Building a gaming PC for an adequate price right now is a daunting task. The price of graphics cards has skyrocketed, the pandemic crisis has hit logistics and the availability of spare parts to produce components, miners are literally sweeping all available graphics cards off store shelves. And now is the time when the purchase of a gaming laptop does not look like a luxury, unreasonably expensive and unprofitable. Fortunately, the crises did not affect the market offer.
There is a lot to choose from, but even here you should be prepared for higher prices. Looking for true gaming notebooks, inexpensive but powerful up to 30-50 thousand rubles is pointless. At most, what you can count on is a variant with a GeForce MX350 graphics card, which with modern games can hardly cope.
So, which gaming laptop to choose in 2022? Here's the most comprehensive guide to choosing a gaming laptop you can find online, and a ranking of the top 10 gaming laptops for different wallets.
What features should a gaming laptop have?
On the main components let's go separately, because there are many configuration options for gaming, and prices vary.
The graphics card (GPU) - in the first place
The main component of the gaming laptop - a high-performance graphics processor, GPU, in simple terms - the graphics card. "Notebook can not be considered gaming if it does not have a discrete graphics processor from Nvidia or AMD. Also do not consider as gaming those models whose graphics cards do not pull modern games even on minimum graphics settings. These are, for example, Radeon R5 M430, GeForce MX110/130/150. In something older, say, GTA V or World of Tanks, to play is likely to work, but still a laptop can not be called a gaming. Its features are enough only for casual, undemanding players. Although for this category of "gamers" we have prepared two special offers in our rating (cheat. below).
The higher the numerical index in video card name, the more powerful it is. For example, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 is capable of higher frame rates than RTX 3050, but every rule has exceptions.
Nvidia GeForce or AMD/ATI Radeon? Turing or Ampere architectures?
NVIDIA is the dominant player in the notebook market right now. Boards from Radeon always pleased with a nice price, but their offer in the market of gaming laptops now is very scarce. Where did AMD graphics cards go? Several gaming laptops entered the market with the Radeon RX 5000 series, but were quickly withdrawn from sales. AMD announced RX 6000's, they appeared on the market, but prices are not so happy as before. In addition, laptop manufacturers are reluctant to use these GPUs in their devices.
The most relevant discrete mobile graphics cards in 2022 are based on the Ampere microarchitecture. Marked as GeForce "RTX 30": RTX 3050, 3060, 3070, 3080. Appeared at the beginning of 2021. The platform superseded the previous generation of Turing, although there are still 20-series video chips, such as RTX 2070, in laptops. Unlike previous generations, Turing and Ampere are labeled "RTX" rather than "GTX", alluding to the Ray tracing technology, so beloved by marketers. But it is useful, and significant - with ray tracing it is possible to simulate the natural physical behavior of light.
What is better for laptop - GeForce RTX 2080 (Turing) and RTX 3080 (Ampere)? In the case of the Turing, experts found that the RTX 2080 mobile graphics card matches the performance of its desktop counterpart (for the desktop), with a noticeable gap from the past microarchitectures. Things are a bit worse with Ampere: the RTX 30-series GPU on a PC is much more productive than on a laptop.
Nevertheless, if we compare "laptop" RTX 30s and RTX 20s, according to Technical City, in 4K-gaming we can see a good increase in FPS of the former. RTX 3080 is right now the best in its class, as the tests confirm.
But even GeForce RTX 3050 and RTX 3050 Ti will satisfy most users within Full HD gameplay in 2022. We should also keep in mind that 4K screen resolution in a laptop is impractical due to the small diagonal, increased price and "voracious" battery life.
RTX or GTX?
Relatively budget gaming notebooks (around 70,000 rubles and up) come with a GTX 1650 (Ti) or GTX 1660 Ti graphics card. There is still good gaming performance here for Full HD, but without the unique advantages of RTX, such as Ray-Tracing.
Max-Q graphics cards - still relevant?
To ensure good performance for thin, lightweight, portable notebooks, NVIDIA launched an initiative in 2017 called Max-Q Design. The term, borrowed from aeronautics, describes the maximum amount of aerodynamic stress an aircraft can withstand.
In our case, Max-Q means the ability of the graphics card to stand up on a thinner chassis than normal. By limiting the power ceiling, the manufacturer achieves lower heat dissipation, which means less space is needed for cooling and heat dissipation. This allows thin laptops (the same ultrabooks) to gain gaming potential while reducing the thickness of the chassis.
GeForce RTX 30-Series and Ampere have made Max-Q more difficult to use. Now NVIDIA does not ask suppliers whether the GPU is configured for Max-Q, and therefore the Max-Q designation disappears from the model names. Some manufacturers, introducing Max-Q and not specifying it in the specifications, mislead buyers, and they get a less efficient laptop than they expected. The solution to the problem is an additional check of the specifications of a particular "notebook" before you buy. Or trust our rating-review of gaming laptops, here only verified information.
The central processing unit (CPU) - a secondary role
The choice of CPU depends on what will be additional scenarios of use, in addition to games. The now popular Ryzen's offer excellent performance with the best price/performance ratio, they are great for multitasking, but, frankly, they are of little use in games. Intel, on the other hand, has released its signature Tiger Lake H35 line, quad-core processors with high single-threaded performance.
The importance of single-threaded performance in games is emphasized by developers themselves, trying to stop the "multicore" race between AMD and Intel. This has affected the mood at Intel. The company employees are discussing this topic in their Twitter, focusing on the fact that modern games do not need more than 4 or 8 cores of CPU, but a reinforcement of single threaded performance can give a significant advantage for gaming.
So first of all we should be interested in Intel Core models with H prefix, or alternatively AMD Ryzen with H/HX prefix. Then all the rest. But don't forget: CPU is not so important for games as graphics!
What screen do you need for a gaming laptop? Diagonal, resolution, refresh rate
The parameters of the display can be of key importance when choosing a model.
As for screen size, the 13-inch diagonal is a thin and lightweight laptop (ultrabook), portable, comfortable, but with a small picture. For gaming, to put it bluntly, not the best solution. The exception: you are in constant motion.
The 17-inch screen is a large picture, allowing you to see every texture in detail. This size can be considered optimal for a gamer laptop, but low mobility will be a serious stop factor. Big screen - it is, respectively, larger size and a significant addition to the weight.
15-16 inches - the top option for most users. The most common and best-selling size. The "golden" balance between portability and picture size
We talked about the resolution above. Let me repeat: a modern laptop does not objectively need a 4K display. Factors "against": diagonal, not revealing the potential of 4K even in half, price, autonomy, graphics card requirements, etc. Full HD is our everything. 1440p is perfect.
High refresh rate is a fat plus to the experience, a competitive advantage in gaming. Increased smoothness, fast frame rate in action scenes is incomparable to the standard 60 Hz. Anything above 60Hz is good. 144 Hz, 165 Hz is the optimal choice. There are options with 300 Hz, but there is no guarantee that your video card can handle the same amount of frames per second, and the price might not just bite you... it might even make you sick.
How much RAM and internal memory do you need? SSD is a must-have.
In a gaming laptop, look for at least 8GB of RAM, better yet, 16GB. Don't forget: many new laptops are not upgradable, i.e. if you need to add more "RAM" is not always possible.
Definitely need an SSD, especially since their prices have dropped significantly over the past few years. SSDs speed up system bootup, game startup and loading speed between levels. They read and write large blocks of memory many times faster than an HDD, and small blocks dozens of times faster! Ideally get a 512/1024GB SSD, but if your budget is limited, as an alternative you can consider a 256GB SSD bundle for the system + 1TB HDD for content.
Today's games are very "heavy". It never hurts to have a good memory buffer.
Additional selection criteria
Full-size keyboard is much more comfortable to play than a "truncated" one. Small "up" and "down" arrows are too damn inconvenient, especially for big fingers.
Of the connection ports now relevant USB Type-C and Thunderbolt 3, but the necessary minimum will be 2 USB-A 3.0 ports, for, say, working with a mouse and an external drive. For VR headset or connection to the monitor/television you will need HDMI or DisplayPort.
Performance components and demanding games drain the battery quickly. Battery capacity is also not the last argument in favor of one or another device.
Gaming notebook - not just for gaming
There is an opinion that the gaming laptop always gives himself acid RGB-lighting, design with a lot of extra curves, noisy cooling system and furiously warm "iron". But not always modern gaming laptops do not fit these stereotypes. It may well be an outwardly restrained device, virtually silent, with efficient heat dissipation, and, most importantly, suitable for any other tasks besides gaming.
Graphics cards are not just for gaming. And not just for mining. GeForce RTX chips are well adapted to work in professional 3D-projecting, video editing, working with graphics, design (Autodesk, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, etc.) applications.
More than 200 professional software is constantly tested for GeForce compatibility and up to 25% of them run much faster on RTX cards, up to 10 times faster than on the other cards.
In what price range can I buy a gaming laptop?
Gaming accessories with high performance are much more expensive than the "hardware" of an ordinary laptop. Hence the high price bar - from $1000 to $4000 and above. The best budget laptops for gaming
Budget hardware for gaming will be represented by inexpensive graphics processors Nvidia "Turing": GTX 1650, GTX 1650 Ti and GTX 1660 Ti. And especially for those who desperately need to save money and want to play at least GTA V, Tanks (WoT) and CS GO, our ranking has 2 separate positions with GeForce MX330 graphics card. This is our minimum recommended minimum. Here are the average FPS of the GeForce MX330 for GTA V:
The best manufacturers of gaming laptops
In the segment of gaming laptops quite a lot of competition between manufacturers. Some of them produce gaming devices for decades, others, so to speak, contemporaries, trying to surprise with something innovative.
Objectively make a rating of manufacturers is impossible - everyone has successful and clearly not the best models. And whoever takes the first line, the army of fans of his competitor with "100%" arguments "against" is always glad to throw tomatoes at the author. So listing the brands below is just a listing of the best, not a ranking.
Buying a gaming laptop from one of these brands, in most cases you will be satisfied.
Alienware is a subsidiary of Dell focused on the gaming laptop market. Works since 1996. Laptops under this brand are top-tier. Extreme attention to detail, impeccable build quality, support from Dell... But the prices are appropriate. In the Russian market, they are rare guests.
Razer. Not cheap devices. The products of the well-known industry brand Razer are not very configurable, but also belong to the elite level in terms of materials, style and hardware. Professional techniques in aesthetics allow Razer devices to fit perfectly into the office environment and the interior of the gamer. Many models are lightweight and very compact. However, in the CIS countries Razer laptops are also rare.
Dell. Despite the presence of a special department - Alienware, which produces some of the best laptops in the industry, Dell itself also has a very good and powerful gaming laptops in the model line G and Vostro.
Asus. In our market, it is just a "killer" for its competitors. In the niche of gaming laptops Asus releases several model lines: ROG Zephyrus, ROG Strix, TUF Gaming. Ultimatelnye hardware, proprietary design in the spirit of modernity, portability (there are laptops with 13 and 14 inch screen) - a serious claim to leadership.
Acer. The unnoticed hero of the gaming market. Consistently produces good gaming mobile computers, with a balance of usability and gaming power. Predator Triton and Helios are two interesting lineups with different specs and screen sizes.
MSI. MSI is probably the most exotic gaming laptop manufacturer right now. The Taiwanese have a crazy amount of gamer lines. The GT, GS, GL, Sword lines have many models, the purchase of one of which can make you happy for years to come. Experts especially appreciate the GS Stealth laptops for their incredible power and mobility. No wonder that in our rating such a model is also very high (no spoilers).
What is better to buy: a gaming computer or a gaming laptop?
Undoubtedly, the laptop will cost more than the assembly of a similar in characteristics desktop PC, but do not forget that to the price of this assembly you need to add a monitor and peripherals. And the prices of individual components, alas, are only going up. Unless the SSD resists the trend
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