You don’t necessarily need an expensive gaming laptop play your favorite Flash-based or 2D games. We give you four that can keep you in the game without emptying your wallet.

So you’re looking for a gaming laptop, but not to play hardcore games like Crysis or Civilization V. You’re steering toward more casual games like World of Warcraft, Farmville, and Plants vs. Zombies. MMOs, Flash-based, and 2D games don’t require the latest Nvidia or AMD graphics technology—in fact some laptops don’t even require a discrete graphics card to play certain games. So we’ve decided to put some of our integrated laptops to the test to show you that you don’t need the latest graphics chipset to play the latest games.

Best Microsoft MCTS Training – Microsoft MCITP Certification at Certkingdom.com

If you are a hard-core browser-based gamer, perhaps addicted to Facebook games like Farmville or basic Flash games found on sites like ArmorGames.com you need not go any further than a netbook. With 1GB of RAM, a 1.5-GHz Intel Atom N550 processor, and Intel’s integrated GMA 3150 graphics, the Aspire One AOD255-1203 is all you need. I tested its mettle on a more taxing browser-based game, Battlefield Heroes, a 3D-based online shooter. It played, but the frame rate was similar to that of corporate a slideshow. On our Torchlight game, a single-player RPG dungeon explorer, it fared well—it did not play as smoothly as some of the others in this round up, but the results were favorable. Unfortunately, it could not play or even begin to install the latest version of World of Warcraft, because it lacked the proper amount of RAM.

If you still want the compact nature the Aspire One offers, but with a little more oomph, the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 (ION) will deliver. It performed well on Battlefield Heroes without slowing down, had no problem exploring the World of Warcraft, and breezed through Torchlight.

The HP Pavilion dm4-1165dx steps up the processing power, integrated chipset, and screen size. It smoothly played through a round of Battlefield Heroes and could play on the highest setting in Torchlight without any jumpy frame rates. It sailed through World of Warcraft and I was able to play StarCraft II on low settings (anything higher resulted in jumpy frames or stuttering).

For those looking for a little more oomph, the Gateway ID49C13u utilizes Nvidia’s new GeForce GT 330M graphics chip that switches between integrated and discrete solutions automatically, depending on the task at hand. It has the power you need to play some of the more higher-end stuff like StarCraft II and Fallout: New Vegas on medium settings without going out to buy and Alienware M15x for $1,500.

None of these machines are top-of-the-line gaming rigs, but they’ll play some of the more casual or independently made games like Portal, Braid, and Plants vs. Zombies. So you don’t necessarily need to pay over $1,000 in order to play games that you love.