CheckMag | Team Green's best: 5 of the hottest Nvidia gaming laptops in 2024

If you're after a more compact gaming laptop that caters to gamers, productivity users, and content creators, look no further than the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. For 2024, Asus updated the G14 with AMD's new Ryzen 8000 CPUs and Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4000 series GPUs.

Similar to the aforementioned Blade 16, the Zephyrus G14 impressed in our testing with a sharp display, a robust, lightweight aluminium chassis, and stellar performance for the spec. Although the G14 can only be equipped with up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop, the combination of the mid-range GPU and up to an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS makes for a potent portable powerhouse capable of delivering consistent CPU performance and adequate frame rates in tested games. 

In terms of display, the Asus Zephyrus G14 comes with a new 14-inch OLED display capable of just over 420 nits of brightness, according to our review. It is also G-Sync compatible, to boot, and has near-perfect coverage of the Display P3 colour gamut, at 99.6% coverage. Display response times were also phenomenal, at under 1 ms, while the PWM dimming frequency of 960 Hz is unlikely to bother even sensitive users.

Potential buyers should be aware, however, that the new Zephyrus G14 does sacrifice some performance for its compact form factor. The 2024 Asus Zephyrus G14 with AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS and RTX 4070 can be had for $1,999.99 from Best Buy.

Additionally, the Mini-LED-equipped 2023 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, although a very different beast in nature, also packs a Ryzen 9 7940HS and significantly more powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 and can often be found with significant discounts, like this Best Buy deal for just $1,599.99

No gaming laptop line-up is complete without mention of a Lenovo Legion laptop. The Lenovo Legion Slim 7i is everything you expect from a Lenovo Legion gaming laptop rolled into a high-quality aluminium chassis with excellent spec options and a respectable price tag.

The 16-inch Lenovo Legion Slim 7i might not be available with Intel's latest and greatest 14th-gen CPUs, but the up to an Intel Core i9-13900H doesn't disappoint. In our review of the Slim 7i, the CPU was well-cooled and didn't throttle significantly. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU in the Slim 7i also performed admirably, scoring 5–10% higher than the average RTX 4070 Laptop GPU in our database.

Similarly, the Legion Slim 7i delivers in the display department, with two equally-impressive options available. Both the 2560 × 1600, 240 Hz, 500-nit, IPS panel and the 3000 × 2000, 165 Hz, 430-nit variant are Pantone certified, and both displays will be adequate for most gamers. Although the 3K panel will be more challenging for the GPU to drive, it does have better colour gamut coverage, with 100% Display P3 coverage, compared to the 100% sRGB and 73% Display P3 of the lower resolution, higher refresh rate display. 

The Legion Slim 7i Gen 8 also has plenty of ports, with 3× USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, 1× Thunderbolt 4 port, 1× USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, and an HDMI 2.1 port alongside a full-sized SD card slot.

If you do opt for the Lenovo Legion Slim 7i Gen 8, it's worth keeping in mind that the soldered RAM is single-channel. To maximise performance, it's worth opting for a version with 32 GB of RAM. You can grab the Lenovo Legion Slim 7i Gen 8 from Lenovo directly or at Best Buy for between $1,409.99 and $2,099.99, depending on the configuration.

MSI's Titan 18 HX (curr. $5,399 on Amazon) is hard to beat for out-and-out performance, and the colossal 18-inch gaming laptop is keeping the desktop replacement dream alive. As such, the MSI Titan 18 HX isn't thin or light, measuring in at 32.1 mm (1.26 inches) and weighing in at a whopping 3.6 kg (7.94 lb). 

Those weight and size numbers come with their own benefits, though, since the MSI Titan 18 HX packs up to an unleashed Intel Core i9-14900HX and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU alongside a 4K, 120 Hz 18-inch, Mini-LED display. In our review of the Titan 18 HX, we found the display to be incredibly bright, with a measurement of 1,155 nits maximum brightness in HDR mode and around 460 nits in SDR mode.

Although the display lacks G-Sync, FreeSync, and VRR support, it is also very colour accurate, covering 98.1% of the Display P3 colour gamut.

Aside from that, the thick chassis of the MSI Titan 18 HX delivers lightning-fast performance in terms of both CPU and GPU tests, while also making space for plenty of ports. Specifically, the Titan has 3× USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB Type-A ports, 2× Thunderbolt 4 ports (also capable of USB Power Delivery 3.1 and DisplayPort), 2× HDMI 2.1 ports, a 3.5 mm audio jack, an RJ45 port, and a full-sized SD card reader.

The design of the Titan 18 HX also screams gamer, with an RGB-illuminated trackpad hidden behind the palm rest in the same fashion as the controversial Dell XPS 13 Plus. Per-key RGB backlighting, and aggressive styling and colour accents on the vents all around the machine.

The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14 could be considered the polar opposite of the aforementioned MSI Titan 18 HX. It's small, reserved, and remarkably good value. That's not to say that the Slim 5 14 doesn't perform. In our review of the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14, the diminutive gaming laptop left us with a solid impression thanks to a solid 2.8K, 120 Hz OLED display with 380 nits of brightness and 99.9% Display P3 coverage.

In terms of CPU and GPU performance, the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS we tested performed admirably in our benchmarks, but the Slim 5 14 is also available with an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU in the Legion Slim 5 14, likewise performed as expected, exhibiting no thermal throttling or reduced performance.

While the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14 isn't the be-all and end-all of gaming laptops, it offers solid performance for the $1,295.99 Lenovo is charging for the device.

Notebookcheck reviews (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)