Yas, thank you, I didn't buy this laptop for gaming but might check some out now that I know it's good. I probably will be dealing more with indie games than blockbusters so sounds like it'll handle them just fine.
You shouldn't have trouble w/ most Indies. Unless a game's un-optimized (for whatever reason), you should be fine there.
For AA or AAA stuff - 1080p at Medium for 30fps-60fps seems like where you'll be sitting, given the benchies. The 1050 isn't a great card by any means, but it's certainly serviceable for 1080p30fps or better on most stuff.
If you are using the 15.6'' or 17'' monitors that often is built into the laptop - eh, you probably won't notice much difference b/t 900p or 1080p, if you really want to make sure you hit 60fps on some games. 720p though, you'll probably notice - so it'll be up to you to decide if you really feel the need to get it to a solid 60fps, if it ain't close to 60fps on a certain game at say 1080p.
I do suggest when you're using Steam, you go into Preferences and have the overlay show Framerates/Frames per second counter. You likely should aim for 30fps or 60fps. 60fps is usually preferred here. You'll really want 60fps for fast-paced action-y games - think like FPS or TPS's; or something like Bayonetta.
If you want to get more picky, like I can be and all - grab a 3rd party program like MSI Afterburner or NVidia Inspector - and you can set profiles for each game specifically where you want the framerate to cap at. I say, often cap at 30fps or 60fps, if you're capping.
If you really want to maximize framerates and take this stuff seriously, you can do all kinds of stuff to keep them frames up:
1. Don't use NVidia Hairworks. It's a framerate killer. Not worth the hits, just to have the hair look & move a bit better. Yeah, Lara Croft and Geralt's hair look way better w/ it on - but it ain't worth the framerate hits.
2. Turn V-Sync off on most games. That eats framerates for breakfast. V-Sync is a crummy method for syncing, especially when compared to FastSync (which is better) or G-Sync (which is amazing). If you get no real graphical tears or weirdness; and physics/animations don't go out the windows - keep it off. If things go wrong - no choice, put it back on; the dev's might've built the game around some kind of syncing needed to be on.
3. FastSync is an NVidia syncing thing - it's good, when it works. When using this, you get the benefits of No-Syncing w/ having much better framerates, but it does sync a bit by it selecting which frames are shown. Doesn't always show the best frames, though. And it doesn't always work though - as it didn't work well with Homefront: TR for me. So, if you find a game it works well on - yeah, stick with it.
4. If you throw off V-Sync, cap the game to 30fps or 60fps somehow - via NVidia Inspector, MSI Afterburner, or in-game option (if the game has an option in-game). Most games these days are built around those framerates - so weird stuff probably won't happen w/ No Sync with a 30 fps or No Sync at 60fps.
(Bethesda Engine games like Fallout 3/4/NV have lots of weird issues when not set at 30fps intervals - so make sure if you toss V-Sync off, you also cap the game at 30fps or 60fps PERIOD).
5. Use FXAA for your AA method. I normally use this since FXAA don't take any minor hits even' so you might as well use that for AA on most games. It's cheap and inexpensive. SMAA and MSAA are going to eat frames - so, it probably ain't worth touching those on most games for you.
6. Use weaker AO (Ambient Occlusion) or no AO. You don't really need it, as it just really helps enhance shadows to make them look better & more realistic.
7. About Depth of Field (DoF) and Motion Blur - you don't really need this stuff. A lot of this stuff is used to make the viewer focus on a certain spot in a frame (DoF) or blur the scene effect as if your eye/lens was blurred b/c maybe you moving around quick or something. Some like the effects, some don't. Not necessary, as it eats frames.
8. Keep draw distance on things decently, but overdo it. Have it draw enough, so you can see a fair amount of stuff in the distance; especially in open-world games - as long as performance stays nice. You don't need to have the game draw stuff ridiculous miles away, if you can barely see some stuff; what's the point? Do you really need foliage for trees/bushes drawing out on the other side of an island? That'll likely waste some frames.
There's some ideas and thoughts for you, if you really want to sink your teeth into this stuff.
Happy gaming!
