Razerâs Blade laptop is a fairly low-performance gaming machine wrapped in an impressively slim black aluminum chassis that looks and feels great. The overall scores at the bottom of each section reflect these changes, and the scorecards in the wrap-up are faithful to the original review.
Weâve tweaked a few of the scores from our full reviews to better illustrate the performance of these machines in relationship to one another, rather than their relationship to all laptops. For in-depth benchmarks of the computers featured in this review, check out our supplementary benchmarking post. The laptops are presented in order of their gaming performance, beginning with the weakest and working up to the most powerful. However, gaming performance across both operating systems is largely consistent, so our graphics tests are representative of how the computers will function. Itâs likely (though not guaranteed) that many of these laptops boot and wake from sleep faster than our tests show.
This means that the boot and wake times listed arenât necessarily representative of the speeds now, since every computer has been updated to Windows 8. Many of the machines below, with the exception of the Asus G75VW, were tested with Windows 7. If youâre thinking about investing in a gaming laptop, itâs important to consider that youâll almost always need to be plugged in to take full advantage of its gaming performance. Nearly every machine in this roundup throttles its performance down significantly when running on battery power, so we tested them all while plugged into a power source in order to make full use of their dedicated graphics processors. Dedicated GPUs as typically made by Nvidia or AMD are the biggest extra cost in a gaming laptop, and significantly boost a machine's gaming performance. Instead, a discrete GPU has its own dedicated RAM to pull from, which gives the entire machine more horsepower for gaming and other graphically demanding tasks. Most laptops use an integrated graphics processor, which uses the computer's system memory to power games. While processor, RAM, and speed of the hard and solid state drives all contribute to a laptopâs overall performance, the part that turns an ordinary laptop into a gaming machine is the presence of a dedicated, or discrete, graphics processing unit (GPU). What makes a gaming laptop? Integrated and dedicated graphics
As a result, some of the specific configurations tested here are no longer available â and all of the machines have been updated with Windows 8 â but manufacturers still offer all of the laptops discussed below. For this roundup, we tried to level the playing field as much as possible to provide you with an accurate price vs.
These configurations vary in performance and price, but the computer itself â body, screen, speakers, keyboard, and trackpad â remain the same, giving you the choice of a more powerful or less expensive model based on your needs. Most manufacturers offer multiple versions of their gaming laptops, with different processors, GPUs, amounts of RAM, and various levels of HDD and SDD storage. To learn more about the best gaming options on the market, and to find out which gives you the highest performance for your hard-earned dollar, read on. But if you want to play all the latest, most demanding games on high settings, and only need to travel on occasion â perhaps to a LAN party with friends, home for the holidays, or simply from your desk to your couch â a gaming laptop is probably a good fit.īut deciding that you want a gaming laptop isnât the final choice â itâs only the beginning.
If youâre looking for a computer to take to work or class every day, or simply want a machine that can play less taxing games like Team Fortress 2, you donât want a gaming laptop. None have exceptional battery life, and all need to be tethered to an outlet to game for any extended period of time. In general, theyâre not known for being paragons of portability. However, wanting to play games doesnât necessarily mean you want a gaming laptop.
Even as other laptops get thinner, lighter, and sexier, gaming laptops remain bulky and incredibly powerful, making them the best option if youâre looking for a portable â well, relatively portable â computer that can handle the latest games in their full glory. Traditionally, gamers have looked to hefty, monstrous machines with stylish designs â though some prefer the term âostentatiousâ â for their portable gaming needs.