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MagyarThe Best Gaming Notebooks
The high-end gaming segment does not allow for any compromises. Powered by the latest graphics chips and processors the following gaming notebooks will offer performance at a level similar to that of current desktop computers. Even current and particular demanding PC games will run smoothly in high resolutions and high details. In addition, displays with high refresh rates ensure the highest level of competitiveness possible.
In order to satisfy the increasing number of gaming notebooks we have outsourced the best high-end laptops weighing less than 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) with a maximum thickness of 2 cm (0.8 inches) as well as the best budget gaming notebooks that cost less than 1,500 Euros onto their separate dedicated lists:
- The Best Thin & Light Gaming Notebooks (lightweight and thin gaming laptops)
- The Best Budget Gaming Notebooks (affordable gaming laptops)
The Best Gaming Laptops
The table above contains an overview over the best gaming notebooks reviewed by Notebookcheck over the course of the past 12 months as well as still relevant and available older products. In cases of identical score the more recent device is listed first. All prices in above table and price comparisons are updated daily and can thus differ.
Link: all devices in this class reviewed
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Editors' Comments
With even 10th place, the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro, scoring a rating of 87 % new devices have it very hard to qualify for this list. For example, with a rating of 85 % the Schenker XMG Pro 17 barely missed to meet the requirements. However, we expect new life after Christmas.
1st – Asus ROG Zephyrus S17
One of the more exotic contenders but also one of the best. The entire keyboard can be raised out of its base to improve airflow, which turns the ZS17 into a rather quiet gaming notebook despite its i9-11900H and RTX 3080.
In addition to great performance the Zephyrus S17 offers highlights rarely found on gaming laptops, such as for example a quiet mode of operation and long battery life.
The ROG Zephyrus S17 is currently not available in North America but listed on Amazon nevertheless, albeit without a price at the time of writing.
Pricecompare
2nd – Razer Blade 17
The most exciting upgrade is the 11. generation Intel CPU. Combined with the fact that the 2020 Blade Pro’s Core i7-10875H performed noticeably it managed to impress us quite a bit. Other side benefits of this CPU upgrade are support for PCIe 4 as well as Thunderbolt 4. The GPU installed in our review unit was a 130 W GeForce RTX 3070.
After two years of constant updates the 17.3-inch Blade finally feels as refined as can be and is easier to endorse than ever before since it first appeared in 2019.
The Blade 17 is currently available in seven different SKUs in North America, with prices ranging from $2,400 all the way up to $3,700, although not all SKUs were listed as available at the time of writing. It can be purchased directly from Razer.
Top 10 Laptops
Multimedia, Budget Multimedia, Gaming, Budget Gaming, Lightweight Gaming, Business, Budget Office, Workstation, Subnotebooks, Ultrabooks, Chromebooks
under 300 USD/Euros, under 500 USD/Euros, 1,000 USD/Euros, for University Students, Best Displays
Top 10 Smartphones
Smartphones, Phablets, ≤6-inch, Camera Smartphones
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3rd – Alienware x17 R1
After just one year with the Alienware m17 R2, R3, and R4 design Dell’s Alienware x17 R1 is a fresh new start. The new design allows for a very high level of performance with adequate cooling. Another highlight is its mechanical Cherry MX keyboard.
Considering that Dell’s Alienware x17 is geared for maximum performance it is slightly larger and heavier than its competitors.
The device is freely customizable and offered in three different preconfigured variants in North America. It can be purchase directly through Dell’s own website.
Pricecompare
4th – Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model
Where would you possibly find a 1080p webcam in a laptop – Apple’s MacBook? Microsoft’s Surface? Nope, it’s Razer’s gaming laptop Razer Blade Advanced. It features decent hardware and performance (i9-11800H, RTX 3080) but gets much hotter and louder than the larger Zephyrus in return.
Tiger Lake offers a huge boost in CPU performance. In addition, the laptop features one of the most “modern” webcams currently available.
At the time of writing the best way to purchase a Razer Blade Advanced Model was Razer’s own web shop.
Pricecompare
5th – Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YD
Equipped with a Intel Core i9-11980HK and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 the Aero 17 HDR YD offers great system and gaming performance. Paired with its very good 4K HDR display the laptop is interesting for gamers and creators alike, particularly given that it is fairly quite when not gaming.
The Aero 17 HDR YD is a powerful laptop with RTX 3080 and a very good 4K HRD display for gamers and creators.
The notebook is currently not yet available.
Pricecompare
6th – Lenovo Legion S7 15ACH6
Thanks to its Ryzen 9 5900HX APU and its GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU this laptop is well capable of running almost all games smoothly on its 400 nits 4K display with excellent color accuracy (Pantone-calibrated) and high brightness. Long battery life is the icing on the cake.
Lightweight, compact, and fast – Lenovo’s Legion S7 15ACH6 ticks almost all the boxes.
The device is marketed as Lenovo Legion Slim 7 in North America and is available among others through Lenovo’s own webstore.
Pricecompare
7th – Razer Blade Pro 17 (2021)
The Razer Blade Pro 17 is not only regularly found in our top 10 list but also a hot candidate for the very top, and the 2021 model year is no exception. Our review unit featured a Core i7-10875H CPU paired with a GeForce RTX 3080 (100 W TGP) and was capable of running all current games smoothly albeit not always in maximum details and 4K resolution. As is typical for Razer the case is very sleek, which is to be expected given its price. Downsides include high temperature and noise emissions under load.
The Razer Blade Pro 17 comes with a throttled RTX 3080 in a good-looking case. Temperature and noise emissions are in need of further tweaking and improvement.
Prices start at $2,700 for the GTX 3070-equipped SKU and $3,200 for our GTX 3080-equipped review unit. The device is available through Razer's own webstore as well as the usual retail channels, such as Amazon.
Pricecompare
8th – Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YC
The Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YC features an extremely bright and color-accurate 4K UHD panel that manages to bring its GeForce RTX 3080 GPU with 105 W TGP to its knees every now and then. The slim and visually unobtrusive case is aimed at gamers and creators alike, and thanks to its long battery life and a moderate weight considering its large 17-inch display the device is even somewhat portable. We also liked its Thunderbolt 3 port. On the flip side, we were not particularly fond of its webcam’s placement, its port distribution, and its keyboard backlight (no backlight for secondary characters).
The great UHD display manages to bring the slightly throttled RTX 3080 to its knees. The visually discreet case is aimed at creators as well.
The high-end SKU is available on Amazon and sells for $3,900.
Pricecompare
9th – Schenker XMG NEO 17
The NEO 17 allows its users to fully customize its TGP performance via the included Control Center software, which can turn this laptop into a very powerful portable gamer. As is often the case the AMD SKU offers a higher CPU performance at the cost of support for Thunderbolt.
The NEO 17 offers plenty of possibilities for tuning and fiddling, and its software allows for adjusting almost every setting for maximum performance. On the flip side is its poor battery life.
Schenker notebooks are not sold in North America.
Pricecompare
10th – Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16
With its AMD Ryzen 7 5800H, its NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU with 140 W TGP, and its 32 GB of RAM this powerful 16-inch laptop comes with a 16:10 display running at 2560 x 1600 with HDR-400 support.
The Lenovo Legion 5 Pro is no Arc Reactor but a solid piece of hardware without noteworthy downsides.
The device is available on Amazon with prices starting at just shy of $2,000.
Pricecompare
Comparison of the Top 10 Gaming Laptops
Test Results
| Asus ROG Zephyrus S17 GX703HSD | Razer Blade 17 RTX 3070 | Alienware x17 RTX 3080 P48E | Razer Blade 15 Advanced (Mid 2021) | Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YD | Lenovo Legion S7 15ACH6 82K80030GE | Razer Blade Pro 17 2021 (QHD Touch) | Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YC | Schenker XMG NEO 17 GM7TG8S | Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16ACH6H (82JQ001PGE) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | ||||||||||
| Display P3 Coverage | 94.2 | 71.7 | 88.3 | 66.9 | 86.86 | 85.2 | 88.6 | 87.29 | 67.1 | |
| sRGB Coverage | 98.7 | 98.8 | 100 | 97.1 | 99.99 | 98.8 | 99.98 | 100 | 96.3 | 99 |
| AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 84.4 | 73.6 | 100 | 69 | 99.63 | 98.2 | 99.94 | 99.95 | 68.6 | 73 |
| Response Times | ||||||||||
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 4.8 | 4.2 ? | 14.4 ? | 4.2 ? | 52 ? | 31.6 ? | 15.2 ? | 51.6 ? | 15.2 | 9.2 |
| Response Time Black / White * | 8 | 8.8 ? | 10.4 ? | 10 ? | 26 ? | 16 ? | 12 ? | 24.8 ? | 8.8 | 4.8 |
| PWM Frequency | ||||||||||
| Screen | ||||||||||
| Brightness middle | 322 | 323.3 | 438.7 | 353.4 | 488 | 607 | 407.2 | 458 | 396 | 551 |
| Brightness | 288 | 315 | 435 | 340 | 467 | 605 | 403 | 446 | 366 | 523 |
| Brightness Distribution | 72 | 91 | 91 | 92 | 86 | 93 | 90 | 92 | 82 | 88 |
| Black Level * | 0.3 | 0.33 | 0.48 | 0.31 | 0.33 | 0.41 | 0.42 | 0.37 | 0.45 | 0.54 |
| Contrast | 1073 | 980 | 914 | 1140 | 1479 | 1480 | 970 | 1238 | 880 | 1020 |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 3.05 | 4.59 | 4.34 | 2.17 | 1.23 | 0.84 | 7.25 | 1.52 | 1.43 | 1.8 |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 5.23 | 10.82 | 7.3 | 5.69 | 2.94 | 3.02 | 12.51 | 2.51 | 2.2 | 2.53 |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 1.92 | 1.4 | 0.72 | 1.05 | 0.77 | 0.69 | 3.62 | 0.66 | 1.34 | 1.66 |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 3.11 | 7.9 | 2.4 | 3.4 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 8.1 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.85 |
| Gamma | 2.13 103% | 2.28 96% | 2.09 105% | 2.2 100% | 2.169 101% | 2.131 103% | 2.24 98% | 2.145 103% | 2.4 92% | 2.3 96% |
| CCT | 6553 99% | 5941 109% | 6413 101% | 6830 95% | 6614 98% | 6648 98% | 5925 110% | 6534 99% | 6489 100% | 6338 103% |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 84 | 99 | 88.1 | 100 | 72.81 | |||||
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 99 | 99 | 100 | 100 | 99.41 | |||||
| Noise | ||||||||||
| off / environment * | 23 | 24.2 | 24.9 | 25.1 | 25 | 25 | 26.1 | 26 | 23 | 23 |
| Idle Minimum * | 23 | 24.7 | 24.9 | 25.3 | 30 | 25 | 26.1 | 30 | 23 | 25 |
| Idle Average * | 23 | 24.7 | 24.9 | 25.3 | 32 | 30 | 26.5 | 32 | 23 | 25 |
| Idle Maximum * | 23 | 24.7 | 29.6 | 25.3 | 41 | 36 | 30.7 | 36 | 23 | 25 |
| Load Average * | 41 | 44.3 | 31.1 | 42 | 43 | 42 | 43.5 | 45 | 39.5 | 35.5 |
| Witcher 3 ultra * | 45 | 56.3 | 49.7 | 45.6 | 51 | 53 | 54 | 42 | 54.55 | 46.67 |
| Load Maximum * | 52 | 47.7 | 54.8 | 51.6 | 59 | 54 | 55 | 49 | 55.09 | 50.35 |
| Heat | ||||||||||
| Maximum Upper Side * | 59 | 41 | 58.4 | 51 | 44 | 49 | 38.2 | 51 | 51 | 50 |
| Maximum Bottom * | 53 | 47.2 | 49 | 52 | 56 | 50 | 42.2 | 58 | 62 | 55 |
| Idle Upper Side * | 35 | 33.2 | 33.6 | 35.2 | 32 | 29 | 33.6 | 29 | 35 | 34 |
| Idle Bottom * | 35 | 39 | 34.6 | 37.8 | 35 | 30 | 36.2 | 34 | 38 | 37 |
| Battery Runtime | ||||||||||
| Reader / Idle | 404 | 419 | 841 | 593 | 620 | 548 | ||||
| WiFi v1.3 | 449 | 314 | 353 | 353 | 334 | 421 | 356 | 354 | 224 | 420 |
| Witcher 3 ultra | 62 | |||||||||
| Load | 162 | 88 | 45 | 70 | 69 | 86 | 92 | 96 | 44 | |
| Power Consumption | ||||||||||
| Idle Minimum * | 21.7 | 20.9 | 10.2 | 19.5 | 25 | 13 | 15.2 | 17 | 19 | 10.45 |
| Idle Average * | 27 | 25.1 | 21.2 | 23.3 | 28 | 16 | 20.3 | 21 | 25 | 14.92 |
| Idle Maximum * | 33 | 45 | 48.4 | 40.1 | 40 | 23 | 37.3 | 33 | 28 | 16.02 |
| Load Average * | 108 | 102 | 118.7 | 98.9 | 114 | 95 | 114.9 | 113 | 105 | 119.65 |
| Witcher 3 ultra * | 195 | 189 | 249 | 174 | 176 | 156 | 158.4 | 157 | 223 | 174.85 |
| Load Maximum * | 210 | 234.8 | 262 | 214 | 236 | 191 | 223.7 | 237 | 226 | 187.26 |
* ... smaller is better
