How is a gaming laptop different from a regular laptop?
The very first question that an inexperienced user faces is? What is the difference between gaming devices and ordinary ones designed to perform daily tasks? For modern games, the most important parameter is the graphical component, since it is the presence of realistic drawing and quality of display that makes them so interesting and popular. Therefore, the main difference between gaming laptop models is the presence of a high-quality video card. The next important parameter that affects performance is the processor and the amount of RAM.
The main requirement for a gaming machine is the quality of the picture so that it looks like it’s alive.
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On store shelves you can find many devices that are positioned by sellers as budget laptops for gaming. It should be understood that in pursuit of the versatility of the device, the buyer receives a “stripped-down” computer, which will either have insufficient memory, or a weak video card, or a truncated processor, which will not allow running hardware-demanding games.
Another criterion that will help you immediately tell whether a gaming model is on the store shelf or not is the price. The cheapest gaming laptop cannot cost less than 40,000 rubles. All laptops below this level allow you to play even modern games, but at low graphics settings. In this case, purchasing a laptop for gaming is considered simply inappropriate, since in the end you will not be able to get the desired pleasure from the gaming process.
Choosing a laptop means determining the necessary parameters and selecting the appropriate device.
Cooling system
The cooling system is another important component of a gaming laptop that is worth paying attention to. If the cooling system is simple and consists of an ordinary combination of a radiator and a fan, then with powerful components, the laptop will heat up very much, and the processor and video card will drop the frequency, which will ultimately lead to a loss of performance. To prevent overheating, gaming laptops are equipped with a serious cooling system, including several fans, heat pipes and radiators. As a rule, S.O. gaming laptops are equipped with unique fans with thin blades, highly efficient turbines with intelligent control, have several channels for ejecting dust outside the case, radiators with an increased number of fins, and some manufacturers have gone even further and use vapor chambers or C. to cool their gaming laptops. O based on water cooling. You should also know that the powerful cooling system in gaming laptops has a fairly high noise level, unlike other universal or multimedia analogues.
How to choose a gaming laptop: basic parameters
When choosing a good laptop for gaming, there are a number of important aspects to consider that represent the technical characteristics of the “machine”. It is these parameters that determine how fast and powerful the computer will be, which directly affects the comfort of the gaming process.
Processor and RAM
The presence of a powerful processor is the key to fast and uninterrupted operation of the computer even under increased loads. There are currently two major players in the computer technology market, specializing in the production of “stones” and chips, these are Intel and AMD.
It is impossible to say for sure which processor is the best, since each manufacturer has its own successful and unsuccessful models. It should only be noted that a budget gaming laptop of 2021 must have at least an Intel Core i5 or AMD A10 on board.
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You should pay attention to the labeling of processors. The spread of ultrabooks has led to the fact that processors designed for them began to penetrate the gaming segment. It’s easy to identify such a “stone” - at the end of its name there will be a letter U, for example, Intel Core i7-4500U. This will mean less actual power than the regular model.
You should not even consider buying a laptop that is equipped with processors from the Intel Atom, Celeron, Pentium or Core i3 series. All these models are designed for office PCs and are not capable of handling powerful games. You also need to be careful when choosing a chip from AMD. Some sellers are trying to sell laptops equipped with mobile processors from this manufacturer (AMD A10-5750M) under the guise of a cheap laptop for gaming. In terms of power, this “stone” is between Core i3 and Core i5 and will not be able to provide the necessary power reserve for modern games.
The second indicator to buy an inexpensive gaming laptop is the amount of RAM. Below 4 GB indicates that the buyer is looking at ordinary office equipment. The size of RAM affects your computer's ability to run a large number of open applications at the same time.
Modern gaming systems are very sensitive to this parameter, and some games have 8 GB of RAM as a minimum system requirement. The optimal figure is 16 Gigabytes. You should also consider the type of memory. The best gaming laptop should work with DDR4 or DDR3 levels; anything lower remains “overboard”.
Video card and hard drive
The graphics card in a gaming laptop should not be integrated or built into the motherboard. This will mean that the stock GPU simply cannot cope with the demands of the game.
Among video card manufacturers, two major players should also be highlighted: NVIDIA and AMD. The first produces models called GeForce. When choosing, you should pay attention to two things:
- the presence of a GTX prefix, which means the gaming “color” of the graphics processor;
- model number. Everything is simple here - the higher the number, the newer and, accordingly, more powerful the card.
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Separately, it should be noted a new line of gaming products from this manufacturer, which are codenamed Quadro. These are video cards of increased power, with advanced technical characteristics, but also a high price.
NVIDIA is considered a leader in the production of graphics accelerators for both desktop PCs and laptops.
The second manufacturer AMD labels cards in a similar way: family comes first, then ? generation, version and model. The most budget video card at the moment is the Radeon 8870M. And the best option, if the choice is made in favor of AMD, will be the Radeon R9 M290X.
The hard drive is not a determining factor when choosing a gaming laptop. It should be noted that 500 GB is enough to install any modern game. Finding laptops with a smaller capacity in stores is already difficult.
The only trick when choosing a hard drive is to focus on purchasing a model with an SSD drive. This is a solid state drive that has no moving parts and provides faster data transfer speeds. Despite the inflated price, they are able to provide the most comfortable conditions for playing.
An SSD, or solid state drive, provides high data transfer speeds and no noise.
Display dimensions of a good gaming laptop
The screen dimensions of modern laptops have the following standards:
- small format ? with a diagonal from 10 to 13 inches;
- medium format ? where this indicator varies from 14 to 16”;
- large format ? have a diagonal of over 17 inches.
Choosing a specific size is a subjective matter, but playing on a small screen is less comfortable. For large sizes, appropriate permission is required.
The traditional figure for modern laptops is 1366×768 pixels. For a gaming laptop it cannot be smaller, only larger. There is also a division by matrix type. Real gamers prefer the cheaper TN model, which has a faster response time, which ensures no blur in dynamic scenes.
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Another indicator that concerns the screen is its coverage. For games, it is better to choose gloss, which provides increased color brightness and richness of the palette, which is important in the gaming process.
The larger the screen with sufficient resolution, the more comfortable the gaming experience.
operating system
Here the choice will depend on the user’s ability to install the OS themselves. Stores offer laptop models without a pre-installed operating system, which allows you to save some money. If the buyer is not ready to bother with installing the shell himself, then it is better to choose a laptop with a ready-made OS. At least you don’t have to worry about its licensing.
Keyboard selection
If you're shopping for an entry-level gaming keyboard, you'll likely choose an LED-backlit island keyboard. But there are many other characteristics worth paying attention to:
Key travel:
this is how deep the keys are pressed. We prefer keyboards with more than 1.5 millimeters of key travel, but 2 mm would be even better. In some expensive laptop models you can even find mechanical keys.
Activation:
this is the force you need to apply to make the key work. We like an activation of 65 to 70 grams, which gives just enough resistance without feeling too soft.
Macro keys:
Finding macro keys on gaming laptop keyboards is more difficult than on desktop keyboards, although there is a chance. A good set of programmable macro keys will allow you to easily perform the most common actions in games. This is usually done using the laptop manufacturer's software.
Anti-ghosting and key rollover protection:
These two features will ensure maximum gaming performance. Anti-ghosting means that when you press multiple keys for a combo or perform multiple actions, all actions are recorded. Additionally, key rollover means that each key is independent of the others and will be registered no matter what other keys are pressed.
Backlight
: Although budget gaming laptops have backlighting, it is usually either red or white. The best keyboards have RGB backlighting. Some have it distributed across zones (or sections of the keyboard), while others have individual key settings for each key. Some can even change the lighting depending on the game.
Top gaming laptops
The rating of gaming laptops can be found on the website Noutlist.ru, which has recently experienced certain difficulties, so its “falls” are very often observed. Other resources also offer their top laptops for gaming, which is compiled based on an analysis of consumer demand and expert opinion. An approximate “five” would look like this:
DELL Inspiron 5491 2-in-1 (mid-range). DELL Inspiron 5491 2-in-1 is not a simple laptop, but a transformer, as the “2-in-1” in the name eloquently suggests. That is, it can be used both as a regular laptop and as a tablet. Moreover, this model is one of the most powerful transformers on the market. In the maximum configuration, the device boasts a quad-core Core i5 10210U processor with a clock frequency of 2100 MHz, and 8 GB of DDR4 RAM with a frequency of 2666 MHz (its volume can be expanded up to 32 GB). The NVIDIA GeForce MX230 discrete video card provides good performance, which is more than enough for the office, surfing the Internet, and even simple toys. The built-in battery lasts for 7 hours of continuous operation.
An excellent device that fully lives up to its price tag of 50,000 rubles.
DELL Inspiron 5491 2-in-1
ASUS ROG Strix G GL531. Inexpensive gaming laptop from the ASUS Republic of Gamers gaming line. It can be equipped with a discrete video card ranging from the budget NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, which is quite suitable for undemanding games, to the powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070. The Core i5 or Core i7 processor is sufficient for any office tasks and the heaviest programs. The model can be equipped with a display with a frequency of up to 144 Hz.
The key feature of the model is the keyboard. Firstly, despite the 15.6-inch display, there is no number pad, which is rare. Secondly, the backlight of both the keyboard itself and the perimeter of the laptop is adjusted using a proprietary application and synchronized with peripherals from the same manufacturer. One of the most affordable and powerful gaming machines. The price of the device starts from 90,000 rubles and depends on the configuration.
ASUS ROG Strix G GL531
Acer Extensa 15 EX215-51-59L4. A productive budget laptop designed primarily for solving business problems. Perhaps its main advantage is the productive and economical central processor Intel Core i5 10210U with four cores that operate at a frequency of 1600 MHz. In combination with 8 GB of RAM, its capabilities are enough for office applications, calculations, Internet surfing and other tasks that do not require working with 3D graphics. A discrete video card is, of course, missing here, but thanks to the use of an integrated graphics core, the laptop is quiet, light, cool, compact and long-lasting: the built-in battery charge lasts for 9 hours of continuous operation.
The asking price is about 50,000 rubles.
Acer Extensa 15 EX215-51-59L4
MSI GL65 Leopard 10SCXR-021RU (9S7-16U822-021). The Taiwanese company MSI has always been famous for its ability to combine affordable prices and decent performance in its products. Of course, this device, priced at 90,000 rubles or more, does not qualify for the premium segment, but it allows you to play even modern games relatively inexpensively. At medium and low graphics settings, at least: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 discrete graphics processor with 4 GB of video memory is responsible for this. A good company for the graphics is the powerful Intel Core i7 10750H CPU with six cores and a frequency of 2600 MHz. The basic configuration does not have enough RAM, only 8 GB, but it can be expanded up to 64 GB, so there should definitely not be any problems here.
An excellent choice for budget-conscious gamers who, between “checkers or drive,” choose the latter.
MSI GL65 Leopard 10SCXR-021RU (9S7-16U822-021)
HP Pavilion Gaming 16-a0023ur (22R39EA). A stylish yet rugged gaming laptop that combines sleek design with solid performance. The latter is provided by a powerful Intel Core i5 10300H processor with four cores and a clock frequency of 2500 MHz, 16 GB of very fast DDR4 RAM at 2933 MHz and a discrete NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q graphics card with 6 GB of video memory, which is slightly inferior to the regular 2060 in speed, but greatly exceeds it in efficiency, silence and compactness. Thanks to the installation of such a video card, HP's laptop turned out to be very thin and light, especially by the standards of gaming models: the machine weighs only 2350 grams and does not exceed 23.5 mm in thickness.
An excellent model priced at only 93,000 rubles.
HP Pavilion Gaming 16-a0023ur (22R39EA)
What about the battery?
Don't expect your gaming laptop to be super portable.
In order to play at full CPU performance, you will have to run from mains. Otherwise, you'll be lucky if you can play for at least an hour without recharging. In our testing, most gaming laptops only last a few hours on a single charge while performing other tasks, but never longer than ultraportables without discrete GPUs. If you want to play for 8 hours, a laptop will not cope with this task.
Some laptops can last a long time, but often at the cost of lowering the display settings. You don't want to play on a dark, dim, or fuzzy screen.
Which is the best laptop to buy for gaming – price ranges
You can find gaming laptop models in a wide range of price ranges on the market. But, as noted above, models below 40,000 rubles should not be considered as a full-fledged gaming laptop.
Gaming laptops up to 40,000 rubles
The desire to buy a gaming machine cheaper is quite understandable. However, it is also worth understanding that you should not count on top-end performance from a device priced up to 40,000 rubles. These are, after all, not exactly real gaming devices. The capabilities of most of them are enough either for games that were three or four years old at medium settings, or for newer projects, but, as they say, at minimum settings.
One of the brightest representatives of this price segment can be safely called the HP 250 laptop, which is already undergoing its seventh revision. The main advantages of the model, however, remain unchanged from generation to generation: low price, decent performance and high-quality assembly. Yes, this is not the most beautiful or fashionable device: it looks rather strict, but for some this will even be a plus. Moreover, the machine weighs only 1780 grams, and its thickness does not exceed 22.5 mm - this is with a 15.6-inch monitor (with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 and anti-glare coating, by the way).
The hardware here, of course, is not the top-end, but for office, Internet surfing and simple games, a dual-core Intel Core i3 1005G1 processor with an integrated graphics core and 8 GB of DDR4 RAM is quite enough. Not so bad, especially at a price of 38,000 rubles.
Notebook HP 250 G7
Powerful mid-range gaming laptop
The middle price segment includes devices whose cost varies from 50,000 to 80,000 rubles, which is quite acceptable for a gaming laptop. These devices allow you to comfortably play any modern games, even at maximum quality settings, thanks to an advanced processor, discrete video card and high-quality matrix.
One of the most affordable gaming laptop models on the market. The device provides good performance in games and other 3D applications with good discrete graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 with 4 GB of video memory. It is paired with an inexpensive but quite powerful AMD Ryzen 5 3550H processor with four cores operating at 2100 MHz. The picture is complemented by 8 GB of DDR4 RAM with a frequency of 2933 MHz, which can be easily expanded up to 32 GB. In general, this laptop may not be able to handle Cyberpunk 2077 at maximum speed, but it will definitely be possible to play it, albeit at low graphics settings.
The cost of the model starts from 67,000 rubles.
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-43-R59D
The most expensive gaming laptops available
The most expensive laptop for gaming in our selection is the uncompromising Acer TRITON 500. The price of the model starts from 245,000 rubles, but the appearance, workmanship and technical characteristics of the device are simply excellent.
The device runs on 6-core processors from the Intel Core i7 line, is equipped with 16 to 32 GB DDR4 and a video card from NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super to 2080 Super. A pair of fast SSDs provide up to 2 TB of permanent memory for data storage. There’s no need to even talk about how bright and fast the display is here. In short, one of the most powerful gaming laptops in the world. Until the release of models with GeForce RTX 3080 graphics, at least.
Acer Predator Triton 500 (PT515-52)
RAM
For a gaming laptop, the amount of installed RAM is critical, but the frequency and mode of its operation are also important. First of all, for gaming, we would not recommend choosing a model with less than 16 GB of RAM. 8 GB will be noticeably insufficient even for work and the simplest games, which will affect comfort. Ideally, for top-end expensive models, you should choose a laptop with 32 GB on board.
The operating mode of RAM is usually 2-channel or 4-channel. Here, more does not necessarily mean better; again, you should pay attention to module throughput and latency tests. The memory operating frequency can vary greatly; for a gaming model, it is advisable to look at modules with a frequency of 2666 MHz in 2-channel mode and higher. Low-frequency memory will most likely give a 5-10% drop in FPS compared to high-speed modules of 3600-4200 MHz. Thus, the universal strategy for choosing RAM is that the larger the size of the modules and their frequency, the better, but it is also worth looking at tests, if possible.
How to buy a powerful gaming laptop inexpensively: editor's advice
To become the owner of a gaming laptop while saving money, you can try to monitor private message boards, where working devices can be purchased at a much lower price than they are offered in stores. It is not worth purchasing universal laptops that are positioned as “gaming” ones, since as a result you will not enjoy the game. Or save money and purchase a high-quality device in the mid-price segment. The video presented in the article will tell you about gaming laptops again.
Drives
Almost all modern laptops, especially gaming ones, are equipped with an SSD drive. In 2021, you should, if possible, abandon much slower HDDs and completely give preference to SSDs, even in budget models. The minimum disk capacity for the system and e-sports games that do not take up much space will be 256 GB, but it is still better to look at drives of 512 GB and higher. And if you plan to store a whole library of games and, in addition, music, photos and films, then you will need models from 1 TB.
The SSD drive format in modern models should be M.2 with an NVMe interface - such drives are capable of providing read/write speeds of about 3000 MB/s. A regular SATA SSD, of course, is also much better than an HDD and is suitable as a budget compromise option.
