How to choose a gaming laptop in 2024 And not regret spending tens or hundreds of dollars pt.2
Screen diagonal and compactness
Choosing the right screen diagonal is primarily a matter of preference. Most often the buyer's choice is limited to two options - 15.6 or 17 inches.
A 17-inch laptop has a larger screen, but it is unlikely to fit into a medium-sized backpack. Also, 17-inch devices tend to be more expensive.
On the other hand, if you plan to work on a laptop and take a model with a high screen resolution - QHD and above, a large diagonal will help to place in the program for editing several "tracks" in the field of view - so it is much more comfortable to deal with large projects.
Separately, it is worth noting the different options for "chargers". Modern gaming laptops by default come with chargers with voluminous power supplies, which often weigh more than a kilogram. This is a necessity: only such units can provide good power for powerful hardware.
If compactness is important to you, look for laptops with the optional Type-C connector: it will save you from lugging around those big power packs, because a small smartphone charger will be enough.
Power from it will not be enough during the game, when the device is loaded at 100%: in this case, the laptop will either not work at full capacity, or will continue to run out of power. But Type-C is quite enough for office work.
For example, I had enough Type-C connector to work on a project in Unreal Engine 4 all day long. And for office work it may not be useful at all: the notebook won't run out of power quickly.
You should not reject variants with a large thickness. Of course, everyone would like to find a powerful laptop with the thickness of modern MacBooks, but there are no such things. Thickness, as a rule, is inextricably linked to the cooling system, so thin laptops often suffer from overheating - and, as a consequence, give poor performance results. Preferably, the thickness should be at least 25 mm.
Matrix
It is not only the size of the matrix that matters, but also its quality. First of all, you need to pay attention to the resolution. For players, this is an important aspect, as the number of pixels greatly affects the load of the video card.
In cases where the game is strongly rooted in the performance of the video chip, increasing the resolution can multiply the number of frames. That's why you should buy a laptop with a resolution higher than FullHD only in conjunction with a powerful graphics card.
Another important parameter for players is the refresh rate of the display. Today on the market the most common three popular "hertzovki": 60, 144 and 240. 60 Hz is worth considering when the laptop is not very powerful. 144 Hz is the new standard for gaming laptops: almost all modern models with RTX 3070 and 3080 level graphics cards have such displays.
In many modern games the frames per second go above 60, so 144 Hz is a good thing. Plus, even outside of gaming, 144Hz feels smoother than the usual 60Hz in the system. Using a laptop with such a monitor for everyday tasks is a pleasure.
240 Hz and above is usually too much for a gamer. Such a value is needed only for cyber athletes - in multiplayer games, reaction speed is important.
It is also very important to pay attention to the type of matrix. Three options can be found in laptops: TN, IPS or IPS-like, as well as OLED.
The first type is not so common today, and that's a good thing. Advise TN-matrix should not be recommended to anyone because of poor color rendering and small viewing angle - if you look at such screens at an angle, the brightness and the amount of detail is significantly lost. You have to sit at such devices in a strictly defined position.
IPS and OLED do not have such disadvantages. IPS is a "classic" of modern displays, and most laptops offer just such a matrix. It combines good color reproduction and decent brightness.
OLED is often criticized for the relatively low brightness, which will not allow you to comfortably use the laptop on the street. But at the same time such matrices have a very high contrast ratio and good color rendering, so it is a pleasure to watch content on them. Separately, OLED users note the reference black color, because of which contrasting scenes look very good. OLED-displays are often put in professional laptops for working with photos and video.
Regardless of what type of matrix you like more, before buying it is not unreasonable to study more detailed characteristics of the screen. In particular, we are interested in peak brightness and color gamut. They will allow you to understand how beautiful the picture on the monitor will be, as well as how comfortable it is to look at it.
For example, if you plan to use the laptop outside, because of the low brightness on a sunny day on the device can not see anything. In such cases, you should look for a laptop with a brightness of at least 450 nits. For home use, the requirements are less stringent: 250-300 nits will be enough. Unfortunately, these details are rarely specified in the specifications of devices, so here, too, we will have to turn to the tests of bloggers.
There are many different standards for measuring the color gamut of displays. Most often you can find sRGB - such an abbreviation marks a part of the entire visible spectrum of the human eye.
In the picture you can see how many colors sRGB covers: the big figure filled with color is all the colors a person can see, and the triangles inside are the different standards that limit the spectrum.
The sRGB does not cover the entire spectrum of visible colors, but it is enough to comfortably view visual content. Try to look for models with coverage close to 100% sRGB. If you need your laptop for color correction and photo processing, you will have to look at other, stricter standards. For example, aRGB or Rec 2020.
And the most important point - don't forget to look at the laptop in person before buying it. Check whether you are satisfied with the screen and color reproduction, whether you have enough contrast. For example, the display may turn out to be dull and faded, although the IPS matrix is claimed to be good at first glance.
RAM and permanent memory
Another important element of a gaming laptop is the RAM. In general, its characteristics are quite a lot, but the main thing to keep in mind is the size and standard.
The amount of memory also plays an important role. Today, for games, the optimal volume is 16 GB. If the "RAM" is less, it will not be enough not only for games, but also for busy office use.
But if you use a laptop for work tasks - rendering, graphic design, ideally you should look for a device with 32 GB of memory. This is especially important for those who run several resource-intensive programs at the same time.
Running Premiere Pro, After Effects and the browser at the same time consumes at least 10 GB of memory
Everything is quite simple with permanent memory. The modern standard is fast SSD disks. Nevertheless, many manufacturers continue to insert slow HDD-type "hard disk drives" into their notebooks. As a rule, this only affects the loading speed of games and OS, but this may change in the near future.
Fresh game consoles, the PS5 and Xbox Series X, feature fast SSD drives, which means game studios will increasingly see them as a consumer standard. What's more, some developers have started specifying SSDs as part of their recommended system requirements.
And SSD also greatly simplifies the everyday use of the notebook outside of gaming: programs run and launch faster, updates are quicker to install, and the operating system itself turns on instantly.
It should be noted that RAM and hard disk are the only laptop components that can often be replaced by yourself. To do this, it is only necessary that these components are not soldered on the motherboard of the laptop.
Thus, if you do not want to overpay for a laptop with 32 GB of RAM, but admit that in the future it will be useful to you, it is worth clarifying in advance whether there is an opportunity to upgrade a particular model. Some manufacturers even create separate covers on the back panel (for example, Acer Nitro line) so that you don't have to remove the entire back panel to replace components.
With the Acer Nitro, you don't have to remove the entire cover to upgrade - just unscrew the panels you need
Keyboard, Touchpad and Ports
The last thing you need to decide on when choosing a laptop is the keyboard and the number of ports. In both cases, it all depends on your preferences.
To understand whether a keyboard is right for you, it is advisable to test it personally - other people's advice can only hurt you. Some people like the soft feel of the keys, others don't. Nevertheless, there are a couple of technical features that you should keep in mind.
First, the evenness of pressing long keys such as Space or Shift. In some low-quality notebooks, the membrane that locks the pressure is positioned in such a way that pressing on the very edge of a long key does not work. The problem is kind of minor, but will be very annoying if you type a lot.
Secondly, the presence of a dedicated Numpad. Many users find the separate number pad on the right side very convenient. It can be found on almost any laptop with a diagonal of 17 inches, and not all manufacturers put Numpad in more compact models. Pay attention to it.
It is also worth testing the quality of the touchpad. Of course, you will not use it for gaming, but it can come in handy for office work. The most important criterion when choosing a touchpad is the convenience of pressing. It should be accompanied by a clear, pronounced click. Otherwise, it will not be so pleasant to use it, and after prolonged use, the presses themselves may no longer be fixed at the edges. It's also important to make sure that you feel comfortable pressing the right side of the touchpad: I've repeatedly come across models in which the right click was activated after one time.
Ports are easier. Think in advance how many external devices you are going to connect to your computer. If you are going to sometimes use your laptop as a full-fledged replacement for a desktop computer, you probably need to connect an external keyboard, mouse and monitor to it. In this case, make sure the laptop has an HDMI port to connect a separate display.
As I noted earlier, a Type-C port for using small chargers when working outside the home is not unreasonable either. If you take photos or just use SD cards, some models have separate slots for them as well.
Typically today, ports are located on the sides of the computer. However, in recent years, an alternative location has become more popular - behind the monitor. In my opinion, this option is much more convenient if you connect several devices at once: the wires are "hidden" behind the display cover and do not clutter the working space.
Comparing the performance of laptops from different price categories
| Acer Nitro 5 (RTX 3060 + Ryzen 7 5800H) | Lenovo Legion 5 (RTX 3060 + Ryzen 7 5800H) | ASUS ROG Strix G15 (RX 6800M + Ryzen 9 5900HX) | ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 (RTX 3080 + i9-12590Х) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 68 | 74 | 95 | 116 |
| Control | 70 | 84 | 96 | 109 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 60 | 68 | 79 | 89 |
Summarize
- You should pay the most attention to choosing a graphics card. Look at how it performs in tests: in benchmarks and in the games themselves.
- The choice of processor is easier: they are slower to become obsolete.
- Do not skimp on RAM, otherwise the laptop runs the risk of quickly losing relevance. It is good when the model implies an independent upgrade.
- The laptop can be not bad iron, but everything else as if saved - poor build quality, low-quality matrix. These are compromises worth making when the budget for the purchase is not so much.
- Be sure to watch reviews with tests: from there you can often learn information that the manufacturer will not tell you.
