When Can I Get One
The G752VS is available in North America from multiple vendors check out our hands-on look at the OC Edition for the full rundown. The GL502VS and GL502VM are also selling from multiple sources. I havent gotten my hands on those yet, but dont miss the field trip we took with a similar Maxwell-based version.
The GL702VM is coming soon, and were working on an in-depth article exploring what it can do. Stay tuned.
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Brand: What’s In A Name
Now that you have your budget figured out and a baseline idea of what you’re looking for, there’s one final question to consider.
What brand of laptop are you going to buy? We’re not going to push you one way or the other, but here are a few things about some of our top brands to think about when conducting your research.
What Do Specific Brands Offer
Each gaming laptop brand has a bit of special sauce. Some have specific hardware designs that stand out while others focus on custom software.
Here are a few to note:
Alienware – Alienware has gotten into the thin-and-light game with the Alienware m17, but also made its own desktop-class powerhouse wit the Alienware Area-51m. Dell also makes its own entry-levle machines.
Asus – Asuss Republic of Gamers brand has some slick designs. Its ROG Gaming Center software shares device information including temperature, storage and RAM usage, while the Armoury Crate program allows you to customize RGB backlighting. Asus also makes the Zephyrus G14, the best AMD laptop we’ve seen.
Acer – Acer is known for having affordable hardware, though it has wowed us with innovation like its ridiculous Predator 21X featuring a curved display and mechanical keyboard. The PredatorSense app lets you monitor your CPU and GPU usage and customize fan speeds.
HP – HPs Omen lineup has a classier design as of late, but maintains a gamer aesthetic. Its app is the Omen Command Center, which details GPU and CPU use, RAM utilization and a network booster that lets you prioritize bandwidth.
Gigabyte & Aorus – Gigabyte and its sub-brand, Aorus, offer some variety. Gigabytes tend to be lower-end with more color options, while the Aorus models are sleek and thin. Whichever one you go with, youll get Fusion software for RGB customization. Aorus machines have Command and Control for easy overclocking.
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Portability Of Gaming Desktops Vs Laptops
In general, this is an easy win for gaming laptops. After all, even the mammoth 17-inch systems ultimately fold up and can fit in a bag.The thinnest gaming laptops, often with Nvidias Max-Q GPUs, can easily fit into a backpack and dont pack outrageously large chargers. Some machines, with desktop-class components, require two massive bricks. But either is easier to carry around than a gaming desktop, and the monitor and keyboard come with it.
Now, if you make something small, like a mini ITX build, that may be portable enough for some to bring to a LAN party, especially if you have a car. But even that requires plenty of peripherals and a monitor to use.
Winner: Laptop
Performance Of Gaming Desktops Vs Laptops
A lot about performance has to do with the specs you pick. If you buy a $3,000 gaming laptop, sure it will outperform an $800 gaming desktop.
But all things being equal, a gaming desktop will be more powerful. Similar components will perform better on desktops. A bigger chassis and more fans allow for better cooling and heat dissipation, and lower temperatures mean stronger performance. Desktops also allow for liquid cooling, if you prefer.Intel, AMD and Nvidias mobile CPUs and GPUs arent as strong as the desktop parts, though in some cases they do come close. And some innovations in the laptop space have definitely closed the gap. But the highest end parts with the best overclocking potential are on desktop platforms right now.
Winner: Desktop
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A gaming desktop is still the most powerful, upgradeable, and, in some ways, affordable way to play games on a PC. You can use full-sized desktop components, swap out almost anything, and, if you build it, save some money.If youre looking to save space or take your computer with you, a gaming laptop makes far more sense. And while you may not get the same raw power, there are laptops at every price point, and at the top-end they can still run games at their highest settings. But gaming laptops are less upgradeable and ultimately need to be replaced entirely when they are out of date in a few years.
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Do You Need To Buy A Gaming Laptop With An Rtx Gpu
Picking up one of the latest Nvidia GPUs in your gaming laptop doesn’t need to be a costly affair – RTX 3050 machines have been spotted at prices that would previously have sat on older GTX models. Nvidia’s RTX chips are currently in their 30-Series, one up from the 20-Series launched last year, and you’ll find the vast majority of gaming laptops on the shelves are sporting them. That doesn’t necessarily mean you need one if you’re just playing smaller games on a budget, in which case a GTX 1650 is still a worthy consideration. However, the bottom line is if you’re buying a gaming laptop today, the choices on offer will revolve around the RTX 30-Series line.
If you’re looking to save some cash, though, you’ll find plenty of RTX 3050 laptop deals and RTX 3060 laptop deals if you’re looking for something with a little more power. However, if you’re going big, it’s worth checking out all the RTX 3070 laptops on offer, as well as the serious savings on RTX 3080 laptop deals as well.
Testing The Rtx : Potent Portability
Just as important as the design is what’s inside this compact machine. Our test model is the only configuration, sold exclusively through Best Buy. For $1,399.99, it includes a quad-core Intel Core i7-11375H processor, 16GB of memory, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, and a 512GB solid-state drive. That’s a pretty good value on paperthough I’d say that more storage would be welcomebut it will all depend how these parts perform.
For our benchmark charts, I compared the Predator Triton 300 SE to four other gaming laptops detailed below. It’s a varied field, including RTX 20 and 30 Series GPUs as contrasts to the RTX 3060. This mix of competitors should show by how much the RTX 3060 outperforms the RTX 2060 and how two 14-inch gamers stack up against larger 15-inch and smaller 13-inch competitors.
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How Much Do Gaming Laptops Cost
In brief: £500 can get you a good gaming experience, but £800 is a safer bet
If you dont have time to read our in-depth advice below, here are some very broad recommendations for popular games, the amount you could spend on a laptop to play those games and the specification you should look for. Keep in mind that theres lots more detail and jargon explained further on in this article.
Laptops for Minecraft and retro games: You can probably spend as little as £300 on a basic laptop that should be able to handle the popular game Minecraft. If youre looking to dig out some of your old game collection from the mid-2000s you could buy yourself a second-hand laptop with a dedicated graphics card for under £500.
Laptops for Fortnite, World of Warcraft, Apex Legends, FIFA, Rocket League and similar: For these games, you can spend around £500 on a new laptop. Look for an Intel Core i3 or i5 processor and integrated Intel HD 620 graphics, or AMD Ryzen 3 with Vega 3 graphics. These wont offer a brilliant experience youll have to turn down all your graphics settings and resolution to get something even remotely smooth, but they will be playable. Look to spend around £600-£700 on a laptop with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 or AMD RX 560 for a good-looking and smooth-playing gaming experience.
Can You Game On A Regular Non
It is possible to play some games on a regular laptop if it meets the minimum system requirements needed by a game. Games such as Cuphead, Into the Breach, and Thimbleweed Park are not processor or graphically-intensive and hence can be played on normal laptops.
However, more demanding games such as Call of Duty, Deus Ex, and Crysis will push a non-gaming laptop to its limit which might cause lagging and stuttering which makes gaming unbearable. In some cases, the game may fail to load completely if its too graphics-heavy.
The stress put on the CPU and integrated graphics card also causes a lot of heat to be produced in the laptops interior. Since normal laptops lack a proper cooling system, this heat can get extreme and damage electronic components, especially those around the CPU.
You can check if your laptop is good for gaming by going to system requirements lab.com and then click on My Computer Details in the top menu. Next, click on view my computer details. This will initiate an automatic download of a Detection App.
Once the download is complete, click on the Detection.exe file to run the app. The software will provide all the hardware details of your computer.
Use this information to compare your laptop specifications to the game requirements of the game you want to play. You can find out the minimum and recommended game specifications by typing in the title of the game here.
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The Best Gaming Laptops Of 2022
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A quintessential example of gaming prowess and unmatched professional durability, the Asus ROG Strix G15 is easily one of the more sought-after laptops in the retails space. While there are quite a few behemoths on the list, the Strix G15 takes the cake owing to the perfect balance between processing power and graphics-centric support.
For starters, you get access to the Intel Core i7-10750H mobile SoC, best known for the hexa-core architecture. Starting from FPS games to open-world, Sandbox, MOBA, Battle Royale, and Strategy or Turn-based titles, this processor has the ability to manage almost everything with ease. Besides, the turbo clock speed of up to 5GHz is good enough to decipher diverse gaming logic without breaking a sweat.
As a gamer, you would want to invest in an impactful GPU and this is what the NVIDIA RTX 2070 helps you with. Clubbed with 8GB VRAM, the featured graphics card is more than capable of handling every demanding title you throw at it, at 1080p settings. Moreover, the GeForce RTX 2070 is one of your best bets for indulging in games like Control, Battlefield V, and more that have provisions for Ray Tracing.
Overall, the 5.28 lbs, ROG Strix G15 comes forth as an all-inclusive gaming notebook capable of doubling down as a professional workstation, if and when necessary. While the portability isnt top-notch, Asus makes up for the same with an ultrafast RAM module, efficient GPU, and other resources at the helm.
Gaming On The Go Has Never Been Easier Here Are Our Pick Of The Best Gaming Laptops For Every Budget
Now that Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30-series graphics chips have made their way to portable computers, the best gaming laptops are more powerful than ever.
Nvidia’s new GPUs represent a significant step up in performance from the RTX 20-series, meaning gaming laptops housing them offer a true next-gen experience, complete with stunning graphics and super-smooth framerates.
In addition to that supreme performance, we’re now seeing more console exclusives being ported to PC, while Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass for PC gives players the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of premium titles for a monthly fee.
That combination of factors means there’s no better time to buy one of the best gaming laptops and join the huge community of PC gamers. You could, of course, build your own desktop gaming setup, but if you want to play your games on the go then buying one of the best gaming laptops is the way forward.
Our team of experts are regularly testing the latest and greatest gaming devices and you’ll find our pick of the best gaming laptops listed below. Each has undergone an extensive range of benchmarking tests, which include our in-house 4K processing test, read and write speed tests, graphical tests and a battery rundown test.
Before we jump into our list of the best gaming laptops on the market right now, we’ve put together a handy buying guide detailing all the things you should take into consideration before splashing out on new gaming hardware.
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What Cpu Do You Need For Gaming
Whether you prefer AMD or Intel, as a baseline, you want at least four cores and preferably with simultaneous multithreading for eight-thread support. The ideal gaming CPU for modern games in 2022 is six cores, with eight and above offering diminishing returns for gaming performance.
The only caveat there is that next-generation games designed for the new-generation Xbox and PlayStation consoles will take better advantage of higher core counts, so eight-core CPUs will have greater future proofing. Although the processor isnt the most important part of a gaming system, desktop or laptop, it still plays its partespecially at 1080p resolution. Faster CPUs will give you greater performance, but its more important to meet the recommended requirements for the games you want to play.
Beyond core count, per-core performance is king. Clock speed makes a huge impact in how capable a CPU is for gaming, which is why all of the best gaming laptops in this guide feature processors with high clock speeds and great per-core performance.
Who Makes The Best Gaming Laptops
Part of the reason that modern gaming laptops are so exciting is because there is so much competition. There are no longer just a couple of decent brands.
Today, Dell, Razer, Asus and many other top manufacturers offer excellent gaming laptop solutions from desktop equivalents with the most powerful components, to sleek powerhouses with long battery lifeand everything in between. There are even a few stealth gaming laptops that you might be able to buy as part of an office upgrade for some gaming when the work day is done.
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The Best Of Team Red And Green
The Legion 7 Gen 6 is one of the rare high-end gaming laptops that offers an AMD processor Lenovo deserves a nod for the effort alone. Our $2,649 review model from Lenovo.com couples AMD’s strongest mobile CPU, the eight-core, 3.3GHz Ryzen 9 5900HX, with a 16GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, 32GB of memory, and a 1TB solid-state drive. It’s reasonably priced for such an elite component loadout.
The $1,439 base model is also well-equipped, with an eight-core Ryzen 7 5800H, a 6GB GeForce RTX 3060, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. You can get an RTX 3060 for less in the MSI Katana GF66 or HP Victus 16, but those are plastic budget machines the Legion’s metal build and superior features put it in a different league. In addition, the Lenovo’s RTX 3060 is rated for a hefty 130 watts, considerably higher than usual.
When it comes to features, however, the Intel version’s addition of an Nvidia G-Sync-enabled screen, Thunderbolt 4, and a faster PCIe Gen 4 SSD can make it more compelling, though top-end Core i9 units cost more. Nonetheless, the absence of these extras from the AMD system is only really worthy of complaint because the Intel version offers them, although AMD’s latest mobile platform does support Gen 4 SSDs, so it would have been nice to see one.
Customizable Keys And The Right Ports
The keyboard and touchpad aren’t anything out of the ordinary, but they’re high quality. The keys have a moderate amount of travel but feel very responsive, and feature customizable backlighting with a multitude of colors and effects. The touchpad feels above average in quality and responsiveness, with very smooth panning and a premium feel. It also includes a fingerprint reader at top left for quick and secure login.
A modest port selection rounds out the physical build. The left flank holds a USB 3.1 Type-A port, a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 4 support, and the power connector.
On the right, there’s another USB-A 3.1 port and an HDMI connection for an external monitor. That’s not a huge number of ports, but it should give you what you need for most use cases without feeling too restrictive. The system also includes Wi-Fi 6 , Bluetooth, and a 720p webcam on the top bezel.
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Thinner And Lighter To Take Your Game Anywhere
You dont need a bulky desktop replacement to take 10-series GeForce graphics on the road. Our latest ROG Strix designs squeeze Pascal GPUs into chassis roughly half the weight and thickness while maintaining excellent gaming performance and certified VR readiness. Theyre much more affordable, too, with prices starting at just $1399perfect for students on a ramen diet.
The Strix GL-series makes a few concessions to fit into smaller sizes and tighter budgets, but it doesnt sell out. The Core i7-6700HQ processor remains, with all its cores, threads, and clocks intact DDR4 memory rides shotgun at Skylakes stock 2133MHz and the CPU and GPU get independent cooling with multiple heatpipes and fans.
Graphics options reach down to the GeForce GTX 1060, which is more than enough GPU for the 1080p display resolution. Although the TN panel cant match the viewing angles of IPS-type screens, it still looks great front and center. Thats where most of us spend the vast majority of our time, anyway.
The slimmer, lighter ROG Strix GL502
The slimmer chassis doesnt have room for an optical drive, but who doesnt stream or download everything these days? Theres plenty of internal storage split between an M.2 SSD and 1TB 7,200-RPM hard drive. You get little conveniences, too, like a full-sized SD slot for quickly grabbing pictures and footage from proper cameras, plus a complete numpad for gaming and ninja numerical entry.
Two shades of the ROG Strix GL502
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