The best gaming laptops of 2024 tried and tested for power, price and graphics

We tested this year’s best gaming laptops, from budget machines to hardcore gamer PCs with top-end processors and the latest graphics cards

There’s something magnificent about the twinkling lights and whooshing fans of a gaming laptop: even the most expensive everyday laptops are unlikely to stir your pulse rate like the best gaming laptops. With top-of-the-line components and often intimidating price tags, there’s a thrill to going into your favourite PC game and whacking all the graphics settings to max. 
Despite my advancing years, I still enjoy games and play daily – usually on a gaming laptop that doubles as my workspace. But what makes a superlative gaming laptop in 2024? I spoke to gaming enthusiast, PC and cybersecurity expert Michael Robert of GTA Boom . 
‘As an engineer who’s taken these machines apart,’ Michael says, ‘I’ve learned a thing or two about what matters under the hood. You’ll want a powerful CPU like an Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 for smooth gameplay – or a Core i9 if you can stretch to it. Paired with a dedicated graphics card like an RTX 40-series (higher numbers are better), you’ve got the graphics muscle needed for today’s demanding titles.’
Taking Michael’s advice, I tried all the best new gaming laptops from key players like Asus, ACER and MSI. You can read my full reviews below, followed by Michael’s advice on what to look for in a gaming laptop, but if you’re in a hurry, here’s a quick look at my top five:
In terms of starting price, most of the best gaming laptops start at around £1,000, but you can pick up some models for less, Michael says. The good news is it’s now perfectly possible to get great performance without spending several thousand.
Michael says that it’s key to find a machine that fits your gaming habit. If you play fast-paced first-person shooter games, it’s good to get a machine with a very fast screen (ie 144Hz). OLED screens offer deeper blacks and better colours. Read our guide to the best gaming monitors for an explanation of the different screen technologies.
Big brands include ASUS, Acer, Lenovo and MSI and it’s best to choose a specialist machine over one from brands with less experience in gaming. The best gaming laptops have to be well-engineered to balance gaming firepower with their built-in fan cooling systems. 
I tested all of these laptops by installing and playing the graphically demanding game Cyberpunk 2077 to gauge the performance of the graphics card, screen and speakers, as well as the noise and performance of fans and the heating of the machines. Each test lasted three to four days.
I also used the machines for a variety of everyday computing tasks, since several of the machines under test here are built for dual use, doubling as a work machine. I also put the machines into a laptop bag and took them for a walk to gauge their portability, which is not traditionally a strong suit for powerful gaming laptops. 
Battery life is not a strong suit, either. All lasted the best part of a day for office tasks, but far less for gaming. High-end graphics processing uses a lot of energy – but varies hugely from day to day. I will give the manufacturers’ ratings below for rough comparison. Most gamers play while plugged in.
If you’re upgrading your computer set-up, you might want to read our guides to the best broadband service providers and the best wi-fi extenders next. 
 
£3,899.99 for 18-inch model tested, John Lewis
Best overall, 10 out of 10
We like: An awe-inspiring beast of a machine packed with the latest silicon
We don’t like: What’s the point of a laptop too big to take with you? 
ASUS’s ROG (that’s Republic of Gamers) laptops are targeted squarely at the hardcore, with this monstrous Strix chosen to showcase the sheer power on offer from top-end machines. For an absolutely compromise-free gaming experience, it’s really hard to fault this awe-inspiring 18-inch beast of a laptop. 
Sure, it costs four grand and it feels like a paving slab to lift, but it does an incredibly impressive job of packing in all the latest and greatest components to deliver searing performance. But make no mistake, this is not a laptop you’re going to casually sling into a shoulder bag: it’s hard to fit into most laptop bags, it’s very heavy and the charger is vast.
For the money, it’s got pretty decent build quality, with a full-sized keyboard with decent travel in the keys and a pleasingly solid metal finish – although ASUS have gone out into cyberpunk country with a transparent plastic edge round the device, which looks cool but feels slightly cheap on a laptop the price of a car. 
But this sort of machine is all about showcasing bleeding-edge components, and it really doesn’t disappoint. The 18-inch 240Hz Nebula display is utterly gorgeous and incredibly bright, flanked by four extremely powerful Dolby Atmos-compatible speakers. It would be great for watching films, if that wouldn’t be an absurd waste of the processing power under the bonnet here.
The Strix 18 packs the latest Intel i9 processors, plus the top-of-the-line RTX 4090 graphics card and a generous 32GB of RAM. There’s something glorious about being able to switch on graphically demanding games and turn every graphics setting to max, knowing that it won’t cause an issue: that’s where this machine delivers value. 
Cyberpunk 2077 looks insanely beautiful through this machine and it handled Doom Eternal on ‘Ultra Nightmare’ graphics setting with equal aplomb, and with the fans only discreetly whirring. 
At 3.1kg, this is only barely portable, though. You really wouldn’t want to be hauling it to work every day. And in fact, you can build a high-performing desktop PC for far less money. So, while this looks great and performs almost unbelievably well, it’s a weirdly positioned sort of luxury. But it’s hard to deny the appeal when you are bathed in the glow of that 240Hz screen.
£1,198.99 for 15.6” model tested, Scan
Best value gaming laptop, 8/10
We like: Bulletproof body with the brains to match
We don’t like: Screen and speakers aren’t the best out there
Some of the hottest competition in the gaming laptop market is in budget models that balance performance with a real-world price, and Asus’s TUF series compete with machines such as Acer’s Nitro for the cost-conscious gaming market. This year’s TUF Gaming F15 offers cutting-edge hardware (we tested a model with 16GB of RAM, an Intel i7 processor and, most importantly, a 4000-series Nvidia graphics card), and it offers a lot of punch for not that much cash. 
The TUF doubles as a more-than-adequate workhorse laptop, especially for anyone manipulating video or images for work or study, and it wears its gamer credentials with a certain degree of subtlety (well, sort of subtle, it still has an RGB keyboard and lit-up WASD keys). For a budget laptop, the hefty 2.2kg metal build here feels very sturdy indeed, and Asus proudly boasts that each TUF gaming laptop is torture-tested to military MIL-STD-810H specifications against drops, humidity and temperature, meaning you can sling it in a shoulder bag without worrying. 
This year’s model is a great performer, with a 144-Hz 1080p screen staying very smooth indeed with Cyberpunk 2077: the IPS panel isn’t the most bright or colourful on the market (I compared it side-by-side with Asus’s own Strix 18), but it does the job, and remains smooth enough for fast-paced shooter games such as Necromunda Hired Gun. 
There’s a decent array of ports including a Thunderbolt port which can keep it charged up without requiring the hefty transformer brick that comes with it (although obviously this won’t keep up if you start playing demanding games. This is a great performer which thoroughly lives up to the TUF name, offering (almost) bomb-proof form factor and a decent array of silicon for budget-conscious gamers. 
If you are using your laptop for work, by the way, you might want to check out my guide to the best antivirus software to keep you safe on public networks.
£2,149.99 for 14-inch model tested, Razer
Best portable gaming laptop, 10/10
We like: Incredible power in a poised, elegant package
We don’t like: Even the starting price is brutal
You can often feel real quality in the portable PC market, and the body of this machine is cut from two single pieces of sturdy, strong and expensive CNC-milled aluminium. Compared to laptops with a cheaper finish it feels solid, almost sword-like. 
There’s an anti-fingerprint coating, so your greasy digits don’t spoil the look, and the display is nothing short of stunning once you spark it up. It’s a super-sharp OLED with a 240Hz refresh rate. Pair that with a classy keyboard that lights up in response to events like you plugging in the power (you can customise in millions of colours, naturally) and you’ve got an incredibly desirable little machine. And that’s before you even take a look under the bonnet. Spoiler alert: there is a LOT going on under the bonnet.
Razer’s Blade machines aim to deliver uncompromising power in a svelte form, and this does not disappoint. There’s an AMD Ryzen 9 processor, the latest 40-series Nvidia graphics card (the model we tested had a 4060, but there is an option for an Nvidia 4070 plus 32GB of RAM). This outperforms a lot of 17-inch machines, and somehow remains cool, calm and collected while doing so. 
The performance is insane from a machine this small, with Cyberpunk 2077 looking drop-dead gorgeous on the screen (the screen alone is astounding, with incredible brightness and colour coverage, with a 2,560-by-1,600 pixel resolution which the graphics card is more than capable of supporting). Little touches like an anti-glare coating and a privacy shutter on the webcam round out the feeling of a really high-quality product here. This looks and feels the part, and performs like a dream. 
Obviously, cramming this much performance into a chassis this thin (it’s just 17.99mm) and managing to keep everything quiet and not have the machine melt its way into Earth’s core requires quite a bit of engineering. And equally obviously, you’re going to pay for that. The starting price for this year’s Razer 14 is £2,099, and it only goes up from there. This is premium performance, but at a very premium price. 
£1,699.99 for 16-inch model tested, Acer
Most powerful gaming laptop for the money, 9/10
We like: remarkable specs for the (discounted) price
We don’t like: the outward appearance is not so impressive
Acer is a favourite amongst gamers, with its Nitro range (below) offering cost-effective performance and this Predator range offering serious power. The Predator is officially £1,700, but you’ll frequently find it discounted to less than £1,300. Look out for those deals, because its cutting-edge graphics card and gorgeous, bright screen make it a catch.
The classic RGB lighting makes the keyboard sparkle with colour: this look is very much classic gamer’s laptop. But even five years ago, there’s no way you could have got this sort of performance for this money. 
Cyberpunk 2077 looks absolutely gorgeous on screen, with no slowdown even on the highest settings and this comfortably reaches 165Hz on Full HD graphics. The cooling fans stayed whisper-quiet with Cyberpunk and the speakers are decent, if not great. 
Don’t expect huge expanses of cool, strokeable aluminium here: this is very much plastic (and prone to picking up greasy fingerprints), and nor is it terribly portable. But this offers very high-end components for a very reasonable price – if you can catch it at the right time.
Currently £1,449 for 14-inch model tested, HP Store
Best-looking gaming laptop, 8/10
We like: There’s nothing this good-looking out there
We don’t like: You can get better performance for this price
This is an absolutely gorgeous machine, a real one-of-a-kind in the gaming market, with almost Apple Mac-esque sleekness, but without the Mac’s reluctance to play top-end games. It’s an incredibly tiny, slim, desirable machine and unlike most gaming laptops, turns heads for the right reasons. 
But it’s still something of an odd proposition, as the size means you are paying £1,799 for something that doesn’t deliver the absolute top end of gaming performance (although it’s packing an Nvidia 4000-series card, so it’s clearly no slouch).
I tested the Omen Transcend in white with a smooth finish, and it’s easily the best-looking gaming laptop I’ve seen full stop, looking very much like something a graphic designer would sling into a fashionable shoulder bag. The ceramic finish is lovely, the RGB keyboard is classy and restrained, and cooling vents are discreetly hidden on the underside. 
The 14-inch OLED screen with 2880 x 1800 resolution is utterly gorgeous, far outclassing the IPS screens in most machines of this size, and the keyboard is a decent compromise when it comes to size, with enough travel to make it comfortable to use. 
In terms of gaming performance, it packs an Nvidia 4000-series and 16GB of RAM so it blasts pretty much anything in this size bracket out of the water, and absolutely rules at 1080p resolution in particular, with Cyberpunk 2077 looking gorgeous on the OLED screen. There’s extras such as Wi-Fi 7 (a new specification which your router probably doesn’t support, but which offers a welcome bit of future-proofing), and the rig comes in at just 1.63kg. There’s literally no other gaming laptop that will make you look this good. 
£699 for 15.6-inch model tested, Argos also available at Acer
Best gaming laptop under £1,000, 8/10
We like: An incredible price for this entry-level gaming laptop
We don’t like: Not the most interesting-looking machine on the block
There’s two sorts of ‘gamer laptop’, broadly speaking. There are vast slabs adorned with enormous amounts of flashing multi-coloured RGB lights and alarming logos, often to be found in boxes with pictures of space warriors on the outside. And then there’s the ones that don’t wear their heart on their sleeve quite so much and pack a decent amount of gaming power into a shell that won’t cause mockery if you bring it to the office. 
Acer’s Nitro 5 is a perfect example of the second sort of laptop, the gaming equivalent of a sporty little runaround in the car world. It’s also very reasonably priced, which makes it a great choice for someone hoping to dip a toe into the gaming world without breaking the bank. 
Cyberpunk 2077 looks gorgeous on the screen and the Nitro 5 is more than up to the task even with all the ray tracing (a graphics programme for better shadows and transparency) switched on. The fans kicked into life, but discreetly enough that it didn’t interrupt gameplay. 
The build quality is nice, even if the looks are a touch dull, and the keys are sturdy enough that you won’t need to worry about the W, A, S and D keys falling off after a few months (a common problem for gamers). The screen’s nice, rather than amazing, but the GeForce RTX 4050 is enough to let you squeeze 144Hz out of the screen on lower graphics settings. 
This is probably the best laptop for a student hoping to unwind with a bit of first-person-shooter action after lectures. 
£1,420.74 for 14.5-inch model tested, Lenovo
Best small gaming laptop, 8/10
We like: gorgeous OLED screen
We don’t like: fairly average speakers
Lenovo’s Legion laptops have showcased the PC giant’s gaming expertise for years, and the Slim models offer a perfect balance of power and poise. At 14 inches across the screen, this notebook is a lot more shoulder-bag-friendly than other gaming laptops, and it also offers very decent value. Lots of gaming laptops squarely fail the portability test for various reasons: this one’s sturdy enough and light enough to travel between home, office or even to take travelling. So as a multi-purpose device, it really delivers great value. 
The design is unusually subtle and refined for the gaming laptop market, with a grey aluminium chassis and a rear panel covered in ports (HDMI out and two USBs) offering the only real hint that this might pack some serious gaming grunt under the bonnet. 
If you’re looking for a mid-range gaming laptop where you don’t have to confess to every single colleague that you’re a PC gamer, it’s hard to fault this. With an AMD Ryzen 7 processor and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, it’s up to the demands of pretty recent games. Cyberpunk 2077 looks gorgeous on the screen and didn’t stutter even on high graphics settings. While the fans did hiss into life, it was all very tolerable. 
But the real star of the show is its OLED screen, with a 120Hz refresh rate. OLED screens offer great colours and very deep blacks but in times gone by tended not to be used in gaming machines. Here, it’s fast enough to work even for relatively twitchy games, and looks absolutely lovely. 
The keyboard is also a world away from the garish, lit up ‘gamer’ ones. It feels high-quality and adult, with white backlighting and easily accessible arrow keys. Rapid charging offers the option to boost battery up to 70 percent in just 30 minutes via USB-C charging. That’s perfect for an unusually portable gaming machine. 
Currently £1,899.97 for 16-inch model tested, Currys
Best 4K gaming laptop, 9/10
We like: gorgeous screen and slim looks
We don’t like: 60Hz refresh rate is not fast enough for hardcore gamers
Taiwanese brand MSI (Micro Star International) has a long heritage in gaming, including sponsoring e-sports stars, and this laptop was chosen to illustrate crossover 4K performance and gaming prowess.
It was produced in partnership with Mercedes-AMG, which is why the on-button says, ‘Start engine’ and the AMG rhombus logo adorns the space bar, the hinge and even the webcam shutter. It’s a fine-looking machine in spite of these extras. It’s extremely slim and light, in marked contrast to the bulk of most gaming laptops – and indeed, to the bulk of Mercedes-AMG cars. 
The screen is frankly gorgeous. It’s a 16-inch OLED with 4K resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate. That’s not fast enough to impress hardcore competitive gamers, but it will be totally fine for everyone else, including content creators such as video editors, or just anyone who wants to unwind with Amazon Prime’s latest. Pair that with its light, slim form and you have a fine multi-tasking work/play machine for a young professional.
Fittingly for a laptop ‘twinned’ with a supercar, there’s a lot of fancy silicon under the bonnet, with the latest Core i9 processor and a beefy Nvidia 4070 graphics card, which tore through Cyberpunk 2077 with style. Amazingly, the fans actually managed to keep this super-slim machine reasonably cool (and without too much noise), even with Cyberpunk on high graphics settings.  
The 4K screen looks astonishing with games, and the fact you can easily sling this in a backpack makes it a great choice if you can stomach the high price. 
 
‘They’re worth buying for those who prioritize portability and want to play demanding games,’ says expert Michael Robert of Epic Games. ‘They offer a balance between performance and mobility, allowing gamers to enjoy high-quality gaming experiences on the go.’
‘To ensure a good gaming experience,’ Michael says, ‘look for a gaming laptop with a powerful CPU, a dedicated GPU, a good cooling system, a high-quality display, and sufficient RAM. These components are essential for smooth gameplay and overall performance.’ 
‘The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the “brain” of a computer that carries out instructions and performs calculations,’ Michael says. ‘In gaming laptops, a powerful CPU is essential for handling game processes and ensuring smooth gameplay.’
‘The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is responsible for rendering images, animations, and videos,’ Michael says. ‘In gaming laptops, a dedicated GPU is crucial for delivering high-quality graphics and enabling smooth gaming experiences.
‘In the context of gaming laptops, PSU typically refers to “Power Supply Unit,” which is the component responsible for supplying power to the laptop,’ Michael says. ‘However, in gaming laptops, the power supply is usually integrated into the laptop and is not a user-replaceable part like in desktop PCs.’
‘Frame rate refers to the number of frames or images displayed per second in a game,’ Michael says. ‘A higher frame rate results in smoother and more fluid motion in games. VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) is a technology that synchronises the display’s refresh rate with the GPU’s frame rate, reducing screen tearing (where the game fails to sync with the screen) and providing a smoother gaming experience.’
‘RAM (Random Access Memory) is a type of computer memory that is essential for running applications, including games,’ Michael says. ‘In gaming laptops, sufficient RAM is important for smooth multitasking and running games without performance issues.’
System cooling in gaming laptops refers to the mechanisms and components designed to dissipate heat generated by the CPU and GPU during intense gaming sessions. Effective system cooling is crucial for maintaining optimal performance and preventing thermal throttling.
Michael says, ‘Intensive and prolonged gaming can potentially reduce the lifespan of a gaming laptop due to increased heat generation and component stress. However, with proper maintenance, such as regular cleaning and monitoring of temperatures, the impact on the laptop’s lifespan can be minimised.
‘Buyers should also be aware that gaming laptops can have durability issues – both in terms of the constantly increasing performance demands of new games, and in terms of wearing out due to the intense heat.’
Michael says, ‘This mattered to me personally when I picked up a high-end laptop years ago. While it performed well initially, that intense heat took its toll over time. Before long, games were running less well, and repair costs mounted.
‘Compare that to my homemade desktop – a few selective upgrades have kept it in the fight much longer at a lower price. If mobility is mission-critical, gaming laptops open whole new possibilities. Just go in, eyes wide open, about potential longevity issues.’