The best gaming laptops

PC gaming can be an expensive hobby if you’re determined to have the latest hardware that can run any game at full throttle. It can also be difficult to get into, given the complexity of finding the right components to meet your specific needs. For those new to PC gaming (or perhaps those who don’t feel confident building a desktop), buying a gaming laptop might be the best move.

Sure, gaming on a laptop is more cumbersome compared to using handhelds like the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck or a smartphone. However, gaming laptops handily beat them in power and by being more useful for non-gaming tasks. And, unlike a desktop, their portable nature makes it easier to connect to your TV when you want to game on the big screen in your living room.

When buying a gaming laptop is more beginner-friendly than building a desktop, there are still many factors to consider from your preferred portability, screen size, ports and whether you really need the very latest Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU when the previous generation still delivers excellent results . If you need some recommendations, our guide features some great gaming laptops you can buy right now to fit both your budget and PC gaming needs. With the help of such powerful gaming laptops, playing in casino Curacao online becomes even more interesting.

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Best overall gaming laptop

Image: Razer

The Razer blade 16 is the best overall gaming laptop if you want to make virtually any game absolutely sing with the latest RTX 40 graphics chip and also look great on the bright QHD 16-inch display with a 240Hz refresh rate. It is far from the cheapest option, starting at $2,699.99but it’s a reasonable price for those who want to play the most demanding games at their highest settings and want to go wild customizing Razer’s fancy Chroma RGB lighting for the keyboard.

The price goes way up (over $4,000) if you’re looking for an even higher level of the RTX 40 series graphics chips, as well as Razer’s interesting dual-mode display model where you can switch at the click of a button. switch the display’s resolution and refresh rate between native 4K at 120 Hz and 1080p at 240 Hz display modes. While impressive, that model was created to appeal more to creators and gamers who want the best of both worlds, regardless of cost. And since the pricey RTX 4090 GPU option arguably has more power than most users can fully utilize, you probably don’t need to pay for the highest tier of GPU when the RTX 4060 and 4070 can run most games well, even at QHD -resolution.

As game installs continue to grow in size, it’s nice that the Blade 16 offers an additional M.2 SSD slot, meaning you can expand the storage if needed (it comes standard with a 1TB SSD). Fortunately, the cost of high-speed SSDs is coming down, so you can easily add an extra 1 TB for less than $100.

It has a slim design, although it’s not the lightest laptop – at 5.40 pounds it’s a pound heavier than the Razer Blade 15 – but that extra weight feels justified as it offers faster hardware, plus five ports (three USB -A, one USB-C and one Thunderbolt) to take your experience further with other accessories.

Best portable gaming laptop

Image: Asus

All gaming laptops are portable in theory, but what about the ones that are small and light enough to take anywhere and don’t sacrifice too much power? The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 knows how to find that fine balance. Weighing just 3.64 pounds, it’s amazingly light while holding its own in the most demanding games.

Digging into the specs, the AMD Ryzen 9 CPU and Radeon 6800S GPU perform similarly to an Intel i9 processor and RTX 3060, resulting in performance that should satisfy gamers who want solid midrange performance. You get luscious graphics that look stunning on the 2560 x 1600 screen, and smooth too thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate. It doesn’t skimp on plenty of other niceties, including a 720p webcam (full HD would have been nice, minor gripe), a customizable RGB keyboard, four USB ports (two USB-A, two USB-C) and a large trackpad.

Considering its smaller size, measuring just 0.73 inches thick, it’s the perfect laptop for gaming during commutes and travel. Better yet, it has great battery life. If you’re not just using it for gaming, you can expect the battery to last up to 10 hours, which is much better than most gaming laptops, although that’s probably a different story if you’re running the latest blockbuster titles on ultra settings. used .

The design is also low-key enough that you won’t immediately label yourself as a gamer, if that’s important to you. There’s a more expensive model that comes with Asus’ Anime Matrix feature that lets you customize a grid of mini-LED lights on the surface of the lid (it looks like this), but if keeping costs down is important, you can do without.

Best high-end gaming laptop

Image: MSI

The MSI Raider GE78HX is a bit of a mouthful, the name aptly reflecting the maximalist design and specs. But if money is no object and you’re looking for the ultimate high-performance gaming laptop, this is it $3,599.99 laptop is our choice.

This model has a massive 17-inch IPS display that’s perfect for viewing sharp QHD graphics, which the Intel Core i9 processor and RTX 4080 GPU are more than capable of. The 240Hz refresh rate is just as fast as our all-around top pick, the Razer Blade 16, ensuring you get ultra-smooth performance in big and beautiful open-world games whether you’re digging Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin’s Creed Valhallaor just want to be ready to perform to the max Star field when it launches in September.

The MSI Raider GE78 HX itself doesn’t exactly look great compared to some of our other picks. It’s also gigantic, weighing in at 6.83 pounds. You’ll probably struggle to fit it into most laptop bags. But if you insist on taking it with you, don’t forget its massive 330W power supply, which is anything but necessary to lug around if you want to do anything on this laptop for a few hours. You’re looking at a few hours of playtime at most, so this certainly isn’t the most practical or portable option out there. However, some of you will gladly sacrifice these factors for the power this model can deliver.

In the end, the inside counts most here. In addition to its powerful CPU and GPU, it comes with a 1TB SSD and a whopping 64GB of RAM, with more slots available if you want to boost too. It also has a SteelSeries mechanical keyboard, proving that this really is a desktop replacement of sorts. Going over the last few spec details, it has a built-in 1080p webcam and microphone, a higher resolution than most gaming laptops. There are also plenty of ports, including two USB-A ports, three USB-C ports (one of which is Thunderbolt 4), plus HDMI 2.1, an SD card reader, a headphone jack and an Ethernet port.

Best cheap gaming laptop

Image: Acer

Gaming laptops are a luxury, but they don’t always have to cost you more than $1,000. As long as you’re not obsessed with having the latest hardware, there are some options that do a good job of keeping up with the latest game releases. Bee $999.99the 15.6-in Acer Nitro5 is one of the cheapest options.

It’s at the top end of midrange gaming laptops, with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU. Bundled with its 16 GB RAM, you can run demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077, with great frame rates on the QHD display. If you prefer a faster frame rate to a great-looking photo, you can turn the graphics settings down a bit to take advantage of the screen’s fast 165Hz refresh rate.

It also has everything else you’d expect from a modern gaming laptop, including a host of ports, a webcam and microphone, and a super-fast SSD. Speaking of, it comes with 1 TB as standard, which will fill up quickly for most gamers. Fortunately, with SSD prices falling, it’s not expensive to manually pop in another SSD in the extra M.2 slot. Or, for a more cost-effective solution, you can take advantage of the 2.5-inch drive bay by purchasing a high-capacity spinning hard drive so you can have an SSD/HDD combo. The Nitro 5’s RAM is also upgradeable after purchase, which is a nice touch.

The design might be quite simple and there are some minor compromises (the screen isn’t as bright as more high-end laptops). However, when it comes to affordability while still being able to play the latest games PC gaming has to offer, the Acer Nitro 5 is a good place to start.

Best affordable 16-inch gaming laptop

Image: Dell

If you’re on a sub-$1,000 budget and really want a QHD display without breaking the bank, the Dell G16 is a fantastic value.

You get considerably more than what the Acer Nitro 5 offers, but sometimes it doesn’t cost much more. It has a more powerful Intel Core i7 processor and RTX 3060 GPU pairing. You can make games look great and smooth with the QHD 16-inch display with a 165Hz refresh rate. The keyboard is also packed with features, including five customizable macro keys. The F9 key doubles as a “Game Shift” key, which increases the power (and fan speed) to boost your gaming performance by a few frames per second.

The G16 borrows several design cues from much more expensive Alienware laptops. It also inherits some of their not-so-great features, such as a mediocre webcam and short battery life when you’re not plugged in. If you plan on using this laptop for non-gaming tasks, it should serve you well for a few hours. But if you plan on doing more work than play, consider the more compact Asus ROG Zephyrus G14.

If the G16 looks like the gaming laptop for you, Best Buy and Dell take turns offering the best value on this machine. Currently the $1,499.99 model at Dell includes a Core i7, RTX 3060, 16 GB fast DDR5 RAM and a 1 TB SSD. The price of this model has occasionally dropped by the hundreds of dollars (sometimes selling for $1099.99), so stay tuned for the next deal.