The best gaming laptops of 2025

When it comes to gaming, laptops have come a long way. Once seen as the younger cousin of gaming PCs, today’s gaming laptops were able to pack impressive power and portability into sleek packages. Whether you’re exploring open-world RPGs, dominating multiplayer arenas or creating side-scrolling content, gaming laptops offer performance that can rival many desktop PCs, with the added benefit of being able to game wherever you want.

One of the biggest advantages of a laptop is its flexibility. You don’t have to worry about huge settings or being tied to one place. Plus, with features like high refresh rate displays, powerful GPUs, and high-end processors, these devices are more than capable of handling AAA titles, eSports, and even VR gaming. Many laptops now come equipped with RGB-lit keyboards, advanced cooling systems, and next-gen SSD storage to keep up with your gaming needs, too. We’ve tested a number of the latest gaming laptops to find out which ones are worth your money.

What to look for in a gaming laptop

price

Your laptop buying journey begins and ends with the amount of money you’re willing to spend. No surprise there. The good news: There are plenty of options for players of every type budget. In particular, we are seeing some great entry levels Computer games Under $1,000 options, like the Dell G15 lineup. Cheap gaming laptops in this price range are sure to feel a little less fragile than pricier models, and will likely skimp on RAM, storage, and overall power. But most cheap laptops should be able to handle the majority of video games running at 1080p at 60 frames per second, which is the minimum you want from any system.

Things get interesting when you start looking at the best mid-range gaming laptops, priced at $1,000 and up. At this point, you will start to find computers like Asus Zephyrus Rog G14one of our favorite gaming laptops. Overall, you can look forward to much better build quality than the existing ones Budget gaming laptops (Metal cases!) and enhanced graphics power and enough RAM and storage space to handle the most demanding games. These are the gaming rigs we recommend for most people, because they’ll keep you playing and working for years before you have to worry about upgrading.

If you’re willing to spend around $1,800 or more, you can start considering more premium options like Razer’s Blade, which is on par with some of the best gaming PCs. Expect flawlessly polished cases, the fastest hardware on the market, and ridiculously thin designs. The sky’s the limit here: The Alienware’s 51-meter customizable area is a massive beast that can cost up to $4,700. Few people need a high-end machine, but if you’re a gamer and have extra cash to burn, it might be worth taking a closer look at some of these pricier systems.

CPU and GPU

The answer to this question was relatively simple: just get an Intel chip with an NVIDIA GPU. But over the past few years, AMD has upped its game with Ryzen laptop processors, which are better suited for multitasking at once (like streaming to Twitch while blasting goons in Fortnite). Intel has responded with its fantastic 12th and 13th gen chips, but it’s nice to have decent Ryzen AMD alternatives available, especially since they’re often cheaper than comparable Intel models.

When it comes to video cards, AMD is still catching up. Its Radeon RX 6000M GPU has been a great performer in laptops such as ASUS ROG Strix G15but it lags behind NVIDIA when it comes to newer features like ray tracing. (We’re still waiting to test AMD’s new Radeon 7000 series mobile graphics.) At the very least, a Radeon-powered laptop can come close to the overall gaming performance of the NVIDIA RTX 3070 and 3080 GPUs.

If you want to secure your purchase for the future, or are just curious to see how much better ray tracing can make your games look, you’re better off going with an NVIDIA video card. They use much more systems, and obviously have improved technology for better ray tracing. NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs also feature the company’s DLSS technology, which uses artificial intelligence to upscale games to higher resolutions. This will allow you to play a game like Destiny 2 4K resolution with faster frame rates. This is useful if you’re trying to take advantage of a high refresh rate display.

You’ll still find plenty of laptops with NVIDIA’s older RTX 30 series GPUs these days, and they’ll still give you tremendous performance. But to be safe, it might be worth opting for the newer RTX 40 series systems, since they support the newer DLSS 3 technology and offer a host of performance upgrades. (If you’re looking for the best deals, you’ll likely find some killer RTX 3070 laptops out there.) The entry-level RTX 4050 is a solid start, but we suggest choosing the 4060 or 4070 if you’re aiming to maximize frame rates on faster monitors. The RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 are incredibly powerful, but they typically make the systems too expensive for most users.

It should be noted that NVIDIA’s mobile graphics cards cannot be directly compared to more powerful desktop machines. PC makers can also tweak voltages to improve gaming performance in a thinner case. Basically, these laptops may not be a desktop replacement — don’t be surprised if you see laptops that perform very differently, even if they all have the same GPU.

Screen and refresh rate

Screen size is a good place to start when judging gaming laptops. In general, 15-inch laptops will have the best balance between immersion and portability, while larger 17-inch models are heavier, but naturally give you more screen real estate. There are some 13-inch gaming laptops out there, like the Razer Blade Stealth, but ironically you’ll often pay more for those than for larger 15-inch options. We’re also seeing a lot of 14-inch options, like the Zephyrus G14 and Blade 14, which are generally larger than 13-inch laptops while still being relatively portable.

But these days, there’s a lot to consider beyond screen size. For one: refresh rates. Most monitors refresh their screens vertically 60 times per second, or at a rate of 60 Hz. This is the standard used since NTSC black and white televisions. But over the past few years, displays have evolved dramatically. Now, 120Hz, 1080p displays are the minimum you want in any gaming laptop – and there are faster 144Hz, 240Hz, and even 360Hz panels. All of this serves one thing: making everything on your screen look as smooth as possible.

For gaming, higher refresh rates also help eliminate screen tearing and other artifacts that can get in the way. For everything else, it just leads to a better viewing experience. Even scrolling a web page on a 120Hz or faster display is very different from a 60Hz display. Instead of seeing a tense wall of text and images, everything moves smoothly, as if you were unrolling a glossy paper magazine. Going beyond 120Hz makes gameplay feel more responsive, giving them a slight advantage for some gamers.

Not to make things more complicated, but you should also keep an eye on NVIDIA’s G-SYNC and AMD’s FreeSync. Both are adaptive sync technologies that can match your screen’s refresh rate to your game’s frame rate. This also helps reduce screen tearing and makes gameplay smoother. Consider them nice bonuses on top of one of the Best gaming monitors With high refresh rate; They’re not necessary, but they can still provide a slight visual improvement.

See also:

One more thing: Most of these suggestions are for LCD displays, not OLED displays. Although OLED technology is a great option for TVs, it’s a bit more complicated when it comes to gaming laptops. They are mostly limited to 60Hz, although some models offer 90Hz. However, you won’t see the smoothness of a 120Hz or 144Hz display. OLED displays also typically come in the form of 4K or 3.5K panels, which will need a lot of GPU power to run games natively at that resolution. It looks stunning, with the best black levels and contrast on the market, but we think most gamers would be better off with an LCD screen.

Other things to remember when buying a gaming laptop:

• Get at least 16GB of RAM. And if you plan to do a lot of multitasking while streaming, 32GB is worth considering.

• Storage is still a major concern. These days, I recommend targeting a 1TB M.2 SSD, which should be enough space to juggle some big titles like Destiny 2. (If you can afford to move up to a 2TB SSD, just (thereby). Laptops also have room for standard SATA hard drives, which are much cheaper than M.2 drives and can store more data.

• Get the system before you buy it. I recommend getting the best gaming laptop from a retailer with a simple return policy, like Amazon or Best Buy. If you don’t like it, you can always easily return it.

• Don’t forget the accessories! To get the best performance, you’ll need a good one Mouse, keyboard And a Headset – These are some of them Best gaming accessories For PCs and gaming laptops.

How we test gaming laptops

We review gaming laptops just as carefully as we do traditional laptops. We test build quality by inspecting cases for any unwanted flex points, as well as the strength of the screen hinges during aggressive typing and texting. Infinite aura Sessions. We benchmark every gaming laptop with PCMark 10, a variety of 3DMark, Cinebench, and Geekbench tests. We also use NVIDIA’s Frameview app to measure average frame rates Cyberpunk 2077, Infinite aura And other titles. To create media, we convert a 4K movie clip to 1080p using Handbrake’s CPU and GPU encoding options.

Displays are tested under indoor and outdoor lighting using productivity, video playback and gaming applications. We also try to confirm the full screen refresh rate of each gaming laptop by measuring performance Infinite aura, Monitoring 2 And other titles. Laptop speakers are judged by how well they can play music, movies, and casual gaming sessions with detail and clarity, and without any obvious distortion.

When it comes to battery life, we see how long gaming systems last with a mix of productivity apps and real-world gameplay, and we also test PCMark 10’s “Modern Office” battery test. Additionally, we judge the quality of a device’s keyboard by Typing tests as well as relative accuracy and comfort during extended gaming sessions.

The best gaming laptops of 2025

Other gaming laptops we’ve tested

Laptop frame 16

We were eager to test Laptop frame 16 Since it promised standard customizability and a decent amount of gaming power. But while we appreciated how repairable and upgradeable it was, actual gaming performance was average for its high price. You can always buy it without the extra GPU, but that makes it more of a daily workhorse than a gaming system.

MSI Stealth Studio 14

On a brighter note, we were happy to see MSI get back on track with Ghost Studio 14It is much faster and more attractive than the previous model.

Razer Blade 16 and 18

We were amazed to see a native 4K/1080p display in Razer Blade 16but it is very expensive and impractical, even for such an expensive brand. Likewise, we found Razer Blade 18 To be large in size and overpriced.