Radeon X800
» Mobility Radeon X1600
» Mobility FireGL V5200
» Mobility Radeon 9800
» GeForce Go 6600
» Mobility Radeon X1450
» Mobility Radeon X700
» Mobility FireGL V5000
» GeForce G 110M
» GeForce 8400M GT
» Quadro NVS 140M
» GeForce G 105M
» GeForce 9500M GE
» GeForce G 102M
» GeForce 9400M (G)
» Mobility Radeon HD 3470 Hybrid X2
» GeForce 9400M GeForceBoost
» Mobility Radeon HD 3470
» GeForce 9300M G
» GeForce 9300M GS
» Quadro FX 370M
» Quadro NVS 160M
» GeForce 9200M GS
» Mobility Radeon HD 4330
» Mobility Radeon HD 3450
» Mobility Radeon HD 3430
» Mobility Radeon HD 3410
» Quadro NVS 150M
» Mobility Radeon HD 2400 XT
» Quadro FX 360M
» Mobility Radeon X1350
» Mobility Radeon X1400
» GeForce 9100M G
» GeForce 8400M GS
» Quadro NVS 135M
» Mobility Radeon HD 2400
» Radeon HD 3200
» Radeon HD 3100
» Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4700MHD
» GeForce 8400M G
» Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500MHD
» Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500M
» Quadro NVS 130M
» GeForce 8200M G
» GeForce Go 7400
» Quadro FX 350M
» Quadro NVS 120M
» GeForce Go 7300
» Quadro NVS 110M
» Mobility Radeon X600
» Mobility FireGL V3200
» Mobility Radeon X2300
» Mobility Radeon HD 2300
» Mobility Radeon 9700
» Mobility FireGL T2e
» Mobility FireGL V3100
Class 4 Barely Games-Capable
Most not fastidious current games can be played fluently. Prepare for reduced graphical persentations due to low detail settings and low resolutions. Still, these cards provide enough performance for office tasks or video viewing (inconclusively for HD videos).
» Mobility Radeon X1300
» GeForce4 4200 Go
» Mobility Radeon 9600
» Mobility FireGL T2
» Mobility Radeon 9550
» GeForce Go 7200
» GeForce Go 6400
» Mobility Radeon X300
» GeForce Go 6250
» GeForce Go 6200
» GeForce FX Go 5700
» Quadro FX Go 1000
» GeForce FX Go 5600 / 5650
Class 5 Low End Graphics Cards
Only older games can be played fluently with these graphics chips (if they were not too demanding). Shared memory graphic cores in this category got the advantage of less heat production and longer battery runtimes. For office, internet, image processing, and video editing tasks these graphics chips are still useable without any restrictions.
» Radeon Xpress X1270
» Radeon Xpress X1250
» Radeon Xpress 1250
» Radeon Xpress X1200
» Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100
» Radeon Xpress 1150
» GeForce 7150M
» GeForce Go 6150
» GeForce Go 6100
» GeForce 7000M
» Mobility Radeon 9200
» GeForce FX Go 5200
» Mobility Radeon 9000
» GeForce 4 488 Go
» GeForce 4 460 Go
» GeForce 4 440 Go
» GeForce 4 420 Go
» Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
» Mobility Radeon 7500
» Mobility FireGL 7800
» Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900
» Radeon Xpress 200M
» Radeon Xpress 1100
Class 6 Unsuitable for Games
These graphics cards for notebooks are not suitable for games. If they run, they may run with graphical errors and very low frame rates. For gamers these chips are not suitable! Office and internet tasks are, to the contrary, no problem for these GPUs.
» Mobility FireGL 9000
» Mirage 3+ 672MX
» Mirage 3 671MX
» Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500
» GeForce 3 Go
» GeForce 2 Go (200 / 100)
» Mobility Radeon 9100 IGP
» Mobility Radeon 9000 IGP
» Mobility Radeon M7
» Mobility Radeon M6
» Mobility Radeon 7000 IGP
» Chrome9 HC
» Extreme Graphics 2
» Radeon IGP 340M
» S3G UniChrome Pro II
» S3G UniChrome Pro
» Mirage 2 M760
» Mirage M661FX
» S3 Graphics ProSavage8
» Castle Rock
» Mobility 128 M3
» SM502
For further information and benchmarks, check out
Notebookcheck: Comparison of Graphic Cards
By Zedman3d and vernong1992 and Keyboard Cowboy