Top 3 Best Gaming Laptops In 2023

Searching for the best gaming laptop? 

Scouring the web for the ultimate gaming laptop can be as daunting as a final boss fight but fear not, your cheat code is here. 

Cutting through the jargon, let’s zero in on what truly matters in a gaming laptop: muscle for the latest titles, a display that keeps you immersed without ghosting your enemies, and a design that won’t scream ‘I live in my mom’s basement.’ 

We’re about to pull back the curtain on the three top gaming laptops of the year that have the gaming community buzzing. Get ready to meet the contenders that promise to elevate your play without draining your bank account. 

Our Top Picks

• 3. Gigabyte G5 KF (2023) – Best Budget Gaming Laptop
• 2. Asus Scar 16 (2023) – Best High-end Gaming Laptop
• 1. ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2023) – Our Top Choice

Why Should You Trust Us?

When it comes to choosing a gaming laptop, the market’s abundance can overwhelm even seasoned gamers. That’s where Talha Zuberi’s expertise becomes your ace in the hole. With a track record of crafting high-octane PCs and a reputation that precedes him in tech circles, Talha doesn’t just follow trends — he anticipates them. 

His advice stems from a profound understanding of gaming hardware and a commitment to match every reader with their ideal setup.

Why should you trust us? Because Talha is not just an expert; he’s an enthusiast who lives and breathes tech. His decade-plus of experience in the field ensures that his recommendations are based on real-world performance, not just theoretical specs. 

His personalized approach to tech guidance means that he’s considered your gaming experience, budget, and performance needs before a single word hits the page. With Talha’s insight, you’re not just getting advice; you’re gaining an ally in the vast world of gaming technology.

How We Choose the Best Laptops For Gaming

Laptop gaming has started to become popular as the hardware has become more efficient and powerful. 

To pick the best laptop for gaming, I followed these guidelines:

1. Key Specifications – When choosing the best gaming laptop,
   1. CPU – The CPU takes care of all the essential tasks. A faster CPU with more cores results in a smooth gaming experience with enough room for other tasks. More cores also means that more background applications can run without sharing resources with game applications. For Intel CPUs, it should be a 12th-gen CPU with 4 performance and 2 efficiency cores as a bare minimum. For AMD, the CPU should be at least 6 cores.
      
   2. GPU – For gaming, there is no doubt that the GPU is the most important component. Keep in mind that laptop GPUs are not at the same level of performance as their desktop counterparts because they need to prioritize cooler temperatures and lower power draw. For VRAM, the GPU should not have less than 8 GB of GDDR6 as modern games are already pushing VRAM requirements to the limit.
      
   3. RAM – Any laptop or PC should have at least 16 GB of RAM whether you are looking to play games or use it for other general day-to-day tasks. RAM prices have plummeted severely and it is always better to have more.
      
   4. SSD – No computer for gaming should have anything less than a speedy SATA SSD. However, since PCIe SSDs have gone down in price, a gaming laptop should have at least a 1 TB PCIe Gen 3.0 SSD or a 512 GB PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD.
      
      SSDs help load game assets quicker and HDDs are not quick enough for the job anymore. Ideally, the laptop allows SSD upgrades in the future. Game sizes have skyrocketed and any modern game is typically between 50 to 100 GB in size.
      
   5. Battery – Battery life is subjective to the overall power requirements of the laptop’s CPU, GPU, and screen. Typically, Windows laptops are known to not have long battery lives. However, a laptop continuously playing a YouTube video should not last less than 4 hours on a full charge. Ideally, the battery should last at least 6 to 7 hours. Not to worry too much since the laptop needs to be plugged to a wall outlet to play games.
      
   6. Screen – Manufacturers mostly compromise on screen quality and prioritize performance. However, the screen should not be smaller than 14” and the resolution should not be less than 1080p. Nowadays, almost every gaming laptop comes with a 120 Hz refresh rate or higher. Other areas that improve the screen’s quality are color accuracy and lighting technology.
      
2. Gaming performance – Specifications can only tell us theoretical performance. A laptop with worse specifications on paper could lose to a laptop with far better specifications. It is important to refer to benchmarks and real-world performance to paint a complete picture of how well a laptop will perform in gaming.
   
3. Sustained Performance and Heat Dissipation – Comparing two laptops with identical specs cannot determine that both of them will perform identically in the real world. How good a laptop is at dissipating heat determines how well it can sustain long gaming sessions without losing performance. The more heat a laptop produces, the more the CPU and GPU throttle themselves to reduce temperatures if the laptop lacks adequate cooling. This results in poor performance and gaming experience, especially during longer sessions.
   
4. Chassis Ruggedness and Portability – One overlooked aspect in choosing a good laptop is how well the body of the laptop is built in contrast to how lightweight and easy it is to carry around. After determining everything in terms of performance and heat, it is best to choose a laptop that is lighter and stronger than its competition. This is especially important for gaming laptops because this indicates how well the cooling solution is for the CPU and GPU.
   
5. I/O Ports and Other Features – It is important for a laptop to have a good set of ports to plug in high-speed devices, multiple displays, and other peripherals.
   
6. Upgradeability – The best laptops let anyone upgrade whatever needs upgrading. Sometimes, this may not be the case and parts are soldered on the motherboard of the laptop. Manufacturers do this to significantly reduce the thickness of the laptop. It is however a bonus if the SSD, RAM, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card, and battery are user-replaceable.

3 Best Gaming Laptops Reviews

1. ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2023) – Our Top Choice

A few years ago, the best gaming laptops used to be very expensive and out of reach for many, and yet they didn’t offer desktop levels of performance due to overheating and underpowered hardware. However now for many, a powerful laptop can easily replace their desktop, offering the luxury to take their one and only computer anywhere they want to.

After looking through many laptops, I chose the Asus ROG Strix G16 as the best gaming laptop today as it offers a near-perfect balance at $1800.

It is paired with the 24-core Intel Core i9 13980HX just like the Asus Scar 16 making it a solid foundation for the rest of the laptop. It offers the same computing performance which is quite close to even desktop CPUs like the Core i5 13600K in terms of gaming. The 8-Performance and 16-Efficiency cores offer peak desktop-level performance in laptops and surprisingly at a budget way under $2000.

When it comes to the GPU, it is paired with the mobile RTX 4070, which, in testing, is the most efficient GPU by Nvidia and can run anywhere from 35 Watts to 120 Watts. The GPU comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM and can rival the desktop RTX 4060 Ti in terms of performance.

Speaking of performance, the RTX 4070 can play any AAA game at 1440p and very high settings at 60 FPS or more even with some ray tracing and DLSS.

For memory, it is equipped with 16 GB of DDR5 RAM clocked at 4800 MT/s. Even though the i9 13980HX can support faster RAM, there is no way to overclock the RAM, not even through the BIOS. Both RAM sticks are upgradable up to 64 GB if you are thinking of using this laptop for more memory-hungry applications.

In terms of storage, the Strix G16 has a 1 TB PCIe Gen 4.0 NVMe SSDs With reading speeds at 7 GB/s and 5 GB/s for writing data.

I am glad that Asus offers a stunning 165 Hz IPS display on the Strix G16 with a resolution of 1920 X 1200. It is perfect for AAA gaming and competitive eSports and the Pantone Validation means that it is perfect for some light video editing as well. It also covers 100% of the sRGB color space and is certified for Dolby Vision.

There aren’t many complaints that I have regarding the G16. If we do want to count them, then at most I think the design needs to tone down the gamer aesthetic a little. I understand that some people like the RGB strip that illuminates the whole laptop from both ends, however, that is simply not for me.

The port selection should’ve been more impressive than it currently is. You get a combo audio jack, an HDMI 2.1 port, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 type-A ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 type-C port that supports DisplayPort and power delivery, a 2.5G ethernet port, and a Thunderbolt 4 port. I would’ve liked for this laptop to have at least one more USB port for using a mouse.

All in all, the Asus Strix G16 has every base covered thanks to its desktop-grade performance combined with a great display and chassis. The i9 13980HX and RTX 4070 will serve anyone for a very long time.

To sum up what we like is that…

• Powered by Intel’s most powerful CPU while being under $2000
• Excellent color-accurate 165 Hz display
• Rugged design with excellent cooling

On the downside…

• The RGB light strip can be tacky and annoying
• Average port selection

RATINGS:

• Design: 8/10
• Cooling: 9/10
• Performance: 8.5/10
• Screen: 9/10
• Value for Money: 8.5/10
• Overall Rating: 9/10

2. Asus Scar 16 (2023) – Best High-end Gaming Laptop

For those looking for the absolute best performance from a 2023 Windows laptop, the Asus Scar 16 offers everything that you could possibly want from top-tier performance to an incredible display and solid rugged build.

The 24-core Intel Core i9 13980HX is currently Intel’s best laptop CPU and one of the fastest gaming CPUs. Its performance is quite close to even desktop CPUs like the Core i5 13600K in terms of gaming. The 8-Performance and 16-Efficiency cores make me happy knowing that you can get peak desktop performance in laptops now.

When it comes to the graphics card, it is paired with the mobile RTX 4090, which is the best GPU for any laptop. The mobile RTX 4090 comes with a massive 16 GB of GDDR6X VRAM and can rival the desktop RTX 4080 in terms of performance.

Speaking of performance, the RTX 4090 can play any AAA game including Cyber Punk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Remnant 2, Control, Doom Eternal, The Witcher 3, and The Last of Us at 4K and very high settings at 60 FPS or more. The best part about the rtx 4090 is that you can play any game with ray tracing enabled as well.

The Asus Scar 16 is already equipped with 32 GB of DDR5 RAM clocked at 4800 MT/s. Even though the i9 13980HX can support faster RAM, there is no way to overclock the RAM. Still, this is an excellent pairing for a premium gaming laptop. Both RAM sticks are upgradable up to 64 GB if you are thinking of using this laptop for more productivity-intensive applications.

For storage, Asus installed a pair of ultra-fast 1 TB PCIe Gen 4.0 NVMe SSDs in RAID 0 for maximum speed. The speeds on the individual drives are very fast at 7 GB/s for reading and 5 GB/s for writing data. RAID 0 makes the entire operating system and transfer speeds feel even faster.

Aside from the performance of the Asus Scar 16, it is the display that is my next favorite part. Asus calls their display “Nebula Display HDR” which is a 16”  Mini LED 240 Hz screen with a resolution of 2560×1600. It is a stunningly beautiful, vivid, and bright display thanks to it reaching true HDR levels of brightness at 1100 nits.

Whether you are gaming, watching movies, or video editing, this display has everything you could possibly want. It isn’t going to have the perfect blacks of OLED, but the blackness level of Mini LED combined with true HDR makes it unbeatable and it even has Pantone Validation and full 100% DCI-P3 coverage.

I honestly don’t have any complaints about this laptop aside from a few minor design concerns. The RGB LED strip is frankly annoying and makes the laptop look cheap. Also while I have no doubt about the build quality, it needs quite some improvement in design. Having a stereotypical “gamer” look could sway away a lot of people from one of the best laptops available.

Besides the looks, the port selection should’ve been more impressive than it currently is. You get a combo audio jack, an HDMI 2.1 port, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 type-A ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 type-C port that supports DisplayPort and power delivery, a 2.5G ethernet port, and a Thunderbolt 4 port. While this is a good selection of ports to begin with, the laptop needs a few more USB 2.0 ports for a mouse and an SD card reader. A few more added ports would’ve definitely completed the entire package.

In conclusion, the Asus Scar 16 is my top choice for a gaming laptop in 2023 if money is not a concern. Thanks to the Intel Core i9 13980HX and mobile RTX 4090 graphics card, it is perfect for gaming and productivity and the 16” screen is currently in the league of being one of my all-time favorites.

To sum up what we like is the…

• Great display with deep blacks and true HDR
• The battery is long-lasting despite overpowered hardware
• Rugged design with excellent cooling
• 2 PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 for maximum speed

On the downside…

• Average port selection despite having Thunderbolt 4
• DDR5 RAM does not clock higher than 4800 MT/s
• The design is not ideal, especially the RGB strip

RATINGS:

• Design: 8/10
• Cooling: 9/10
• Performance: 9.5/10
• Screen: 9.75/10
• Value for Money: 8/10
• Overall Rating: 9/10

3. Gigabyte G5 KF (2023) – Best Budget Gaming Laptop

If you are looking to maximize how far you can push your dollar to get the best value gaming laptop, then the Gigabyte G5 KF is a great option. That’s why it is currently my top pick as the best budget gaming laptop for 2023.

At its core, it has more performance than you’d expect from a less than $1000 laptop. This is thanks to the fast 12-core Intel Core i5 12500H CPU. The 4-Performance cores are plenty fast to run any game even at 4K if you wanted to and the added 8-Efficiecy cores handle all lighter tasks to keep the P-cores free from having to share resources with other background tasks.

One important thing  to keep in mind is that there is an identical version of this laptop that has the Intel Core i5 12450H instead of the Intel Core i5 12500H.

The i5 12450H has a total of 4 Performance and 4 Efficiency cores while the i5 12500H has 4 Performance and 8 Efficiency cores. While you are unlikely to experience a significant advantage in pure gaming and lightly threaded applications, the additional e-cores will give the laptop more room to handle multi-threaded apps. Having more e-cores also means that the laptop will be able to have more background tasks without any stuttering.

The price of both of these laptops is almost the same but the i5 12450H version comes with two sticks of 8 GB DDR4 RAM while the i5 12500H version comes with just one stick of 8 GB DDR4 RAM. Personally, I don’t understand why Gigabyte doesn’t offer a 16 GB version of the 12500H variant of the G5.

I recommend getting the i5 12500H version of the G5 KF and purchasing an additional kit of 8 GB DDR4 which will only cost you an additional $18 and is very easy to install into the laptop.

For the same price, you can get something like the Acer Nitro 5 but it comes with the slower RTX 4050. There is currently no laptop under $1000 with an RTX 4060 or equivalent AMD GPU which makes it hard to skip the Gigabyte G5.

In terms of performance, the RTX 4060 can play any of the latest AAA games like Control, Doom Eternal and The Witcher 3 at 1080p ultra or high settings at 80 FPS (please say frames per second) or more. The RTX 4060 runs at a respectable 75 Watts and can comfortably provide even better performance with DLSS even with some light ray tracing enabled.

Speaking of respectable, the pre-installed 512 GB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD is remarkably good and produces excellent speeds. The read speeds are at least 4 GB/s and the write speeds are 2 GB/s. I would’ve liked it if Gigabyte added a 1 TB SSD instead, but there is an additional PCIe 3.0 M.2 slot if you want to add more storage especially as games are getting more demanding in space.

Now, I do want to mention that since this is a budget gaming laptop, it is evident that Gigabyte cut some corners to keep the cost low. The most notable cutback is the 15.6” 1080p 144 Hz screen. While those are still impressive specifications, the screen has a noticeable problem with ghosting. Nevertheless the ghosting reduces a lot if you underclock the screen from 144 Hz to 120 Hz. This is a drawback of trying to fit a high refresh rate monitor on a budget laptop.

While some corners were cut, I was happy that the port selection is quite decent. You get a Thunderbolt 4 port on the back which supports power delivery, an HDMI 2.1 and a Mini DisplayPort 1.4 port along with a USB 3.2 Gen1 type-A port, ethernet port, and audio combo jack. Lastly, the back also has a barrel power port which helps keep the cables away from the user.

In conclusion, if you’re searching for the best value gaming laptop without breaking the bank in 2023, the Gigabyte G5 KF, particularly the version with the Intel Core i5 12500H, stands out as a top choice. Its robust performance, driven by the 12-core CPU, provides excellent gaming capabilities.

To sum up what we like is that…

• The only laptop under $1000 that offers an RTX 4060
• Excellent port selection for the price, especially Thunderbolt 4

On the downside…

• The screen is quite average at 144 Hz and needs to be underclocked
• Only 8 GB RAM pre-installed

RATINGS:

• Design: 6.5/10
• Cooling: 8.5/10
• Performance: 7.5/10
• Screen: 6.5/10
• Value for Money: 9/10
• Overall Rating: 8/10

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: What makes a laptop “gaming-ready”? A1: A gaming-ready laptop typically has a powerful CPU and GPU, high-speed memory, ample storage, and a high-refresh-rate screen. These components ensure smooth gameplay and the ability to handle demanding games.

Q2: How important is screen size and quality in a gaming laptop? A2: Screen size and quality are crucial for an immersive gaming experience. A larger screen with high resolution, good color accuracy, and a refresh rate of at least 120Hz can significantly enhance your gaming.

Q3: Can gaming laptops be used for other tasks like work or school? A3: Absolutely, gaming laptops are versatile. Their high-performance hardware also makes them suitable for demanding tasks like video editing, 3D rendering, and multitasking for work or school projects.

Q4: What is the advantage of having a gaming laptop over a desktop? A4: The main advantage is portability. A gaming laptop allows you to take your games anywhere and often includes features optimized for gaming on the go, such as built-in high-quality speakers and microphones.

Q5: Are cooling systems important in gaming laptops? A5: Yes, cooling systems are vital. Gaming laptops pack high-performance components that generate heat. Good cooling systems prevent overheating, maintain performance, and extend the lifespan of the laptop.

Q6: How often do I need to upgrade a gaming laptop? A6: It depends on your gaming needs. If you play the latest games on the highest settings, you may need to upgrade every 2-3 years. If your gaming habits are more modest, your laptop could serve you well for longer.

Q7: Do I need a gaming-specific brand for a gaming laptop? A7: Not necessarily. While gaming-specific brands often have features tailored for gamers, many non-gaming brands offer laptops with the specs needed for gaming. Focus on the hardware, not just the brand.

Q8: How much RAM do I need for gaming? A8: For gaming in 2023, 16GB of RAM is the sweet spot, although 8GB may suffice for less demanding games. However, if you’re looking to future-proof your system or multitask, 32GB is recommended.

Q9: What is the significance of the GPU in a gaming laptop? A9: The GPU, or graphics processing unit, is the heart of a gaming laptop. It handles rendering graphics and is critical for achieving high frame rates and smooth gameplay, especially in visually intensive games.

Q10: Is battery life a concern when purchasing a gaming laptop? A10: While gaming laptops typically have shorter battery life due to their powerful components, it’s still worth considering a model with a decent battery life if you plan to use it on the go or away from a power source.