Best gaming laptop for 2020

A player knows that a gaming laptop has more to offer than speed. You can equip it with the best graphics card processor (GPU), tons of fast SSD storage for your games, a processor with millions of cores, a solid hard drive for secondary storage and the fastest and most colorful display in the world – and it can still come up short . These powerful components can overheat in the worst moments of hardcore gaming or you can only notice some instability. Or maybe you don’t always want to use one external keyboard, but the built-in version feels like mashed potatoes under your WASD keys.

And not all games have a bottleneck due to dual cores or a GTX of the last generation. Therefore, this is not a matter of course Bust your budget, either.

Almost every gaming laptop, no matter how fast or slow, is the compromise you make Battery lifethat can only last two hours. You can’t play even the most complex games – GPU or CPU-intensive – on battery power. The processors are typically throttled and the screens get darker, so a laptop that feels nimble when plugged in charges the battery with a lead foot and turns your gaming experience into a battle of frustration.

Read:: The best gaming laptop performers of 2020

But components are important. The fastest GPU currently available in a laptop is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080, followed by the RTX 2080 Max-Q. The Max-Q versions run at slower frequencies than their full-size siblings – to keep noise and heat down and to fit in thinner designs. RTX models also accelerate ray trace rendering and offer intelligent upscaling (DLSS), if explicitly supported. When your favorite games aren’t using it, the lower price range GTX 1660Ti includes the latest generation of Nvidia technology (Turing) without the added cost of RT cores, though it doesn’t match the last generation GTX 1080.

Nvidia recently announced a new generation Max-Q technology along with mobile versions of the latest “super” versions of the GPUs that we haven’t tested yet. AMD has released its next generation laptop GPUs, the Radeon RX 5700M, 5600M and 5500M, but we haven’t tested any on a Windows system yet (a custom version of the 5500M is in the latest MacBook Pro 16). Laptops with the new Nvidia and AMD parts are expected to be delivered in the next few months – provided there are no delivery problems Corona virusComplications.

On the CPU side, more cores can help, although most games currently don’t use more than four. This is partly Intel’s rationalization for continued dependence on its old 14nm architecture for the 10th generation high performance (H series) Processors; This enables the company to increase single-core clock frequencies compared to the profits it would achieve by switching to a smaller process technology Ice lakethat supports more cores with less power consumption.

AMD, on the other hand, began shipping its own Ryzen 4000 series H processors, including a new competitor for the mobile Core i9, the Ryzen 9 4900HS with 8 cores and 16 threads. We tested it in the new one Asus ROG Zephyrus 14 and it flies on both multi and single core.

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And then there are the screens. Asus and Acer announced laptops with a refresh rate of 300 Hz at IFA 2019, but these have not yet been implemented. For many players, waiting is not worth it: a maximum of 240 Hz should be fine for the few times that you can achieve frame rates above 240 fps. Even 144 Hz is enough for many people, but artifacts such as tearing caused by the screen refresh rate no longer being synced with the frame rate depend as much on your games as on your laptop brand and hardware.

Read: The best 2-in-1 PCs in 2020 if you need a laptop and a tablet in one

We start to see OLED screens will be available to those who want to build a beautiful gaming rig; OLED offers great colors and contrasts with fast response times. However, they are currently limited to 4K / 60 Hz laptops, as is the upcoming 14-inch 1440p display that Asus will offer for the G14.

Still with us? Great. If you’re a gaming beast who wants to dive deep into what’s out there and find out which is the best gaming laptop for your desired gaming experience, check out our recommendations below.

Sarah Tew / CNET

There is no affordable gaming laptop. However, solid gaming graphics performance and long battery life are the basis for a good gaming laptop. And the price makes this a bargain.

Read the Dell G5 15 5590 review.

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An Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 means that it only delivers decent 1080p performance in height. However, if you’re a player looking for a big screen on a budget, this one will do you good considering its price tag is under $ 900.

Read our Acer Nitro 5 (17.3 inch) review.

Lori Grunin / CNET

The 14-inch Zephyrus G14 is slightly smaller than usual for a gaming notebook, but you will probably not notice a big difference between it and a 15-inch model – especially since it brings a lot for the money. The AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS-CPU outperforms current Intel competitors in terms of processor performance and offers a battery life for business laptops of up to 10 hours when you are not playing. The gaming performance of an RTX 2060 Max-Q is solid and fits well with the 120 Hz 1080p display. Asus is scheduled to ship a model with a 1440 / 60p screen in June if you have a yen for a higher resolution.

Read our Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 review.

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For gamers looking for a little more of their display, a small second screen on this gaming laptop is ideal for monitoring other activities like chats or walkthroughs while you have a little break in your game. This is also not a problem in the power department, especially in HP’s Dynamic Power mode.

Read our HP Omen X 2S review.

Sarah Tew / CNET

Whether you prefer the sleek look of the Mercury White model or the powerful Black Slab version with an Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB RAM, an OLED 4K display and an RTX 2080 GPU, Razer’s understated style will be bored Don’t wonder employees What games monopolize your screen during meetings? You may be wondering if you are overpaid as this laptop is not cheap.

Read our Razer Blade 15 Advanced Review.

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Acer packs top components – such as the RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics card from Nividia and the 144 Hz Full HD display with a response time of 3 milliseconds – in this relatively compact 15-inch laptop. It is the fastest size we have ever tested. This laptop offers a FAST gaming experience.

Read our Acer Predator Triton 500 review.

Sarah Tew / CNET

You can add some custom graphics to make the generic case a little more elegant, but it’s the abundance of components that make this best gaming laptop an attractive purchase for a gaming beast – if not a cheap one. Since the Eon17-X is basically a desktop in the body of a laptop, it’s REALLY heavy compared to the others on this list. That said, it’s also a super powerful gaming laptop with a ninth generation Intel Core i9-9900K and the Nvidia RTX 2080 GPU for the highest gaming performance.

Read the Origin PC Eon17-X test.

Best gaming laptop for speed freaks

Alienware area-51m

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If gaming performance is your obsession, this is the fastest gaming system we’ve tested so far. Alienware’s nearly 17-inch laptop uses overclockable desktop processors and supports future GPU upgrades.

Read our Alienware Area-51m review.

Sarah Tew / CNET

The 17-inch Triton 900 is fast – it’s one of the five fastest laptops we’ve tested recently – but that’s not its superpower. It has a rotating display that you can flip over to leave the built-in keyboard behind. This means that it doesn’t bother you if you’ve connected an external keyboard. So if you desperately need your lucky backlit keyboard, this is the best gaming laptop for you.

Read our Acer Predator Triton 900 review.

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