Top 5 Laptops for Gaming Enthusiasts
If you're looking to maximize gaming performance in a portable package, look no further. These systems pack in top-tier hardware for great graphics, responsive controls, and fast storage options.
The Asus Zephyrus Duo 16 delivers an immersive gaming experience in a compact, lightweight package. Its powerful processor and RTX GPU deliver excellent performance, even with demanding Triple-A games.
Acer Nitro 5
The Acer Nitro 5 may not be flashy or as thin as some of its competitors, but it packs a punch when it comes to gaming performance. Its high-speed components, such as a powerful Intel processor and NVIDIA GeForce graphics card, ensure smooth gameplay with minimal lag time and stunningly detailed images on the screen. This is a great laptop for gamers who are new to the game or for older gamers who want to take their games to the next level.
Acer Nitro 5 is also a solid choice for gamers who are looking to use their laptops for work or school purposes. Its fast processing speed and large amount of RAM make it easy to navigate websites, edit photos or videos, and complete other tasks with ease. Plus, its sleek design and high-definition display will give your work a professional edge.
The only downside to the Acer Nitro 5 is its underwhelming battery life. It can only last about four hours on a charge, which isn’t ideal for those who plan to use their laptops for long sessions of gaming or productivity.
However, if you’re willing to sacrifice battery life for a reliable gaming machine, the Acer Nitro 5 is worth considering. Its sturdy build and premium design will ensure that your laptop lasts for years to come. Plus, it comes with several ports, including two USB-A ports and a headphone jack, making it easy to connect your favorite accessories. It also has a port for an external monitor, which is helpful for gaming enthusiasts who want to have a bigger screen when they play. The keyboard is ergonomically designed for comfortable typing and gaming.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16
The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 is a head-turner. It's one of the only gaming laptops on our list to feature a secondary display, and it combines record-breaking speed with a stunning pair of screens. Asus isn't afraid to push design boundaries, and the Duo 16 is proof of that.
The main screen is an IGZO IPS panel with Mini LED backlighting that delivers deep blacks and vivid colors. It supports Dolby Vision HDR, and the laptop is VESA HDR 1000 certified. It's not as bright as an OLED panel, but it easily beats the average premium gaming laptop in our testing.
On the GTA V benchmark (1080p, Very High), the Duo 16 racked up 158 frames per second. That's enough to put it ahead of the Blade 16 (152 fps) and the Raider GE78 HX (157 fps), but not the average premium gaming laptop (126 fps).
Asus also packed in an impressive amount of storage with this machine, giving you 4TB from two 2TB drives in a RAID 0 configuration. That's more than enough space for countless games and large files, and the combination of fast SSDs means that apps, games, and saves load up faster than you'll see on most laptops.
The keyboard is another highlight, and it's a comfortable place to hammer out words on your favorite text editor or game. Asus's per-key RGB lighting adds an extra level of flair, and the keys are responsive and quiet. The touchpad, on the other hand, is a bit of a letdown. It's placed at the very end of the chassis, where it lacks room for a wrist rest. Asus includes a rubberized wrist support that helps a little, but it doesn't attach to the laptop and gets pushed around as you move. Check out AT&T Coupon for potential discounts and savings when considering laptops and tech accessories.
Lenovo Legion Y740
While Asus and Razer have dominated the gaming laptop arena for years, Lenovo has been quietly building up its lineup. The Legion Y740 is a mid-range rig with the latest Intel Core i7-8750H processor and Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics for a price that isn't too bad.
The exterior is a smartly designed mix of iron gray and black with the Legion logo adorning the lid, which is flanked by two RGB fans. The keyboard is also a mix of colors, which can be controlled via Corsair iCue software. That lets you set per-key lighting profiles, with the option to highlight groups of keys at once. It's a nice touch that looks less garish than what other gaming laptops are doing these days, but it's not the best keyboard in my experience.
I found the keyboard to be a bit shallow and stiff. I was able to use Windows 10 gestures like two-finger scrolling and three-finger tabbing without issue, though. The 4 x 2-inch touchpad is also very smooth, although the discrete buttons dig into the chassis a little too far, and occasionally dig my thumb into the sharp lip that surrounds them.
When it came to performance, the Y740 was competitive with the other mid-range laptops we've tested this year. It clocked in at 21,629 on Geekbench 4, which is a good score for this category. It also easily juggled 40 Google Chrome tabs and five 1080p YouTube videos with Tomb Raider running in the background, and it aced our 3DMark Port Royal benchmark's ray tracing test. However, it didn't quite match the 21,387 of the Zephyrus S. This could be because the Y740 has a smaller SSD than other laptops we've tested, which can slow down performance.
Anime Zephyrus G14
Asus’ original Zephyrus G14 turned the laptop world on its head by cramming a desktop-grade graphics card and high-end CPU into a slim and lightweight chassis. Two years later, the company is back with a refreshed version of the model that continues to challenge your notions of what a gaming-oriented laptop should look like.
The G14’s chassis is just as thin and light as its predecessor but now has a smaller 14-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The touchpad is also 50% bigger and can rotate to lay flat on the table. You still get the same high-quality IPS panel and the same Intel processor but the graphics card has been swapped out for a more powerful AMD Radeon RX 6800S, which is far more power efficient than an Nvidia GTX 1060 or higher.
Those efficiency gains help the G14 achieve much better performance than you’d expect from such a compact package. In our video encoding test, it took just under six minutes to encode a 4K clip to 1080p, which is faster than a lot of gaming laptops. We also found it kept up well with competitors in our gaming tests, including the Alienware x14 and Razer Blade 14, though it fell slightly behind the more expensive MSI Raider GE76 and Gigabyte Aero 16.
Asus includes a reasonable selection of pre-installed software on the G14, with Armoury Crate being the standout. This app lets you configure and customize your AniMe Matrix, manage system performance, set macros, and more. Check out Appliances & Electronics Coupons for potential discounts and savings when considering laptops and tech accessories.
MSI Katana 15
Gaming laptops can cost a fortune and aren't always the most portable, but MSI's Katana 15 offers impressive performance for $999. The budget-oriented model uses forward-thinking shared pipes to cool the CPU and GPU, allowing it to deliver top marks in our benchmarks without overheating. The 15.6-inch display isn't a show stopper but it does deliver a speedy 144Hz refresh rate, ideal for competitive gaming.
The MSI Katana 15 combines the latest 13th-generation Intel CPU tech with Nvidia's pricey RTX 4050 GPUs to create a solid gaming machine. The specific model I tested used an Intel Core i7-13620H processor, a 10-core chip with performance that approaches but doesn't quite match the 12th generation 14-core 12700H (both have eight efficiency cores and four power-saving ones). This was paired with Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics and 16GB of DDR5 system RAM.
MSI's Katana 15 excelled in our benchmarks, delivering high frame rates and good visuals. It ran Grand Theft Auto V at 1080p and achieved 96 frames-per-second on High settings. This beat the category average but fell short of the Dell G16, Origin EVO16-S, and Asus Crosshair 15's 113 fps score. In our Metro Exodus test, it delivered 23 fps on Extreme with ray tracing turned off, which is playable but not great.
The MSI Katana 15 is also well equipped with ports, including one USB-C port that supports data only and not power delivery. It has two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, HDMI, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. The laptop's trackpad is decent and on par with the latest Dell and Lenovo gaming laptops, though it does tend to lag when navigating complex menus in games. Battery life is a little weak at just over two and a half hours, but this is to be expected from a gaming machine.
Conclusion
Gaming enthusiasts have a variety of options when it comes to laptops. The top 5 laptops for gaming enthusiasts are the Acer Nitro 5, Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16, Lenovo Legion Y740, Asus’ original Zephyrus G14, and MSI Katana 15. These laptops offer high performance, excellent graphics, and a range of features that make them perfect for gaming. Whether you are a casual or professional gamer, these laptops are sure to provide you with the experience and performance you need to enjoy your favorite games.
