Buying guide: From Asus to Lenovo, 6 premium gaming laptops worth a try

Broadly, there are six categories of Windows laptops, apart from the MacBook line from Apple. There are the general purpose laptops (the first thing that comes to mind when you talk about laptops), Ultrabooks (a term coined by Intel and spearheaded by their Evo Certified laptops), gaming laptops (laptops with discreet graphics cards), workstation/creator laptops (for the professionals and the creators out there that can handle complex and demanding tasks), 2-in-1 convertibles (convertibles or detachable laptops that can double up as tablets) and Chromebooks (laptops that run on Google’s ChromeOS).

Today we’ll talk about gaming laptops, and two models I’ve recently tested for a long period: the Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 9 and the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2024).

Also read: The best premium laptops you can pick up right now

Before I get into these two laptops, let me quickly run down a couple of things for you to note before buying a gaming laptop.

- GPU: The GPU is not upgradable, and most games are GPU-dependent. Hence, make sure the laptop you’re purchasing has a good GPU, which allows for games to be played at high settings for years to come.

- Display: Make sure your mind is made up between resolution (over 1080p) or speed (displays that go up to 480Hz refresh rate).

- CPU: The CPU doesn’t matter as much as the GPU when it comes to playing games, but it’s still worth looking for a powerful CPU for daily tasks.

- Portability and weight: Are you willing to sacrifice portability and weight for a more powerful machine? The better and faster gaming laptops are usually bulkier and less portable.

- SSD or HDD: Do you want a physical HDD (hard disk drive) or a faster SSD (solid state drive)? It’s between storage and loading time.

Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 9: Sleek and premium package

The i9-14900HX, a 14th Gen Intel Core processor, is one of the fastest mobile PC CPUs. Couple that with an Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and an IPS panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio, and you get the powerhouse of a gaming laptop in Lenovo’s Legion 7i Gen 9. It comes in Eclipse White and Glacier White colour options and features a metal chassis with brushed aluminium around the edges.

The Legion 7i weighs just 2.24kg, making it a lightweight gaming laptop. There are an array of ports here, including USB Type-A, USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2, USB Type-C (with Thunderbolt 4, PD 140W and DisplayPort 1.4 support), 3.5mm headphone jack, HDMI 2.1, power connector and even a 4-in-1 SD card reader.

What adds weight to the laptop, unfortunately, is the charging brick. As it is a gaming laptop, you can’t travel without your charger. That’s unfortunate. The 230W charger brick will weigh you, but it is a necessary item to carry along.

With the Legion 7i, you get a 16-inch 3.2K (3200x2000) IPS panel with brightness up to 430 nits. It’s an anti-glare display. The display is rated for a 165Hz refresh rate (which is superb) and supports Dolby Vision, G-SYNC and more. Still, I would have preferred an OLED display on this laptop. Yes, that would have jacked up the price, but it is worth it. AN OLED display gives you better contrast, viewing angles, and deep blacks.

Nonetheless, thanks to the 16:10 aspect ratio, fairly thin bezels, tilt and go flat up to 180 degrees, the gaming experience was excellent. This became evident in first-person shooters like Halo and Counter-Strike. Once ‘Performance Mode’ in the thermal settings of Lenovo Vantage software is selected, the laptop soars ahead. While playing Doom Eternal, and many other of the latest games, I got over 120 frames per second.

The laptop lasts five hours, and at a stretch six hours, if you’re not gaming. Start playing games and the battery life drastically reduces to two hours, in line with similar gaming laptops.

Priced at ₹2,09,990 (for the variant I reviewed), the Legion 7i gets the job done for all the gamers. It’s a sleek and premium package.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: One of the most impressive gaming rigs

Let’s move on to the ROG Zephyrus G16 from Asus. It’s one of my favourite series of laptops from the company. Both the G14 and G16 were redesigned this year. Asus has taken inspiration from the Razer Blade and Apple MacBook Pro. The Zephyrus G16 is available in Eclipse Gray and Platinum White. There’s also a slash lightning (white light strip) component on the lid, featuring 28 mini LEDs (that can be customised as per your liking) across 7 zones.

The build quality has been improved vis-a-vis the previous generation and there is very little flex on the lid. Coming in at 17.4mm in thickness and weighing 1.95kg, for the top-of-the-line RTX 4080/RTX 4090 variant, the laptop is lightweight, compact, and very premium.

The port selection here is decent too. There’s USB Type-C (support for 100W PD and Thunderbolt 4), USB Type-A, a full HDMI output, and an SD card reader.

Two things that stand out on the Zephyrus G14 are the display and performance (though it is limited to the top-end variant). The Zephyrus G16 comes with a 16-inch display, a sharp 2.5K (2,560x1,600) resolution, a 16:10 aspect ratio and a 240Hz refresh rate. It’s not only great for gaming but also for professional things like photo and video editing. There’s a peak brightness of 400 nits, which is plenty in case you choose to work in the dark.

The top-of-the-line variant features an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor alongside Nvidia’s RTX 4090 graphics card. There’s a 2GB SSD and 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM. To cram all this hardware into a thin chassis is impressive.

The performance mostly matches up to the hardware. If you game at 1440p, you’ll notice no issues with the laptop, whether you’re playing Halo, GTA V, or even Red Dead Redemption 2. What the G16 gets right is the balance between performance and portability. It may not be the fastest, but it is one of the most portable. The Core Ultra 9 185H is easily comparable to some of the 13th Gen (previous generation) processors from Intel.

The Zephyrus G16 is one of the most impressive gaming laptops of 2024. It has a sleek design, top-notch performance, a gorgeous 16-inch OLED display, and a redesign that’ll please almost everyone. The laptop does get hot, and peak performance is limited. Maybe getting the top-of-the-line variant is a little bit overkill. The laptop starts at ₹1,79,990 and goes up to ₹2,89,990.

Let’s quickly talk about four other gaming laptops worth checking out:

Asus Zephyrus G14: The G14 takes the balance of portability and performance to another level. I’ve only tried it for a few days but it floored me more than the G16. It’s got an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor, Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU, a 14-inch 3K (2,880x1,800 resolution) OLED display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 120Hz refresh rate. Frames rates are excellent on the Zephyrus G14, there are plenty of ports (despite its slim chassis) and battery life was longer than you’d expect.

Alienware m18 R2: The best 18-inch gaming laptop out there. Period. It’s got premium looks, an advanced display (18-inch QHD+ display with 165Hz refresh rate), a Core i9-14900HX CPU, 64GB RAM, and an Nvidia RTX 4090. Performance is simply unmatched, but it comes at a hefty price point. The laptop is currently selling for ₹4,59,490.

Lenovo Legion Pro 5i (Gen 9): With the Legion Pro 5i, Lenovo has made improvements to the design, and fitted it with the latest and best internals from Intel and Nvidia – all inside an attractive package. It’s one of the best mid-range laptops out there. Just remember that battery life is poor (and there is throttling whilst on battery power) and the speakers are mediocre. Otherwise, this laptop can handle all the latest games with aplomb. It retails at ₹1,43,660 and goes up to ₹1,99,491 as per the official website.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16: This one comes with an Intel Core i9-14900HX CPU, Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU, up to 32GB DDR5 RAM and up to 2TB storage. The laptop features a 16-inch WQXGA (2,560x1,600 resolution) IPS panel with a 240Hz refresh rate and 16:10 aspect ratio. The laptop is bulky, and can get noisy, but has one of the best performances of any 16-inch gaming laptop. It outperforms many competitors at this price. The Helios Neo 16’s price starts at ₹1,27,990 and goes up to ₹1,96,990 as per Amazon.

Sahil Bhalla is a Delhi-based writer. He posts @IMSahilBhalla.

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