The best gaming laptops in Australia for 2024

Best gaming laptop: Razer and Lenovo gaming laptops on a blue background
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MSI Raider GE78HX

(Image credit: MSI)

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We've been testing the best gaming laptops, digging deep into the latest flavors of AMD processor and Nvidia graphics silicon, and we know which notebooks sing and which are just tone-deaf. We're not just talking about sleek, expensive new machines, either, we've picked a range of gaming laptops at different price points to highlight which give you the best bang for your buck and which are just outright awesome.

The current generation of mobile GPU and CPU are now established, offering the best Nvidia, AMD, and Intel have to offer, and Intel's Meteor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh machines are starting to filter out, too. I've already tested a host of potential alternatives, but the best gaming laptop remains the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i. It makes the best RTX 4090 gaming laptops, including the Razer Blade 16 and Asus ROG Zephyrus M16, and even the frankly ridiculous MSI Titan GT77 HX, look like overkill.

If you can't face spending the big bucks to bag a fine mobile machine, our pick for the best budget gaming laptop is the Gigabyte G6X. You may need to add in some extra RAM to make it really fly, but that's easy enough and cheap enough to do.

Curated by
Dave James
Curated by
Dave James

Dave has had his head in PCs and gaming laptops for a couple of decades now, and knows what makes them tick, and what makes the best gaming laptop for every budget. Whether it's about looking for the highest performance, the best value, best screen, or just the best build quality, Dave has spent time prodding and tweaking pretty much all the laptops on this list.

The quick list

Recent updates

Updated August 16, 2024 to ensure all our picks are still the best gaming laptops of their respective categories (they are) and update and improve some review copy.

The best gaming laptop

The best gaming laptop

Specifications

CPU: Up to Core i9 13900HX
GPU: RTX 4090, RTX 4080, or RTX 4070
RAM: Up to 32GB DDR5
Screen: 2560 x 1600, 16:10 aspect ratio
Storage: Up to 2TB Gen 4 SSD
Battery: Up to 99.99Wh
Dimensions: 10.32 x 14.3 x 0.86–1.01 inches
Weight: 6.17lbs

Reasons to buy

+
Solid, grown-up chassis
+
Excellent CPU performance
+
Competitive price

Reasons to avoid

-
Weak battery life
-
1600p screen isn't the most punchy
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 8)| Intel Core i9 13900HX | Nvidia RTX 4080 (150W) | 32GB DDR5 | 1TB NVMe SSD

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 8)| Intel Core i9 13900HX | Nvidia RTX 4080 (150W) | 32GB DDR5 | 1TB NVMe SSD
The RTX 4080 model is our absolute favorite version of the Legion Pro 7i. That's the same one we've tested ourselves. This awesome chassis delivers enough headroom for the RTX 4080 to shine in games, and it often matches laptops with more restrained RTX 4090 GPUs inside. Tough to argue with that.

We tested: Intel Core i9 13900HX | Nvidia RTX 4080 (150W) | 32GB DDR5 | 1TB NVMe SSD


Buy if...

You want serious gaming power: The RTX 4080 mobile GPU is a fantastic gaming chip, offering stellar performance on the native 1600p screen. And that Intel CPU is an absolute monster of processor, too.

You value good value: Most of the next-gen laptops we've tested so far have had an almost punitive price premium attached to them, which makes them hard to justify. The Legion Pro 7i, however, can offer performance as high as a Razer Blade 16 with an RTX 4090 inside it, while coming in significantly cheaper.

You want a grown-up laptop: The Lenovo chassis is smart, stylish, and doesn't come with any over-the-top 'gamer' aesthetic bull.

Don't buy if:

You need looong battery life: The biggest downside with the Legion Pro 7i is its gaming battery life is one of the weakest we've seen. Given the high-powered GPU that's maybe not a surprise, and realistically you are going to gaming plugged in for the most part.

You're after something super portable: The 16-inch chassis isn't that much bigger than a standard 15-inch machine thanks to the thin bezels around the screen, but they don't offer the same level of portability as the excellent 14-inch options around today.

The bottom line

🪛 The Legion Pro 7i is a stunning gaming laptop that really cements Lenovo's place in the top tier of gaming machines. The performance and value of the high-end components inside this laptop means it can rival far more expensive systems without sounding like a jet turbine to do so. It's both the best gaming laptop, and the best 16-inch laptop right now.

The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is the best 16-inch gaming laptop, and since 16-inch is the best form factor for a gaming laptop, it is therefore the best gaming laptop overall as well. Win and win.

There's ample room for debate over what "best" should mean (best performance? Best value?) but sometimes the laptop decides it for you. In this case, the Legion Pro 7i has done just that by costing significantly less than other gaming laptops that perform very similar to it. Sure, there might be one or two laptops that are technically faster, but this one costs significantly less. And it doesn't sound quite so much like an airplane at take-off, either.

At the heart of this machine is an RTX 4080 with a 150 W TGP, this being the effective maximum power draw for the GPU. It could be pushed up to another 25 W, but leaving it at just 150 W is fine in our books. Lenovo's choice, here, has clearly worked out well because the Legion Pro 7i often beats more expensive laptops in gaming and productivity performance.

In my review, I found that the laptop not only beats the Razer Blade 16 and Asus Zephyrus M16 in Cinebench R23 with a multi-core score of 29,276 but also matches or surpasses the frame rates these RTX 4090 laptops churn out in many games. The only laptop it really struggled against was the MSI Titan with RTX 4090, and that laptop is incredibly noisy.

What you get with the Legion Pro 7i is something that offers top-class performance but remains a reasonable choice given its price and acoustics. Heck, it's even a reasonable choice aesthetically, looking a bit more like a business laptop than a pr0 g4mer machine. You're getting very reasonable stuff across the board, really. Our version had 32 GB of DDR5-5600 RAM and a 1 TB PCIe 4.0 SSD.

Productivity-wise this thing's a blast too (I already mentioned the stellar R23 score, didn't I?). That's mostly down to its Intel Core i9 13900HX CPU, which has twice the E-Cores of the Core i9 13900H and two extra P-Cores to boot.

It doesn't feature an OLED or Mini-LED monitor like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 or Razer Blade 16 but its 240 Hz IPS display is wonderful. It's 16:10, too, which feels liberating to use after years of 16:9 vertical restrictions.

There are negatives, of course. Primarily, its battery life. This thing absolutely guzzles power while gaming, moreso than other similar laptops we tested. But, to be honest, if we're gunna be plugging it in while gaming anyway—as we surely will be with any gaming laptop, given that pretty much all of them have bad battery life while gaming—it doesn't matter so much, does it? Still, it's one thing to note for those of you looking to maximise your time gaming while cord-free.

For its cost, we reckon this laptop is still the best on the market for gaming, offering truly high-end performance across the board. It's often on sale, too, putting it below its already reasonable MSRP and well below its main competitors. 

Read our full Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review.

Read our full Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 8) review.

The best value gaming laptop

The best budget gaming laptop

Specifications

CPU: Intel Core i7 13th Gen
GPU: Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060
RAM: Up to 32 GB DDR5-4800
Screen: 16-inch IPS 1920 x 1200 @ 165 Hz
Storage: 1 TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
Battery: 73 Wh
Dimensions: 36.1 x 25.9 x 2.5~2.9 cm / 14.21 x 10.19 x 0.98~1.13 inch​es
Weight: 2.56 kg / 5.64 lbs

Reasons to buy

+
Great 1080p gaming
+
Big 16:10 screen
+
Storage easy to upgrade

Reasons to avoid

-
Unnecessary Performance mode
-
Display is rather bland
-
Poor battery life

Our favorite config:

Gigabyte G6X (2024) | Intel Core i7 13650HX | Nvidia RTX 4060 | 32 GB DDR5-4800 | 1 TB SSD

Gigabyte G6X (2024) | Intel Core i7 13650HX | Nvidia RTX 4060 | 32 GB DDR5-4800 | 1 TB SSD
With the specs we'd expect for this sorta money stuffed inside a well-to-do chassis, there's no arguing with the Gigabyte G6X as a great budget gaming laptop. You could save a bit of cash on the 16 GB model, however. You'd get by just fine in games without more RAM, and you could always upgrade at a later date.

We tested: Intel Core i7 13650HX | Nvidia RTX 4060 | 32 GB DDR5-4800 | 1 TB NVMe SSD


Buy if...

You want solid 1080p gaming performance: With a decent RTX 40-series GPU at its core and a speedy 1080p screen, the G6X offers a simple, straightforward gaming experience.

✅ You want plenty of storage: The spare NVMe SSD slot within the G6X is easily accessed. Just a couple of screws to expand your storage even further.

Don't buy if...

You want silence: The fan noise on the G6X is noticeable. Like, really noticeable. That's most gaming laptops, though this is definitely not on the quieter end of the spectrum.

You like a detailed screen: The 16:10 aspect ratio helps a bunch here, but it's still only just over a traditional 1080p resolution. That means a lot less room compared to 1440p or 4K.

The bottom line

🪛 The Gigabyte G6X (2024) might not make a major splash with its standard specification, but it's a healthy balance of performance, power and price. That's what counts for the best budget gaming laptop.

The best budget gaming laptop is the Gigabyte G6X (2024). It takes the place of the Gigabyte G5 we had in this spot previously, mostly because it offers more affordable gaming performance but with newer, improved parts inside.

The model we reviewed contains a Core i7 13650HX, which is not actually Intel's most recent mobile gaming processor generation. That's the 14th Gen. However, that's an omission we're happy to make. They're mostly the same and the six P-cores and eight E-cores on this Core i7 are plenty for our needs.

That chip is combined with a 105 W RTX 4060—that's actually a large power budget for this GPU, and that shows in the performance it delivers, as evidenced in the benchmark charts below. What's more, it's a small dose faster than the outgoing Gigabyte G5 KF we've replaced in this spot—those hardware changes do count for something in games.

Let's talk about the screen. It's a full 16 inches in size, with a 16:10 aspect ratio, 1920 x 1200 pixels, and a refresh rate of 165 Hz. It's pretty darn good, in other words.

Importantly, that screen is a good fit for the hardware beneath it. Though it does suffer from a bit of the case of the blands—that is to say, it's a bit dull and overly dark. These budget laptops often tend to suffer this fate and the G6X is no different to its predecessors on this point. Ultimately, we'd call it "perfectly average."

The noise from the fans when they're running at full bore is also quite average, which means this laptop is rather loud. That's just part of the parcel with a gaming laptop, but more so these affordable models.

The design of this laptop is pretty standard stuff, too. Though it's decisively less 'gamery' than some. A single zone of RGB LEDs illuminates the keyboard and there's room for a reasonably big trackpad. Within the chassis, you can easily access the spare NVMe slot should you wish to bolster your storage above 1TB, which you probably will, and this machine comes with two DIMM slots. In our review model, these were accommodating 32 GB of DDR5-4800, though you could save some cash on the 16 GB model and get by in games just fine. It wouldn't be difficult to swap out for a higher-capacity kit down the line.

Overall, the Gigabyte G6X offers exactly what we ask for in a budget gaming laptop. You could happily game on one right out of the box, though it's an easily upgradeable platform if required.

Read our full Gigabyte G6X (2024) review.

The best 15-inch gaming laptop

The best 15-inch gaming laptop

Specifications

CPU: Up to Core i9 13800H
GPU: Up to RTX 4070
RAM: Up to 32 GB DDR5
Screen: 1080p @ 360H or 1440p @ 240 Hz
Storage: Up to 1 TB SSD
Battery: 80 Wh
Dimensions: 23.5 x 35.5 x 1.7 cm / 9.25 x 13.98 x 0.67 inches
Weight: 2 kg / 4.40 lbs

Reasons to buy

+
Unparalleled build quality
+
Wide range of CPU/GPU options
+
Looks as good as it performs
+
Great battery life

Reasons to avoid

-
Trackpad can be awkward
-
Razer premium price

Our favorite config:

Razer Blade 15 | Intel Core i7 12800H | Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti

Razer Blade 15 | Intel Core i7 12800H | Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti
You can, of course, go for the big boi—the RTX 3080 Ti—but in this slimline chassis, the Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti will deliver fantastic frame rates, even at the 1440p resolution of the 240Hz screen. You also get a 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD and 16GB of dual-channel DDR5 RAM at a blistering 4,800MHz.

We tested: Intel Core i7 10875HX | Nvidia RTX 2080 Super | 16GB DDR4 | 1TB NVMe SSD


Buy if...

You want a premium build: Razer's Blade 15 is as close as you're going to get to a gaming MacBook aesthetic. Well, apart from that big green logo on the lid...

You want options: There are a huge number of Blade 15 configurations out there, going from the Base to the Advanced systems, with a variety of price points.

You want battery life: If we're honest, game time away from a plug is always limited in a modern gaming laptop. But the Blade 15, even with the RTX 3080 in it, is the best performing on that front of all the machines in this list.

Don't buy if:

You need peak plugged-in performance: That slimline chassis is an essential part of the Blade 15's charm but is also why Razer limits the TGP of the graphics cards in them.

You're on a budget: Razer's gaming laptops are not cheap, and always come with a price premium on top of the likes of Asus or Acer's more affordable machines.

The bottom line

🪛 The Razer Blade 15 has long been our favorite 15-inch gaming laptop. It mixes style with performance and a wealth of screen real estate, and comes in a wide variety of configurations. Now, those configs may not necessarily suit every budget because of the Razer price premium, but if you're willing to pay for the absolute best the Blade 15 deserves to be at the top of your list.

The latest spin of the Razer Blade 15 once again improves on one of the greatest gaming laptops ever made, and the best 15-inch gaming laptop today. It has the same gorgeous CNC-milled aluminum chassis as its predecessor, only this time it can house one of Nvidia's latest RTX 40-series GPUs and an Intel 13th Gen Core i9 CPU.

Though its days may well be numbered. Right now, it doesn't look like Razer is going to release a new Blade 15 with the 14th Gen Intel chips inside it, which could indicate that this is the last run for the venerable machine.

In a way, that's understandable given the Blade 16 isn't much bigger yet can house a larger screen. But, importantly, it is thicker. Yes, the Blade 16 is a fair bit chonkier than the older Razer chassis, and I very much prefer the more svelte, older design.

Missing out on the 14th generation of Intel's mobile Core CPUs isn't an issue in real terms, however, as the Raptor Lake Refresh is just that, a mild refresh of the 13th Gen chips. So, with the current Razer Blade still sporting up to the RTX 4070 as its GPU component it still represents the best 15-inch gaming laptop you can buy.

As hinted at before, that scale does limit the screen. In the Blade 15 you have a QHD 240 Hz panel, so that's a 2560 x 1440 native resolution. I mean, that's still great and all, but I've been spoiled by the 16:10, 1600p mini-LED displays modern laptops can offer. It does also mean the Blade 15 has a fairly sizeable 'chin' by which I mean a large bezel along the bottom side of the panel.

I'd maybe want the screen to be brighter, but it's certainly responsive and that 240 Hz refresh makes it feel super slick. It's sharp, too, with that 1440p res squished down to only 15-inches of real estate.

The gaming performance certainly isn't impacted by the lack of the latest CPU, with the 115 W RTX 4070 proving a very capable gaming GPU, even in the confines of the slight Blade 15 chassis. The RTX 4070 inside our latest review machine easily outpaces the mobile RTX 3080 in the last version we tested of Razer's 15-incher, and that's without the added benefits of DLSS 3 and Frame Generation.

The issue, as ever with Razer gaming laptops, is the price premium. Our pick for the best gaming laptop, the 16-inch Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is consistently much cheaper than the top RTX 4070 SKU of the Blade 16 and that comes with a much faster RTX 4080. It isn't quite as nice a device, given the unibody aluminium chassis of the Razer machine, but if you're on a tight budget it's hard to recommend the Blade.

But it is a lovely device, even if it has barely changed in the past few years. It's also pretty well connected, with a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports and three USB 3.2 Type-A connections, too. There's also the requisite combined 3.5mm audio jack and a full HDMI 2.1 output.

For me, it's still the best 15-inch gaming laptop on the scene and as ever really does nail that gaming MacBook aesthetic, which has always made the Blades such a hit. 

The best 14-inch gaming laptop

The best 14-inch gaming laptop

Specifications

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS
GPU: Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070
RAM: 32 GB LPDDR5X-6400
Screen: 14-inch 1800p @ 120 Hz | OLED
Storage: 1 TB SSD NVMe PCIe 4.0
Battery: 73 Wh
Dimensions: 31.1 x 22.0 x 1.63 cm / 12.24 x 8.66 x 0.64-inches
Weight: 1.50 kg / 3.3 lbs

Reasons to buy

+
Stylish
+
All-metal chassis
+
120 Hz OLED screen
+
Highly portable
+
Good gaming performance

Reasons to avoid

-
Memory is soldered
-
1 TB SSD

Our favorite config:

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA403UI) | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA403UI) | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070
The model we looked at review is the best configuration for most PC gamers. The RTX 4070 is a powerful GPU that won't age too quickly and all current models of the 2024 Zephyrus G14 come with the Ryzen 9 chip and 32GB of LPDDR5X. That includes the cheaper models, too, like this RTX 4060-powered G14.

We tested: AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 | 32 GB LPDDR5X | 1 TB NVMe SSD


Buy if...

✅ You want a laptop for work and play: The G14 is good looking enough to carry around to your very important meetings yet still has plenty of performance in-game.

✅ You want an OLED screen: It's all the rage nowadays, but the G14's OLED panel makes everything pop on-screen. It makes taking pictures of the screen easier, too. Games naturally look amazing.

Don't buy if:

You would like the option to upgrade: The G14 sacrifices an upgrade path for its plucky new shell. That means soldered memory and just a single SSD NVMe slot. Darn.

The bottom line

🪛 Asus' Zephyrus G14 is deservedly one of the best gaming laptops around today. The newer 2024 model comes with many improvements over the previous one, including a lovely all-metal chassis and OLED panel. It's quite an upgrade on an already impressive machine.

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) is the best 14-inch gaming laptop, taking the spot from the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023). That might make it seem like the newer model was a shoe-in for the top position in this guide, but actually there have been some serious design changes and improvements made to the newer model. Those which make it entirely deserving of a top spot all on its own.

The G14 2024 comes with a new all-metal chassis that is quite simply lovely. It's the chassis that has finally convinced a few of us in-office to look beyond the Razer Blade, which is famed for its all-metal construction. The metal build on the Zephyrus feels great, looks great, and importantly trims down the footprint of the Zephyrus G14 to an even more travel-friendly size. It's just 1.63 cm at its thickest point.

Now before we get to the other good bits, it's worth saying that the shrunken form factor has led Asus to sacrifice the single removable SO-DIMM slot found on previous years' G14 models. There's no longer an upgrade path for the memory. That said, 32 GB of LPDD5X is included as standard on all the available models at the time of writing.

That should see most people through for years to come, but I understand some users won't like the lack of options here. Also while you can replace the SSD, there's only one NVMe slot available, which can make transfers a pain, as you'd need to make a complete switch, SSD for SSD.

If you're still with me, let's talk about one of the G14's best features: the OLED screen. If it looks good in the gallery images above, it looks even better in person. Excellent breadth of colour and contrast make for a stunning display for gaming. The increased resolution of 2880 x 1800 and slightly larger aspect ratio at 16:10 help to prevent that compact screen from feeling too closed-in.

A surprising plus point on the G14 is its speakers, which have seen significant improvement year-on-year. There are now four tweeters and two woofers built into the G14, split on either side of the keyboard, and they sound genuinely good. Our Andy was also impressed with the Zephyrus G16's speakers, which have similarly been zhushed up with the latest laptop.

For a compact 14-inch gaming laptop, which remains one of the more desirable form factors around, there's no beating the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 2024. 

Read our full Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) review.

The best 17-inch gaming laptop

The best 17-inch gaming laptop

Specifications

CPU: Intel Core i9 14900HX
GPU: Nvidia RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 (175 W)
RAM: Up to 64 GB DDR5-5600
Screen: 17.3-inch 1440p @ 240 Hz
Storage: Up to 4 TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD
Battery: 99 Wh
Dimensions: 39.6 x 29.3 x 2.18 cm / 15.6 x 11.5 x 0.86 inches
Weight: 2.8 kg / 6.17 lbs

Reasons to buy

+
More subtle design
+
Webcam placement doesn't suck
+
Resolution/refresh sweet spot
+
Smashing battery life

Reasons to avoid

-
Slows up a little on battery
-
Sub-par keyboard
-
Could do with more ports
-
Moneys 

Our favorite config:

Gigabyte Aorus 17X (2024) | Intel Core i9 14900HX | Nvidia RTX 4090 | 32 GB DDR5-5600 | 2 TB SSD

Gigabyte Aorus 17X (2024) | Intel Core i9 14900HX | Nvidia RTX 4090 | 32 GB DDR5-5600 | 2 TB SSD
Sure, the RTX 4090 version we tested will have slightly higher gaming frame rates, but not enough to justify the near $4,000 price tag. The RTX 4080 still delivers the goods at the 1440p resolution of the screen, and will save you a good chunk of cash, too. Otherwise, the two specs are identical, with the same memory and storage options, and the same Intel Core i9 processor at the heart of the big rig.

We tested: Intel Core i9 14900HX | Nvidia RTX 4090 | 32 GB DDR5-4800 | 2x 1 TB SSD


Buy if...

You actually want to game unplugged: This is a gaming laptop that I can actually call portable since you can use it unplugged for a good hour and 20 minutes. That's far longer than most gaming laptops we've tested recently. 

You want a big-screen lappy: That's what the 17-inch form factor is all about, and this Gigabyte delivers the big screen with the components inside to drive it.

Don't buy if...

You need crisp 4K visuals: Gamers who are also movie buffs, or do high-fidelity design work on the go, might consider the Lenovo Legion 9i instead as it comes with a much more impressive panel.

You need a lot of USB Type-C ports: The Aorus 17X only comes with a single one, and for those with no dock to split that 100 watts for charging several peripherals, you might want to consider something with more ports. 

The bottom line

🪛 The Gigabyte Aorus 17X is a powerful, effective big-screen beauty that absolutely delivers on the specs at its heart. For serious content creators maybe the lack of a 4K panel might be an issue, but if you're looking for a desktop replacement for gaming, this latest Aorus laptop is a great option.

The Gigabyte Aorus 17X is the best 17-inch gaming laptop we've tested in recent times. Not because it's the outright fastest—the Strix Scar 17 X3D still holds that title—but because it's the one we'd actually want to own ourselves. There's a big difference between a super-powerful gaming laptop that is all about the power, and one that is able to get the balance just right.

And Gigabyte has been paying attention to that in recent times and is actually delivering a new version of its Aorus 17X that has been created with the end user in mind, and not just as the person who has to sit and listen to a turbine whine of fans while the damn things sounds like it's going to take off. 

This is still one of the problems with gaming laptops, and specifically an issue with Asus' Strix Scar 17 X3D which held this position in our guide for so long. It's a very, very powerful machine, capable of posting the most outstanding gaming performance—thanks to that mix of 3D V-cache on the Zen 4 processors and the RTX 4090 GPU—but you are going to need some equally very, very good noise cancelling headphones.

That's not necessarily been an issue during our testing of the Aorus 17X and, as Katie says in our review: "I'd take the Aorus' quiet wins over the Strix Scar's unnecessarily power-hungry performance."

The other issue with the 3D V-cache version of the Strix Scar 17 is that it's not easy to find, and less so at a decent price. Again, this is where the Aorus 17X has it beat, the price, especially of the almost-as-powerful RTX 4080 version is so much cheaper and you're not going to really feel the miss of a few fps here and there once you're running at 1440p.

You might look at those 1080p numbers below and worry about the delta between the Strix and the Aorus, but that delta gets a lot smaller when you boost the resolution up to the screen's 2560 x 1440 native, and then it becomes far less of a concern. Especially when you can actually hear yourself think at the same time.

Though that screen is one of the things that might have you considering something higher up the laptop food chain, potentially even looking up a hulking Razer Blade 18. Though you will have to spend the mega-bucks if you do want a good 4K panel inside your big-screen laptop. This 1440p 240 Hz display is good, though not as stellar as the Nebula displays of the smaller Asus ROG machines or the stunning OLED the Blade 16 sports.

There is also a lack of USB Type-C connectors to consider, too. If you're picking this for content creation, and the multiple Type-A ports aren't doing it for you, then a good Type-C hub will be in order. But if you're looking for a well-balanced, big-screen gaming laptop, with a decent battery life and effective cooling, then the Aorus 17X is the one to beat right now.

Read out full Gigabyte Aorus 17X review.

The best gaming laptop screen

The best gaming laptop screen

Specifications

CPU: Core i9 13950HX or Core i9 14900HX
GPU: RTX 4090, RTX 4080, or RTX 4070
RAM: Up to 64 GB DDR5-5600
Screen: 16-inch, 16:10 aspect ratio, 2400p or 1200p IPS, 1600p 240 Hz OLED
Storage: Up to 4 TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD
Battery: 95.2 Wh
Dimensions: 24.4 x 35.5 x 2.2 cm / 9.61 x 13.98 x 0.87 inches
Weight: 2.45 kg / 5.40 lbs

Reasons to buy

+
OLED, OLED, OLED
+
Huge trackpad
+
Decent cooling

Reasons to avoid

-
Poor value for money
-
Bit thick
-
Did we mention it was expensive?

Our favorite config:

Razer Blade 16 | RTX 4080 | Core i9 14900HX | 32 GB DDR5-5600 | 1 TB SSD | OLED

Razer Blade 16 | RTX 4080 | Core i9 14900HX | 32 GB DDR5-5600 | 1 TB SSD | OLED
If you're going to hand over a large sum of money for a gaming laptop, you'll be demanding exceptional performance, a stunning display, and incredible looks. The 2024 version of the Razer Blade 16 has all these things but AU$7,099 for an RTX 4080 will make you pause for thought (though it can often be had for under AU$6,000 when on sale). Then you'll see that OLED screen and wonder how you're going to pay for it.

We tested: Intel Core i9 14900HX | Nvidia RTX 4080 | 32 GB DDR5-5600 | 1 TB NVMe SSD


Buy if...

You want the best laptop screen in the business: The 240 Hz 1600p OLED Razer jammed into this laptop has to be seen to be believed. It's a stunner in games and in any HDR video you want to throw at it.

You want a trackpad you can really love: The vast real estate of the Razer trackpad is something to behold. And it's super responsive, too.

Don't buy if:

You have to ask how much it costs: There is no reasonable value judgement here, just a laptop with a premium price tag that struggles to make sense against the far cheaper, as performant, competition.

You want a svelte machine: The Blade 15 was a skinny one, but the Blade 16 has definitely put on weight in comparison, making it a rather hefty machine.

The bottom line

🪛 There's no denying that this laptop is too expensive for the hardware inside but Razer's machines often are and the OLED screen in this one has to be seen to be believed. If money is no object and you simply must have the greatest visual experience in a laptop, then only the Razer Blade 16 will do.

It's not hard to see why the gaming laptop with the best screen is the Razer Blade 16 (2024). Before you even open it up, you know that there's something special about it just by the fact that Razer only offers one of two CPUs: an Intel Core i9 13950HX or 14900HX. And then there's the fact that the MSRP for the model we tested, with an RTX 4080 GPU, is an astonishing $3,600.

Razer's laptops could never be described as being cheap and their solid build quality goes no small way to justifying the price tag. But in this particular instance, it's all about the display. It's 16 inches, obviously, with a 2560 x 1600 resolution and 240 Hz variable refresh rate. It also just so happens to be one of the best OLED panels we've ever seen.

Mere words are not good enough to describe how good it is. Less overt and in-your-face than a mini-LED, richer and more natural than a top-end IPS panel, Razer's choice of display is inspired. Games that offer an HDR mode, such as Cyberpunk 2077, will look so good that you'll probably never want to use another screen again.

The rest of the hardware is, fortunately, up to scratch with the Core i9 14900HX and RTX 4080 in our review sample blasting through our usual benchmarks with ease. That said, we've tested some RTX 4080 laptops that are just as fast and quite a lot cheaper.

Razer hasn't just spent all the extra money on the OLED screen and nice chassis, though. The huge trackpad is responsive and easy to use and gives the whole machine an air of quality. The distinct heft of the Blade 16 also lends a helping hand in this area, though it does make it somewhat less portable than we'd like.

Not that you'd want to travel around much with something so expensive. It isn't because the Razer is fragile—far from it, especially the hinges—but you'll barely get a chance to use it, from having to push people away from staring at that stunning OLED display.

If you really must have the very best screen in your gaming laptop and money is no object whatsoever, then there's just one choice: Razer's Blade 16. Just don't expect it to play games any faster than other laptops with the same price tag.

Read our full Razer Blade 16 (2024) review.

How we test gaming laptops

Gigabyte G5 (2023) gaming laptop on a white desk

(Image credit: Future)

We dedicate a lot of time to our gaming laptop testing to ensure that we're capturing all the objective performance data we need, and that we have the opportunity to catalogue the subjective experience of actually using a given device. Gaming laptops are expensive items, and you're right to do your research before buying, so we're passionate about making sure we're able to tell you what a notebook is like to use as well as how powerful it is.

The objective side demands that we put each system through our standard benchmarking suite. That allows us to confidently compare systems on directly referential basis. We test the raw performance of the CPU, GPU, and storage components of a system using the Cinebench R23 and Blender 3.3.0 benchmarks to get a bead on the processor and graphics card rendering performance. We also use X264 to test the encoding power of a laptop CPU.

3DMark's Storage test and the Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker benchmarks are a great way to highlight the gaming performance of a laptop's storage subsystem. And 3DMark also gives us a way to get a synthetic read on both the gaming and ray tracing performance of a GPU.

We also put a system through gaming performance tests of Cyberpunk 2077, F1 22, Hitman 3, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Metro Exodus Enhanced, at both 1080p—so we have a base reference score no matter what a system's native resolution is—and at 1440p and 4K where that is available.

We also run some experiential tests on a system's panel—we use Lagom's LCD test images to help discern things like black levels and white saturation as well as general desktop and gaming testing to see how it feels to use a laptop's screen. 

It's also important to check the actual gaming frequency of both a laptop's GPU and CPU, to see how a given slice of silicon performs given the thermal constraints of different notebook chassis.

We then use PCMark 10's gaming battery life test to give us a comparative battery life metric.

Personally I also like to always write a review of a given laptop on the machine itself. That gives you a good feel about both the trackpad and keyboard, as well as the ergonomics of the chassis' design, too.

We then bring all of that subjective and objective data together alongside the price to decide how well each machine we test stands up against all the other gaming laptops we've looked at in our combined decades of PC hardware testing.

Also tested

The above gaming laptops are the ones we recommend you spend your hard-earned cash on if you're looking for a new machine, but aren't the only ones we've reviewed. We regularly test different gaming laptops to make sure we're recommending only the absolute best. 

These are the machines we've looked at recently that didn't make the cut...

Lenovo Legion Pro 5i | Core i7 14650HX | RTX 4060 | 16 GB DDR5 (1x 16 GB) | 512 GB SSD
PC Gamer score 58%

Lenovo Legion Pro 5i | Core i7 14650HX | RTX 4060 | 16 GB DDR5 (1x 16 GB) | 512 GB SSD
The Legion Pro 5i Gen 9 needs another RAM stick, double the storage capacity, and a bigger battery to win me over for the money.
PC Gamer score 58%

Read our full Lenovo Legion Pro 5i 16 Gen 9 review.

Razer Blade 14 (2024) | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | Nvidia RTX 4070 | 32 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSDPC Gamer score: 83%

Razer Blade 14 (2024) | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | Nvidia RTX 4070 | 32 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD
Supremely well crafted and one of the fastest RTX 4070 laptops we've tested. It's also one of the most expensive RTX 4070 laptops we tested and at this price, we'd expect to see OLED or mini-LED screens being offered. The IPS one here is still very nice, though.
PC Gamer score: 83%

Read our full Razer Blade 14 (2024) review.

Gigabyte Aorus 16X | Intel Core i7 14650HX | Nvidia RTX 4070 | 32 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSDPC Gamer score: 75%

Gigabyte Aorus 16X | Intel Core i7 14650HX | Nvidia RTX 4070 | 32 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD
The 2024 version of the Aorus 16X is a solid gaming laptop, with all the performance you'd expect from its hardware. In this price sector, the competition is fierce and the Aorus doesn't have anything special to make it stand out from the crowd. It's definitely worth a look, though, especially if you find one with a discount.
PC Gamer score: 75%

Read our full Gigabyte Aorus 16X review.

HP Omen 16 | Intel Core i7 13700HX | Nvidia RTX 4080 | 32 GB DDR5 | 2 TB SSDPC Gamer score: 68%

HP Omen 16 | Intel Core i7 13700HX | Nvidia RTX 4080 | 32 GB DDR5 | 2 TB SSD
The HP Omen 16 laptop fails to deliver the expected level of performance and value when compared to its counterparts in the 16-inch RTX 4080 laptop category. It falls short because of its lackluster CPU and GPU performance, higher price point, bloatware issues, and subpar gaming experience. Not a great combo, for sure.
PC Gamer score: 68%

Read our full HP Omen 16 review.

Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 | Intel Core i9 13980HX | Nvidia RTX 4080 | 16 GB DDR5-4800 | 1 TB SSDPC Gamer score: 70%

Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 | Intel Core i9 13980HX | Nvidia RTX 4080 | 16 GB DDR5-4800 | 1 TB SSD
The ROG Strix Scar 16 (2023) model comes in hot, not just in terms of impressive gaming performance but inevitably temperature-wise, too. While it sometimes matches the more expensive gaming laptops in this year's lineup, the rest of the spec lets it down.
PC Gamer score: 70%

Read our full Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 (2023) review.

MSI Cyborg 15 | Intel Core i7 12650H | Nvidia RTX 4060 | 16 GB DDR5-4800 | 512 GB SSDPC Gamer score: 50%

MSI Cyborg 15 | Intel Core i7 12650H | Nvidia RTX 4060 | 16 GB DDR5-4800 | 512 GB SSD
While quiet and cool, the MSI Cyborg 15 lacks the oomph expected of an RTX 4060-powered gaming laptop. Frustrating software and a lack of upgradeability make for a clumsy attempt at a competitively-priced machine.
PC Gamer score: 50%

Read our full MSI Cyborg 15 review.

MSI Titan GT77 HX | Intel Core i9 13950HX | Nvidia RTX 4090 | 64 GB DDR5-4000 | 4 TB SSD
PC Gamer score: 53%

MSI Titan GT77 HX | Intel Core i9 13950HX | Nvidia RTX 4090 | 64 GB DDR5-4000 | 4 TB SSD
For this much money, we want a machine to feel special, not like it's struggling to cope with the top-rated hardware baked inside it. The MSI Titan feels like a gaming laptop running at the ragged edge of performance and decency. Its excess feels vulgar, not special, and we simply cannot recommend it on raw performance alone.
PC Gamer score: 53%

Read our full MSI GT77 HX review.

Alienware X14 | Intel Core i7 12700H | Nvidia RTX 3060 6GB | 16 GB PLDDR5-5200 | 1 TB SSDPC Gamer score: 78%

Alienware X14 | Intel Core i7 12700H | Nvidia RTX 3060 6GB | 16 GB PLDDR5-5200 | 1 TB SSD
An aesthetically pleasing laptop with solid 1080p gaming performance that falters only in the face of its more aggressively priced competitors. Still, if you've got the cash, this is a respectable choice of hardware.
PC Gamer score: 78%

Read our full Alienware X14 review.

Alienware m17 R5 AMD | AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX | AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT | 1080p | 240 Hz |
PC Gamer score: 83%

Alienware m17 R5 AMD | AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX | AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT | 1080p | 240 Hz |
The config I suggest is a little less overkill than what was reviewed. Instead of the 4K display, a speedier 1080p 240Hz display is a better fit to maximize frames on some of your favorite games and save a couple of bucks. 
PC Gamer score: 83%

Read our full Alienware m17 R5 review.

MSI Stealth GS66 | Intel Core i9 12900H | Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti | 32 GB DDR5-4800 | 2 TB SSDPC Gamer score: 73%

MSI Stealth GS66 | Intel Core i9 12900H | Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti | 32 GB DDR5-4800 | 2 TB SSD
A very, er, insistent cooling array certainly wants you to know the Stealth GS66 is doing something. And what it does, it does pretty well, but the pricing and the strange spec choice, combine with the gaming volume to make it a tough machine to love or to recommend.
PC Gamer score: 73%

Read our full MSI Stealth GS66 review.

Corsair Voyager a1600 | AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS | AMD Radeon RX 6800M | 32 GB DDR5-4800 | 2 TB SSDPC Gamer score: 72%

Corsair Voyager a1600 | AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS | AMD Radeon RX 6800M | 32 GB DDR5-4800 | 2 TB SSD
The Corsair Voyager makes for an intriguing laptop for streamers, but it isn't quite there yet when it comes to functionality and polish. There are some neat features on display—including the best laptop keyboard you'll ever use—but it's too pricey for the performance on offer.
PC Gamer score: 72%

Read our full Corsair Voyager a1600 review.

Gigabyte Aorus 17 XE4 | Intel Core i9 12700H | Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti | 16 GB DDR4-3200 | 1 TB SSDPC Gamer score: 84%

Gigabyte Aorus 17 XE4 | Intel Core i9 12700H | Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti | 16 GB DDR4-3200 | 1 TB SSD
The Gigabyte Aorus 17 XE4's strong core specification focuses on what matters to gamers, although it's undermined by its noisy operation and its sheer size isn't for everyone.
PC Gamer score: 84%

Read our full Gigabyte Aorus 17 XE4 review

Acer Nitro 5 | AMD Ryzen 7 5800H | Nvidia RTX 3070 | 16 GB DDR4-3200 | 1 TB SSD
PC Gamer score: 83%

Acer Nitro 5 | AMD Ryzen 7 5800H | Nvidia RTX 3070 | 16 GB DDR4-3200 | 1 TB SSD
The Acer Nitro 5 doesn't look like much, but it's a modestly powerful mid-range gaming laptop that'll check a lot of boxes for you. For others, it's a low-key laptop that they wouldn't be embarrassed to take out in public to sneakily play video games at a coffee shop.
PC Gamer score: 83%

Read our full Acer Nitro 5 review.

How to spot the best deal

Where are the best Australian gaming laptop deals?

Deals to suit all budgets:

What's the most important gaming laptop component?

When it comes to gaming, the obvious answer is the graphics card, but that's where things have gotten a little more complicated recently. With GPU performance now so dependent on cooling, you have to pay attention to what wattage a graphics card is limited to and what chassis it's squeezed into.

As we said at the top, an RTX 4080 confined in an 18 mm chassis will perform markedly slower than one in a far chunkier case with room for higher performance cooling.

Should I worry about what the CPU in a gaming laptop is?

That really depends on what you want to do with your laptop. An 8-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen chip will allow you to do a whole load of productivity on the road, but honestly, it will have little benefit in gaming. As long as the CPU has at least six cores and 12 threads, and they're clocked high enough, it will be more than enough to deliver high-end gaming performance when paired with something like the RTX 4070.

What screen size is best for a gaming laptop?

This will arguably have the most immediate impact on your choice of the build. Picking the size of your screen basically dictates the size of your laptop. A 13-inch machine will be a thin-and-light ultrabook, while a 17-inch panel almost guarantees workstation stuff. At 15-inches, you're looking at the most common size of the gaming laptop screen.

Are high refresh rate panels worth it for laptops?

We love high refresh rate screens here, and while you cannot guarantee your RTX 4060 will deliver 300 fps in the latest games, you'll still see a benefit in general look and feel running a 300 Hz display. 

Should I get a 4K screen in my laptop?

Nah. 4K gaming laptops are overkill; they're fine for video editing if you're dealing with 4K content, but it's not the optimal choice for games. The standard 1080p resolution means that the generally slower mobile GPUs are all but guaranteed high frame rates, while companies are slowly drip-feeding 1440p panels into their laptop ranges. 

A 1440p screen offers the perfect compromise between high resolution and decent gaming performance. At the same time, a 4K notebook will overstress your GPU and tax your eyeballs as you squint at your 15-inch display.

Dave James
Editor-in-Chief, Hardware

Dave has been gaming since the days of Zaxxon and Lady Bug on the Colecovision, and code books for the Commodore Vic 20 (Death Race 2000!). He built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 16, and finally finished bug-fixing the Cyrix-based system around a year later. When he dropped it out of the window. He first started writing for Official PlayStation Magazine and Xbox World many decades ago, then moved onto PC Format full-time, then PC Gamer, TechRadar, and T3 among others. Now he's back, writing about the nightmarish graphics card market, CPUs with more cores than sense, gaming laptops hotter than the sun, and SSDs more capacious than a Cybertruck.

With contributions from