The Best Thin & Light Gaming Notebooks

The ROG Flow X16 impresses as a unique 2-in-1 gamer with its high performance, a well thought-out cooling system and the bright mini LED display - not only in games, but in all multimedia tasks. Battery life is our main criticism.

Since our test device (GV601RW-M5082W) with Ryzen 9 6900HS, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, RTX 3070 Ti and mini LED display is a pre-production model, it is not yet available on the market. Alternate already lists it for € 3,000. However, models with other configurations can be ordered, for example with a Ryzen 7 6800HS, 16 GB RAM, a 1 TB SSD, RTX 3060 and without a mini LED display for € 2,500. The ROG Flow X16 is not yet available in the US.

The 2022 Blade 14 is the best version of itself yet, as all of the changes are due to direct improvements from the 2021 model, especially the now higher single-threaded CPU performance. However, it is also clear that the GPU has reached its limits with its TGP of 100 W.

Lenovo's thinnest gaming laptop is just 1/100th of a millimeter thicker than the Razer Blade 15 and uses only AMD's latest Zen3+ and RDNA-2 hardware. It does surprisingly well against the competition, as long as you don't mind the high core temperatures. The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 16 (also marketed as Legion S7 16) is the thinner variant of the Lenovo Legion 7 16 (non-slim).

The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 16 offers comparable performance to laptops with a GeForce RTX 3060, it's thin, and the AMD hardware offers a good mix of portability, price, midrange gaming performance, and quality that's better than most RTX 3060 laptops out there.

The 16-inch Legion Slim 7 16 with AMD hardware is now available for configuration in Lenovo's online store starting at $1,279.99. Our configuration costs approximately €2,070 (Lenovo DE). So far, only a few stores carry the Legion Slim 7 16.

This spot was already taken by last year’s Razer Blade 15, equipped with Core i9-11800H CPU and RTX 3080 GPU. Now, Razer updated its Blade 15 with a Core i7-12800H and an RTX 3080 Ti in order to further improve performance thanks to Intel’s 12th generation of CPUs and Nvidia’s latest RTX Ti-series of GPUs.

The Blade 15 and its 12th gen Intel processor make for even more performance in this well-known unibody case without causing more noise or heat.

The "Legion 7" is available twice: once in the normal version and once in thin, with the addition of "Slim". The Lenovo Legion Slim 7i is supposed to convince customers who might otherwise find a gaming laptop too over-designed with its slim and simple exterior. The abbreviation "IAH" also reveals the technical specifications: I stands for Intel, and "AH" for Alder-Lake-H. That is important because the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 is also available in an AMD version, which also appears in this list.

The Lenovo Legion S7i is slim, high-quality and performs well - but less efficiently than its AMD counterpart.

On Lenovo's official store, various configurations of Legion Slim 7 are available now with prices starting from $1,360.

For the first time ever, a tablet makes this list of mobile gaming devices. The Flow Z13 not only features an Alder Lake CPU but also a dedicated RTX 3050 Ti GPU, albeit at a 20 % reduced performance. It also comes with a 13.4-inch 16:10 display running at 1920 x 1200 pixels at 120 Hz with support for G-Sync.

Finally, a real gaming tablet. The Asus ROG Flow Z13 is a powerful gaming tablet with decent cooling performance. Its Alder Lake Core i9 processor is a bit overkill though, and we would have preferred a slightly faster RTX 3050 Ti instead.

For around $1,645, Amazon US lists a variant of Asus ROG Flow Z13, which is equipped with a Core i7-12700H, RTX 3050. 16GB of RAM and 512GB PCIe SSD.

Dell advertises this 14-inch laptop with i7-12700H and RTX 3060 as the world’s thinnest gaming laptop. It features an Intel Alder Lake CPU, a GeForce RTX 3000-series GPU, Thunderbolt 4, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6E, G-Sync, and last but not least Advanced Optimus. All this in a case just 14.5 mm (0.57 inches) thick. The display even covers the entire DCI P3 color space.

The new Alienware x14 features modern technology as well as a decent and consistent gaming performance. However, its thin case requires quite a few compromises in day-to-day life.

The laptop can be configured through Dell’s own webshop with prices starting at $1,500. At the time of writing, it was not available through other channels.

This current generation is even better than the last. Its most important competitor, the Razer Blade 14, will need to take note.

Availability is very limited at the moment, and the only model currently for sale in the US is equipped with a RX 6700S. Prices start at just shy of $2,000.

The Acer Predator Triton 300 SE is a particularly powerful laptop regardless of its size class. However, when it comes to fan noise and SSD performance, other 14-inch gaming laptops have the edge.

The 14-inch Predator Triton 300 SE model is now available from many retailers for around $2,180 in a similar configuration to our test unit (but with 16 GB of RAM). A cheaper model with the Core i7-12700H currently costs around $1,399 on Amazon US.

A Core i7-12700H paired with a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ensure smooth gaming performance on the GS66 12UGS’s native 2560 x 1440 display.

The MSI GS66 12UGS is currently available on Amazon US for around $2,250.