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Best gaming laptop 2021:

Gaming on the go has never been easier. Here are our pick of the best gaming laptops for every budget

Now that Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30-series graphics chips have made their way to portable computers, the best gaming laptops are more powerful than ever.

Nvidia’s new GPUs represent a significant step up in performance from the RTX 20-series, meaning gaming laptops housing them offer a true next-gen experience, complete with stunning graphics and super-smooth framerates.

In addition to that supreme performance, we’re now seeing more console exclusives being ported to PC, while Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass for PC gives players the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of premium titles for a monthly fee.

That combination of factors means there’s no better time to buy one of the best gaming laptops and join the huge community of PC gamers. You could, of course, build your own desktop gaming setup, but if you want to play your games on the go then buying one of the best gaming laptops is the way forward.

You’ll typically have to pay a little extra for the convenience of a gaming laptop, but it will give you significantly more freedom than its wall-tethered desktop alternatives.

Our team of experts are regularly testing the latest and greatest gaming devices and you’ll find our pick of the best gaming laptops listed below. Each has undergone an extensive range of benchmarking tests, which include our in-house 4K processing test, read and write speed tests, graphical tests and a battery rundown test.

Before we jump into our list of the best gaming laptops on the market right now, we’ve put together a handy buying guide detailing all the things you should take into consideration before splashing out on new gaming hardware.

READ MORE: The best laptops money can buy | Best PC gaming headsets | The best budget gaming laptops

The best gaming laptops: At a glance

How to choose the best gaming laptop for you

There are a number of things to consider when buying one of the best gaming laptops. Below, you’ll find a checklist of the key features to look out for along with an explanation as to why they’re so important.

GPU: The graphics processing unit (GPU) is a gaming laptop’s single most important component. As the name suggests, GPUs handle the manipulation of graphics and image processing. When buying a gaming laptop, you want to look for a device that features a dedicated GPU rather than one that is built on the same die at the processor.

Nvidia is the big name to look for in GPU manufacturing, while AMD also produces some very powerful graphics chips. As a general rule, the higher the model number in a product line, the better performance you can expect. For example, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 is superior to the cheaper RTX 3060.

Processor: A laptop’s central processing unit or CPU is another core component. CPU power is measured in GHz and dictates how quickly a laptop retrieves information and executes commands. Newer processors with a greater number of cores and a higher clock speed are more effective at running multiple processes simultaneously. Pretty much every decent gaming laptop houses a CPU made by either Intel or AMD.See related Best budget gaming laptop 2021: The cheapest gaming notebooks from £700Best laptop deals: Big discounts on laptops from Apple, Asus, HP and more this SeptemberBest laptop 2021: The finest Windows, Apple and Chrome OS laptops to buy

RAM: Random Access Memory (RAM) is your gaming laptop’s short-term data storage and the more your device has available, the better. For gaming laptops, you’ll want 8GB RAM at an absolute minimum, though we recommend 16GB if your budget allows.

Storage: The more storage your gaming laptop has the better. A Solid State Drive (SSD) of 512GB or above is enough for most people but consider a device with more storage if you don’t want to have to delete games to make room for new ones.

Display: Your gaming laptop could house extremely powerful internal components but they’d be wasted if your device doesn’t have a display capable of doing them justice. You’ll want a display with at least Full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080p), while 4K displays (3,840 x 2,160p) are starting to become more common but are significantly more expensive. Bear in mind, your GPU needs to be very powerful if it’s to render graphics at playable framerates at native 4K resolution.

Pay attention to the display’s refresh rate as this dictates how many frames per second it can display. Refresh rates are measured in Hz, with a higher figure resulting in smoother on-screen action.

You’ll also want to think about the size of the display. 15.6in is typically the sweet spot for gaming laptops, though there are plenty of 17in models out there, too. The larger the display the more screen real estate but the heavier the device becomes. If you plan on using your gaming laptop while on the go, you’ll want to avoid larger options.

Connectivity: Gaming laptops encourage the use of peripherals such as headsets, speakers mice and external hard drives. Make sure the laptop you buy has the corresponding ports to support such accessories and that it also supports Bluetooth if you plan to use peripherals wirelessly. USB-A ports are always useful, while newer connection standards like USB-C and Thunderbolt are worth keeping an eye out for.

Keyboard: If you’re not using an external controller, a gaming laptop’s keyboard becomes an extremely important feature. Most gamers favour mechanical keyboards over their membrane counterparts as they’re more precise and tactile.

Keyboards are also where a lot of gaming laptop manufacturers like to incorporate some form of RGB lighting. This adds a colourful twist to your device and many allow you to customise the colours of each key individually. While far from a necessity, those that want a personalised portable gaming experience will want to ensure their gaming laptop sports RGB lighting in some form.

Battery life: If gaming laptops have one big weakness, it’s their battery life. The power required to run demanding games means they won’t last very long when not plugged into the mains. This isn’t a big deal if you’re going to spend most of your time gaming at your desk but it’s worth bearing in mind if you’re looking for a device to use portably.

How much should I spend on a gaming laptop?

Gaming laptops don’t come cheap. The powerful internal components needed to run AAA titles mean that even budget options will set you back around £700. We don’t recommend dipping much below that figure if you want a satisfying gaming experience.

Decent mid-range options tend to cost in the region of £1,000 to £1,500, while premium devices designed for gamers that want top-end specs and all the bells and whistles available can expect to pay in excess of £2,000.

Best gaming laptop 2021:

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Windows 11: Just say no

It will be one thing, say, later this year or in 2022, to buy a new PC with Windows 11. We can be reasonably certain that Windows 11 will run on your new Dell, HP, or Lenovo PC. Maybe some of your drivers and programs won’t run, but Windows 11 itself? No problem.

But, if you want to update your existing computers, especially those that have a few years on them — that’s another story. It’s difficult to know whether any given computer will run Windows 11, which arrives Oct. 5. Yes, there’s Microsoft’s PC Health Check app and other programs to determine whether you can run Windows 11. But Microsoft pulled it the first time around and I’m none too sure how reliable it is this time around.[ Related: What enterprise needs to know about Windows 11 ]

There are other “Can I run Windows 11?” programs. (I like the free and open-source WhyNotWin11.) But the only way you can really know if your PC will run Windows 11 is to, well, try to run Windows 11 on your PC.

That can be an expensive and annoying experiment. Sure, the upgrade itself is free. But no one’s going to be paying you — unless you’re someone like me who writes about this stuff — to upgrade your Windows 10 machine and then find out it doesn’t work right or it doesn’t support an essential application. In fact, Computerworld’s own Microsoft Patch Lady, Susan Bradley, recommends you hold off on moving to Windows 11.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.480.1_en.html#goog_410769075Volume 0% 

Microsoft remains confused as ever about what can, and can’t, run Windows 11. For example, and I’m not making this up: Microsoft has relaxed its Windows 11 Insider Program beta rules so you can run Windows 11 beta releases on PCs that won’t be able to run Windows 11 when it ships Oct. 5.

Why would the company do this? Doesn’t it know it’s going to tick off some of their most loyal users who want an early jump at Windows 11 when those users discover — surprise! — they can’t run Windows 11 after all? That makes no sense.

I’ve been running the Windows 11 Beta Channel 22000.184 release on a new computer — a Beelink GTR7 Mini PC  —  bought just so I could check out the new OS. This PC is powered by a 4GHz AMD Ryzen 7 3750H processor. The CPU is backed by 16GB DDR4 RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD for storage.

In short, it’s a decent PC. And after fooling around with Windows 11 for six weeks now, I can safely say I see no point in “upgrading” to it.

I do think there’s one good reason to move to Windows 11. It has better security, presuming your hardware can support it. But, and pay attention now, it turns out you can turn on most of Windows 11’s security goodness in Windows 10.

As Jason Perlow recently pointed out: “If you are running the 20H2 release (Windows 10 October 2020 Update) as a consumer, small business, or enterprise, you can take advantage of these [“new” security features] if you deploy Group Policy or simply click into Windows 10’s Device Security menu to switch them on.

He’s right. You can. The tools are already there. I’ve done it myself on three of my older Windows PCs. All of which, I might add, probably won’t run the final version of Windows 11.

Perlow goes into detail about how to do this, so I don’t need to repeat him here. My point is that since you can lock down Windows 10 on newer PCs just as well as Windows 11 — without any danger or trouble — there’s really no good reason to upgrade.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting-edge PC operating system, 300bps was a fast Internet connection, WordStar was the state-of-the-art word processor, and we liked it!

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How to save power

Modern laptops are more powerful than ever before, and thanks to advancements in mobile technology, they are also more efficient as well, giving them ever greater battery lives.

However, they still need to be plugged in a juiced up throughout the day.  While laptop battery life is a chief cause of mobile moans, it’s possible to get significant improvements by good practice and a few software tweaks. To help you get a longer laptop battery life, here are 10 easy ways to improve it. 

1. Dim your screen

The screen is one of the most power-hungry parts of the laptop. It takes serious amounts of battery power to keep your display looking clear and bright. Saving this power is simply a question of turning the brightness down. 

The screen brightness button is usually located as a second function of one of the F keys, and is represented by a little sun symbol with up and down icons. To use it, just hold down the correct function key and then choose up or down.RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU…CLOSEhttps://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.480.1_en.html#goog_1113833299https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.480.1_en.html#goog_296936476Volume 0%Advertisement PLAY SOUND

2. Change power settings

Windows 10 comes with some great power features, which enable you to eke out the best performance when you’re plugged into the mains, and optimise battery life when on the move. 

Type ‘power options’ into the Start Search box and choose ‘Power saver’ from the list. Windows 10 also has more methods for saving battery life. These include settings for powering off the monitor and kicking into sleep mode more quickly.

3. Switch off Wi-Fi

One of the biggest battery sappers is the wireless networking capabilities built into most laptops. Wi-Fi drains the battery by constantly drawing power from the battery and, when not connected, looking for networks. 

When you’re using your laptop away from the grid, the likelihood is you’re away from wireless networks, so you can turn this device off. Many laptops have a function button that enables you to turn off the wireless adaptor manually to save yourself the unnecessary waste, but older laptops often don’t have this.

If this is the case, open up the Notification Center by clicking the speech bubble icon on the far-right side of the taskbar, and click on ‘Wi-Fi’ to turn it off.

4. Turn off peripherals

Using USB peripherals can put a drain on your system, because your motherboard has to power them, so unplugging everything saves juice. USB sticks, mice and webcams are common offenders, so copy all your information across and eject your devices as soon as possible, and put up with laptop track pads over your USB mouse.

Many laptops have function buttons to turn off the built-in webcam, which drains the battery if given the chance. And switch your speakers to mute if you’ve no need for sound – your laptop beeping every time it gets an email or boots Windows can be a drain.

5. Eject your disc drives

Having a disc spinning in the drive is a huge drain on resources, and many programs constantly do this. Simply eject your discs before you switch to battery power to gain vital extra minutes from your working day.

Most modern laptops don’t come with disc drives installed these days, but if yours does, it’s worth making sure it’s empty when you’re on the move.

6. Invest in some hardware

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Good practice can go some way to extending your battery life, but if you need to use your laptop throughout your working day, you’re going to need some help. 

Most laptops come with a six-cell battery, but many manufacturers offer eight- or even 12-cell optional upgrades, which can double your power. 

The alternative to expensive laptop batteries are portable laptop battery chargers, which give you valuable extra hours for all your devices. These are usually compact battery units that have adapters for most laptops and mobile phones, which is portable enough to be placed in a bag and has enough capacity to double the length of your charge.

Check out our list of the best portable laptop battery chargers and power banks for our pick of the best devices to keep your laptop charged.

7. Disable features

Windows 10 has some handy built-in features, but many put demands on your system that are unnecessary when working on the move. Take the simple measure of turning off graphical effects when you’re on the move to make your laptop more efficient.

8. Battery care

Lithium-Ion batteries don’t need a complete discharge (contrary to popular belief) but also you should use a battery once you’ve charged it. 

If you have a spare you keep topped up, use that instead of your main regularly. If you have an older non-Lithium-Ion battery, you’ll need to regularly discharge it.

Matt Hanson

Senior Computing editor

Matt (Twitter) is TechRadar’s Senior Computing editor. Having written for a number of magazines and websites, there’s no aspect of technology that Matt isn’t passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. If you’re encountering a problem or need some advice with your PC or Mac, drop him a line on Twitter.

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