Best Gaming Laptops in 2022

• CPU: Intel Core i7 12800H
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti
• Storage and Memory: 1TB SSD, 16GB DDR5
• Display: 15.6-inch, 2560 x 1440, 240Hz

Who’s it for: Gamers who want a do-it-all high-end gaming machine to fit in with their other Razer accessories.

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced features the most cutting edge mobile gaming hardware money can buy. From its Intel Alder Lake 12th-generation 12800H processor to its NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti graphics chip and high-refresh rate QHD screen, this is a new laptop for a new year, with a lot of new hardware. That means big gains in graphical performance, especially with it fully leveraging Nvidia’s Ampere architecture to deliver higher frame rates, finer detail settings and better support for higher resolutions, like the 144op display it dons.

It features Razer’s iconic Blade build quality with a sleek finish on every surface, a minimalist chassis with thin bezels, and the classy Razer Chroma backlighting for the keyboard. Inside, it also comes with 16GB of RAM, a terabyte of fast storage, and a capable and quiet cooling solution. Other hardware options include the new RTX 3080 Ti graphics chip for even more GPU power, and both 1080p and 4K screens, perfect for juggling performance in esports titles or cranking the visuals in more atmospheric single player experiences.

Alongside the internal hardware upgrades, Razer has also improved the keyboard on the 2022 Blade. It now has slightly bigger keycaps which should make it more comfortable and accurate to type on. As a result, the gap between keys is reduced a little, so the keyboard itself isn’t any bigger.

As with most gaming laptops, you’ll get far better performance out of this high-end machine if you run it while plugged in. If you do need to switch to battery while gaming, you should get a couple of hours of play, but don’t expect much more.

Pros

• High-end components
• Excellent build quality
• Runs cool and quiet

Cons

• CPU: Intel Core i7 12700H
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti
• Storage and Memory: 1TB SSD, 16GB LPDDR5
• Display: 17.3-inch, 1920 x 1080, 360Hz

Who’s it for: Gamers who want to play on a big-screen with a mains socket nearby.

The biggest gaming laptops might start to sacrifice a little portability, but what you get in return is a near-desktop-like experience in a still-compact package. The Alienware x17 R2 is the latest in a long line of high-end gaming laptops from the company, and it shows not only in its powerful array of internal hardware, but how refined the overall design is. It’s leaner than previous generation big-screen gaming laptops, and it stands out from the usual crowd of black and gamer-y options out there.

Inside this chassis is a monstrous hardware combination, pairing the Intel Core i7-12700H CPU with all of its 14 cores (6P + 8E) all running at up to 4.7GHz when boosted, with 16GB of high-speed new generation LPDDR5 memory. That gives this more general compute power than even the best gaming laptops from last year, and when combined with the Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti, it’s a stellar gaming laptop with all the power you need to play just about anything.

That’s what it’s targeting, too, as though it has heaps of GPU power, this laptop has a 1080p display. That’s a relatively low resolution for a high-end laptop, but where some gaming laptops target higher resolutions, this one goes for frames. With a 360Hz refresh rate, this laptop makes high-speed games look gorgeously smooth, and if you’re playing against other players, it’ll even give you an edge by lowering your response time and input lag.

Battery life isn’t extensive (that’s to be expected with such a powerful laptop), but it does stay pretty cool due to advances in Dell’s cooling technologies. The overall look of the laptop is stellar, too, giving you a really different looking laptop without it screaming “gamer” at anyone who dares look its way.

As this size, with this power, this is easily the best 17-inch gaming laptop you can buy in 2022.

Pros

• Big, super-fast display for competitive gaming
• High-end hardware can play anything at high FPS
• Gorgeous design

Cons

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U
• GPU: AMD Radeon 7
• Storage and Memory: 256GB SSD, 8GB DDR4
• Display: 14-inches, 1920 x 1080, 60Hz

Who it’s for: Gamers on a budget who don’t want to play the latest AAA games.

Good gaming laptops at around $500 are a rare breed, especially with any kind of power behind them. This Dell Inspiron isn’t some cutting edge monster of a gaming machine, but its AMD Ryzen 5 5500U CPU with its onboard Radeon Vega graphics are more than enough for basic indie game play and hitting high frame rates in older esports games like League of Legends, Overwatch and DotA 2.

The 1080p display is bright and vibrant, and you get a full 256GB of SSD storage. That’s not a lot, but it’s more than enough for Windos and a handful of even modern games. There’s also 8GB of RAM, which again isn’t a lot, but it’s upgradeable, so if you need more or want a little performance bump in the future, doing that will give

This laptop enjoys Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 support, and comes with a USB-C connector modern convenience. Cooling in this laptop is solid, and when combined with the relatively efficient hardware, it stays cool and quiet during even heavy gaming. It also has great battery life, lasting over 10 hours of mixed usage or well over five when gaming. This isn’t a gaming laptop, but it can game and it does it well, especially for such an affordable price.

Pros

• Playable esports gaming performance at a low price
• CPU and SSD keep general use snappy and responsive
• Cool and quiet even when gaming

Cons

• Onboard graphics are underpowered for AAA gaming
• 256GB SSD doesn’t have much space for bigger game libraries

• CPU: Intel Core i7 10500H
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060
• Storage and Memory: 512GB SSD, 8GB DDR4
• Display: 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, 144Hz

Who’s it for: Gamers on a budget who still want to enjoy new-generation gaming performance.

The $1,000 mark is the point where you start to get a seriously good gaming laptop for your money—and that’s even better if you can get it at a serious discount. With the MSI GF65, you get just that and then some, with a combination of new generation and recent generation hardware delivering fantastic performance at a price well south of $1,000. At $850, there’s nothing quite like it for delivering impressive gaming performance at 1080p, whether you’re playing esports games or dipping your toe into something more graphically demanding.

This laptop pairs an Intel Core i5-10500H CPU with the excellent RTX 3060 GPU, letting you take full advantage of its 144Hz high refresh rate screen. It means you can play faster and more responsive than the competition.

Storage space is also impressive with over half a terabyte to play with. That’s more than enough for larger game libraries, and with support for Wi-Fi 6, you can stay connected to your network and the wider internet with blazing fast speed. Although four pounds isn’t light by mainstream laptop standards, it’s practically svelte for a gaming laptop, making this one of the more portable gaming machines you can buy in 2022.

When you do sit down to game with the MSI GF65, there are plenty of ports you can take advantage of. Whether you’re looking to plug in a gaming mouse, a headset or even a high-speed Ethernet cable for a more reliable connection, this laptop lets you. It comes with two USB-C 3.2 Gen1 ports, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, an HDMI output, an RJ45 Ethernet connector and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Pros

• Excellent performance for the price
• Supports DLSS and ray tracing with new-gen GPU
• Great gaming display

Cons

• CPU is outdated, but still capable
• 8GB of RAM is a little weak

• CPU: Intel Core i7-11375H
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060
• Storage and Memory: 1TB SSD, 16GB DDR4
• Display: 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, 144Hz

Who it’s for: Gamers who don’t want it to be obvious that their laptop can play.

The MSI Stealth 15M blurs the lines between professional ultrabooks and gaming laptops. It retains the performance and raw capability of a gaming laptop whilst enjoying the portability and lightweight design of an ultrabook. But for the power it offers, the tradeoff is that the battery doesn’t last as long as dedicated office machines, and it doesn’t have the same grunt as chunkier gaming devices with huge fins, grills and GPUs.

But if you want to game anywhere with great performance without worrying about breaking your back (or your bank) to get it there, then this is the laptop for you. At just 3.7 pounds, the MSI Stealth 15M is well under the typical 4-5 pound mark of most modest gaming laptops, and at 15 inches, it offers plenty of screen space while still being easy to fit into a backpack or laptop messenger bag.

The Intel Core i7-11375H and NVIDIA RTX 3060 offer stellar gaming performance in esports and AAA games, letting you enjoy the 1080p 144Hz screen to its fullest at an affordable price. With all of that, this laptop not only has solid performance, but a great selection of up to date features, including cutting edge connectivity in Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4.0.

Pros

• Super sleek look and feel
• Very lightweight and portable
• Solid gaming performance, despite size

Cons

• You can get more performance for your money

• CPU: Intel Core i9-12900HK
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti
• Storage and Memory: 1TB SSD, 32GB DDR5
• Display: 17.3-inch, 3840 x 2160, 120Hz

Who it’s for: Mobile gamers who want a no-compromise gaming laptop.

Playing any game on any platform at 4K resolution is seriously demanding. That goes doubly so for mobile platforms like laptops, where there just isn’t much room for cooling. Still, the MSI Raider GE76 manages to be a fully capable 4K gaming system in a relatively small package, delivering stellar gaming performance no matter what you want to play.

It combines the top performing processor and graphics chip for a near-unparalleled mobile gaming experience. The Core i9-12900HK packs a total of 14 cores (six performance cores and eight efficiency cores) at a blistering 5GHz boost clock, and will tear through any games you throw at it, whether you’re targeting high frame rates at 1080p and low settings or the highest-quality visual fidelity in the latest AAA games.

With no RTX 3090s in modern laptops—not yet at least—the Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti is the best mobile GPU you can buy in 2022, and with the capable cooling of this laptop, it has plenty of headroom to work. That makes it more than capable of handling any game at 4K with maximum detail settings and even a bit of ray tracing if you fancy it. You can expect high frame rates in even the most demanding games, letting you take full advantage of the 120Hz 4K display.

With 32GB of high-speed DDR5, this machine is a capable workhorse if you want to do some video editing or 3D modeling in your downtime. This is a laptop that might be designed for games, but it has everything you need for serious work too.

It’s not the lightest laptop at over six pounds. Battery life isn’t particularly impressive, either—it offers a mere few hours of light web browsing, and gaming is surely worse. But you get a robust selection of ports, including USB-A, USB-C and Thunderbolt 4. All in, this is the most capable gaming laptop available today, but you’ll have to pay quite a ransom for the privilege.

Pros

• The fastest mobile gaming hardware possible
• Big and beautiful gaming display
• Excellent port selection

Cons

• Big and heavy
• Runs hot and loud

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060
• Storage and Memory: 1TB SSD, 16GB DDR4
• Display: 14-inches, 2560 x 1440, 120Hz

Who it’s for: Anyone who wants a great all-round laptop with solid gaming performance.

For gaming and school work, you need a capable GPU and a powerful processor, and few laptops can come close to the near-perfect combination inside the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. It combines an AMD Ryzen 5900HS with an NVIDIA RTX 3060 for fantastic gaming power and packs it all inside one of the classiest chassis money can buy.

That octa-core processor was one of the best of its generation, and even as newer designs begin to show up in new laptops, it’s still hotly competitive. It’s fantastic for gaming or even more CPU intensive tasks like video editing or transcoding. If you’re just throwing a few Office tasks at it, it’ll blow through them with ease, even if you’re working with large spreadsheets or lengthy documents.

It’s the combination of that CPU with the Nvidia RTX 3060 mobile GPU that makes it truly special, though. It gives great performance in esports games and AAA titles, and in games where the frame rate climbs high, you can really enjoy a smoother gaming experience thanks to the 120Hz display. Better yet, it’ll give you a competitive edge over gamers with slower screens, and the keyboard is both comfortable and accurate with plenty of travel for such a thin frame.

There’s heaps of storage space (1TB SSD) and all the RAM (16GB DDR4) you’ll need for current and next-gen games. With support for the latest Wi-Fi 6 standards, you’ll have access to the fastest network speeds no matter where you want to play too. At just 3.5 pounds, this powerful little laptop won’t hold you back when gaming on the go, and its sleek white paint job really helps it stand out from the crowds of RGB-lit black and silver.

Pros

• Great blend of performance and portability
• Comfortable and accurate keyboard
• Stand-out looks

Cons

Specs:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-11800H
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060
• Storage and Memory: 512GB SSD, 16GB DDR4
• Display: 15.6-inches, 1920 x 1080, 144Hz

Who it’s for: Gamers who want a compact, attractive laptop with impressive performance, at a great price.

The entire Acer Predator line of affordable gaming laptops is great, but the Predator Helios 300 is something quite special. At around the $1,200 mark, it’s just starting to nudge into the mid-range laptop territory and that brings with it a lot of advantages. This is a capable gaming laptop built to a great standard, and with some very capable hardware inside.

Inside, you’ll find the Intel Core i7-11800H, an eight-core processor with heaps of power for gaming, working and anything else besides. It’s partnered with an Nvidia RTX 3060, which is one of the better mobile GPUs of its generation and gives this laptop all the power it needs for high frame rate gaming at 1080p. With a 144Hz display to power, the internals give you all the performance you need to enjoy a smooth and responsive gaming experience in esports and AAA games.

One real standout feature of this laptop is its cooling, which runs hard to keep it running cool and still relatively quiet while ensuring thermals won’t hold you back. The RGB keyboard is well made and responsive whether you’re typing or gaming.

Acer has also made it easy to upgrade this model, so if in the future you need more RAM or additional storage space, just pop the back panels off and install the drive or sticks that you need. This is by no means a cheap gaming laptop, but it still makes the most of your budget to come in at an attractive price.

Pros

• High-end performance at an affordable price
• Upgradeable design
• Strong cooling keeps the laptop cool and quiet

Cons

• Older processor isn’t as strong as new-gen options

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3070
• Storage and Memory: 1TB SSD, 16GB DDR4
• Display: 15.6-inches, 1920 x 1080, 300Hz

Who it’s for: Esports gamers who want a competitive edge.

High frame rate displays have become seriously popular among competitive gamers in recent years, and with good reason. They can give you a small but notable edge in fast paced games, so a higher refresh rate can sometimes make the difference between winning and losing. Although 120Hz and even 240Hz displays have become relatively common place, it’s still rare to find something much faster. Enter the Asus Strix Scar G15 which has something truly special: a 300Hz display.

This was arguably the best gaming laptop you could buy in 2021, and it still holds its own in 2022. Combining an AMD Ryzen 5900HX eight core processor with an Nvidia RTX 3070 mobile graphics chip, you have all the power you need to play the latest games at the highest detail settings.

Its 1080p display may not be super high resolution, but the 300Hz refresh rate helps make the action buttery smooth no matter what you’re playing. It’s especially important in esports games, where not only will the action look smooth when you hit those high frame rates, but you’ll get a few milliseconds advantage over your opponents.

Asus put a lot of effort into this laptop’s cooling. It uses the iconic liquid metal thermal compound from Thermal Grizzly to maximize heat dissipation through the intelligent cooling system, which helps prevent noise levels from ever getting too high and ensures that you maintain maximum performance even when the laptop starts to warm up.

Pros

• The fastest gaming laptop display you can buy
• Strong hardware helps hit high frame rates
• Unique look

Cons

• Hardware is overkill for most esports games