THE WIRECUTTER BEST LAPTOP 1080P
THE WIRECUTTER BEST LAPTOP UPDATE

THE WIRECUTTER BEST LAPTOP UPDATE

Some gaming-laptop makers release only one new line per year, while others update their offerings and prices year-round to reflect new components and tiny design tweaks. Components-graphics cards, processors, solid-state drives, wireless cards, and the like-are refreshed at various points throughout the year. Our pick doesn’t have any open drive slots, but you can access the included hard drive and solid-state drives if you need to replace them. And like most gaming laptops, this model is easy to upgrade: Two small screws and a panel stand between you and installing two more sticks of RAM. )Īs an added bonus, the Predator 17 has hella ports: Ethernet, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2, Thunderbolt 3, four USB 3.0, an SD card slot, jacks for headphones and a microphone, and a Kensington lock slot. (If you want to know how it will handle a specific game, take a look at Notebookcheck’s benchmarks database. Most important, the Predator 17 will be able to play most modern games on ultra settings-it offers great performance for the price. Its biggest flaws are loud, distracting fans and an ugly, haphazard-looking keyboard.

THE WIRECUTTER BEST LAPTOP 1080P

The Predator 17 keeps its WASD keys, underside, and components cool, and it has a comfortable, responsive keyboard and a great 17-inch 1080p IPS display with G-sync. Of the gaming laptops we researched and tested in 2017, the Acer Predator 17 G9-793-79V5 has the most powerful specs for the price, without any dealbreaking flaws. Then we put together a list of the laptops that fit our requirements and have positive reviews from trusted sources like CNET, AnandTech, Engadget, Laptop Mag, PCMag, and Notebookcheck, and eliminated those that didn’t.įor this update, that left us with three finalists: the the Acer Predator 17, the Asus ROG G752VS, and the MSI GT72VR Dominator Pro. Battery life and portability have never been the strong suits of gaming laptops, which spend most of their lives plugged in and stationary.Īfter picking our hardware criteria (see above), we scoured the websites of major gaming-laptop manufacturers like Alienware, MSI, Asus, Razer, Samsung, Acer, HP, and Lenovo, and we browsed boutiques like Xotic PC, iBuyPower, Clevo, iBuypower, Origin PC, Digital Storm, and others. Poor speakers can be bypassed with a good pair of headphones, and most people use a mouse instead of the trackpad while gaming. Some features that are must-haves in non-gaming laptops aren’t quite as important here. Even though Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1070 can run games on high settings at 4K resolution, we still recommend 1080p displays because 4K screens are currently too expensive for most of our readers. The laptop also needs a good keyboard and solid build quality. A gaming laptop’s processor and graphics card produce a lot of heat, and if the laptop doesn’t have an effective cooling system, it can overheat.

Powerful hardware isn’t the only consideration.

We would prefer that it cost less than $2,000, but we’re less strict about price in gaming laptops provided the machine is worth the cost. Our ideal gaming laptop has an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card or better, an Intel Core i7-6700HQ or i7-7700HQ processor or faster, at least 16 GB of RAM, and at least a 256 GB SSD and 1 TB hard drive. Other important features include noise management, keyboard, display, and (to a lesser extent) the speakers and trackpad.

The attributes that impact a gaming laptop’s performance are, in order: graphics card (GPU), processor (CPU), the chassis’s heat management, memory (RAM), and storage. Gaming laptops tend to be popular with students, deployed soldiers, and road warriors-people for whom a gaming desktop isn’t feasible.

And a $1,000 ultrabook will handle non-gaming tasks just as well at a third the weight and with four times the battery life, much better build quality, and a better keyboard and trackpad.Ī gaming laptop makes sense only if you’re a serious gamer but still want to travel with your machine. At the same time, a $2,000 gaming laptop is less powerful and less upgradeable than a $1,200 desktop gaming PC. To provide the power to play games at decent settings, they sacrifice portability, battery life, and value compared to non-gaming laptops.

The wirecutter best laptop