For those of us who stubbornly support the gaming PCs in its seemingly never-ending war against consoles, gaming laptops offer the enticing possibility of lugging around a laptop bag with a gorgeous monster sleeping within, ever-ready to take your senses on a roller-coaster ride anytime, anywhere. Presently, most gaming laptops are feature-packed and so insanely fitted-out that a few match the most maxed-out gaming PC in performance, while others come closer than a hairbreadth. Gaming laptops offer convenience, user-adjustability, some future-proofing and pretty hefty bragging rights. However, most cost a pretty penny, and you might have to raid a few banks to get together the cash you need to splash out for one.
The Best Gaming Laptops for Extreme Gaming
With that out of the way, just which are the top 12 best gaming laptops currently available on this mosquito-ridden planet? This is a question you have the luxury of debating all weekend with your friends during ferociously-awesome LAN parties and sleepovers. Since you and your friends are no nearer to a decision, we decided to put together this best gaming laptop list. Read, drool over the specs on offer and tell us what you think. Here goes…
1. Razer Blade Pro
Razer proudly touts this baby as a worthy desktop replacement for those who want face-melting, body-jerking, hysteria-inducing performance in a svelte and sleek package. The enormously lovely 17.3-inch multitouch touchscreen is UHD with a resolution of 3840 x 2160. The RAM is 32 GB, while the storage option depends on how big you like it; ranging from 512 GB SSD to a maximum of 2 TB SSD.
The Razer Blade Pro rocks a razor-sharp Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 married to a bewitching 8 GB GDDR5 that definitely takes no prisoners. About the only thing we can find to criticize about this top gaming laptop is its price – which brushes near the $4000 mark for our comfort. Otherwise, this is definitely a laptop for gaming extravaganzas you should get as soon as you win the lottery.
2. HP Omen 17
Ain’t nothing in the least subtle about the HP Omen. It’s big, imposing and capable beyond belief. Underneath the chassis lurks an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 with 8 GB GDDR5 that can play all but the most graphics-hogging games at the highest quality eye-candy settings. RAM is 16 GB, and the glorious 17.3-inch screen outputs 4K like it’s going out of style. Storage options are 1 TB – 2 TB HDD and a 128 GB SSD. A little on the weighty side, the HP Omen comes with premium speakers from those who really understand sound Bang and Olufsen. Price is a very reasonable $1179.99 and fully worth it.
3. Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (16″ AMD)
Lenovo might be a late entry to the gaming segment, but it has done well. It is one of the best high-refresh QHD gaming laptops on the market. The laptop packs a powerful AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with GPU support up to Nvidia RTX 3070. Similarly, RAM offers up to 32 GB DDR4. Screen size and aspect ratios are important components of a gaming laptop. Lenovo has taken special care and offers a QHD, 16-inches screen with 2560 x 1600 resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio. And since it is a gaming laptop, the makers have taken extra care of storage and added a native SSD of 2 TB.
The laptop itself is lightweight, despite packing such a powerful punch. At 5.4 lbs and sporting dimensions such as 14.01 x 10.4 x 1.1 inches, it feels a bit compact. Lastly, the keyboard is also great, and the screen has a refresh rate of 165 Hz.
4. Alienware 17
Alienware really knows hot to give some loving to their gaming laptops. And with its alien-worthy design, the Alienware 17 has no problem speedily catching and holding the attention. Configurable as your pocket is deep, you can rock it with virtually any game in the newfangled VR mode for some rather thrilling times. Price starts from $1299.99, but will start creeping up fast as you heap more goodies on it in a bid to boast the most hard-core hardware in your neighborhood.
5. MSI GT83VR
The MSI GT83VR is what you might end up with if you took your gaming PC to a fat farm for some needed trimming and tucking. Weighing a dumbbell-worthy 13 pounds and with a price that starts at $4,199, it is not for the faint of heart or those with anemic bank accounts. A true desktop replacement, it is crammed full to the nearest millimeter with swoon-worthy features many PC gamers spend days happily daydreaming about. For starters, it sports not one but two 8 GB Nvidia GeForce 1080 cards in what has to be a gruesome overkill.
The MSI GT83VR looks and feels absolutely premium, as it should, considering you could have bought an entire continent with what you are paying for it. The screen is a vivid 18 inches, the processor an Intel Core i7, 32 GB of RAM, and 1 TB HDD coupled with two 512 GB SSD slots make up the available storage. Lest we forget, this pricey monster also rocks an old-school mechanical gaming keyboard. Sadly though, it lacks a death ray and a laser gun.
6. Acer Predator Helios 300
Acer Predator is a powerful yet affordable gaming laptop that sports a stylish design and physical dimensions of 10.01 x 14.23 x 0.9 inches. It is not that heavy at 5.51 lbs and is quite compact. The laptop is a gaming heaven that offers an IPS display of 15.6 inches. The screen is a QHD display with 1080p resolution and a refresh rate of 240 Hz. For image rendering, it employs up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU and a powerful Intel Core i7 12th Gen CPU. The RAM support is up to 32 GB DDR5-4800. The performance-to-price ratio makes it a better choice.
Further features include space for two additional SSDs and one HDD, and a one-touch Turbo button that overclocks the GPU for an increase in gaming performance.
7. Alienware 13 R3
Its raining Alienware! The new Alienware 13 now features a touchscreen OLED gaming display the gods must have made themselves, so incredibly stunning and totally breathtaking is it. A bit small, it is fully capable of playing with the big boys and comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, as well as an Intel Core i7 CPU that makes minced meat of most graphically-demanding games. One of the smallest VR-capable gaming laptops in existence, its price starts from $1199.99, and will shoot up faster than a speeding bullet as you tack on more sinfully delicious hardware and extra features on the small giant.
8. Dell Inspiron 15 7000
Suppose you had barely a penny to your name but possess that delightful itch to own an excellent gaming laptop of your own, what do you do? It’s either you wait for an asteroid to shower diamonds all over your home, or you go and get the Dell Inspiron 15 7000. Its battery life is to put it simply, eye-popping and awesome to the nth degree. While on medium settings, it is more than capable of playing the vast majority of the available games out there. Price starts from $799, and this is by far the best gaming laptop under $1000 there is.
9. Origin PC Evo 15-S
Another desktop-slayer to kill for the Evo 15-S is beauty happily married to the beast. While the internals are not really upgradeable, they are still excellent enough to ensure years of delirious gaming before you need to get a replacement. Graphical performance is handled by a GTX 1060, with 16 GB of RAM helping move things along. Internal storage varies depending on how you like it, and at four pounds, this is one portable beast you could conceivably slip into your front pocket on the way to LAN parties and the like.
10. Asus ROG G752VS OC
For those of you very much in love with overclocking, the G752VS is very much to your taste as it is overclocked from the start before it is shipped out. It can thus effortlessly deliver brain-shattering performance other rivals might struggle to match. It is also VR-ready out of the box and features an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 GPU, 16 GB of RAM, and an Intel Core i7 CPU. The screen is a brilliant 17.3-incher like only Asus can make them, and is fully G-Sync capable. Price starts from $2450.50.
11. Razer Blade
A little long in the tooth compared to its rivals, the Razer Blade is still one of the top gaming laptops on this blue planet. Possessing respectable battery life, some future-proofing, and impressive performance when you need to make it show off what it can do, the Blade is all that most gamers need. With the option of splurging on an OLED screen and VR-capable cards for this princess, the fun is stretched even further, while the excitement acquires an otherworldly glow. Price starts from around $1899.99, and for that you are getting a rather big bang for your penny.
12. Aorus X5 V6
Little known compared to other manufacturers, Aorus is famed among its die-hard supporters for consistently delivering excellent quality designs at competitive prices. The X5 V6 in particular with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 and an Intel Core i7 powering its internals can play any game made at the highest quality resolution without breaking a sweat. While its build quality can be so-so, and it is usually louder than a buzz-saw, the X5 V6 deliciously ticks all the right boxes and relatively cheaply too. Price begins from $1749 and up as you load it up with must-have hardware.
Conclusion
Gaming laptops are the portable versions of their weighty desktop brethren. Portability is one of the biggest advantages of a laptop. The best ones are usually expensive, but mostly worth it due to their combination of raw power, design, and class. Gaming laptops currently make the world go round and keep us its fans happily floating in a bottomless sea of excitement. They promise much and deliver double. Any wonder they are so beloved.