The Best Gaming Laptops
Compiling a list of best gaming laptops is not an easy thing. There are so many varieties in the market with brands like HP coming into the gaming laptop market with their HP Omen series. Also, one needs to weigh in the specs versus the affordability of the various laptops available. There are several factors that need to be considered. They will be explained below.
Essential Factors to Consider When Buying A Gaming Laptop
Click each tab below to learn more about things to consider
Limitations of Gaming Laptops
Gaming laptops come with some limitations. They shall be examined here.
- Expensive prices: Gaming laptops are more expensive than average laptops. So, if you want to get a good gaming laptop, you should be ready to spend a lot of money.
- Weight: Gaming laptops are heavier than other laptops. The average weight of a gaming laptop is about seven to eight pounds. And there are some laptops like the Acer Predator that are much heavier than that.
- Battery life: Gaming laptops don’t generally have a good battery life. Most gaming laptops don’t have more than four to five hours of battery life.
- Excess heat: Gaming laptops generate more heat than other laptops. This is understandable due to the work being done by the processor and the graphics card.
1 . The ASUS RoG G751JY
Specifications:
- Graphics Card: 8GB Nvidia GTX 1070
- CPU: Intel Core i7-7820HK
- RAM: 16 GB
- Display: 17.3”
- Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 AC
- Weight: 9.5 lbs.
The ASUS RoG G751JY hasn’t seen much improvements from its predecessors, but it is still a good upgrade. It comes with better specifications and better design.
Due to the success of its predecessors, the ASUS RoG G751JY was highly anticipated, and it lived up to expectations. It comes with Nvidia G-Sync technology, so latency rate is almost zero resulting in very smooth graphics.
On high settings for most games, you get 60 FPS. But, some other laptops like the Alienware 17 or the Dominator Pro, you’ll get as much as 70 to 80 FPS.
The addition of the Nvidia G-Sync has made the ASUS RoG G751JY much better, and the graphics look smoother. It makes the laptop perfect for playing games with if you are one that likes awesome graphics. Transfer speeds are great thanks to the awesome array of ports.
The ASUS RoG G751JY is worth the expensive price and the hype built around it.
The advantages and disadvantages of the ASUS RoG G751JY
- It has a great design
- It has awesome graphics
- It provides a terrific performance
- It provides very fast transfer speeds
- The gaming experience on the laptop is very quiet
- It doesn’t come with an 8th gen CPU
- It is a bit heavy
2 . The Alienware 13
Specifications:
- Graphics Card: 2GB Nvidia GTX 960M GDDR5
- CPU: 6th Gen Intel Core i7 processor
- RAM: 16 GB
- Display: 13.3”
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080
- Wi-Fi: IEEE 1535 802.11 AC 2X2 Wi-Fi
- Touchpad size: 4.27” x 2.67”
- Weight: 4.5 lbs.
The Alienware 13 is a small, portable machine from Alienware. It looks cute, but don’t be fooled. it is a powerful machine.
The Alienware 13 features the proprietary Alienware ‘Alien’ logo which lights up when the laptop is on. The Alienware 13 comes with a backlit keyboard that is between the power button and the large touchpad. The Alienware command center from Alienware helps gamers to tweak the laptop as they wish. You can customize it and create nice gaming profiles to enhance your gameplay.
The Alienware 13 is portable, and yet it delivers a terrific performance. It has a good battery life, and it comes with advanced display resolution. It is also compatible with an external graphics card, thanks to the Thunderbolt port provided for that connection.
If you are looking for a combination of portability with raw gaming performance, then the Alienware 13 is for you.
Advantages and disadvantages of the Alienware 13
- The Nvidia GTX 960M graphics card runs games smoothly
- It comes with powerful components
- It is small and portable
- It comes with several ports that allows you to connect several peripherals
- It was strictly built for gaming
- It has a small screen that some gamers may not like
3 . MSI GT80 Titan SLI
Specifications:
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 980M
- CPU: 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-4720 HQ processor
- RAM: 16 GB
- Display: 18.4”
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080
- Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 AC
- Storage type: HDD, SSD
- Weight: 9.9 lbs.
The MSI GT80 Titan is a large beast that comes with all the expected specifications. It comes with a large 18.4” display which removes every idea of portability from this gaming laptop.
The largeness of the laptop means that there is space for a touchpad which can also be used as a numeric pad when needed.
You get the powerful specifications of the MSI GT80 Titan at a hefty price point. It is so large that it may not fit into some laptop bags. But that doesn’t deter from the fact that the MSI GT80 Titan is a great laptop.
It is a desktop replacement that is perfect for some.
The advantages of the MSI GT80 Titan
- The touchpad can also be used as a number pad
- It comes with a nice mechanical keyboard
- It has a very bright display
- It comes with a nice, elegant design
- It has a mediocre battery life
- The audio and speaker options aren’t that great
4 . Razer Blade 14
Specifications:
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 970M
- CPU: Intel Core i7-4720 HQ processor
- RAM: 8 GB DDR3
- Display: 18.4”
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080
- Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 AC 1535
- Storage type: 256 GB SSD
- Weight: 4.25 lbs.
The Razer Blade 14 is an ultra-portable gaming laptop from Razer. It provides high performance with its great specs. It has a solid build quality. It is lighter and more colorful than other laptops in the same category. But it is very expensive.
The Razer Blade 14 comes with a processor that supports hyper-threading with a fast processor speed. It also comes with better fan speed that supports a cooler gaming experience. Also, It is a little cheaper than last year’s model, and it offers some upgrades.
The advantages and disadvantages of the Razer Blade 14
- It is ultra-portable
- It gives you a powerful performance
- It is the best laptop at its price point
- It is great for typing work and business trips
- It has a minimalistic outer design that doesn’t look too fine
- The fan is loud
- It doesn’t come with memory card reader and ethernet card slots
5 . Lenovo Z70
Specifications:
- Graphics Card: 2 GB Nvidia GT 840M
- CPU: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 processor
- RAM: 16 GB DDR3L SDRAM
- Display: 17.3”
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080
- Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 AC
- Weight: 6.6 lbs.
The Lenovo Z70 is an average gaming laptop from Lenovo. It doesn’t come with a touchscreen display despite the large 17.3” screen. The large screen size and the weight doesn’t make it a portable buy. Also, it doesn’t come with a backlit keyboard. It is mediocre compared to the other laptops on this list. But it comes with a good processor that can be turbo booster to 2.7 GHz.
But the Z70 comes with a flashy, attractive design. Gamers will love the Full HD screen which is perfect for playing games and watching movies.
The Z70 isn’t a great gaming laptop. But it will do just fine.
The advantages and disadvantages of the Lenovo Z70
- It has a core i7 processor and large 16 GB RAM
- It comes with JBL speakers and subwoofers for a great audio experience
- It comes with a 1920 by 1080 display to boost gaming performance
- There is no backlit keyboard
- The battery life isn’t that good
6 . The MSI Apache Pro-004
Specifications:
- Graphics Card: 2 GB Nvidia GTX 960M
- CPU: 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-6700 HQ processor
- RAM: 16 GB
- Display: 15.6”
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080
- RAM speed: 2133 MHz
- Weight: 5.3 lbs.
The MSI GE62 Apache Pro-004 is a good laptop that comes with a minimalistic design. It is a future-proof laptop that comes with a lot of good specs for its price point. The laptop delivers a solid performance.
It serves its purpose of gaming well with the other capabilities that also makes it good for computer programmers. It is light, and it is one of the few ultra-portable gaming laptops available in the market.
But the MSI GE62 Apache Pro-004’s trackpad isn’t that good. Also, it doesn’t have a solid build quality. It has a plastic body that gives it a cheap feel. The overall design won’t attract you that much. But generally, it is a good mid-range gaming laptop.
Advantages and disadvantages of the MSI GE62 Apache Pro-0004
- It comes with fast SSD and HDD
- It has good, customizable backlit keyboards
- It runs smoothly good latency rate
- It is portable
- It has a poor build quality
- The design is too minimalistic, and this causes a weak BIOS
- A lot of people won’t like the trackpad
7 . The Dell Inspiron i7559
Specifications:
- Graphics Card: 4 GB Nvidia GTX 960M GDDR5
- CPU: 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-6700 HQ processor
- RAM: 16 GB DDR3L
- Display: 15.6”
- Resolution: 3840 x 2160
- Wi-Fi: 802.11 A/C
- Weight: 4.6 lbs.
The Dell Inspiron i7559 comes with an Ultra HD resolution display. Now, your games will look amazing in 3840 x 2160 resolution. It also comes with a high-capacity HDD that is quite slow, but you can add an SSD for lightning fast performance.
The combination of the 6th gen Core i7 processor and the 16 GB RAM included work in tandem to make the Dell Inspiron i7559 a beast. It will handle a lot of games comfortably.
If you don’t mind the expensive price, the Dell Inspiron i7559 is a good buy.
The advantages and disadvantages of the Dell Inspiron i7559
- It comes with an Ultra HD resolution
- It is portable thanks to its lightweight design
- It comes with 16 GB of RAM for better performance
- It comes with a slow HDD
- Every component of this laptop is expensive to replace
8 . Acer Predator 17
Specifications:
- Graphics Card: Nvidia Geforce
- CPU: 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-6700 HQ processor
- RAM: 16 GB
- Display: 17.3”
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080
- Wi-Fi: 802.11 AC
- Weight: 8.7 lbs.
The Acer Predator 17 is a heavy, high-end gaming laptop that comes at an expensive price. It comes with a nice black and red design. The large predator logo on it shows that it is premium stuff.
At high settings, you can get up to 80 FPS with the Acer Predator 17. On low settings, you can get as much as 160 FPS. The 16 GB RAM included helps it to perform well. The 1080p display is good, and games look great on it. The laptop has two subwoofers and four speakers which enable it to output clear, crisp and loud audio.
The Acer Predator 17 has a good cooling system, and it rarely gets hot even after gaming on it for hours. The keypad and touchpad are also well designed.
The Acer Predator 17 comes with a lot of features that justify its expensive price. The battery life is better than other gaming laptops in its category. But some users may not like its bulky size.
The advantages and disadvantages of the Acer Predator 17
- It has a good battery life
- It comes with good software for managing and tweaking the laptop
- It is well designed with a solid build quality
- It performs excellently
- It is bulky
- It doesn’t come with Nvidia G-Sync
- It doesn’t come with a 4K resolution
9 . Gigabyte P37Xv5-SL4K1
Specifications:
- Graphics Card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 980M
- CPU: 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-6700 HQ processor
- RAM: 8 GB
- Display: 17.3”
- Resolution: 3840 x 2160
- Wi-Fi: 802.11 AC
- Weight: 10.6 lbs.
Weighing a whopping 10.6 pounds, the Gigabyte P37Xv5-SL4K1 is far from being a portable gaming laptop. It is a heavy monster. It comes with a solid GTX 980M graphics card and a 6th gen Core i7 processor. The 17.3” screen will display games better than 14” and 15” screens.
But this laptop comes with some disadvantages. The backlit keyboard has too many unnecessary highlight features. Also, it has a very noisy fan. It’s hard to play games with the speakers due to the noisy fans. You can reduce the fan speed, but it will make games slower.
The Gigabyte P37Xv5-SL4K1 is a good laptop, but the noisy fan is quite intolerable.
The advantages and disadvantages of the Gigabyte P37Xv5-SL4K1
- It has a solid build quality
- It comes with high-performance components
- It has a good battery life for a gaming laptop
- The fan is noisy
- The trackpad is faulty
- When the fan speed is reduced, games become slower
