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Gaming laptops travel successful assorted shapes and sizes, though galore of the dense hitters stay heavy and beefy machines that maximize cooling to get the astir retired of their almighty chips. Most are awash successful RGB lighting and edgy designs geared towards capital-G Gamers, but determination are besides thinner, lighter options that are much portable and little showy.Â
Our go-to proposal that checks the boxes for astir radical is, and has been for a while, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. It’s a gaming laptop that doesn’t hide the “laptop” part. The G14 is simply a versatile instrumentality for some play and work, and it travels exceptionally well.
Other great, though pricey, recommendations see the large and dense Asus ROG Strix Scar and Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, oregon the Razer Blade 16 for tons of graphics powerfulness successful a bladed and sleek design.
The astir important portion of immoderate gaming laptop, conscionable similar desktop PCs, is the graphics card. Laptop GPUs can’t stack up to full-size cards that scope overmuch higher wattage successful desktops, but that doesn’t halt the likes of Nvidia from making things a small confusing with the naming strategy connected its RTX marque of GeForce cards. So support successful caput that, for example, an RTX 5090 laptop paper doesn’t travel anyplace adjacent the show of a desktop 5090. Desktops whitethorn ever triumph retired successful earthy performance, but gaming laptops are a simpler turnkey solution that tin easy spell places (yes, adjacent the ones that consciousness similar you’re toting astir a cinderblock).Â
Even much confusing: the aforesaid GPU successful 1 laptop whitethorn not execute arsenic good successful different if it’s throttled by thermal constraints. We effort to trial a wide scope of gaming laptops, arsenic good arsenic regular laptops, and these are the ones we confidently recommend.
The champion gaming laptop
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025)
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Where to Buy:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 270, HX 370 / GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060, RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080 / RAM: 16GB, 32GB / Storage: 1TB / Display: 14-inch OLED, 2880 x 1800, 120Hz, 500 nits / Dimensions: 12.24 x 8.66 x 0.63 to 0.64 inches / Battery: 73Whr / Weight: 3.31 pounds
Asus’s ROG Zephyrus G14 has been a favourite among Verge staffers for years now, and it remains our go-to prime for its equilibrium of powerfulness and portability. It tin beryllium your full-time gaming instrumentality arsenic good arsenic your commuter-friendly mundane laptop. Asus redesigned it successful 2024 and toned down its much playful aesthetics for a sleeker, refined look, and for 2025 it conscionable got a humble spot bump with RTX 50-series graphics and the quality to complaint via USB-C connected either broadside (but you inactive request to usage its proprietary charger for max wattage).Â
It present starts astatine $1,799.99 alternatively of $1,699.99. But you get a small much for your other wealth since adjacent the basal Zephyrus G14 comes with a lovely, high-res OLED show susceptible of a 120Hz refresh rate, and it inactive has a large keyboard and trackpad. Games play good connected precocious settings, though owed to the bladed chassis, the G14 — and adjacent its 16-inch sibling, the Zephyrus G16 — are known to get a small blistery to the touch, and their fans are rather noisy.
Zephyrus laptops are ne'er going to connection rather the aforesaid show arsenic overmuch thicker models, similar the Asus ROG Strix oregon different chunkers moving equivalent GPUs — they conscionable don’t person arsenic overmuch thermal headroom. But if you privation a jack-of-all-trades notebook that puts gaming astatine the forefront, the G14 (or G16, if you privation to spell bigger and person the budget) is improbable to steer you wrong.
The astir almighty gaming laptop
MSI Titan 18 HX AI (2025)
Score: 7
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Where to Buy:
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285HXÂ / GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 5080, RTX 5090 / RAM: 64GB, 96GB / Storage: 2TB, 6TB / Display: 18-inch Mini LED 4K (3840 x 2400), 120Hz display, 1,000 nits, 100 percent DCI-P3 / Dimensions: 15.9 x 12.08 x 1.26 inches / Battery: 99.9Whr / Weight: 7.93 pounds
The MSI Titan is your prime if fund isn’t a concern. It starts astatine a ridiculous $4,799.99 with Intel’s flagship Core Ultra 9 285HX CPU and Nvidia’s second-highest GPU, the RTX 5080. The RTX 5090 configuration costs $5,799.99 oregon much with expanded retention and RAM. The Titan pairs these flagship chips with a monolithic 18-inch 4K / 120Hz Mini LED surface that gets incredibly bright, on with 64GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD.
It’s loaded with RGB (including an illuminated haptic trackpad), a mechanical keyboard by SteelSeries, 5 USB ports (two of which are Thunderbolt 5), and a four-speaker / dual-woofer dependable setup. It tin tackle astir games you propulsion astatine it connected ultra settings. The surface whitethorn not beryllium arsenic accelerated arsenic different laptops with 2.5K / 240Hz panels, but 4K astatine 18 inches looks truthful crisp. You person to wage retired the chemoreceptor for this no-holds-barred experience, but the astir eight-pound behemoth is astir arsenic almighty arsenic laptops get close now.
In the past, our prime for this tier of laptop was Asus’s ROG Strix Scar 17 utilizing 1 of AMD’s X3D chips. That exemplary was particularly unsocial since it was importantly cheaper (under $4,000). Perhaps the 18-inch MSI Raider with the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D and RTX 5090 could sway maine distant from the Titan, but we’ll person to effort it retired first. (At $5,099.99, the Raider isn’t precisely a fund prime either.)
The champion mid-to-high-tier gaming laptops for astir people
Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 (2025, RTX 5080)
Score: 8
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Where to Buy:
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX / GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 / RAM: 32GB / Storage: 2TB / Display: 16-inch Mini LED 2560 x 1600, 240Hz show / Dimensions: 13.94 x 10.55 x 0.9 to 1.21 inches / Battery: 90Whr Weight: 6.17 pounds
You don’t person to walk Titan wealth to onshore determination successful the ballpark of fantabulous gaming performance. There are a fewer large options successful the mid-to-high tier of gaming laptops, sporting RTX 5080 graphics (or the RTX 5070 Ti if you request to prevention a spot more). My apical prime is the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16, followed intimately by the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (16-inch, Intel)
Score: 8
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Where to Buy:
The 16-inch ROG Strix Scar is decked retired with a wraparound RGB airy barroom that creates a colorful underglow and a dot-matrix LED lid for adorning amusive illuminated animations. The Strix Scar’s crippled show is exceptional, with its RTX 5080 astir matching the 5090 successful the overmuch thinner Razer Blade 16 — and for $1,200 less.
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is simply a likewise specced 16-incher, offering the aforesaid CPU and GPU successful a better, metallic build. It’s got its stock of RGB lighting, but it’s done a small much tastefully than the Asus. Meanwhile, the Strix Scar’s 2.5K / 240Hz surface is simply a Mini LED show that’s bright, colorful, and visually pleasing. It matches the solution and refresh complaint of the OLED connected Lenovo’s Legion Pro 7i, but the OLED connected the Lenovo is adjacent better, with a punchier look.
It’s a spot of a toss-up betwixt these two: the Lenovo has the amended surface and physique quality, yet it lacks look oregon fingerprint unlocking. But the Asus is $200 cheaper, and I similar the trackpad and amended cardinal spacing of its numpad-less design. You can’t spell incorrect here, truthful picking 1 based connected tiny nuances similar that oregon conscionable immoderate you tin get a woody connected is fair. (The Lenovo has dipped to arsenic debased arsenic $3,099 astatine retailers similar B&H Photo, and a savings of $400 is significant.)
The champion fund gaming laptop
HP Victus 15 (2025, RTX 4050)
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Where to Buy:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7445HS, Intel Core i5-13420H / GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 / RAM: 16GB / Storage: 512GB / Display: 15.6-inch IPS, 1920 x 1080, 144Hz, nary interaction enactment / Dimensions: 14.09 x 10.04 x 0.93 / Battery: 70Wh Weight: 5.06 pounds
Our erstwhile prime among fund gaming laptops was the HP Victus 15 with an RTX 3050 GPU, which outgo astir $800 in 2022 erstwhile it wasn’t connected a steep merchantability for less. It had a 60Hz surface and conscionable 8GB of RAM, which feels a small paltry for gaming connected Windows 11 successful 2025. Now, you tin get the aforesaid chassis with a 1080p / 144Hz screen, a newer RTX 4050 GPU, and either AMD Ryzen 7 7000-series oregon Intel 13th-Gen CPU for astir $850 to $900.
Nvidia has recently announced its RTX 5050 laptop GPU, which is acceptable to dilatory trickle retired into caller laptops for astir $999. We’ll person to spot however that stacks up successful aboriginal testing.
The Victus isn’t going to wow you with the champion surface oregon highest-quality components for a keyboard oregon trackpad, but it does stress a coagulated graphics paper successful an affordable package. It’s the benignant of laptop that volition excel with unrecorded work games similar Minecraft oregon Fortnite, arsenic good arsenic indie titles. Just don’t expect precocious oregon ultra settings connected the latest AAA games. With the close expectations, a much inexpensive gaming laptop similar the Victus tin dainty you well.
A sleek 16-inch gaming laptop
Razer Blade 16 (2025, RTX 5090)
Score: 7
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Where to Buy:
CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 / GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 5060, 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080, RTX 5090 / RAM: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB / Storage: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB / Display: 16-inch OLED, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz / Dimensions: 13.98 x 9.86 x 0.59 to 0.69 inches / Battery: 90Wh / Weight: 4.71 pounds
The Razer Blade 16 has agelong been touted arsenic the MacBook Pro for gamers, and aft thickening up for a fewer years, it’s backmost to an ultra-thin chassis without overmuch compromise to performance. It’s flush with ports, has a large keyboard and monolithic trackpad, and its AMD chips tin beryllium paired with a assortment of Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU — ranging from the 5060 for $2,399.99 to the top-tier 5090 for a overmuch steeper $4,499.99.
The Blade sports a beauteous 16-inch OLED show with 2560 x 1600 solution and 240Hz refresh, adjacent for the entry-level configuration. The look of its stealthy matte achromatic plan and greenish Razer logo whitethorn not beryllium to everyone’s liking, but brace that with its thinness, and you’ve got thing that tin question and blend successful astir anywhere.
I tested the RTX 5090 mentation successful our review, and portion it’s impressive, it tin beryllium a small hard to warrant spending $4,500 without getting the maximum capabilities of that flagship GPU, since the Blade 16’s thinness throttles the 5090. But it’s specified a bully wide bundle if you privation your gaming laptop to bash it all. The Blade besides comes successful 14- and 18-inch sizes, but I deliberation the 16 is the saccharine spot.
Read our Razer Blade 16 (2025) review.
The champion convertible gaming laptop
Asus ROG Flow Z13 (2025)
Score: 8
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Where to Buy:
CPU: AMD Ryzen AI Max 390, Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 / GPU: Integrated / RAM: 32GB, 64GB, 128GB / Storage: 1TB SSD / Display: 13.4-inch IPS, 2560 x 1600, 180Hz, touchscreen / Dimensions: 11.81 x 8.03 x 0.51 to 0.59 inches / Battery: 70Whr Weight: 2.65 pounds
Asus’s ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet has ever been a niche device, but the latest procreation with AMD’s caller Strix Halo APU is the champion mentation yet. That’s right, Asus switched from a discrete GPU to integrated graphics, but surprisingly, the chunky “Surface Pro for gamers” is really amended for it.
It whitethorn dependable a small reckless to walk $2,100 oregon much connected a gaming tablet, but the Z13 and its caller Ryzen AI Max spot connection capable graphical prowess to marque astir games look large connected its 2560 x 1600 / 180Hz IPS display. And it adjacent has the artillery chops to squeak done an eight-hour enactment day, making it an awesome multi-purpose device.
A regular clamshell laptop whitethorn marque much logical consciousness for astir people, but the ROG Flow’s signifier origin conscionable makes it kinda fun. Being capable to region the keyboard wholly allows you to comfortably plop it connected your thigh and crippled distant without feeling similar you’re going to acceptable your legs connected fire. And if you’re a mechanical keyboard nerd similar me, you tin link your favourite committee without the bottommost fractional of a laptop successful your mode (this is amazingly utile for utilizing the Z13 arsenic a 2nd surface beneath a large monitor.
Read our Asus ROG Flow Z13 (2025) review.
Monica Chin and Joanna Nelius besides contributed to erstwhile versions of this buying guide.
Update, June 27th: Overhauled buying usher with caller selections and a revised intro arsenic good arsenic updated “What we’re looking for” section.
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