When it comes to gaming PCs are the best option but if you are looking for portability and compactness Gaming laptops will be a suitable option for you, You will find enormous number of options under a given price segment with different specifications, features, and brands. Sometimes it become confusing for the customers to select a perfect gaming laptop with right CPU,GPU,display and other important parts, they are unable to understand which parts to prioritize and which can be compromised. Here is the complete guide to select the perfect gaming laptop which is actually good in gaming and provide best value for money.
1.GPU
GPU( Graphics Processing unit) or commonly called as Graphics card is the most important entity in a gaming laptop to decide the actual gaming performance of your system. It is available in two form one is called Integrated and another one is called Dedicated, Integrated is a graphic processing unit which is integrated part of CPU and does not have its own Video memory whereas Dedicated or Discrete is a actual hardware piece connected to the Motherboard which is specifically made for processing of graphics and have its own Video memory.
Dedicated GPU is way more powerful than integrated GPU, so if you want to game stay away from integrated GPU because they are made only for casual gaming. Now there are many dedicated GPUs in the market like GTX1050,RX560X,GTX1050ti,GTX 1650,RTX 2060 and many other.
Level 1 ( Entry level or minimum):- This list include cards which are absolute necessary for entry level gaming, below this you cannot expect decent gaming performance. It includes GTX 1050,Radeon RX560,GTX 1050 ti, ( GTX 1050 ti > RX 560X > GTX >1050 in term of performance ). These GPU can provide 60 FPS at 1080 low-medium settings in almost all AAA titles except some demanding and bad optimized games.
Level 2 (Decent performance):- This list includes decent performing GPUs with best cost to performance ratio, It includes GTX 1650, GTX 1650 ti, GTX 1660 ti, RX 5500M, ( GTX 1660 ti >GTX 1650 ti > GTX 1650 > RX 5500M in terms of performance). These cards are capable of 60 FPS at 1080p medium to high settings and GTX 1660 ti can go up to 1080p Ultra easily in the modern AAA titles. these cards are costlier than previous ones but performance gap is also significant.
Level 3( Best performance):- This list includes the absolute best GPUs which will get your gaming experience on another level, It includes RTX 2060, RTX 2070 or Super , RTX 2080 or super, RX 5600M ( RTX 2080> RTX 2070> RTX 2060> RX 5600M in term of performance ). These GPUs are capable of 144Hz gaming at ultra settings and RTX 2080 and 2070 can go up to 4K if you have compatible display. These graphic card are also capable of VR gaming if you are interested in it.
Make sure the GPU has atleast 4GB GDDR5 graphics memory because less than 4GB can cause problems in modern games and you can't upgrade it once you purchase one.
2.CPU
CPU( central processing unit) is equally important as GPU, you can't compromise in processor if you want a gaming laptop. Now how to decide which CPU is good and which is not so good for gaming, there are many factors which decides the performance of a CPU like Frequency, Cores and Threads,CPU generation, Cache memory etc.
The most important factors which contributes the most in gaming is CPU speed( or frequency), higher the frequency higher the performance but it is not the only factor, Cores and threads are also important in Modern AAA titles( atleast 4 Physical Cores are needed). All the processors which comes in budget section have 4 Cores and 8 threads which is more than enough for medium 1080p gaming.
Processors can be from team RED(AMD) or team BLUE(Intel) you can pick any brand, each ones has its advantages and disadvantages. In budget section we have AMD Ryzen 5 3550H, Intel i5 8300H, Intel i5 9300H, intel i5 10300H , AMD Ryzen 5 4600H processors. AMD Ryzen 3500H comes at last in terms of gaming performance due to lower clock speed, I will not recommend this CPU if you want a good gaming laptop but if your budget is extremely tight, you can go for this processor because it is decent performer. When it comes to Intel you can go for any intel i5( keep in mind higher the generation higher the performance) but intel cost significantly higher than AMD.
AMD and Intel also has top of the line gaming CPU like i7 10750H, Ryzen 7 4800H, Intel i7 9750H and many more, these CPU have 6 cores and 12 threads whereas AMD ryzen 7 has 8 Cores and 16 Threads. Here also intel is better than AMD in terms of performance but AMD is significantly better than Intel in multicore application. Intel also offers Intel i9 chip but it is overkill if you want a laptop only for games, i7 is more than enough in all the modern AAA titles.
Now if you choose Intel you will get Better Single core speeds means faster in day to day tasks and better in terms of gaming, Flexible( you can overclock or underclock the CPU) according to your needs. If you choose AMD you will get better value, Better battery life due to less TDP of processors, decent gaming performance.
The conclusion is go for Intel if you need best gaming performance and if you need good value go for AMD( keep in mind Intel have high temperatures due to higher Clock speeds and High TDP).
3.RAM and Storage Devices
Ram is also important entity which decides the gaming performance of Gaming laptop, It should have atleast 8GB DDR4 Ram to play modern games at decent frame rates. Ram speed also plays important role in gaming higher the Ram frequency better the performance. Gaming laptops generally has 2400 MHz DDR4 Ram which is decent but you can go for 2666 Mhz or higher for even better performance.If possible you can upgrade your Ram to 16GB and run it in Dual Channel it will boost 5-10 FPS in gaming, 16 GB is the sweet spot for a good gaming laptop.
Now comes to Storage device which includes SSD and HDD, most people ignores this part and later complain about the performance of laptop and windows. It does not matter you have i5 or i7, if you have HDD it will ruin your experience completely. SSD is must if you want less bootime, Less Loading time in games, faster day to day tasks, once your upgraded to SSD you will notice the significant increase is speed and responsiveness of the Laptop.
Gaming laptops generally comes with 128/256 GB SSD which is way better than 5400 rpm HDD, Or you can upgrade your laptop with a SSD to increase the general performance of the laptop( PCIe is better option than SATA).
4.Display and Keyboard
Display is the part which is compromised in most of the gaming laptops for cost-cutting, gaming laptop display comes in two type TN panel and IPS Panel, TN panel is cheap and washed out with poor viewing angles whereas IPS is slightly costly display with good viewing angles and decent colors.
Generally gamers does not care about the Color accuracy( sRGB or Adobe RGB) percentage, they care about the Refresh rate of the display which drastically improves the gaming experience and smoothness in E-sports titles like CSGO,Fortnite,Overwatch etc. The logic is simple if you have budget specification laptop( less than GTX 1660ti) go for 60Hz decent IPS display, it will do your work and If you have very good Specification laptop( GTX 1660 ti or higher) go for 144Hz or 120 Hz IPS panel to enjoy the full potential of the laptop.
Don,t go for 144Hz or 120Hz TN panel if you have have budget and medium specification laptop because the laptop is not enough powerful to play games at higher refresh rate and you will also lose the benefits of IPS panel. Also check the Anti-Glare feature and brightness of the display.
Many gaming laptops are equipped with G-Sync or AMD FreeSync technologies to improve the gaming experience at low frame rates, it helps in eliminating Screen tearing and ghosting.
Many people does not care about the Keyboard but if possible go for the laptop with high key-travel of 1.5mm or higher to increase your typing and gaming experience. Also look for the features like Anti-ghosting and n-key rollover to improve gaming experience.
5.Battery life
One thing you can't expect form gaming laptops is battery life, due to demanding hardware most gaming laptops have poor battery life. Most gamers does not care about battery life they just want performance but some people also want laptop for college/office work, they can look for the option with high watt-hour battery and slightly low powered processor like AMD ryzen 5 3550H.
6.Cooling Performance
Cooling performance of a gaming laptop also plays major role in the gaming performance, no matter how good is your CPU or GPU if cooling of a laptop is bad, it will not able to sustain the performance for longer period of time you will encounter frame drops and stutter in the game which ruins the gaming experience.
Before investing in any laptop always check the thermal performance of the laptop on Youtube or other sources. To improve your laptop thermal performance you can do the following things:-
- Make sure the laptop is connected to power supply.
- Turn the Fan speed to maximum before starting a game.
- Reapply thermal paste of GPU and CPU.
- Maintain the proper airflow of the fans, don't cover your laptop.
Conclusion
Before investing on a gaming laptop choose the suitable CPU and GPU which will future-proof your laptop because these parts are permanent and can't be upgraded in future. You can go for less Ram or without SSD model laptop if your budget does not allows it, you can easily upgrade RAM or SSD in future if you want to. Choose the proper display according to your needs and always check the thermal performance of the laptop.