Ask anyone who considers themselves a purist and they will tell you that a PC is the best platform for the game playing experience. A PC goes beyond a run-of-the-mill gaming console, and allows you to push the boundaries on just about everything. To be entirely clear, gaming desktops still rule over laptops. They have both the high end components and the requisite power to play games with 4K resolution and let you set up demanding VR like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.
That still doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for gaming laptops. They are portable, which gives them quite an advantage over PCs. If you want to carry your machine with you around the house or over to your friend’s, then you will definitely enjoy the utility of a laptop.
If you are in a hurry, please see the table below for my top gaming laptop picks. Scroll down to see my review for each of those, and a buyer’s guide to help you select the best gaming notebook for your gaming needs.
1. Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model – Best Overall
Specs
- CPU – Intel Core i7-8750H
- GPU – Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080
- RAM – 16GB DDR4-2666Mhz
- Screen – 15.6 inch FHD (1,920 x 1080) IPS 144Hz
- Storage – 512GB M.2 SSD
- Battery – 80Whr
- Dimensions – 9.25 x 13.98 x 0.78 inches
- Weight – 4.63 pounds
Pros
- Very high build quality
- Wide range of options for CPU and GPU
Cons
- Pricey
Review
The first Razer Blade 15 came out in the spring of 2018. Not much has changed in the short time since. The advanced model we see here is really a refresher of the older great gaming laptop model, with the same aluminum chassis as the original. The main difference here is that it has the latest Nvidia Turing architecture RTX graphics card: The GeForce RTX 2080.
The RTX 2080 can run Metro Exodus, which is ray traced, very smoothly at more than 50 fps with the visual settings at maximum. We also decided to find out how well the battery would do, playing Metro Exodus with the power unplugged. Despite the fact that this laptop is power hungry, it still managed to play for a whopping 5 hours before the battery gave out.
When the original Razer Blade first came out, it was by far the lightest and thinnest gaming laptop in its class. That is no longer true, as many thinner and lighter models have been produced since. However, it is still the longest lasting in terms of battery life. It’s also a pretty expensive laptop.
Something else we like about this laptop is the fact that it checks all the boxes of what a laptop should be. A lot of gamers buy gaming laptops to stand in for gaming desktops, which means they don’t really care that the thing is heavy and bulky and has a terrible trackpad, unlike regular non-gaming laptops. This laptop, however, is just as good a replacement for your laptop as it is a replacement for your gaming desktop. The trackpad is very much like what you would find on the MacBook. It even competes in terms of aesthetics with non-gaming Windows notebooks like the Dell XPS 13.
You can get the Razer Blade 15 with a 4K OLED screen if you want, which only works with the RTX 2080 GPU. Though, if you’re going to go in that direction, we would advise you to go for one of the FHD 144Hz models with higher volume.
However you look at it, this is the best possible gaming laptop in the market at the moment. We’ll be waiting for someone to come up with something better. However, until then, we’ve got our minds made up.
2. MSI GS65 Stealth Thin – Thin and Lightweight
Specs
- CPU – Intel Core i7-8750H
- GPU – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q
- RAM – 16GB DDR4-2400Mhz
- Screen – 15.6 inch FHD (1,920 x 1080) wide view 144Hz
- Storage – 512GB M.2 SSD
- Battery – 82Whr
- Dimensions – 9.75 x 14.08 x 0.69 inches
- Weight – 4.14 pounds
Pros
- Powerful and sleek
- Good battery life
- Great value for the money
Cons
- G-Sync missing
Review
This powerful gaming laptop is a winner for many people and has some pretty great specs, given its price. It is quite versatile, just as a notebook should be, and is both sturdy and light. You can throw it in your laptop bag and walk around with it all day without a problem. The sleek body is made of aluminum and is matte black with gold accents, making the laptop feel like something of a luxury item. That said, we have a particular liking for it because the aesthetics are tame compared to some of the more outrageous gaming laptop designs out there. It’s at least an inch smaller than most 15-inch laptops you will find on the market, whether they are gaming laptops or not, making it a win for a 15-inch laptop.
Unfortunately, the GPU on this laptop won’t do ray tracing, since it’s a GTX GPU. That said, it’s still powerful enough to handle most of the game titles on the market. The whole series of MSI GS65 stealth thin models are transitioning into a more stable line of flavors right now. You could try to get a model with a GTX 1070 GPU, though you would have to contend with 32GB of RAM and an SSD with a capacity of 1TB, making it very expensive. If you want to save some money but still get the 1060 build, you could go for one with 16GB of Ram and 256GB SSD. This will take a huge chunk off of the price, though you will have to sacrifice some of the performance. There are also newer models with the RTX 2070 GPU, but they’re also very expensive.
Apart from the GPU, there are a lot of other details that make the GS65 a superb laptop, such as the SteelSeries keyboard with RGB lighting, the responsive touchpad, and the solid webcam at the top of the screen.
The only thing you’ll miss in this laptop is G-Sync technology. However, given the price tag and the high battery life, it is arguably a reasonable tradeoff.
3. Lenovo Legion Y740 – Best for Hardcore Gamers
Specs
- CPU – Intel Core i7-8750H
- GPU – Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q
- RAM – 16GB DDR4-2667Mhz
- Screen – 17.3 inch FHD (1,920 x 1080) IPS 144Hz
- Storage – 1TB HDD; 256GB SSD
- Battery – 76Whr
- Dimensions – 12 x 16.2 x 0.91 inches
- Weight – 6.4 pounds
Pros
- Excellent performance
- Fair pricing
Cons
- Unappealing external design
- Small trackpad
Review
The Legion series of Lenovo laptops has been around for a few years now, and have managed to make a name for themselves in the gaming niche because of the amount of value they offer when it comes to affordable specs.
Lenovo is mainly known for ThinkPads, where it focuses on getting the most in terms of performance from the cheapest of materials while maintaining design and quality. This philosophy has carried over into the Legion series and seems to be working very well, especially with the Lenovo Legion Y740. This laptop has an incredibly wide screen at 17.3 inches and graphics chips that range from the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 to the RTX 2080, all extremely powerful graphics cards, and all coming at just a fraction of the price you would get from competitors.
To be honest, the bezels on Legion laptops are wider and more distracting than what is currently considered normal in this space. However, the very wide screen also uses technology that is typically rare. The IPS 144Hz display features Dolby Vision HDR and G-Sync, which means you don’t have to get software adaptive protocols.
The audio is also impressive for a laptop at this price point: Dolby Atmos. The onboard sound bar is finely tuned and emits crisp frequencies over a wide range. There is equal value assigned to both the bass tones and midrange tones. You also get Dolby Atmos software in the Windows 10 Home edition install that ships with the laptop, which means you should be able to customize your EQ settings to your preference.
If you want ray tracing in real time, then the Lenovo Legion should work just fine. It will easily play games like Metro Exodus with the graphics settings at their maximum at over 50fps. You could even get it to play smoothly at over 60fps if you played with the sliders a bit. All of this, of course, is at over 30% less than the price of its competitors with the same specs.
4. Acer Predator Helios 300 – Best Value
Specs
- CPU – Intel Core i7-9750H
- GPU – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB
- RAM – 16GB DDR4-2666Mhz
- Screen – 15.6 inch FHD (1,920 x 1080) IPS 144Hz
- Storage – 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery – 3720 mAh
- Dimensions – 10.01 x 14.23 x 0.90 inches
- Weight – 5.07 pounds
Pros
- Very high value for the money
- Features the Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti GPU
Cons
- Low storage capacity
Review
We really loved this laptop because it offers an extreme amount of value for the money, even though it’s a cheap gaming laptop. It has been a darling for us since the 10-series Pascal architecture era, where you could get it for about a grand and it had the GTX 1060 6GB GPU which was quite capable of smooth gameplay at 60fps and max visual setting for most games of the time. Acer decided to outdo themselves and brought the Helios back with new GPU: the GTX 1660 Ti GPU. It also comes looking sleeker, all at the same price.
This Helios 300 has a 144Hz IPS screen and smaller bezels, which makes it just as sleek and thin and light as the best of the best in the market, and much better than the generations that preceded it. The RAM speed is also pretty fast compared to its predecessor at 2666Mhz. The only major fail for this laptop is the low capacity of the SSD, though you could cough up more money if you wanted a model with a larger capacity SSD.
5. MSI GL63 8RC – Best for Low Budget
Specs
- CPU – Intel Core i5-8300H
- GPU – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 4GB
- RAM – 8GB DDR4-2666Mhz
- Screen – 15.6 inch FHD (1,920 x 1080) IPS
- Storage – 1TB HDD
- Battery – 3 cell 41Whr
- Dimensions – 15.07 x 10.24 x 1.14 inches
- Weight – 4.85 pounds
Pros
- The RAM and storage are upgradeable
- Thin Bezel
Cons
- Does not include SSD
Review
If you’re looking for a budget gaming laptop that truly is low budget, then it’s hard to go wrong with the MSI GL63 laptop. It comes with a Core i5 Intel CPU, 8GB of high speed RAM, and the Nvidia GTX 1050 4GB GPU. It also comes with one of the thinnest bezels in this particular price range. The only thing that we obviously did not like about this laptop, and that we suspect you might not like either, is the lack of an SSD. It comes with a 1TB HDD. The good news is that it is upgradeable, so you can purchase an SSD and upgrade it to something a little more decent.
The best thing about this laptop is the highly competitive price tag, which pegs it at one of the cheapest laptops you will find on the market with a GTX 1050 graphics chip. It actually costs just a little more than a laptop with integrated graphics, but performs exponentially better. If you have a really tight budget and still want a gaming laptop, then this particular model should give you everything you would need in a laptop plus the capability to play some decent titles.
Best Gaming Laptops 2020 