1. Dell XPS 15
Our top choice
Specifications
Display: 15.6″ touch display 3.5K (3456X2160) OLED
CPU: 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-13900H
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4070
RAM: 32 GB DDR5
Storage: 1TB SSD
Weight: 4.23 pounds
Battery life: 8 hours and 3 minutes
Today’s Best Deals
Reasons to buy
+
Sleek display+
Powerful processor and performance+
Outstanding battery life+
Moderately lightweight
The Dell XPS 15 rocks Intel‘s latest i9 processor and is equipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 – faster than the RTX 4060 in Dell G15 and Legion Pro 5i – and a whopping 32GB DDR5 RAM, along with a fairly comfortable pricing, all of which together make it the #1 laptop for gaming and work.
2. Asus ROG Zephyrus G14
Long-lasting life on the go
Specifications
Display: 14-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS, 120Hz
CPU: 3.0GHz AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050
RAM: 16GB DDR4 (3,200MHz)
Storage: 1TB SSD (PCIe)
Weight: 3.50 pounds
Battery life: 8 hours and 10 minutes
Today’s Best Deals
(1TB)
(512GB)
Reasons to buy
+
Class-leading battery life+
Moderately lightweight+
Lots of storage space
Reasons to avoid
–
Fans can get loud
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is a one-stop solution for just about everybody, but especially for those looking for exceptional battery life. For gamers, the GeForce RTX 4050, which is faster and better than the older RTX 3060, will pull through nicely, no matter the game.
While 4K gaming will be limited to 30fps, 1080p gaming with maxed-out ray tracing and what’s a super impressive 165Hz refresh rate will be a delightful experience. I ran Red Dead Redemption 2, Far Cry 6, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla @1080p, and the G14 was able to do the heavy lifting and produce around 100 fps on all of them.
Its GPU capabilities aren’t limited to gaming alone. Combined with 16GB DDR5 RAM, 512GB SSD, and a breathtaking processor speed of up to 4.30GHz, there’s a lot of power under the hood for business, engineering students, data scientists, programmers, and more.
A 1080p webcam means that it’s also excellent for business meetings – even the top gaming laptops limit themselves to a 720p webcam only – and a compact 14-inch screen with a sub-4 lbs weight and an ultra-thin 0.7-inch body makes it decent enough on the portability front.
The battery life of 8 hours 10 minutes, as found in our movie test, is nothing short of astounding, and it scored a high 4 hours and 47 minutes in our PCMark8 battery test, too, which is significantly better than recent gaming laptops, including Alienware m15 R2, which only manages 2 hours and 45 minutes.
The multimedia experience is more than decent, thanks to its four-speaker system with Smart Amplifier Technology. And, the AI noise-canceling and support for Dolby Atmos are the cherry on top of what’s an incredible all-purpose machine.
3. Acer Nitro 5
An affordable gaming and work laptop
Specifications
Display: 15.6″ Full HD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 IPS 144 Hz
CPU: 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-12650H
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4050
RAM: 16 GB, DDR5 SDRAM
Storage: 512GB SSD
Weight: 5.73 pounds
Battery life: 7 hours and 4 minutes
Today’s Best Deals
(1TB)
Reasons to buy
+
Ideal for intensive tasks like machine learning+
One of the cheapest around+
Good battery life
Reasons to avoid
–
Heavy to carry around-
No anti-glare
Despite being a cheap gaming laptop, the Acer Nitro 5, with 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB DDR5 RAM, and RTX 4050 graphics card, is absolutely capable of powering through any software or game you will throw at it.
The older model rocked the RTX 3060, and it’s appreciable how a notable jump in graphics performance has managed to come without a significant bump in price. The laptop is still priced around the $1,000 mark, making it a go-to choice for STEM students who’d very much like the 80 tensor cores and 20 ray tracing acceleration cores, which will improve the speed of matching learning applications.
While it’s more expensive than the Acer Swift 3, its GPU and overall performance, especially for intensive tasks, make it a better choice for those who need an all-in-one laptop while still being on a tight budget.
A slight downside is that there’s no anti-glare, which will make it difficult to game in direct sunlight, like outside or in a super sunlit room. However, given its near-6-pound weight, it’s anyway not meant for those who want a travel-friendly laptop to work or play outside, even though an impressive battery life of over 7 hours may argue otherwise.
4. Acer Swift 3
Lightweight for when you’re on the move
Specifications
Display: 4-inch 2.8K OLED SlimBezel Adobe 100%
CPU: Intel Core i7-12700H
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
RAM: 16GB LPDDR5
Storage: 1TB
Weight: 3.09 pounds
Battery life: 6 hours and 37 minutes
Today’s Best Deals
(Silver)
(Black)
Reasons to buy
+
Extremely lightweight+
Great for those on a budget +
Fantastic display
Reasons to avoid
–
No dedicated graphics card-
Battery life could have been better
The Acer Swift 3 sports a stunning and sleek 14-inch display and asks for very little while delivering loads, making it the ideal pick for anyone looking for a portable laptop on a budget.
It’s lighter than any other option on the list, and weighing in at just 3.09 pounds, it’s a perfect choice if you want to be able to flip open your laptop no matter where you are and get going with intensive architectural, editing, or programming software–such is the GPU power.
The overclocked Core i7 is an excellent CPU and maximizes work performance, as you’d expect from an Ultrabook. It will also easily run low and mid-range games. For hardcore gamers, though, this may not cut it, and I’d point them to the other options on our list.
However, that’s not to say that this laptop’s gaming performance isn’t ideal, but the fact remains that it’d be unfair to compare a sub-$700 product to a Zephyrus G14 or Dell G15 that are easily twice as expensive. For anyone pinching for pennies, the Acer Swift 3 is a must-have.
If you’re willing to splurge just a few more bucks for a better GPU, consider opting for the Acer Nitro 5.
5. Lenovo Legion Pro 5i
Gaming without breaking the bank
Specifications
Display: 16-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600), IPS
CPU: Intel Core i7-13700HX
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GDDR6
RAM: 16GB DDR5
Storage: 512GB SSD
Weight: 5.5 pounds
Battery life: 3 hours and 28 minutes
Today’s Best Deals
Reasons to buy
+
Excellent IPS display+
Superb GPU performance+
Great port selection
Reasons to avoid
–
Battery life disappoints-
Quite bulky
The Lenovo Legion Pro 5i is one of the most affordable gaming laptops with a powerful CPU-GPU combination and an immaculate 16-inch WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600) 165Hz refresh rate display that punches above the weight for what’s a budget gaming laptop.
Thanks to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, which is what you will also find in Dell G15, it’s able to run demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Finally Fantasy VII Remake at maxed-out settings and ray tracing while churning out 60fps on average.
As far as its work performance is concerned, I found no sluggishness irrespective of how many applications were launched at once, and everything from simple browsing to complex programming and video editing software ran with utmost smoothness and poise.
The battery on this one is a two-edged sword. It charges just as fast as it drains, and while the 3-and-a-half-hour battery life is more than just a slight bummer, you can look past it, considering the overall bang for your buck you will get with this laptop.
6. Razer Blade Pro 17
Powerhouse performance for work and play
Specifications
Display: 17.3-inch, 4K (3,840 x 2,160) 120Hz, touch display
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-10875H
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (16GB GDDR6 VRAM)
RAM: 32GB DDR4
Storage: 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD
Weight: 6.06 pounds
Battery life: 4 hours and 3 minutes
Today’s Best Deals
Reasons to buy
+
Breathtaking 17-inch 4K display+
Excellent RAM +
Extremely powerful+
Plenty of ports
Reasons to avoid
–
Average battery life-
Not very portable
If you are looking for an extremely powerful large-screen laptop with thin bezels, a gorgeous display, and plenty of ports to set up a multi-screen workstation of your dreams, the Razer Blade Pro 17 will be a sound choice — at a slightly higher price tag, though.
Razer really went to town with the display on this one, and a 4K 17.3-inch display with 100% Adobe RGB coverage is easily one of the best I’ve ever tried on for size. Despite the steep pricing, I can see digital creatives and ultra professionals in the tech space flocking to get their hands on this laptop.
The design, with a glowing Razer logo and RGB keyboard lighting, is as immaculate as it could be, and the powerful RTX 3080 is much better than the likes of RTX 4060 and RTX 4050.
Author: shadjavist
Humble gentleman who never believes in impossibility