The razor blade is the best gaming laptop we tested. It's slim, powerful, and good-looking, with a fantastic display. But it's not the only gaming laptop we love.
We tested almost 400 laptops and carefully considered how the individual laptops compare to each other in key areas such as performance, display, battery life and build quality. We even included options for the best of G-Sync laptops, serious desktop replacements, and even budget deals.
The best gaming laptops at a glance:
The best gaming laptop: Razer Blade
Why You Should Buy This: You want a gaming powerhouse with a MacBook-esque sense of style.
For who it is: Players who need something small and light that can take another hit.
Why we chose the Razer Blade 15:When you think of a gaming laptop, you might think of a thick case accented with aggressive angles and air vents all over the place. But not the Razer Blade 15. It changes your perception of how elegant a gaming laptop can be without sacrificing expected performance. It's not much bigger than a 16-inch MacBook Pro or Dell XPS 15, but it includes a powerful Nvidia RTX 2080 Super Max-Q graphics card.
The Razer Blade 15 gaming experience is about both the screen and the GPU. A screen with a refresh rate of 300Hz might sound like overkill, but it ensures that your GPU is never held back by your display. The result is incredibly fast and fluid play, no matter what genre you play. There's also a 4K OLED option, but the 1080p 300Hz model is the best choice for gamers.
Of course, the Razer Blade 15 is known as a gaming laptop that can do more than just play games. With a 10th generation Intel processor with eight cores and eight cores, it offers enough power for tasks such as rendering videos. Thanks to its thin thickness, you won't mind taking your work (and game) with you wherever you need it.
Read our in-depth review of the Razer Blade 15The best budget gaming laptop: Dell G5 SE gaming laptop
Why You Should Buy This: It's the best slot machine that you can buy for less than $ 1,000.
For who it is: Students, gamers, anyone who wants a gaming laptop but doesn't want to break the bank.
Why We Chose the Dell G5 SE Gaming Laptop:You can't expect a gaming laptop under $ 1,000 to have an innovative design. But thanks to the Dell G5 SE you have can Expect top notch performance. It is an all-AMD solution with the latest Ryzen 4000 processors with 8 cores and 16 threads. These are killer game and content creation chips that are widely used by the G5 SE.
The Radeon RX 5600M is the graphics card even available in the $ 880 configuration and outperforms the Nvidia GTX 1650 that is offered in many gaming laptops at this price point.
The G5 SE also offers the option of a 1080p 144 Hz screen and four-zone RGB backlighting. It may look clunky and dated, but the Dell G5 SE is the best gaming notebook you can buy.
Read our detailed review of the Dell G5 SE Gaming LaptopThe best portable gaming laptop: Asus ROG Zephyrus G14
Why You Should Buy This: It offers great 1080p gaming performance in a surprisingly small package.
For who it is: Players and content creators.
Why we chose the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14:The G14 is unlike any gaming notebook you've used. It's incredibly light, at just 3.5 pounds - and only uses a 14-inch screen instead of the typical 15-inch variant. The result is the smallest gaming laptop ever made, especially considering the power of this thing.
The heart is the 8-core Ryzen 4000 processor from AMD. It's a beast. The multithreaded performance is unmatched for a laptop this small, making it a powerful option for video editors, 3D modelers, and content creators of all types.
Of course, it also offers great gaming performance. Choose from a GTX 1650, GTX 1660 Ti, or RTX 2060. If you can choose the 2060, you can play most games at over 60 frames per second. You'll have to pay an additional $ 500 for the fancy programmable LEDs on the lid, but the $ 1450 RTX 2060 model (excluding the LEDs) is great value for money.
Read our detailed Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 reviewMost Powerful Gaming Laptop: Alienware Area-51m
Why You Should Buy This: You want to play the latest games on a laptop at the highest settings and resolutions.
For who it is: Players who don't mind a heavy laptop.
Why we chose the Alienware Area-51m:The Alienware Area-51m is unlike any gaming notebook you've seen. With its light gray exterior and sci-fi logos, not only does it look bold, but it is also a true desktop replacement. We mean that in terms of performance as well as the actual components inside. The Area-51m has CPU options up to an actual desktop processor, the Core i9-10900K. That's a 16-thread, eight-core CPU that makes this laptop vastly more powerful than anything else out there.
In combination with an Nvidia RTX 2080 Super (not the performance-limited Max-Q variant of thinner laptops), the Area-51m comes as close to desktop performance as we've seen.
But the best? All components, including the GPU and CPU, can be replaced. In our review, we found that these parts were not as easy to access as marketing may have suggested. Still, it's an insanely capable laptop that can do almost anything at high frame rates on its 1080p 300Hz screen. Even if you plug it into a 4K monitor, you'll be impressed with how well games play.
It's not the gaming laptop you'd want to take with you on the go, especially given its low battery life and beefy body. But if true power is what you want, look no further.
Read our in-depth review of the Alienware Area-51m (2019)The best G-Sync gaming laptop: Acer Predator Triton 500
Why You Should Buy This: It is a powerful gaming laptop with a thin and lightweight design at an affordable price.
For who it is: For players who primarily want G-Sync.
Why we chose the Acer Predator Triton 500:G-Sync can shorten battery life, but when it comes to smooth gameplay, it's a popular feature for many PC gamers. The Predator Triton 500 is an awesome gaming laptop that happens to contain Nvidia's all-important display technology.
The Triton 500 comes with an Intel Core i7-10750H and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q GPU. With an RTX 2080 Super Max-Q upgrade, it can keep up with many other laptops for significantly less cash. As if G-Sync wasn't enough, the Triton 500 also ships with a refresh rate of up to 300 Hz.
There are some limitations. The Triton 500 doesn't look like a standard gaming laptop, but it lacks the flashy buildup of other thin and light gaming laptops like the Razer Blade 15. Like its aesthetics, the Triton 500's battery life isn't particularly impressive either. But if you're looking for the best gaming bang for your buck with a G-Sync screen, it's hard to do better.
Our detailed Acer Predator Triton 500 reviewResearch and buying tips
What does a gaming laptop cost?
Gaming laptops tend to be more expensive than general purpose laptops as they generally contain a dedicated graphics chip for better game visualizations and frame rates. But they don't have to taste the earth.
The cheapest options start at around $ 700, although you can't expect great performance at this level. Our favorite budget gaming laptop, the Dell G5 SE, can be found for under $ 1,000. There are some alternative budget laptops that we like, though you will struggle to find something that is great for gaming if your focus is on $ 500. On the high end, you can end up spending well over $ 2,000 if you want the latest components and fastest screens.
What should I look for in a gaming laptop?
If you want to play something other than classic games or indie games with very low intensity, you need a dedicated graphics chip. It doesn't have to be amazing, and AMD APUs with Vega graphics on board are worth considering in the lower end. Either way, if you want decent frame rates in most games, you'll want more than just integrated Intel graphics.
If you're expecting frame rates above 60 FPS, you should also look for a display with a high refresh rate. We think they are more important than higher resolutions when gaming, and they usually aren't too expensive either.
Are Gaming Laptops Good for Work?
Normally yes. You don't need a dedicated graphics chip to work, but the fast processors and high-speed RAM that gaming laptops typically come with can handle spreadsheets and Word documents just as well as the numbers for the latest games.
On the other hand, a larger, thicker gaming laptop with RGB lighting may not be suitable for every job setting. A more restrained design like the Razer Blade or the Dell G-Series gaming laptops will fit a lot better, though it's an issue to be aware of.
Are Mac Laptops Good For Gaming?
Some aren't bad, but most aren't great. Apple only built dedicated graphics chips into its 16-inch models of the MacBook Pro, which come with a high price premium. There is also software compatibility to consider as there are many more games available on Windows than on macOS, even with Apple Arcade added.
If you just want a little Fourteen days A 16-inch MacBook Pro will do fine, but these are by no means slot machines. However, if you really want to stick with a Mac, Boot Camp always has a dual-boot option that allows you to run Windows 10 games on your MacBook hardware.
Editor's recommendations
