Let’s Find The Best Gaming Laptop Together

Hi! My name is Rod Flynn, and I’ve been a mad gamer since the first time I laid eyes on a computer, so I think I can give you some advice in this matter. Of course, when I started out, there were no such things as laptops, not even the guys from Star Trek anticipated them (and that’s almost weird, seeing how many inventions appeared thanks to this epic TV series). I started out on a good old Commodore 64, and I spent hours and hours on it playing all games I could get my hands on. Games like RoboCop, Elite!!!, Dizzy, Seymour at the Movies and others sometimes kept me up way past my bed time. Back then, even in our wildest dreams we couldn’t have imagined computers would become so fast, and games would become so damn cool in just 20 years… Mass Effect, Far Cry, Starcraft, World of Warcraft, Halo, Half Life, Call of Duty… They (and many others) are so good and we enjoy them so much that nobody was surprised when the gaming industry surpassed the movie industry a few years ago.

But if you are a gamer, you need some computing power if you want to play the game and enjoy it to the fullest. This means you want to use high graphic modes and you don’t want the game to look like a photo slide show when you play it. Also, you probably want to get rid of the annoying “alt tabbing” time intervals when you have to wait and wait some more until the CPU decides to let you use the other applications.

Why a laptop and not a desktop? The answer is easy: these days the difference of power between gaming laptops and normal desktops is getting smaller and smaller. And these potent portables are just what you need if you travel, or you would like to change the scenery and game or work from a local coffee bar or something. You take your laptop wherever you go – that’s why it’s better than a desktop.

This is probably why you came here, and I hope together we’ll find you the best gaming laptop for you. Now…

What you want to pay attention to when buying a gaming laptop:

  • Processor speed: the faster it is, the better your game will run. For now, high quality gaming laptops use dual core processors, but they are slowly introducing quad core power to the market, which is even better.

  • RAM: the Random Access Memory capacity is of the utmost importance. Beware that if you don’t have DDR3, you are probably looking at a soon-to-be ancient laptop

  • Powerful graphic boards: they can dramatically influence the feel of the game, because playing a game with the lowest graphics settings is just not the same as playing it with maxed settings. Actually, the difference is sometimes so great that you feel you are playing different games altogether. Radeon and GeForce are the most important names here.

  • Screen size: of course, the larger the screen is, the better the scenes when you chop off the limbs of those dead space zombies. But the size of the display is not a rule: if you travel a lot it can get difficult to carry along a monster laptop with a 20” screen. The best screen size is, in my opinion, the 17”. Not too big, not too small.

These are the four main things to look for. There are other ones, of course, but they are less important. I’ll mention them anyway: you want a good hard drive, and “good” means it can do more than 7000 rpm (rotations per minute) and it’s larger than 400 Gb. The more free space you have on your hard drive, the better the games run. Also, keep in mind that the longer the warranty, the better the laptop. Stuff that breaks down quickly will have a shorter warranty period.

Now let me break it to you…

There is no such thing as the absolute best gaming laptop!

…because it depends on what your interest is. Some people are only interested in performance, others look for the cheapest gaming laptops, and others are interested in the best quality/cost ratio. I have made a careful analysis of each category, and I bet you’ll love the results.

Best gaming laptop by performance:

 

The Origin EON17-S Custom Gaming Laptop

If you desire state of the art performance, there is one laptop that can surely be a perfect choice.  The Origin EON17-S EON17-SCustom Gaming Laptop is the best available on the market today. Its processor can surpass the boundaries of a regular laptop and reach a staggering 4.8 GHz. And if you think that is all, this laptop has 8 GB of SDRAM memory and a huge 750 GB hard-drive (7200 rpm), making it ideal to play even the games that will come out in the future two to four years. Do to the fact that over-clocking the CPU of a laptop is quite rare, the EON17-S is quite expensive ($3000) but if performance is what you need, there is no better alternative for a gaming laptop.

This link will take you to the Origin official website

Best gaming laptop by price:

 

HP Pavilion DM1Z

HP Pavilion DM1ZIf  looking for a good low-cost laptop, the HP Pavilion is considered to be a great deal for its cost (less than $500).  With its 1.65 GHz processor, 4GB of RAM and 320 GB hard drive (going at a surprising 7200 rpm), it is better than most products from the same price range. This particular model is in the front of the list for recommended ultra-portable laptops, and its overall performance is certainly the reason for it. Even is usually considered a portable (even business) model, the truth is that it can sustain a lot of your favorite games at low or even medium settings but, without any doubt, it remains a budget laptop, even if its technical specifications surpass most of its competitors.

Click here to get a 20% discount for HP Pavilion DM1Z

 

Best quality/price ratio:

 

HP Folio 13

For those who like a little more insight and search for real deals in the field of laptop acquisition, the HP Folio 13 is a HP Folio 13model that offers the same quality as its market competitors but cost with more than 10% less. Its price tag is $900 which is quite a deal for its 13.3 inch screen, 3.3 pound weight and some high-tech technical specifications (1.6 GHz Intel Core processor, 4 GB DDR3, a 128 GB hard drive and long lasting battery life). Other perks include Bluetooth connectivity and one USB 3.0 port (it also has two other USB 2.0 ports) and one of the smallest annual consumption costs. It can be used for anything from gaming to audio processing and is also a favorite for business use due to its design.

Order it through Amazon and have it delivered in 1 day with their One-Day Shipping program

That’s about it

I hope this review is going to be useful for you, my gaming friends, and I trust you’ll choose the best gaming laptop.

In closing, I would like to give you some tips on how to make your battery last longer, because I know very well that when you play a game the battery is consumed way more quickly than with other applications.

  • reduce your screen’s brightness and contrast: if you didn’t know already, the brighter the screen is, the more power your laptop gobbles up
  • use power saving mode whenever you are not using your laptop, even if it’s for 5 minutes
  • if the games you are playing are not very demanding, use your on-board video card instead of your state of the art Radeon or Nvidia or what have you. It saves a lot of power.
  • Limit the use external memory sticks or any “external stuff”, because they need power to work, and that power comes from your laptop’s battery

Thank you for visiting my website, and happy gaming!

*Note: I update this review every few months, so this website will never be out of date!