The best gaming laptops can transform how you play your favorite games. With the right machine, you can enjoy desktop-level hardware, high frame rates, top detail settings and even ray tracing in compatible games—all on-the-go, if you so choose.
The Razer Blade 15 continues to be one of the best gaming laptops in the world in 2022.
Razer
Today’s best gaming laptops are faster than ever, and gone are the overweight designs of yesteryear. In fact, these gaming-focused machines are almost as lean as some of the top laptops on the market—and some could be considered lightweight. You don’t need to spend a ton on a new portable, with some gaming laptops under $500 that can handle less demanding gameplay. There are definitely compromises in that price range, so you can also pay more for a premium gaming laptop with high-end components. Either way, these laptops can be perfect for LAN parties or switching f4romwork to play at any time.
Whether you’re searching for a top-of-the-line machine for the latest AAA games, or an affordable option for esports and other games, here are some of the best gaming laptops of 2022.
Who’s it for: Gamers who want a do-it-all high-end gaming machine to fit in with their other Razer accessories.
The Razer Blade 15 Advanced features the most cutting edge mobile gaming hardware money can buy. From its Intel 12th-generation Core i7 12800H processor to its fast 240Hz QHD screen, this laptop is stacked with power. Its Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti graphics gets big gains in performance by using Nvidia’s Ampere architecture to deliver higher frame rates, finer detail settings and better support for higher resolutions.
With a stylish and solid design, this laptop has a sleek finish on every surface, a minimalist chassis, a thin-bezel display and Razer’s classy Chroma backlighting for the keyboard. The revamped, comfortable keyboard has new, bigger keycaps and snappy responsive switches, making for more accurate typing and gaming over longer sessions. Inside, the Blade 15 Advanced has 16GB of RAM, 1TB of fast storage, and a capable and quiet cooling solution. Battery life isn’t extensive with such a high-end configuration, but you can get a solid few hours of play away from a power socket.
Pros
High-end components
Excellent build quality
Runs cool and quiet
Cons
forbes.comRazer Promo Codes | 15{5376dfc28cf0a7990a1dde1ec4d231557d3d9e6448247a9e5e61bb9e48b1de73} Off In June 2022 | Forbes
Who’s it for: Gamers who want fast speed on a big-screen.
With a giant 17-inch screen and powerful components, the Dell Alienware x17 R2 rivals desktop gaming rigs—and it does so in a more portable chassis than many of its contemporaries at similar sizes. This laptop’s Intel Core i7-12700H CPU and 16GB of memory give this model more general compute power than even the best gaming laptops from last year, and when combined with the Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti, it’s a stellar gaming laptop with all the power you need to play just about anything.
The display is only 1080p, a relatively low resolution for a high-end laptop. But where some gaming laptops target higher resolutions, this one goes for boosting frames. With a 360Hz refresh rate, this laptop makes high-speed games look gorgeously smooth, and if you’re playing against other players, it’ll even give you an edge by lowering your response time and input lag. Battery life isn’t extensive, but it does stay pretty cool due to advances in Dell’s cooling technologies. The laptop’s styled aesthetics scream “gamer” at anyone who dares look its way. At this screen size, with this power, this is easily the best 17-inch gaming laptop you can buy in 2022.
Pros
Big, super-fast display for competitive gaming
High-end hardware can play anything at high frame rates
Who’s it for: Budget-conscious gamers not focused on competitive play or the latest AAA games.
Most gaming laptops start their pricing around the $800 mark, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a gaming laptop if your budget is lower. The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 14 isn’t a gaming-laptop per say, but it’s a laptop with all the power you need to start gaming. It has an AMD Ryzen 5500U processor with onboard Radeon Vega graphics and 8GB of RAM, making it powerful enough for all sorts of indie games and esports games. It’ll even play older AAA games too, though you’ll need to play with the settings to keep the frame rates comfortable.
The 1080p display is bright and vibrant. The 256GB of SSD storage is more than enough for Windows and a handful of even modern games. This laptop has Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, a USB-C port. It also has great battery life, lasting over 10 hours of mixed usage or well over five when gaming. This isn’t a gaming laptop per se, but it can play less demanding games reasonably well for such an affordable price.
Pros
Playable esports gaming performance at a low price
Cool and quiet even when gaming
Cons
Onboard graphics are underpowered for AAA gaming
Limited storage for bigger game libraries
Best Gaming Laptop Under $1,000
A Great Gaming Laptop That Won’t Break Your Wallet
Who’s it for: Gamers who want solid performance without breaking the bank.
The Dell G15 is an affordable gaming laptop that doesn’t cut corners. It’s capable array of components gives all the performance you need for high frame rate esports gaming and more. The dedicated GPU is enough to get any AAA game up and running and it’ll deliver the kind of frames you need to enjoy high speed games to their fullest.
The overall design is well put together and robust, and has an atypical look with a split level design and a mixed black and silver color scheme. It also has strong battery life, making it a great portable gaming machine for taking on the road with you. The 120Hz display isn’t as bright as others, but with a high refresh rate it can help you stay competitive in faster games and deliver smoother animations in slower ones. It also supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth, and has four USB ports (of them, one USB Type C and one USB Type support fast USB 3.2), which makes it easy to connect all of your accessories and controllers for whatever games you like to play.
Who’s it for: Gamers after a solid all-around gaming machine with a high-resolution display.
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 is one of the best all-round gaming laptops ever made. It sports fantastic components for high-performance gaming, a gorgeous WQHD display with a fast refresh rate, and plenty of ultra fast storage for quick game load times. The chassis is sleek, with an understated and classy design that looks good for gamers and serious students alike. At 4.2 pounds, this laptop is light enough to take anywhere. The keyboard is responsive and springy, making it great for typing as well as gaming.
The Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU is more energy efficient than previous designs, which means this laptop can get a reasonable battery life. It has Dolby Atmos support, and a built-in microphone with noise cancellation. If you want a gaming laptop that can do it all without costing thousands, this is the one for you.
Who’s it for: Gamers who want real the very best graphics performance.
It’s rare to find a high-end CPU and GPU for under $2,000, but the Asus TUF Dash has top components at a price well below that typical threshold. With an Intel Core i7-12650H and Nvidia RTX 3070, you can play any game at full detail on its 1080p display. And with a 144Hz refresh rate, everything will look buttery smooth—whether you’re playing a high-stakes esports game or something slower and more atmospheric.
This model has robust range of inputs for all of your accessories, whether you want to connect them with typical wires or over a wireless WiFi 6 connection. It has four fast USB ports, including two Type C ports, and a dedicated ethernet jack. The whole system is compact and lightweight enough that you can throw it in a backpack and take it with you without breaking your back. Overall, this is one of the most powerful and portable gaming laptops you can buy today, and a great price.
Who it’s for: Esports gamers who want a competitive edge.
The Asus ROG Strix G15 was arguably the best gaming laptop you could buy in 2021, and it still holds its own in 2022. This version has both an AMD Ryzen 5900HX processor and an AMD Radeon RX 6800M mobile graphics chip. Add in its crazy fast 300Hz 1080p display, this laptop has all you need to get every competitive edge possible. This is especially important in esports games, where not only will the action look smooth when you hit those high frame rates but you’ll get a few milliseconds advantage over your opponents.
The laptop uses Asus’ cooling system uses cooling liquid metal thermal compound from Thermal Grizzly to maximize heat dissipation through the intelligent cooling system. This helps prevent noise levels from ever getting too high and ensures that you maintain maximum performance even when the laptop starts to warm up.
Pros
Fastest gaming laptop display you can buy
Strong hardware helps hit high frame rates
Unique look
Cons
Expensive
Slower DDR4 system memory
Who Makes The Best Gaming Laptops?
Modern gaming laptops are more mainstream, with many of the players in all-purpose laptops having a contender among gaming systems, too. You’ll also find a number of brands that specialize in systems fine-tuned for gaming.
The best brands for gaming laptops today include Razer, Asus, Acer, Dell Alienware, MSI and Lenovo. Most of these manufacturers have gaming laptop lines, but some also have options not branded as for “gaming” that can capably play games as well. Some companies focus on designs that are both lightweight and powerful, while others go all-in with more powerful systems that can rival some gaming desktops.
Do I Really Need A Gaming Laptop?
If you just want to do a little light gaming in the off hours, you don’t need a gaming laptop. In fact, you don’t need a gaming laptop to play games at all, but if you want to play newer games, higher-end games (often referred to as AAA games) with detailed graphics—or play anything at higher resolutions—then gaming laptops offer the best combination of powerful graphics hardware and capable cooling.
You might find similar hardware in workstations, but those systems tend to be more expensive and lack the most current specs. Creative-focused laptops with 4K screens are more than you need for gaming, and the most lightweight and portable everyday laptops just don’t have the component performance for the latest games.
The best gaming laptops are designed for a specific purpose and have a discrete graphics GPU to make graphically intense games shine. Some of the most recent and best designs can dynamically shift power between the CPU and a dedicated GPU to maximize your performance in-game. You aren’t going to find those sorts of features on non-gaming laptop designs.
What CPU Do You Need For Gaming?
Intel and AMD are the main processor brands used for any computer, and the only two you want for a gaming computer. Their chips have gone through huge revolutions in design and performance potential in recent years. Chips continue to gain in efficiency and battery life is better than ever.
As a general rule of thumb for buying a gaming laptop, look for an AMD Ryzen 3000, 4000, 5000 or 6000 CPU will be excellent. Among Intel processors, look for at least an 11th or 12th generation processor; a 10th generation processor may be a choice if you find one at a good deal. Intel has multiple processor tiers, with system prices and performance increasing as you move up the line from Core i5 to Core i7 and Core i9.
Note that higher-end Core i9 or Ryzen 9 processors will give you a slight performance bump at lower resolutions, and you might as well get the best of the best if you can afford it. Or, look for a mid-range CPU with the best graphics card configuration you can find.
Getty Images
The types of games you play has a big impact on the type of processor you need. If you’re a casual gamer or playing simpler indie games, then you likely won’t need anything too powerful.
What’s The Best Graphics Card For Laptop Gaming?
The graphics card or chip is the most important component in a gaming laptop, helping to drive higher resolutions, higher frame rates and higher detail settings than any mainstream laptop can manage.
At the most entry-level end of the spectrum, for lightweight esports and indie games, integrated graphics may suffice, but better to find an Nvidia GTX 1650 or AMD Radeon RX 6400—either is a great option. These GPUs are perfect for simple 1080p gameplay at high frame rates and low detail settings. If you want to play more demanding games, you’ll need to step it up to Nvidia’s RTX 3000 range, with an RTX 3060 or 3070, or an AMD Radeon RX 6700M. For 4K gaming you’ll want the best you can afford, like Nvidia’s 3080 Ti or AMD’s 6800M.
For more stealth gaming laptops, AMD’s new range of RX 6600X, 6700S and 6800S offer great gaming performance without such heavy power draws. Nvidia’s Max-Q and Max-P designs do something similar.
Is $1,000 Good For A Gaming Laptop?
The best general purpose laptops usually start around $1,000 and that’s not too dissimilar for gaming laptops. With that kind of laptop, you’ll typically get a solid 1080p gaming machine which won’t be the best for the latest and greatest games, but will give you great frame rates in esports games.
getty
If you want to play at higher resolutions, you’ll have a much better chance at around the $1,300 mark; though again, the higher you go, the better performance you’ll get. The best gaming laptops can cost $2,000 or more, with many of the most elite models costing north of $3,000. So your budget is your only limitation once you get into the high-end models.
Do You Need A High Refresh Rate Display?
High refresh rate displays are a great way to improve your gaming experience, especially if you’re playing esports or older games at higher frame rates. With a high refresh rate display and a high frames per second, you can enjoy smoother animations and a more responsive gaming experience, with limited input lag. That means that as well as making your games look and play better, it can actually make you play better too, giving you a light performance advantage in competitive gaming.
Higher refresh rates are often a more beneficial upgrade than a higher resolution, especially on the smaller displays on most gaming laptops. While you won’t see a huge difference between 1080p and 4K on a 15-inch screen, you will be able to tell the difference between 60Hz and 144Hz. The difference between that and 240Hz or 360Hz isn’t as pronounced, but you should still be able to feel it, even if it isn’t super obvious.
Is A 13-inch, 15-inch Or 17-inch Gaming Laptop Better?
Bigger displays are almost always better when it comes to immersion and visual clarity. If you can see more of the screen, you can have a wider field of view, larger HUD elements and take better advantage of the higher visual fidelity of modern games. The bigger you go, though, the less portable a gaming laptop is.
Gameplay on a laptop.
getty
The big reason to buy a gaming laptop is that your gaming machine becomes portable. While 17-inch gaming laptops with the top hardware aren’t going to be comfortable to carry around in a backpack all day, they still let you take your gaming PC to a friend’s house or LAN party easily enough.
For those who want to game in a variety of situations, a 14- or 15-inch laptop is an excellent middle ground. These laptops have the size and scope for more powerful hardware and give you plenty of screen space to enjoy your favorite games, but they’re nowhere near as heavy or bulky as their 17-inch counterparts.
Is A Gaming Laptop Worth The Money?
If you use your laptop primarily for gaming, absolutely. Playing on any gaming laptop is an upgrade from a non-gaming laptop. And if you can buy one of the best gaming laptops available, it can make a huge difference. That kind of investment might feel expensive, but today’s gaming laptops will still be playing the latest games a few years from now. Any laptop not running today’s best games is going to feel very outdated in the not-too-distant future.
On top of better performance, gaming laptops more responsive displays, and often more storage space and more comfortable keyboards than your average laptops. They typically don’t have the best battery life and aren’t as portable as the most lightweight everyday laptops, but the best gaming laptops are fantastic machines no matter what you want to do with them.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
