Top 5 Best Gaming Laptops in 2025
Our picks for the best gaming laptops for every type of gamer and budget
A gaming laptop fits PC graphics performance into a small, portable form factor, making it ideal for traveling, using on the sofa, or simply taking up less desk space. There are several options available on the market, including displays that range in size from 14 to 18 inches (the Asus ROG G16 is a wonderful option that falls comfortably in the middle), graphics cards that support a range of resolutions, and costs that start at less than $999 but gradually rise above $5,000. High refresh rate displays, opulent RGB lights, and occasionally even mechanical keyboards are features found in the best gaming laptops.
Every year, we test a number of models to help you select the best gaming laptop by comparing them to well-known titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Borderlands 3. We also check their screen brightness and color gamut, assess battery life, and, of course, play games on them. The top gaming laptops for a range of sizes, budgets, and applications are listed below. We also have special pages for the top gaming laptops under $1,000 and the top gaming laptops under $1,500 for gamers on a limited budget.
We have begun testing the newest 2025 components, including as Nvidia’s “Blackwell” mobile GPUs and Intel’s most recent Core Ultra CPUs. Even though we’re constantly anticipating the upcoming generation of gaming notebooks, those GPUs from the RTX 50 series haven’t yet hit our list. We’re waiting on Nvidia to resolve certain driver issues that were discovered during our assessment of the Razer Blade 16. In order to add more new options to this page, we’re testing more and hope to see them updated shortly.
Additionally, integrated graphics is experiencing a revival, which may prompt some businesses to investigate the potential of systems that do not use discrete GPUs at all. This implies that a number of updated gaming laptops for on-the-go gaming should be available over the coming months.
Table of Contents
BEST OVERALL
1.MSI Titan 18 HX
BEST BUDGET
2. Dell G16 (7630)
BEST BUDGET ALTERNATIVE
3. MSI Katana 15
BEST MID-RANGE
4. Gigabyte Aorus 16X
BEST 14-INCH
5. Asus TUF Gaming A14
1. MSI Titan 18 HX
To be honest, the MSI Titan GT77 HX should have everything. At $5,399.99, the price we tested is well out of most people’s price range (don’t worry, there are cheaper options further down the list). There’s plenty to like here, including a clicky, mechanical keyboard, a powerful performance, and an amazing 18-inch mini-LED screen.
Although they are powerful, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 laptop GPU and the Intel Core i9-14900HX don’t really represent a significant improvement over earlier models. However, you’ll have more memory than you’ll ever require for gaming thanks to 128GB of RAM and 4TB of SSD storage. An excellent tool for video editors would be this one.
The Titan 18 HX performed admirably in some of our most challenging tests, such as running Cyberpunk 2077 on the Ray Tracing Ultra preset, even though the 14th Gen Intel Core processor doesn’t offer any significant performance improvements over 13th Gen Core gaming laptops.
The Cherry MX mechanical keyboard used by MSI is pleasant and clicky. Though it’s a shame that MSI doesn’t use these switches for the number and arrow keys as well, it’s a luxury for typing and gaming.
The 18-inch mini-LED display, however, is the standout feature. It registered an exceptionally bright 559 nits with our light meter and covered 112.4% of the DCI-P3 color gamut in our tests. Movies and games look great on this HDR screen.
MSI has attempted to fit a desktop computer as closely as possible inside a laptop chassis with the Titan. It is intended for those who don’t want or have space for a desktop computer. In many respects, if you can afford it, it’s the best.
2. Dell G16 (7630)
These days, very few laptops are under $1,000, thus the finest equipment for a low budget is frequently a little older. However, the Dell G16 (7630), which is currently frequently in that low-cost price band, offers several conveniences that other businesses do not.
The RTX 4060 in the G16 provides much better gaming performance than the RTX 4050 seen in the majority of gaming laptops at this price. The cherry on top is the fact that Dell came with a Cherry MX mechanical keyboard, which is sometimes seen in more expensive laptops bearing the Alienware moniker. Additionally, a 16-inch screen with a refresh rate of up to 240 Hz is available for quick-twitch competitions.
It lacks some of the newest capabilities (such as a 720p webcam) and is quite heavy, like the majority of low-cost devices. However, it’s difficult to overlook the power you receive for the performance.
3. MSI Katana 15
One of our top picks for gaming laptops under $1,000 is the MSI Katana 15. A $999 model with a Core i7-13620H and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 that we tested had good 1080p performance, while some games may require you to lower the settings.
Although other benchmarks, such as Red Dead Redemption 2, were performed at lesser speeds, the Katana passed 60 frames per second in our tests at some quite high settings. Budget laptops cannot operate at the highest settings for very long when the games become more difficult.
It’s good to see that you get 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage for less than $1,000, as those are frequently among the first specifications to be trimmed for a low-cost PC. Rather, the chassis is composed of inexpensive plastic, but the interior components ought to function well.
Esports players will benefit greatly from the display’s 144 Hz refresh rate, however it could be a little more vibrant. It also has good audio for the price.
4. Gigabyte Aorus 16X
The laptop’s bright 2560 x 1600 screen operates at 165 Hz, making first-person shooters and esports fluid. Its built-in speakers are excellent enough that you won’t need headphones in an emergency, and its Core i7-14650HX CPU and GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card easily handle games on the large display.
Practically speaking, it boasts biometric security from its infrared webcam, productive input devices, and great connectivity (with Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 7). These security measures are nice because a surprising amount of midrange gaming notebooks do not have biometrics.
Gigabyte’s software isn’t the most user-friendly, and you’ll still need to bring a charger with you. However, it’s difficult to argue with what’s being presented here if you want powerful gaming on a good screen at a reasonable price.
5. Asus TUF Gaming A14
The laptop’s bright 2560 x 1600 screen operates at 165 Hz, making first-person shooters and esports fluid. Its built-in speakers are excellent enough that you won’t need headphones in an emergency, and its Core i7-14650HX CPU and GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card easily handle games on the large display.
Practically speaking, it boasts biometric security from its infrared webcam, productive input devices, and great connectivity (with Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 7). These security measures are nice because a surprising amount of midrange gaming notebooks do not have biometrics.
Gigabyte’s software isn’t the most user-friendly, and you’ll still need to bring a charger with you. However, it’s difficult to argue with what’s being presented here if you want powerful gaming on a good screen at a reasonable price.
We also perform a stress test, which at the moment consists of running the Metro Exodus benchmark on the RTX setting 15 times continuously while using HWInfo to record system characteristics. We also do our heat testing at this time.
We also perform a number of productivity benchmarks, such as our own file transfer test, Handbrake, and Geekbench. These evaluate the processor’s overall performance in addition to its single-core and multi-core capabilities.
Using our colorimeter and light meter, we test the brightness of gaming laptop screens and provide the volume of the DCI-P3 and sRGB color gamuts that the screen covers.
Our battery test uses Wi-Fi to connect to a local web server, stream films, do basic OpenGL graphics tests, and browse the web continually. Hours and minutes are used to report how long the laptop took to complete the test.
Not everything is based on benchmarks. The gaming laptops that we review are also ones that we use. Our editors and writers use gaming laptops to write, view videos, listen to music, and browse the web while also playing games. This allows us to express our personal opinions regarding the design, audio, port selection, keyboard, and other aspects. We also get to spend more time playing, which is beneficial!
We open every system to determine which parts are user-replaceable because it is crucial to be able to update and repair gaming laptops. We then chronicle the experience so you can know what you can change in the future and how easy (or difficult!) it is for you to do so.