The best gaming laptop. Rating of gaming laptops

Today, it's easy to find a powerful PC, where you can play the most resource-intensive games all day at the highest detail settings on Full HD displays. It's much harder to squeeze all this performance into a quiet and portable gaming laptop that can be just as easily transferred as any other modern laptop. Workstations weigh more than 3 kg and require a power unit that increases the weight to 5 kg, and after turning on the side cooling they sound like a hairdryer. Fortunately, the desired goal became closer. Although some of the machines are still the monsters described above, others actually become very portable.

CPU

What does a gaming laptop mean? If you need a laptop that can cope with modern games, then the graphics processor is one of the most critical components, since it depends on it, will the game go at a speed of 5 or 50 frames per second. But he needs support. This means that you need a powerful CPU, a sufficient amount of RAM, a large and fast drive to store games and other files, a large screen to see the game in action, and a good chassis to carry all of these components.

Currently, Intel and NVIDIA offer everything necessary to ensure the operation of the chipset, and the central and graphic processors of AMD significantly lag behind in performance and efficiency.

The sixth generation Intel Core codenamed Skylake is well suited for CPU tasks and is more efficient at uniform load. The best gaming laptops are equipped with the seventh generation, codenamed Kaby Lake.

Graphics Processor

NVIDIA has launched mobile versions of GPU 1060, 1070 and 1080, but even laptops with GTX 1060 are expensive. Nevertheless, the acquired video card remains for a long time, and it is always a good idea to buy the latest generation model. But if the user can not afford to spend 2000 dollars, then there are enough good offers that ensure decent performance in games to the required level.

Screen

The laptop screens have also improved, and their resolution has now reached the level of Full HD with more advanced technology than the TN-panels of cheap models. You should look at IPS-displays, which provide wide and stable viewing angles from all angles, better contrast and greater color gamut. Do not overestimate the brightness settings - the contrast of the monitor, especially at low brightness values, is much more important than the dazzling 300 cd / m ² .

Today it's easier to find screens with more practical anti-glare protection than glossy reflective panels, which used to be the main offer of most brands. And, as a rule, you can ignore the tendency to more than HD resolution - as graphics processors hardly digest UHD (4K) screens. For most gamers, 1920x1080 is a happy compromise between screen detail and an acceptable frame rate.

Data storage

Solid-state drives will significantly improve the user experience when it comes to computer startup, program startup, opening and saving files. But they will not increase the speed of the game, although they can shorten the short pauses between levels. Nevertheless, the availability of SSD is always recommended in combination with the second, traditional capacious hard drive for data storage.

Audio

Some players like to use headphones or a headset, especially in multi-user settings. But if the user does not intend to spend his time on putting on headphones, it still turns out that the modern gaming laptop is quieter. This means that you can now enjoy the built-in stereo speakers. Some can boast of the names of famous brands such as B & O, Dynaudio, Harman, Klipsch and Onkyo, put on tin grids of laptops, although, according to user experience, this is more of a showcase nowadays, as anonymous models often sound better than branded ones.

Battery life

The battery life is perhaps the least important for a gaming laptop that replaces a standard PC, although this causes difficulties in combining fast graphics with slim portable laptops. You can have a powerful machine and a tremendous battery life, even if the charge drops at an accelerated pace after switching from integrated graphics to a more voracious card.

Below are the best gaming laptops Asus, MSI, Acer, Eurocom and Schenker Technologies, placed in descending order of their rating.

MSI GT73VR 7RF

MSI gaming notebooks occupy a leading position among gaming laptops, and the first among them is the model GT73VR 7RF. Compared to the strongest rivals, the 17-inch device gains points thanks to a 120-Hz display and significantly better service capabilities. Under the hood of the laptop there are not only three M.2 slots, two of which are PCIe / NVMe, but also a huge cooling system consisting of two fans and a record 10 heat pipes. This is not surprising, since high-end devices currently use the strongest NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics chip. In addition, the notebook has a turbo mode for overclocking CPU and GPU clock speeds.

Additional characteristics of GT73VR 7RF are powerful sound, acceptable temperature mode, as well as stylish illumination of the keyboard and touchpad. In addition to color accuracy, a matte display with Full HD resolution features good performance (fast reaction time, G-sync, high contrast). The only drawbacks are cumbersome design, short battery life and noise at full load.

MSI GT83VR 6RE

This is really a special laptop: a powerful gaming laptop is equipped with two built-in NVMe SSDs, two GTX 1070 cards in SLI mode, 32 GB of RAM and an i7-6820HK processor, overclocked to 4 GHz. For those who are looking for maximum performance, but do not want to see a PC tower on their desk, this 18-inch device will be to your liking, if not confuse its price - MSI asks for GT83VR 6RE 4000 euros.

Connectivity, display (unfortunately only Full HD) and audio meet high expectations, but the system noise is a big minus of the model - it reaches 57 dB (A) at full load, which is a lot even for a gaming laptop. However, the mechanical keyboard deserves respect. Input is much clearer and more accurate than conventional. The touchpad with the lock function is also executed futuristically. In addition, you can not complain about the performance of the laptop: the combination of the architecture of Pascal and SLI in synthetic graphics tests outperforms the predecessor GTX 980 SLI by 20-50%.

ASUS G752VS

Gamersky laptop "Asus G752VS" also takes 2nd place. It affects the overclocked graphics card GeForce GTX 1070 and the i7-6820HK processor. Apart from decent noise (40-47 dB (A) in 3D mode), the bright and wide viewing angle IPS panel with G-Sync support is the main incentive to purchase the Asus RoG laptop. The gamer's laptop heats relatively little, the connectivity is excellent (although the location of the connectors leaves much to be desired), and the input devices are good. However, it is not good enough for other parameters. For example, access to the cooling system for users is almost impossible, and the weight of the G752VS reaches 4.5 kg.

MSI GT72VR 7RE

Almost six months after the launch of the GT72VR 6RE (Skylake), MSI released the following model - GT72VR 7RE. According to the testing, the i7-7700HQ processor is only 10% faster than the very successful Core i7-6700HQ chip. The GT72VR also proves to be the best in other categories. For example, NVIDIA G-Sync technology minimizes display and input delays. In addition, the laptop comes with a solid-state drive M.2 with a capacity of 256 GB, 16 GB of DDR4 RAM and a screen frequency of 120 Hz. The GTX 1070 video card at native HD resolution in all games with maximum detail and lots of smoothing works smoothly. In addition, the maintenance of the laptop does not cause difficulties, the sound is good, and there is a great variety of connectivity options. However, it's annoying that MSI missed or shortened some functions (manual graphics switching, Thunderbolt port and number of M.2 slots) that were available for the previous model, so that the GT73VR model was better sold.

Schenker XMG U727

This is a vivid example of a full replacement desktop computer. Despite the heavy weight (5.5 kg) and the thick assembly (4.7 cm), the 17-inch case is convincing. In particular, the upgrade and display are commendable. The 4K panel not only impresses with its high resolution, but also offers a surprisingly large color space (88% AdobeRGB), which still needs to be used.

The performance of SLI combo also deserves attention. Two chips GTX 1080 reach a level that today has no analogues. Although the battery life of the XMG U727 is not long enough, the gaming laptop sounds great. The same is true for connectivity (there is a Thunderbolt 3 interface), a keyboard and a touchpad. However, the heating temperature and noise are not so good.

Eurocom Tornado F5

Unlike Schenker Technologies, Eurocom used its Clevo barebone for its 15-inch DTR, and MSI, which visually and technically reminds the GT62VR. However, the laptop does not need to hide behind its competitor. Thanks to Core i7-7700K and GeForce GTX 1070 Tornado F5 justifies its name. In addition, it is generously equipped with 64 GB of DDR4 RAM. Data is stored on a combination of HDD and SSD. The display is a Full HD panel created using IPS technology with support for G-Sync.

As is customary in MSI, a gaming laptop is equipped with a large number of interfaces and functionality (for example, manual fan control). Another professional feature is ease of maintenance, which allows you to update the hardware and clean the laptop from dust. The case temperature is acceptable, but the system noise under load is quite high.

Acer Predator 15 G9-593

Although Acer is known mainly for office and multimedia notebooks, some time ago the company entered the gaming sector. The Nitro series is aimed at economical gamers, and Predator is aimed at players with high demands. The 15-inch G9-593 notebook features a unique design and an optional FrostCore fan that is included in all models and can be used instead of an optical drive. However, you should not expect miracles, since the loudness of the cooler reaches 43-49 dB when performing 3D tasks.

On the other hand, Acer has created a device with a future focus, whether it's connectivity or display with G-sync. True, its cumbersome body does not look modern. At a weight of 3.7 kg and a height of 3.9 cm, the laptop is a little outdated for the era of thin gaming notebooks, such as the MSI GS73VR. The manufacturer offers Predator 17 G9-793 to those who prefer 17-inch devices.

ASUS Strix GL502VM

Lovers of compact laptops and travel are better to stick to laptops measuring 15 inches or less. At a height of 2.4 cm, the Asus GL502VM is very thin. Nevertheless, it works no worse than the more complete 17-inch contenders. The Core i7-6700HQ and the GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card provide more than enough frame rates for high-definition games.

In addition, a relatively inexpensive gaming laptop costing 1,700 euros has 16 GB of DDR4 memory, M.2 SSD and an IPS panel. However, because of its small size, the GL502VM turned out to be quite noisy and warms up during games. A slightly thicker version of the GL502VS with the GTX 1070 in this aspect works better. Connectivity, 2.5 kg of weight, input devices and build quality are flawless. The 17-inch version is called the GL702VM.