After reviewing four different GeForce MX250 laptops, just go with the cheaper MX150 instead

The Pascal-based GeForce MX150 is a popular GPU amongst casual gamers as its low 10 W to 25 W TDP range makes it perfect for many Ultrabooks and subnotebooks. The ability to play popular undemanding titles like Fortnite, DOTA 2, or Overwatch at 1080p on a small laptop the size of the Razer Blade Stealth is certainly an attractive prospect for many. Thus, we were excited when Nvidia unveiled the GeForce MX250 earlier this year.

Unfortunately, the MX250 has turned out to be nothing more than a rebadged MX150. Everything from the fabrication node (14 nm), unified shader count (384), and underlying Pascal technology remain identical between the two generations. Nvidia has yet to offer Turing for Ultrabooks and subnotebooks.

3DMark benchmarks paint the same picture. As shown below, scores between the MateBook 14 with the newer MX250 and MateBook 13 with the older 25 W '1D10' MX150 are within just a few percentage points from one another. GPU-Z data reveals that the 25 W MX250 is running at nearly the same Boost clock rate as its 25 W MX150 predecessor (1582 MHz vs. 1532 MHz).

A notable exception relates to laptops with the slower 10 W '1D12' MX150 like in the MateBook X Pro. In this case, the 25 W MX250 in the MateBook 14 is able to outperform the 10 W MX150 by about 30 percent. Nonetheless, we've heard rumblings that Nvidia will launch a 10 W version of the MX250 that will more than likely be equivalent to the 10 W MX150 yet again.

The GeForce MX150 and MX250 are still amazing GPUs that can turn any Ultrabook to a decent 1080p gaming machine for casual titles. If you want to save a couple hundred dollars, however, then we recommend the cheaper MX150 series as the re-badged MX250 series offers no tangible benefits.

See our dedicated pages on the GeForce MX150 and MX250 for additional benchmarks and technical information.