Gaming Laptops Buyers Guide

Whether you’re a high school student who loves to spend all your free time playing the latest PC games or an adult who just can’t get enough of that realistic first-person shooter game, if you want to be able to enjoy modern video games with the latest 3D graphics there simply isn’t an alternative to buying a gaming notebook. Gaming notebooks are focused on providing a high-performance laptop platform for rendering high-resolution graphics at frame rates that generally exceed 30 frames per second for a real-to-life gaming experience.

Most gaming notebooks come equipped with the fastest processors and the most advanced dedicated graphics cards available for laptops. Sure, you can play solitaire on a budget-priced general purpose notebook, but if you want to play the latest zombie-killing shooter then you need a good processor and even better graphics. Until recently all gaming notebooks were either 17-inch or 15-inch desktop replacement notebooks since high-performance CPUs and the latest graphics cards required massive cooling fans and heatsinks to keep those power-hungry components from overheating. More recently we are starting to see ultraportable gaming notebooks with 11-inch screens that allow you to play cutting-edge games on the road and still have several hours of battery life. Ultraportable gaming notebooks don’t offer the same level of performance as larger gaming notebooks, but these laptops still deliver a more enjoyable gaming experience than a general purpose laptop.

Gaming notebooks usually come equipped with lots of system memory, massive hard drives for storing lots of video games, and sometimes even high-speed Solid State Drives (SSDs) for extremely fast system start up, and even faster loading speeds for games. Prices for gaming notebooks run the range from just under $1,000 to more than $4,000 for some of the custom-built gaming rigs with the latest generation of multi-core processors and graphics cards.

Recent Gaming Laptops Reviews

Gigabyte Review

Gigabyte P55W v6 Review

Michael Wall - November 17, 2016

This 15.6-inch powerhouse is one of the most affordable “VR ready” rigs on the market. With a starting price of only $1,400 this notebook offers strong performance, a beautiful display[...] Read full article

Asus Review

Asus ROG Strix Review

Michael Wall - October 13, 2016

This incredibly attractive 15.6-inch gaming laptop delivers strong performance and a beautiful display. Read on to see if that's enough to overcome the subpar keyboard, muffled audio and weak battery[...] Read full article

Acer Review

Acer Predator 17 X Review: 4K for Gamers

Jerry Jackson - September 29, 2016

The 17-inch gaming notebook has long been a staple of the PC gaming market but Acer hopes to push things to the next level with the VR-ready Predator 17X. Read full article

Review

MSI GT73VR Titan Pro Review: A Beautiful Beast

Michael Wall - September 28, 2016

Desktop-grade performance, eye-catching design, and an alluring 120Hz FHD matte display make the MSI GT73VR Titan Pro one of the best heavy duty gaming rigs on the market. Read full article

Gaming Review

Gigabyte Aero 14 Review

Michael Wall - July 31, 2016

Gigabyte, a company known for producing lightweight gaming laptops, still manages to impress with the sleek 14-inch Gigabyte Aero 14. Its strong specs and attractive design are the highlights, but[...] Read full article

Review

Razer Blade Stealth (2016) Review

Charles P Jefferies - March 4, 2016

This 0.52-inch thin Ultrabook was anything but stealthy at CES 2016. Best known for its gaming peripherals, Razer’s latest computer is a stand-out in more ways than one. Read full article

Review

Gigabyte P57W Review

Charles P Jefferies - February 26, 2016

Announced at CES 2016, Gigabyte's 17.3-inch P57W is a thin-and-light gaming powerhouse, with Intel's latest Core i7 processor and Nvidia GTX 970M graphics. Read full article

Lenovo Review

Lenovo ideapad Y700 Review: A Balanced Behemoth

Jamison Cush - February 16, 2016

There’s a lot to like in a big laptop, especially if it's big on processing power. The Lenovo ideapad Y700 fits that bill with a Core i7 and dedicated Nvidia[...] Read full article

Review

Dell Inspiron 15-7559 Review: The Dark Side Awakens

Jerry Jackson - December 31, 2015

Don't judge this notebook by its cover. Thanks to Nvidia graphics, a Skylake processor, and an affordable price the Inspiron 15-7559 isn't an ordinary boring 15-inch laptop. Take a closer[...] Read full article

Review

MSI GT80S Titan SLI Review

Jerry Jackson - December 23, 2015

The GT80S 6QE gaming notebook not only delivers two GTX 980M graphics cards and a mechanical keyboard that made the GT80 so impressive, but also leverages a new Intel Skylake[...] Read full article