Best gaming laptops in 2022
The best gaming laptop means not having to compromise on portability and performance.
Of the hundreds of gaming laptops we're tested over the years, here are those that offer the best balance of performance, portability, and price. Whatever you're in the market for, there should be a laptop that's right for you here, and we'll continue to update this guide with the latest models as they're pushed out.
The latest spin of the Razer Blade 15 once again improves on one of the best gaming laptops ever made. It has the same gorgeous CNC-milled aluminum chassis as its predecessor, only this time it can house one of Nvidia's latest RTX 30-series GPUs and an Intel 12th Gen Core i9 CPUs.
We've played with the Razer Blade 15 Advanced with a 10th Gen Intel chip and RTX 3080 (95W) GPU inside it. And we fell in love all over again, and we're looking forward to getting the Intel Alder Lake versions with the RTX 3080 Ti humming away inside, too.
These latest models, you see, have upped the graphics processing even further than the previous setups, with support for up to the 16GB RTX 3080 Ti, which is incredible in this small chassis. You will get some throttling because of that slimline design, but you're still getting outstanding performance from this beautiful machine.
The new version of the Zephyrus G14 for 2022 impresses us once again with its well-balanced specs list and excellent gaming performance. Seriously, this thing shreds through frames up to its 120Hz refresh rate, and it's great for much more than gaming, too.
We checked out the version with AMD's RX 6800S under the hood, though there is an option for an RX 6700S, one can assume for a chunk less cash. Arguably, that cheaper option sounds a bit better to us, as the high-end one can get a little pricey and close in on the expensive but excellent Razer Blade 14. It's not helped much by its 32GB of DDR5-4800 RAM in that regard, though we do love having all that speedy memory raring to go for whatever you can throw at it.
Whichever option you go for, you'll receive an awesome IPS panel with a 3ms response time and gorgeous colour. The battery life of this gaming laptop isn't the best while gaming, but we can let that one slide since it nails just about everything else.
I am mighty tempted to push the Razer Blade 14 further up the list, simply because the 14-inch form factor has absolutely won me over. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 in the No. 2 slot reintroduced the criminally under-used laptop design, but Razer has perfected it. Feeling noticeably smaller than the 15-inch Blade and closer to the ultrabook Stealth 13, the Blade 14 mixes a matte black MacBook Pro-style with genuine PC gaming pedigree.
The Razer style is classic, and it feels great to hold, too. And with the outstanding AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX finally finding its way into a Blade notebook, you're getting genuine processing power you can sling into a messenger bag. And soon you will be able to get your hands on the Blade 14 with the brand new Ryzen 9 6900HX chip at its heart which will actually be able to save on battery on the go by using its RDNA 2 based onboard graphics.
Add in some extra Nvidia RTX 30-series graphics power—now all the way up to an RTX 3080 Ti, but wear ear plugs—and you've got a great mix of form and function that makes it the most desirable laptop I've maybe ever tested.
My only issue is that the RTX 3080 Ti would be too limited by the diminutive 14-inch chassis and run a little loud. So I would then recommend the lower-spec GPU options, though if you're spending $1,800 on a notebook, that feels like too high for 1080p gaming. But you're not buying the Blade 14 specifically for outright performance and anything else; this is about having all the power you need in a form factor that works for practical mobility.
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