Best gaming laptops in 2024 — tested and rated (2024)

These days the best gaming laptops are powerful enough to play the latest and greatest games nearly as well as a beefy gaming PC, yet they're portable enough to slip into a backpack.

In fact, there are so many good options out there that finding the best gaming laptop for your needs can feel harder than beating a boss in Elden Ring. The search can be especially stressful because gaming laptops are often some of the most powerful and most expensive portable PCs you can get, so finding the right one and getting the best deal is more important than ever.

That's why you'll find a short list of our top recommendations for best gaming laptop below that includes specific picks for the budget-conscious. We also have some that, while not cheap, can give the best gaming PCs a run for their money despite costing less.

And while gaming laptops have a reputation for being big, loud and heavy, we've also found some that are thin, light and blend in at the office or coffee shop without raising eyebrows.

Whatever you're looking for, we've got a great recommendation for you. We've tested and reviewed dozens of gaming laptops from the top manufacturers, and we use that research and expertise to build this regularly-updated list of the best gaming laptops on the market.

The quick list

The best gaming laptops you can buy today

The best gaming laptop overall

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) is a great gaming laptop, delivering a potent blend of performance, portability and power efficiency.

We've long been fans of the Zephyrus G14 because it has the chops to run most games at solid framerates, the efficiency to be used as a work laptop in a pinch, and a slim, compact chassis that's more portable than most gaming laptops.

The 2024 model has a stunning OLED display and looks great to boot. Factor in the good speakers and an AMD CPU/GPU combo that delivers solid gaming performance and you've got a potent gaming ultraportable.

While it can't match the outlandish 11-hour battery life of its predecessors, the OLED screen is worth it. For what it delivers in terms of performance and productivity, the Zephryrus G14 is an outstanding gaming laptop.

Read our full Asus ROG Zephryus G14 (2024) review.

The best budget gaming laptop

The MSI Cyborg 15 ($999) is a cyberpunk-inspired gaming laptop that won’t destroy your wallet. Packing a 13th Gen Intel Core CPU and an Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU, this laptop delivers solid gaming performance for $1,000. Toss in a 144Hz 15.6-inch display and you have a machine that’s a great entry into the world of PC gaming.

The laptop has a cool design, great performance and costs less than $1,000. The display could be brighter and a bit more colorful, but the 144Hz refresh rate is welcome. And while its battery life isn’t great, the Cyborg 15 also doubles as a good productivity device, so long as you keep it plugged in.

Read our full MSI Cyborg 15 review.

The best battery life

The Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra is a powerful, long-lived machine that outlasts every other laptop on this list in our battery tests. While it lacks RBG lighting and some of the other over-the-top accoutrements that typically adorn gaming laptops, make no mistake, the Book Ultra can game thanks to its discrete Nvidia GPU and speedy Intel CPU.

In addition to its impressive performance, this laptop packs a gorgeous OLED display that makes viewing content and playing games a pure joy. On its own, it’s a fantastic Windows 11 laptop.

But like other Samsung laptops, it comes with a lot of bloatware from Samsung that's pretty useless if you don't own other Galaxy devices. But if you are already embedded in Samsung's Galaxy ecosystem, this is a great gaming laptop that plays well with your other devices.

Overall, the Book 3 Ultra is a great laptop that may not run games as well as every other machine on this list, but will outlast them in a pinch.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra review.

The best thin-and-light gaming laptop

TheHPOmen Transcend 14 might be a gaming laptop but it certainly doesn't look the part. Though it sports RGB lighting on its keyboard, you could easily mistake this notebook for a business ultraportable. HP is marketing it as “the world’s lightest 14-inch gaming laptop,” and it's by far the thinnest laptop on this list.

The other noteworthy aspect of the HP Omen Transcend 14 is that it packs anIntel Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” chip. With “AI laptops” being all the rage nowadays, this laptop could take advantage of all the fancy AI features we’ve heard so much about. Thanks to its Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 laptop GPU, you can play many gamesin medium settings. The bright and colorful 14-inch 2.8K 120Hz OLED display also ensures those games look and run phenomenally.

Battery life isn’t so great, which is expected for a gaming laptop. However, since this can also double as your everyday notebook, the limited battery life could be a problem. Other than battery life, the HP Omen Transcend 14 is a phenomenal (and thin) gaming laptop.

Read our full HP Omen Transcend 14 review.

The best desktop replacement

The Alienware m18 R2 is every bit as powerful and gargantuan as its predecessor. Though it's a laptop, it's much too heavy, loud and hot to comfortably use when you're on the go. But if you're using it at home (while plugged in) it makes an excellent desktop/gaming PC replacement. This beast is all the computer you could ever need!

Performance-wise, this 18-inch behemoth outperformed just about every laptop on this list. The low-profile CherryMX mechanical keys are also a delight to type on, and the speakers and screen are good enough for gaming.

The port placement is a little odd (why put a single USB-C port on the right-hand side, right up near the front?) and the heat this thing kicks off is truly scorching when it gets going, but if power is all you care about (and price is no object) this is the biggest, best gaming laptop to buy.

Read our full Alienware m18 R2 review.

Best MacBook for gaming

If you want a MacBook for gaming, you want the latest 16-inch MacBook Pro with the most powerful chip you can afford. If possible, you want the 16-inch MacBook Pro M3 Max, because Apple's top-tier M3 chip has enough power to make games like Death Stranding and Resident Evil Village look great while running at silky-smooth framerates.

MacBooks typically aren't a popular choice for gaming laptops because many great PC games either don't run at all on macOS or tend to run better on Windows, but that doesn't mean Macs can't game. To the contrary, Apple has been trying to showcase games running on its most powerful MacBooks for years, and the advent of Apple silicon has made them surprisingly good at it.

On top of all the great performance you'll wring out of the 16-inch MacBook Pros M3 Pro or M3 Max chip, you get a beautiful mini-LED display (don't worry about the notch, you'll stop noticing it after awhile) and plenty of ports. Plus, you get the added comfort of a MagSafe 3 charging port, support for up to an 8K external display and some amazing battery life, as well as a great six-speaker sound system.

Read our full MacBook Pro (16-inch) 2023 review.

Also tested

We test and review dozens and dozens of gaming laptops every year, and even though they can't all make this list that doesn't mean they aren't good machines.

So while these laptops didn't quite achieve the level of excellence needed to be leaders of the pack, they're good alternatives well worth considering if they meet your unique needs, or if you can't find your first choice on sale.

The Alienware x16 didn't make our short list of the best of the best, but it remains a both stylish and powerful gaming laptop. Thanks to the company’s Legend 3.0 design language, this is one of the thinnest gaming laptops you’ll find — it's not quite as thin as its smaller sibling the x14, but it's still quite svelte. While the Alienware x16 is recognizably a gaming laptop, it also wouldn’t look out of place at your office or favorite cafe due to its subdued design.

It's not all looks either, as this laptop can be configured with the latest Intel CPU and Nvidia RTX 40 series laptop GPU — giving it plenty of power to run graphically-demanding games. On top of that, the crisp 16-inch 2K display and smooth 240Hz refresh rate ensure your games look as good as they play. Although the price is high — and so are the temperatures when gaming — the Alienware x16 has earned a place on this list

Read our full Alienware x16 (2023) review.

The Framework Laptop 16 is the most repairable and upgradable 16-inch laptop we've seen yet.It can be a little much to worry about if you don't like the idea of opening your laptop up and fiddling with it, but if you like the idea and you love the ability to DIY and repair your own belongings, this is the gaming laptop for you.

A bigger, more powerful version of the ultraportable Framework 13, the Framework 16 offers the same remarkably easy-to-open-and-repair chassis replete with online guides and a marketplace full of replacement parts. Plus, it offers an expanded 6-slot Expansion Card system (which lets you mix and match Cards to change your laptop's ports on the fly), a configurable keyboard deck on which you can hot-swap different keyboards, trackpads and number pads, and a detachable external GPU module which lets you bolt a GPU to the back when it's time to game.

For all these reasons and more this is the best gaming laptop for folks who care about their right to tinker, customize and repair their technology. While it doesn't feel as sturdy or delivers as much power as many of the other laptops on this list, the Framework Laptop 16 is one of the best laptops you can buy if you care about your right to repair.

Read our full Framework Laptop 16 review.

The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i offers a triple-play combination of impressive mid-range performance, a vivid display and a premium, durable frame, delivering a solid gaming laptop for not too much money.

That's not to say it's perfect — it didn't make our short list of the best gaming laptops because the battery life is underwhelming, the webcam isn't great and the fans can whir up a storm. But with a keyboard that is a joy to type on (unsurprisingly, given it's Lenovo), the combination of Intel Core i9 CPU and RTX 4070, and a ton of I/O, this is a performant laptop for work by day, and a beasty gaming system by night.

Read our full Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2023) review.

The Razer Blade 16 (2024) is a powerful gaming laptop with excellent build quality and a higher starting price than its predecessor. While graphics options remain mostly unchanged, it now has Wi-Fi 7 for faster downloads and Intel’s Raptor Lake processors. The star of the show though is the new 240Hz OLED panel but you can opt for last year’s dual display mini-LED screen instead.

The new panel is great for high-refresh rate gaming but its glossy coating produces a lot of glare during the day. The Razer Blade 16 also has a larger, 16:10 display which makes it as well suited for gaming as it is for creatives. Like with other gaming laptops, battery life leaves a lot to be desired but Razer has included a 330W GaN charger to help remedy this. The Razer Blade 16 is better suited as a desktop replacement but still light enough to bring with you for some quick gaming sessions on the go.

Read our full Razer Blade 16 (2024) review.

Battery benchmarks: comparison

Battery life is a key concern for folks using laptops on the go, and gaming laptops are notoriously weak in this area because of their high-powered components.

That's why we run every laptop we review through battery tests which measure how long it can last on a full charge, both while gaming and while doing less demanding work like browsing the web. Below you'll find a chart of how long these laptops last while browsing the web, so you can buy one that's going to last as long as you plan to use it on the go.

One key thing to remember about these battery test results is that they're a measuring stick for comparing laptops, rather than a guarantee. What you do on your laptop, how bright you set the screen, and what power settings you use will all affect how long your laptop lasts before running out of juice—but this chart will help you compare to find the best gaming laptop for your needs.

Frequently asked questions

How we test gaming laptops

To find the best gaming laptop, we run every machine through a rigorous suite of benchmarks and real-world tests to gauge how it will perform during everyday use.

We measure the average brightness and color quality of each laptop's display using our in-house light meter and colorimeter. For general performance, we run our machines through tests that include Geekbench 5 (CPU performance), as well as various 3DMark tests to measure graphics capabilities. We also run a file transfer test to measure how fast a machine's hard drive is, and a custom battery test that has the machine browse the internet over Wi-Fi until it runs out of juice.

We also run benchmarks for popular games such as Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6 and Red Dead Redemption 2 on every gaming laptop we test. For more information on our testing process, check out our guide to how we test.

Written by

Written by

Alex Wawro

Alex Wawro is a lifelong journalist who's spent over a decade covering tech, games and entertainment. He oversees the computing department at Tom's Guide, which includes managing laptop coverage and reviewing many himself every year.