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Gaming laptops are the best possible option for a gaming machine if you need or desire to be portable. While they may have some drawbacks, like power and performance when compared to what you can get out of a desktop you build, they still offer lots of excellent features and can deliver excellent gaming experiences. The performance can also be quite extraordinary, it will just cost you more money in the end.
They tend to be much more pricey than desktops if you go for the most high-end models. But that’s the price of convenience. That being said, not all of the best gaming laptops are going to cost you thousands of dollars. And as there are TONS of gaming laptops out there we’ve rounded up some of the best ones you can put your money towards.
Even if you have a gaming PC at home, it’s still nice to sometimes have a way to game properly when you’re away from home. The other thing to consider about gaming laptops is that they can be space-saving. If you don’t have a big desk and not a lot of floor space, you might not have room for a desktop. In this case, a laptop can serve your needs. It lets you play games, and it can go with you places. So if you need something for school or work, a gaming laptop can easily be your go-to machine for all of that.
Below you’ll find a list of different gaming laptops we’ve selected. Whether you’re looking for something that’s cream of the crop, completely budget-minded, or something that’s somewhere in the middle, we’re confident you’ll find something in this list that suits your needs.
Best Overall Gaming Laptop
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (2024)
ASUS continues to be among the best brands when it comes to gaming hardware, and that most certainly extends to gaming laptops, which is why we’ve selected the ROG Zephyrus G16 (2024) model as our best overall gaming laptop. Specifically, the model that comes with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU.
Now you might be thinking, why not the model that comes with the RTX 4090 or even the RTX 4080? The simplest explanation is that those just aren’t as good of a value. At full price, the RTX 4090 model would cost you upwards of $3,300, and in the end, you’d be paying all that money for a machine that isn’t going to be able to sustain its top performance very well. The reason is that there’s just not enough room for proper, efficient cooling with a GPU that powerful, even in its mobile form. This is due to the thinness of the Zephyrus line.
Temperatures will run hot, and in short order, the laptop performance is going to throttle. With the RTX 4070, though, and the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 which is an excellent mobile CPU, you’re getting a lot more bang for your buck. The laptop has a full retail price of $2,299.99, and you’ll still be able to run games with extremely high graphics settings, while that performance stays optimal for a longer period of time. Why? Because the RTX 4070 isn’t going to produce as much heat, and therefore the laptop’s cooling system will be able to cool the machine down better.
When you factor in that the model we’ve chosen comes with 1TB of storage and 32GB of RAM, it’s a great option. Plus, the laptop has a great design. While it’s still not inexpensive, it’s much less expensive than the G16 with the RTX 4090 for an overall better experience.
It supports Rapid Charge, too, which means you get to 50% battery in just 30 minutes. Giving you the opportunity to be back up and running in no time. Plus, there’s the fact that it’s only about 4 lbs. and 0.58 inches thin, so it’s very portable and lightweight.
Best 14-Inch Gaming Laptop
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024)
While we have the utmost respect for the Razer Blade 14 in the 14-inch gaming laptop sector, our current pick for the best 14-inch gaming laptop is going to go to the ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) from ASUS. Not only is it powerful and stylish, but it’s slightly more compact than the Blade 14, and it’s priced considerably lower. The cooling is a little better on the Blade 14 which helps to make it a bit more powerful in the end, but not by a massive amount.
The ROG Zephyrus G14 is still incredibly powerful for a 14-inch gaming laptop and it comes with two available GPU options. If you want to go for something as economical as possible, then you can pick this laptop up with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. Best Buy currently has that model on sale for $1,099.99 instead of $1,599.99. That price is very good for what you get out of a machine like this. There’s also the RTX 4070 option which costs $1,649.99 instead of $1,999.99. Also a great price for the bump in graphics performance.
You will also get 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage with the RTX 4060 model, and both models come with the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS CPU. This laptop also has several ports to accommodate peripherals. For USB-C ports, there’s one USB 4 Type-C port that supports both DisplayPort 1.4 and Power Delivery 3.0, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port that supports DisplayPort 1.4. For USB-A ports, there are two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports. There’s also an audio jack, an HDMI 2.1 port, the ASUS Slim power jack, and a MicroSD card reader.
If you value portability just as much as you do performance, then the ROG Zephyrus G14 has you covered. Interestingly, it’s actually slightly thicker than the G16, coming in at 0.63 inches thin. However, it does have a smaller display and smaller body overall, and it only weighs 3.31 lbs. so it’s lighter as well. It’s the perfect gaming laptop for anyone who wants a smaller laptop to carry around everywhere.
Another thing we really love about it is that the design is not too over the top. It is a gaming laptop but you’d honestly never really know it. Thanks to its lack of gamer aesthetic things like a giant RGB ROG eye logo. The chassis also just feels nice to the touch, like a premium laptop should feel. It has a 120Hz OLED display as well, so games will look quite nice when playing them. All of this being said it does have some drawbacks. For one, the RAM is soldered on, so if you want to upgrade it, you’re more or less out of luck.
When it comes down to it though, the lack of upgradeable RAM is a minor thing compared to all the good this laptop provides. It looks good, performs well, and is currently available for a VERY good price.
Best 16-Inch Gaming Laptop
MAINGEAR ML-16 (RTX 4070)
MAINGEAR isn’t exactly the first brand you may think of when you’re looking at gaming laptops. After all, this space is dominated by the likes of Razer, ASUS, Lenovo, and Alienware just to name a few. However, MAINGEAR is well-versed in gaming PCs and it makes custom-built gaming desktops. It also makes gaming laptops and has been for a while.
The ML-16 is its latest offering and it comes in an RTX 4060 model and an RTX 4070 model. We’re picking the RTX 4070 model because it’ll offer better gaming performance, and it’s available at a pretty good price compared to similar machines. It also has 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage on the SSD. So you start with plenty of space for games and anything else.
We’ll compare this to the Razer Blade 16, which would have generally been our pick and has been in the past. If you look at the Razer Blade 16 with an RTX 4070, Razer only offers 16GB of RAM. On its website, you’re looking at having to bump up to the RTX 4080 to get 32GB, which is what the ML-16 offers. This causes a huge jump in price too. The ML-16 with the above-mentioned specs is normally $2,299, but it’s currently on sale for $2,199. Compare that to the Blade 16 at the now-discounted price of $2,399.99.
This is the only configuration Razer sells now because the new model with the RTX 50-series GPUs is launching a little later this year. What’s more, you can “boost” the MAINGEAR ML-16 for even more performance. This causes the price to jump to $2,499 (sale price), but you get 64GB of RAM and a 4TB SSD. It’s also running with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU, which is going to help with power efficiency thanks to the chipset’s AI features.
Now it has an 80Wh battery which is a bit under the Blade 16 and some other 16-inch laptops. But battery life shouldn’t be a huge issue when you’re not gaming. And when you are, you’re going to want to plug the laptop in anyway. It’s also slightly thinner than the Blade 16 and it weighs more than a pound less. So all-in-all, it’s just a better value. Plus, the display is QHD+ and 240Hz and that’s going to mean visually stunning games and visually smooth games.
Best of all, it’s unassuming. It doesn’t really look like a gaming laptop and we love that. So it’s just as good at the office as it is at your gaming station at home. While we admit there are more stylish 16-inch gaming laptops out there, the ML-16 still looks great and it performs amazingly. And in the end, performance should be more important.
Most Powerful Gaming Laptop
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 18
If you want unbridled power in your gaming laptop and you’re less concerned with portability, then the ROG Strix Scar 18 from ASUS is the way to go. While the company’s ROG Zephyrus model comes with an RTX 4090 option as well, its much slimmer design holds back cooling performance. You won’t have that issue with the ROG Strix Scar 18, however. It has a lot more room not only because the chassis is larger, but because it’s thicker too.
That allowed ASUS to pack more components in there and allow for more airflow so heat disperses a lot easier. Unfortunately, the one thing you’re going to want to be prepared for is the noise. The ROG Strix Scar 18 isn’t exactly quiet when the fans are at full rip, and they’ll need to be if you want to get the most possible performance out of that RTX 4090 Mobile GPU.
That being said, you can mitigate the noisiness of the fans by increasing the game volume. And you likely aren’t going to be paying much attention to the fans when you’re focused on your games anyway. Additionally, you could just put on a pair of headphones, which is what I do to avoid having to listen to the fan noise. Then I can happily play games at peak performance and still hear everything the game intends me to hear.
Another thing to keep in mind is that a laptop like this, with this much power, is going to pump out some serious heat. While the ROG Intelligent cooling system will do a great job at keeping the inside of the laptop at optimal temperatures, that heat has to go somewhere. And that somewhere will be the room you have this laptop set up in. So it’s not a bad idea when playing on something like this to keep a door or window cracked.
I speak from experience when I say that not doing either of those things, causes the room to get quite warm after playing games at top performance for more than a couple of hours. That’s also assuming your game room is on the smaller side. Those with larger rooms need not worry too much about the heat aspect. Then again, you may not mind the extra heat given how cold it is in certain areas right now.
In terms of other specs, the ROG Strix Scar 18 comes with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD. So it’s more than equipped for memory and storage. It has a nice large trackpad as well, and the display is QHD with a 240Hz refresh rate. With a 90Wh battery, it should give you decent time off the charger, but don’t be fooled into thinking it’ll last you all day without it if you’re playing really demanding games that require fully powered fans.
In terms of ports, all of them are located on the sides. You get one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, an audio jack, HDMI, Ethernet, Thunderbolt 4, and the DC port on one side, and then two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports on the other. Sadly, there are no microSD or SD card slots, so if you want expandable storage, you’ll need to use a USB-based card reader or an external SSD of some sort. But with 2TB of internal storage that shouldn’t be necessary for a while.
The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 18 is incredibly expensive at $3,899.99, but it’s a powerhouse gaming laptop that won’t limit your gaming performance.
Best 17-Inch Gaming Laptop
MSI Katana A17 AI
17-inch gaming laptops are a nice compromise between getting the big boi 18-inch monster and the smaller, slightly more svelte 16-inch options. While generally still hefty, they shave down some weight and have smaller dimensions, making them a bit more portable. While also still retaining a larger screen for a more enjoyable gaming experience.
Our pick for the best 17-inch gaming laptop is the MSI Katana A17 AI, because it’s priced right and it comes with some amazing hardware. Not to mention a metric ton of DDR5 RAM so you’ll never want for memory. This particular configuration comes powered by the RTX 4070 GPU, and AMD’s Ryzen 9-8945HS CPU. AMD’s mobile CPUs have been really good lately and they’ve been outperforming Intel’s counterparts. You also get a whopping 64GB of DDR5 RAM here, plus 2TB of storage for all your games and other files.
MSI has loaded this laptop up and it retails for about $1,799.99. That’s Amazon’s current sale price as well, as the normal price for this laptop is $1,999.99. So you’re getting great value with this option. Plus, the display has a 240Hz refresh rate which means super smooth gaming visuals.
It weighs just under 6 lbs. so it won’t be too heavy to carry, though you might need to look for a new bag if your current one doesn’t fit 17-inch laptops that well. What we really like about this laptop is the AI features. Thanks to the Ryzen 9-8945HS CPU, the Katana A17 AI will have better battery life because of the chipset’s increased power efficiency. There are integrated Copilot+ features as well. So when you’re not gaming, these become useful for more efficient use of other standard computing tasks.
The keyboard feels really nice and the typing experience is pretty good, although the keys could do with less of a springy sound when you run your fingers over them rapidly. Most users probably won’t even notice this though. Other than this minor detail, the keyboard is great and provides anti-ghosting and it’s RGB backlit. In fact, with regard to RGB lighting, the keyboard is the only place you’ll find any.
That makes this a really good option for anyone who wants a gaming laptop that’s a little less flashy. The matte black color of the chassis helps with this as well. Our one gripe is that there’s only one USB-C port, as MSI opted for a third USB-A port instead. Overall, though, this is a very solid gaming laptop in the 17-inch size, and the price is really good.
Best Budget Gaming Laptop
MSI Cyborg 15 (2023)
While the MSI Cyborg 15 (2023) is a bit of an older laptop it’s available at a good price since it only costs $899 at full retail, and it comes with an RTX 4050 GPU which means you get the benefits of DLSS 3. That’s going to help with performance a bit via the increased frame rates that DLSS 3 can provide. It should also have no trouble pumping out really high graphics settings at 1080P. So as long as you don’t care about super high-resolution graphics, this is going to be a solid pick with a pretty affordable price.
There are some drawbacks, such as the lower brightness of the display compared to other similarly priced gaming laptops. It also only has 512GB of storage so you might need to invest in an external SSD for further game storage. For the CPU, you’re getting an Intel Core i7-13620H which is pretty good for multitasking and gaming as well as general computing when paired with the RTX 4050.
You also shouldn’t have any real issues with cooling performance since both the CPU and GPU aren’t going to produce nearly as much heat as some of the more powerful laptops in this guide. This laptop also comes with a decent amount of ports and a stylish RGB-backlit keyboard, and it has an FHD 144Hz display so the refresh rate is respectable. What you can expect from this laptop is pretty decent performance for the money and as long as you aren’t expecting ultra settings in today’s most demanding games, we’d definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking to spend less money without compromising on the gaming experience.
Best Budget Alternative
Acer Nitro V 15 (ANV15-51-73B9)
If you’re looking to spend even less than the MSI Cyborg 15 up above, then we’d recommend the Acer Nitro V 15 (ANV15-51-73B9). It comes in at $849.99 at full price but Amazon currently has it listed at $769.99, and it comes with a lot of the same specs. It has a 15-inch FHD display with a 144Hz refresh rate, and it’s powered by the RTX 4050 GPU and the Intel Core i7-13620H CPU. Additionally, it has 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.
So you’ll end up with a very similar experience to the MSI in terms of hardware components. Several ports will let you plug in all of your peripherals and Wi-Fi 6 will ensure a fast connection for your online games. The speakers are decent and should provide a good enough audio experience, though they’re not quite as loud or as clear as we’d like them to be.
Overall, this is a solid pick for someone with a very tight budget. There are cheaper gaming laptops, but we wouldn’t go any lower in price than this if you don’t want to compromise the gaming experience.