The best gaming laptop means not having to compromise on portability and playability.
The best gaming laptop is all about performance, portability, and price. Whether it’s a sleek ultrathin gaming notebook or a full-on desktop replacement, gaming laptops offer a versatility for their owners you simply can not get from a desktop gaming PC.
As the battle between AMD and Intel rages, anyone shopping for a new gaming laptop will have many great options. On the CPU front, AMD’s Ryzen 6000-series processors have been giving Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake chips a run for its money. The same can be said about AMD’s new mobile GPUs slowly closing the gap to Nvidia’s RTX 30-series offerings.
The newest gaming laptops are getting more portable yet still sport all the fancy features of high-end gaming PCs. We’re talking multicore CPUs, high-end GPUs, and speedy NVMe SSDs. You can even find heaps of RAM and super-high refresh screens under the hood. Gaming laptops with mechanical keyboards even exist, in case you can’t live without that sweet clackity clack like the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 (opens in new tab).
Thankfully, gaming laptops mostly sidestepped chip shortages and are generally available for purchase. However, it looks does mean manufacturers have focused on providing more high-end configs though they are some exceptions like Dell, who offer some pretty impressive sub-$1000 gaming laptops.
Of the hundreds of gaming laptops we’ve tested over the years, the ones that make this list always offer the best of three things; best balance of performance, portability, and price. Whether you’re a student, professional, or just a gamer, there should be a laptop that’s right for you here, and we’ll continue to update this guide with the latest models as they’re pushed out.
Best gaming laptops
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1. Razer Blade 15
The best gaming laptop
Specifications
CPU: Up to Core i9 12900H
GPU: Up to Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti
RAM: Up to 32GB DDR5
Screen: 1080p @ 360Hz, 1440p @ 240Hz, or 4K @ 144Hz
Storage: Up to 1TB SSD
Battery: 80Wh
Dimensions: 9.25 x 13.98 x 0.78 inches
Weight: 4.63lbs
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Reasons to buy
+
Unparalleled build quality+
Wide range of CPU/GPU options+
Looks as good as it performs+
Great battery life
Reasons to avoid
–
Trackpad can be awkward-
Razer premium price
Our favorite config:
(opens in new tab)
Razer Blade 15 | Intel Core i7 12800H | Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti (opens in new tab)
You can, of course, go for the big boi—the RTX 3080 Ti—but in this slimline chassis, the Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti will deliver fantastic frame rates, even at the 1440p resolution of the 240Hz screen. You also get a 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD and 16GB of dual-channel DDR5 RAM at a blistering 4,800MHz.
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The latest spin of the Razer Blade 15 once again improves on one of the best gaming laptops ever made. It has the same gorgeous CNC-milled aluminum chassis as its predecessor, only this time it can house one of Nvidia’s latest RTX 30-series GPUs and an Intel 12th Gen Core i9 CPU.
We’ve played with the Razer Blade 15 Advanced with a 10th Gen Intel chip and RTX 3080 (95W) GPU inside it. And we fell in love all over again. We’ve also since then tried out the larger Razer Blade 17 with an RTX 3080 Ti (opens in new tab) humming away inside it, alongside one of those tasty 12th Gen chips and still stand bewildered by what will fit inside such a compact and neat chassis.
The Razer Blade 15 is the overall best gaming laptop on the market right now.
That said, you will get some throttling because of that slimline design, and even on the larger Blade 17 the battery life can be a little slim, but you’re still getting outstanding performance from a beautiful machine.
The Blade 15 isn’t the lightest gaming laptop you can buy, but five pounds is still way better than plenty of traditional gaming laptops, while also offering similar performance and specs. That heft helps make it feel solid too. It also means the Blade 15 travels well in your backpack. An excellent choice for the gamer on the go… or if you don’t have the real estate for a full-blown gaming desktop and monitor.
Keyboard snobs will be happy to see a larger shift and half-height arrow keys. The Blade 15 Advanced offers per-key RGB lighting over the Base Model’s zonal lighting. Typing feels great, and I’ve always liked the feel of the Blade’s keycaps. The trackpad can be frustrating at times, but you’re going to want to use a mouse with this gorgeous machine anyway, so it’s not the end of the world.
One of the best things about the Blade 15 is the number of configurations (opens in new tab) Razer offers. From the RTX 3060 Base Edition to the RTX 3080 Ti Advanced with a 144Hz 4K panel, there’s something for almost everyone. It’s one of the most beautiful gaming laptops around and still one of the most powerful.
Whatever config you pick, we think the Razer Blade 15 is the overall best gaming laptop on the market right now, though you will be paying a premium for the now-classic design.
Read our full Razer Blade 15 Advanced Edition (2020) review (opens in new tab).
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2. Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022)
The best all-round gaming laptop
Specifications
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS
GPU: Up to AMD Radeon RX 6800S
RAM: Up to 32GB DDR5-4800
Screen: 14-inch IPS 1600p @ 120Hz
Storage: 1TB SSD NVMe PCIe 4.0
Battery: 76Wh
Dimensions: 12.28 x 8.94 x 0.73 inches
Weight: 3.79lbs
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Reasons to buy
+
AMD’s latest CPU and GPU+
Fantastic gaming performance+
Sturdy and stylish chassis+
16:10, 2560 x 1440, 120Hz IPS panel
Reasons to avoid
–
Not as affordable as I’d expect from G14-
Disappointing gaming battery life
Our favorite config:
(opens in new tab)
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA402RJ) | AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS | AMD RX 6700S (opens in new tab)
This is the less powerful version of the G14 than the one we reviewed, but all the better off for it. The CPU remains the same powerful octa-core AMD number, but the GPU and RAM have come down to a more modest spec, which makes the impressive G14 an affordable yet still powerful gaming machine.
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The new version of the Zephyrus G14 for 2022 impresses us once again with its well-balanced spec and excellent gaming performance. Seriously, this thing shreds through frames up to its 120Hz refresh rate, and it’s great for much more than gaming, too.
We checked out the version with AMD’s RX 6800S under the hood, though there is an option for an RX 6700S, for a chunk less cash. Arguably, that cheaper option sounds a bit better to us, as the high-end one can get a little pricey and close in on the expensive but excellent Razer Blade 14. It’s not helped much by its 32GB of DDR5-4800 RAM in that regard, though we do love having all that speedy memory raring to go for whatever you can throw at it.
At its heart is the AMD Ryzen 6900HS. That’s one of the top chips from AMD’s Ryzen 6000-series, but not its best and brightest—though you’re really fighting over boost clocks and not much else when it comes to the tippy top of the red team’s mobile processors anyways. It delivers eight cores and 16 threads of the Zen 3+ architecture, capable of boosting to 4.9GHz (which it actually does on occasion), so that’s more than acceptable by me.
I’m heartily impressed with the G14’s gaming performance overall.
That GPU and CPU combo makes quick work of our benchmarking suite, however, and I have to say I’m heartily impressed with the G14’s gaming performance overall. That’s even without turning to the more aggressive Turbo preset—I tested everything with the standard Performance mode. It’s able to top the framerate of RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 mobile chips pretty much across the board, and while it does slip below the RTX 3080 Ti in the Razer Blade 17, that’s a much larger laptop with a much larger price tag.
One of my favorite things about the G14 is in the name—it’s a 14-inch laptop. The blend of screen real estate and compact size is a great in-between of bulkier 15- and 17-inch designs, and not quite as compromised as a 13-inch model can feel. But the big thing with the 2022 model is that the 14-inch size has been fitted out with a larger 16:10 aspect ratio than previous models’ 16:9 panels.
When it’s running smoothly, the G14’s high refresh and high-resolution panel also looks fantastic. Being such a bright and colorful IPS display on this model, you really get to soak in every detail.
One of the downsides with this machine is the battery life, which really isn’t the best while gaming—less than an hour while actually playing. You’ll get more when playing videos or doing something boring like working, but we do expect a bit more from a modern laptop. It’s not a deal-breaker, but definitely something you’ll want to bear in mind.
The G14 has lost that quality of being surprisingly cheap for what you get, too, even if you do get stellar performance out of it.
Perhaps one reason for that is the inclusion of 32GB of DDR5 RAM—16GB of that is soldered to the board, and the other 16GB attached via removable SO-DIMM from the underside of the laptop. That’s not cheap memory. DDR5 prices have hardly settled down since the memory standard was introduced last year, and 32GB is a bounty of high-performance memory by comparison to most gaming PCs today.
Overall, though, the G14 experience is a pretty easy and straightforward one. I didn’t run into any major issues with it over the couple of weeks I’ve had it, and for the few negatives I have with the design, Asus has offset them with heaps of positives. The cheaper models may be a better bet than the one we reviewed, however. The same chassis and great design but with a slightly more amicable price tag.
Read our full Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 (GA402RK) review (opens in new tab).
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3. Razer Blade 14
The most desirable compact gaming laptop
Specifications
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX
GPU: Up to Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti
RAM: 16GB DDR5-4800
Screen: 14-inch 1080p @ 144Hz or 1440p @ 165Hz
Storage: 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD
Battery: 61.6Wh
Dimensions: 0.66 x 8.66 x 12.59 inches
Weight: 3.92lb
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Reasons to buy
+
Looks great+
Outstanding build quality+
Excellent all-round performance+
Ultra-portable ultrabook style
Reasons to avoid
–
Only way to bag a Razer Ryzen-
Pricey for 1080p gaming-
Higher-spec GPUs will sacrifice performance
Our favorite config:
(opens in new tab)
Razer Blade 14 | AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX | Nvidia RTX 3060 (opens in new tab)
As far as we’re concerned, this is the ultimate configuration of the diminutive Blade 14. It’s the most affordable, but it also matches the RTX 3060 GPU with a 1080p, 144Hz screen to deliver excellent gaming performance. The brand new 8-core, 16-thread AMD CPU then gives it workstation processing power too.
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I am mighty tempted to push the Razer Blade 14 further up the list, simply because the 14-inch form factor has absolutely won me over. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 in the No. 2 slot reintroduced the criminally under-used laptop design, but Razer has perfected it. Feeling noticeably smaller than the 15-inch Blade and closer to the ultrabook Stealth 13, the Blade 14 mixes a matte black MacBook Pro-style with genuine PC gaming pedigree.
The Razer style is classic, and it feels great to hold, too. And with the outstanding AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX finally finding its way into a Blade notebook, you’re getting genuine processing power you can sling into a messenger bag. And you’re now able to get your hands on the Blade 14 with the brand new Ryzen 9 6900HX chip at its heart, though in practice that has changed very little apart from offering some decent integrated graphics.
But add in some extra Nvidia RTX 30-series graphics power—now all the way up to an RTX 3080 Ti, but wear earplugs—and you’ve got a great mix of form and function that makes it the most desirable laptop I’ve maybe ever tested.
