Our top recommendations for the best gaming laptops for every budget and variety of gamer
Quick Gaming Laptop Shopping Tips
- Concentrate on the GPU: Most games rely on the GPU, which isn't upgradeable. If you get a strong GPU today, you'll be able to game comfortably for several years.
- Some components can be upgraded later: While the greatest gaming CPUs and GPUs are nearly usually soldered down, most gaming laptops allow you to upgrade the RAM and storage, allowing you to buy for less now and upgrade to a bigger hard drive or SSD later.
- Battery life will most likely be poor: Few gaming laptops last more than 8 hours on a charge, and you'll need the power supply to achieve the optimum gaming experience. However, AMD's Ryzen CPUs have produced some impressive results, and Nvidia's enhanced Optimus technology may be able to help turn the tide.
Best gaming laptops at a glance
- Best Overall: MSI GE76 Raider (Core i9-12900HK)
- Best Thin and Light: Razer Blade 15 (2022)
- Best 17-inch: Alienware x17 R2
- Best Budget: Acer Nitro 5 (AMD 2021)
- All-AMD: Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition
- Best Esports: Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733
- 16-inch Esports Option: Lenovo Legion 5 Pro
Best Gaming Laptops You Can Buy Today
1. MSI GE76 Raider
If you're searching for a laptop with desktop-level performance, the MSI GE76 Raider is about as near as you'll get without spending a lot of money. Despite this, the Intel Core i9-12900HK and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti are high-end components.
We'd be remiss if we didn't mention the Raider's big RGB light bar on the front, which, when paired with per-key lighting, creates a stunning effect in the dark, or you can turn it off completely if you want something less flashy.
The 17.3-inch 1080p display can run up to 360 Hz, which is ideal for esports gamers, but depending on available configurations, everyone else might want to select a 1440p or 4K display.
This laptop cost $3,999 when we tested it, which is enough to make you cry when you check your bank account. That's a lot of money for a laptop (we're guessing the DDR5 RAM contributes to the price), but it's also the best performance we've seen recently.
2. Razer Blade 15
You must pay a premium to receive Razer's premium appearance and feel. The starting price for this laptop is $2,499, and we reviewed it for $2,999. It's costly, but there's a reason it's been one of our favourite gaming laptops for years.
3. Alienware x17 R2
The Alienware x17 R2 features an Intel Core i9-12900HK processor and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, which are among the most powerful components available. The laptop performed admirably in both gaming and productivity throughout our testing.
Alienware's design, which was shown last year, is stunning. It's still a gaming laptop, but it's more modern and minimalist. However, it is a little larger than some of its competitors, and at 6.82 pounds, you won't want to carry it about too often.
If you have a little additional cash, we recommend the optional $50 Cherry MX mechanical keyboard, which feels great and has been well received by everyone on our team who has used it.
4. Acer Nitro 5
For those on a limited budget, the Acer Nitro 5 is the finest gaming laptop. You'll receive a wonderful deal on entry-level performance for the money. While the display isn't as brilliant as it might be, the keyboard is comfy, and there's even a great camera.
The AMD Ryzen 5 4600U processor was coupled with an Nvidia GeForce 1650 graphics card in our evaluation unit. We've seen a few Ryzen-based gaming laptops with longer battery life than expected, and the Nitro 5 lasted over 11 hours.
There's lots of potential for upgrades if you're handy (and you'll want to think about it with just 256GB of storage in our review device), but at $700, you're getting a lot for your money.
5. ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition G513
If you're a PC gamer mostly on run, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 could be right for you. The Zephyrus is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS processor and an AMD Radeon RX 6800S graphics card, as well as AMD's proprietary SmartShift (which moves power between the CPU and GPU) and SmartAccess Memory.
Asus included a camera in the newest update, which was an obvious omission on prior models. The 16:10 aspect ratio on the all-AMD variant has also been increased.
The Zephyrus lasted over 10 and a half hours on our battery test, suggesting that you could use it all day if you aren't gaming.
6. Asus Rog Strix Scar 17 G733
7. Lenovo Legion 5 Pro
The Lenovo Legion 5 Pro is a good option if you don't mind sacrificing refresh rate for better resolution. While some gaming laptops use a 300 Hz display, the Legion's 165 Hz, 2560 x 1600 display is stunning in its own right. It also boasts a 16:10 aspect ratio, which we find useful for work.
Our review device came with a Ryzen 7 5800H processor and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card, which combined to deliver competitive performance in our gaming benchmarks. In addition, our machine had 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM.
We were especially delighted by the keyboard on this laptop, which appears to have benefited from Lenovo's excellent business-oriented ThinkPads.
However, the system is a little cumbersome. If you don't want to deal with large amounts of data, you might want to look at the other solutions on this list.
Best Gaming Laptops Compared
| Nomenclature | CPU | GPU | RAM | Storage | Display (inches) | Weight (Ibs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSI GE76 Raider | Core i9-11980HK* | RTX 3080 | 32GB* | 1TB* | 15.6, 1080p, 300Hz | 5.3 |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model (Late 2021) | Intel Core i7-11800H | RTX 3070 | 16GB* | 1TB* | 15.6, 1440p, 240Hz | 4.4 |
| Alienware m17 R4 | Core i9-10980HK* | RTX 3080 | 32GB | 2x 1TB RAID 0 | 17.3, 2160p, 360Hz | 6.6 |
| Acer Nitro 5 | Ryzen 5 4600U | GTX 1650 | 8GB | 256GB* | 15.6, 1080p, 60Hz | 5.3 |
| Asus ROG G15 Advantage Edition | Ryzen 9 5900HX | RX 6800M | 16GB | 512GB | 15.6, 1080p, 300Hz | 6.6 |
| Asus ROG Strix 17 G733 | Ryzen 9 5900HX | RTX 3080 | 32GB | 2x 1TB | 17.3, 1080p, 360Hz | 5.9 |
| Lenovo Legion 5 Pro | Ryzen 9 5900HX | RTX 3087 | 16GB | 512GB | 15.6,1600p, 165Hz | 5.4 |
0 Comments
Please Comment here