Ranking: Best thin-and-light gaming laptops

The 2025 model of the ROG Zephyrus G16 goes one step further with the RTX 5090, Core Ultra 9 285H, Wi-Fi 7 and 64 GB RAM and is a slim high-end all-rounder competing for the crown with the Razer Blade 16.

The 2025 update of the ROG Zephyrus G16 offers several upgrades and overall performance has increased thanks to the Arrow Lake processor and the new GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU, as has the price.

The new ROG Zephyrus G16 can be ordered from online retailers such as Alternate for €4,799 in Germany.

Asus equips the new 2025 model of the ROG Zephyrus G14 with significantly faster GPU options, eliminating one of the issues of its predecessor, which was only available with the RTX 4070 laptop GPU. The new RTX 5080 offers a significant leap in performance. However, the cooling also had to be adapted, which is why the housing is 2 mm thicker at the rear than before.

Thanks to higher-end GPUs, Asus' ROG Zephyrus G14 offers a significant leap in performance compared to its predecessor and is therefore mostly unrivaled among 14-inch gamers.

Our high-end test configuration has an RRP of 3,899 euros. The less expensive variant with the RTX 5070 Ti (2 TB SSD, 32 GB RAM) costs 3,399 euros and can be ordered from Notebooksbilliger, among other options.

One of our editors has called it the "best mid-range gamer in 2025". The Lenovo Legion 5 15 gets a GeForce RTX 5060 laptop GPU and a 165 Hz OLED panel that offers outstanding image quality. An AMD Zen 4 chip is used as the processor. The case offers a sufficient connection set, a very comfortable keyboard as well as some very good maintenance/upgrade options. The Legion does not disappoint with its performance, either.

All in all, Lenovo is offering a very convincing product here with an excellent OLED panel and the new GeForce RTX 5060 laptop GPU, the latter in its fastest version.

The Legion 5 15 with an AMD Zen 5 processor is available from Lenovo starting from 1,689 euros. Our special test model is available to students and teachers at Campuspoint for 1,449 euros (with no operating system pre-installed).

With the new Blade 14, Razer has a high-quality and rather fast 14-inch all-rounder, which is now more compact and relies on an OLED panel displaying content at 120 Hz. Despite the improvements, the new model is more affordable than its predecessor. Like the latest Blade 16, the 2025 Blade 14 got slimmer and lighter but its casing is still extremely high-quality with a perfect finish, and ports are still plentiful, too. There is also a very comfortable keyboard here and an excellent clickpad.

If you are looking for a mobile all-rounder and have little desire to go higher than 1080p, this is a great option.

Our test configuration can be ordered from Razer Deutschland at an RRP of €2,399.

The latest 16-inch Blade comes with an even flatter housing, despite the RTX 5090 laptop GPU hidden inside. To compensate, some cuts in the CPU department were apparently necessary. The Blade 16 (2025) is a very portable system with a height of just under 17 mm and a weight of around 2 kg, with the case's quality very high despite the smaller size. The notebook's performance is high as well.

Razer's new Blade 16 impresses with high performance despite having thinner casing.

The new Blade is available from Amazon.de or Notebooksbilliger for 4,399 euros, among other options.

The Legion 7 16IAX10 is one of the lightest 16-inch gaming laptops on the market that comes with Arrow Lake HX processor options. Its performance is impressive for the weight, and enough for Notebookcheck to call it an impressive competitor to the Razer Blade 16.

For gamers or power users on the go, the Legion 7 16 Gen 10 is a lighter and cheaper alternative to the RTX 5060-powered Razer Blade 16.

Amazon.de has the Lenovo Legion 7 16 listed for €1,999. The model is also available directly from Lenovo for €1,956 with a 5% discount vs the original price.

The Mid-2025 Core 16 is a mid-range gaming laptop that looks about as modest and unassuming as an office machine. Its 300-Hz display is driven by a GeForce RTX 5070 laptop GPU alongside a Zen 5-architecture CPU, and up to 128 GB of RAM.

The Core 16 is a good 16-inch gamer with an unobtrusive design. Those who plan on both gaming and doing some work might be in luck.

The Core is available straight from the laptop maker (Bestware) starting from 1,579 euros.

Similar to its predecessor, the XMG Core 15 (Mid-2025 model) combines an AMD processor with a strong dedicated Nvidia graphics card, making it a largely successful RTX 5060 gamer in our testing with a good to very good rating in most categories - be it the case, the interfaces, the input devices, the display, the battery life or the sound.

The Core 15 (M25) is a successful gaming laptop and performs almost like its Lenovo counterpart, the Legion 5.

Schenker/XMG's Core 15 M25 can be configured at bestware.com with our test model priced at just over 1,800 euros.

With its Aero X16, Gigabyte was one of the first brands to have made an RTX 5070 laptop GPU-powered slim gaming laptop available. A mighty AMD Ryzen processor completes the offer, making for good efficiency and performance sufficient for mastering many games at QHD 1440p.

The Gigabyte Aero X16 is a slim 16-inch gaming laptop with a GeForce RTX 5070 laptop GPU and AMD CPU. Its matte IPS display operates at 165 Hz and works well for gaming, and RAM can be expanded here.

A somewhat more expensive version of the Aero X16 than the one tested is available for €1,999 from Amazon.de or Notebooksbilliger, among other options.