Top 5 Best Gaming Laptops of 2024
These are the top 5 best gaming laptops that I’ve tested in 2024! Let’s start out with number 5 and work our way down to the best, starting with Lenovo’s LOQ. The LOQ has been my favorite budget gaming laptop since 2023, and it got better in 2024 while the competition hasn’t really caught up yet. The LOQ has nice build quality relative to its competitors, and this year it doesn’t have air exhausts on the sides, meaning no hot mouse hand while gaming. And there are even some premium features that even more expensive laptops are missing,
Lenovo LOQ Features and Pricing
like advanced optimus and even G-Sync, granted that may vary by panel. But if you’ve got a budget between $500 and $800 USD, then Lenovo’s LOQ would be at the top of my list. And I would pick it over similarly priced alternatives like HP’s Victus, MSI’s GF63 aka Thin 15, Gigabyte’s G6 or Acer’s Nitro series. The LOQ is all round just a nicer gaming laptop in my opinion. Before Black Friday sales, so far we’ve seen the LOQ with RTX 3050 6 gig graphics available for around $500 USD, while the RTX 4050 version has gone down to $650,
4th Place: Acer Helios Neo 16 and Lenovo Legion 5
and around $800 for the RTX 4060 version. But it really wouldn’t surprise me if we see some new record low prices during the upcoming Black Friday sales. And we share these deals with you on our gaminglaptop.deals website, so check it out regularly with the link below to save money on your next gaming laptop. The only LOQ I don’t recommend is the one with Intel’s Arc graphics. It’s often more expensive compared to the RTX 2050 version but performs much worse in games, so it just doesn’t make sense.
Acer Helios Neo 16 and Lenovo Legion 5 Comparison
Next up in 4th place we’ve got a bit of a tie between Acer’s Helios Neo 16 and Lenovo’s Legion 5. These are both what I consider to be the best mid-range 16 inch gaming laptops of 2024. Now I’ve already done a whole dedicated 19 minute video where I compare these two gaming laptops in-depth, so I’ll leave a link to that below in the description. But the conclusion is that at the end of the day, they’re both solid mid-range gaming laptops. Of course both have positives and negatives. Personally I lean more towards the Legion 5
Acer Helios Neo 16 and Lenovo Legion 5 Key Differences
as it’s usually a little cheaper and it’s got things I care more about. But yeah, you could definitely get either laptop and have a great time. The Helios has faster ports with better port locations, lower latency for competitive gamers, a bigger touchpad, nicer looking RGB lighting with more customization, and mine had a better screen, but that can vary. The Legion on the other hand has cleaner, more professional look, longer battery life, more BIOS customization, better Linux support, better speakers, easier to use software for customizing performance, and it’s a bit smaller and lighter.
3rd Place: ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14
They both perform pretty similarly in games, so it just depends on what your priorities are. And as mid-range options, I’d be considering these RTX 4060 graphics for around $850 to $950 USD. Or with the RTX 4070 graphics they’d be closer to $1100. At least based on the current record low prices that we’ve had on the gaminglaptop.deals website. Again, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if we see some new record low prices during the Black Friday sales. So yeah, don’t forget to check out the deals site to see what the latest prices are. ASUS’s Strix G16 was also a candidate and deserves a shoutout, as it’s probably one of the best gaming laptops I’ve reviewed in the last couple of years with very few downsides. But it costs more money too. The Strix G16 with RTX 4060 graphics often costs what you can get a decent 4070 laptop for. So again, it comes down to what your priorities are. But if the Strix G16 is a comparable price to the
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 Overview
Legion 5 and Helios Neo 16 then yeah I guess this one could be a bit of a three way tie. Alright up next in third place we’ve got one for portability lovers, and that’s the ASUS’s ROG Zephyrus G14. The G14 is one of the smallest and lightestASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 Overview
Alright up next in third place we’ve got one for portability lovers, and that’s the ASUS’s ROG Zephyrus G14. The G14 is one of the smallest and lightest 14 inch gaming laptops I’ve ever used, making it super portable and easy to take with you on the go. A smaller size does mean a lower GPU power limit, so there’s less room for cooling. So other gaming laptops with the same GPU tend to perform better in games,
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 Performance and Limitations
but most of them aren’t smaller 14 inch models. Ultimately, games still run well and you can have a great time playing if you don’t mind the smaller screen. Especially with the crisp OLED panel which looks great. Color gamut is super high, brightness is decent but not amazing, and screen response time is insanely quick. Which is just one of the benefits of OLED, and that means responsive gameplay. Although a smaller laptop size means a smaller battery, the G14 just sips power and lasts longer than most other gaming laptops that we’ve tested.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 Build Quality and Upgradeability
Build quality feels excellent too, but it’s not all positive. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, nothing in life is perfect. When it comes to picking a gaming laptop it comes down to being aware of the compromises and finding one that has the least amount of compromises for you. A downside of the G14’s smaller size is a lack of upgradeability. RAM is soldered to the motherboard and can never be upgraded. So you’ll probably want to consider spending more money to get the one with 32 gigs of RAM so that you’ve got some room to grow. But is 16 gigs still enough?
RAM Upgrade Considerations
Steve from Hardware Unboxed recently tested 30+ games and found that a few of them were indeed using more than 16 gigs of RAM, at least at max settings with a desktop RTX 4090. You probably won’t be using quite as high settings on a laptop. But he goes on to say that the majority of games today will run fine with 16 gigs. But yeah when you’re spending so much money on a gaming laptop you’re going to use for years, 32 gigs is a smart move if you can afford it. With RTX 4060 graphics, so far the cheapest that we’ve had the Zephyrus G14 listed on the
Pricing and Value Considerations
gaminglaptop.deals website for is $1100, so you’re definitely paying a premium to get this smaller laptop. But yeah, don’t forget I’m filming this before the Black Friday sales have actually begun, so the price might drop even lower. You’ll just have to check with those links below. But instead of a G14 with RTX 4060, you can definitely get a larger gaming laptop with higher tier 4070 graphics. Again, it just depends on what your priorities are. Alright, for second place I’m kind of cheating a bit, but I don’t think that you’ll mind.
2nd Place: Gaming Laptops with Minimal Upgrades
See, there were a lot of gaming laptops in 2024 that we didn’t actually review because they were pretty much exactly the same as their older 2023 counterparts. In a lot of cases with the newer 2024 laptops the only difference is they had “new” 14th gen CPUs. Now 14th gen i5 and i9 processors are pretty much exactly the same as 13th gen. They have a slightly higher single core boost speed but that’s pretty much it. Now the i7 HX processor is a bit different because it does actually have 4 more E-cores. But apart from that,2nd Place: Lenovo Legion Pro 7
a 2023 gaming laptop with 13th gen CPU is pretty much the same as a 2024 model with a 14th gen CPU. Of course assuming there aren’t any other changes to the laptop chassis. And that’s the case with this year’s second place laptop, which is Lenovo’s Legion Pro 7. And although I reviewed that last year, it still stacks up incredibly well in 2024. This gaming laptop just does everything well without being as expensive as others. It’s got a nice screen, nice keyboard and touchpad, good performance,
Lenovo Legion Pro 7 Performance and Value
decent battery life for an Intel HX laptop, and of course most importantly of all, RGB lighting. The Legion Pro 7 is my go-to pick if you’ve got a higher budget and are looking for RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 graphics in a gaming laptop. Based on my testing, the 4080 performs a whopping 55% faster than the 4070 below and has an extra 4 gigs of VRAM. Considering that the 4070 is just 20% faster compared to the 4060 below it and still has the same 8 gigs of VRAM, the 4080 offers quite a nice performance boost.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7 Pricing
As for price, so far the lowest we’ve had the Legion Pro 7 on the gaminglaptop.deals website was $1799 with the RTX 4080, which is pretty crazy. And yes, that was the 2024 version with the 14900HX processor, not last year’s 13th gen. Though its sale price more commonly throughout the year been $1900-$2000. And as mentioned, the 13th gen version from last year shouldn’t be too different, so if you can save some money with that model then it’s worth considering. The higher tier RTX 4090 version on the other hand has gone on sale
Best Gaming Laptops of 2024: ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 and Lenovo Legion 7i
for $2299. So yeah it’s just cheaper compared to other 4090 gaming laptops from other brands like Alienware and Acer, and especially MSI and Razer. To be fair, the Legion Pro 7 doesn’t have higher tier quality screen options like Mini LED or OLED, so that’s probably partly why it’s cheaper compared to those other brands. But the screen that it does have still gets bright, has decent color gamut, and fast response time. But don’t worry, the best gaming laptop of the year does have an OLED screen if that’s your thing. And if it’s not, well one of them doesn’t… Because just like 4th place the best gaming laptop of 2024 is a tie between two laptops, because both of them are just seriously great options, and it comes down to what your personal priorities are. These two laptops are ASUS’s ROG Zephyrus G16 and Lenovo’s Legion 7i, and both are premium 16 inch gaming laptops. They’re on the thinner side compared to most others, with the Zephyrus actually being the lightest 16 inch gaming laptop we’ve tested in the last couple of years.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 and Lenovo Legion 7i Comparison
But the unfortunate downside is that to achieve this, the G16 uses soldered memory like the smaller G14. The Legion is better in that regard, as it has two upgradeable memory slots, while only being a bit thicker and heavier. The Legion also has an Intel HX processor with more cores and threads, so there’s more CPU performance available compared to the Zephyrus. That plus the extra room for cooling allows the Legion to perform a bit better in games, though the difference is less than 10% more FPS – nothing major.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 and Lenovo Legion 7i Comparison
As mentioned the Zephyrus has a nicer looking OLED screen – just like the smaller G14 in third place, and both the 14 inch and 16 inch versions of Zephyrus have the best speakers I’ve ever heard on any gaming laptop. The Legion still has a nice screen though, it’s actually a bit brighter and still has good color gamut. But I’ve already done a dedicated 23 minute comparison between these two gaming laptops, so I’ll leave a link below. But yeah the conclusion was that it’s hard to pick a winner because it
Key Differences and Considerations
really comes down to what you care about. But as mentioned, both are very nice premium 16 inch gaming laptops. I’d be equally happy daily driving either of them. But if I had to pick one I’m leaning more towards the Legion for the increased performance and upgradeable memory. But I also really appreciate how light and portable the G16 is – like I said, it’s a tough choice. The most annoying thing is that for some reason in the US market the Zephyrus G16 with RTX 4070 graphics is only available with 16 gigs of RAM. Here in Australia it
Regional Variations and Pricing
was available with 32 gigs. But in the US if you want 32 gigs of RAM you have to spend even more money to get the RTX 4080, which isn’t cheap! Fortunately the newer AMD version of Zephyrus G16 with 4070 graphics does have a 32 gig version, but it costs a whole lot more money compared to the Intel one. So you might be better off getting the Intel one with 4080 graphics anyway, again depends on sales. I’ve done a whole 18 minute comparison video between the Intel and AMD G16s, so I’ll leave
Intel vs AMD Comparison
a link below. But the summary is that in most cases there’s not really a difference when it comes to gaming. While outside of gaming the AMD version generally performed better in most tasks, and the AMD version also had better battery life. But again the AMD one cost more too. So far the lowest we’ve had the Intel based Zephyrus based G16 on the deal site was for $1399 with the 4070, with the Legion 7i plus 4070 going for $1440 at its cheapest price so far. So not really too much difference in terms of price, but again it wouldn’t surprise me if
Black Friday Sales and Deals
both of these laptops see new record lows during the Black Friday sales. Seriously, keep an eye on the gaminglaptop.deals website as we’ll be updating it multiple times per day throughout the Black Friday sales period. It’s there to help you save the most amount of money when buying your next gaming laptop. But of course picking a gaming laptop depends entirely on what your budget is, so check this one out next to see which gaming laptop I would buy in 14 different price ranges. There’s something for everyone and more suggestions over there, so I’ll see you in that one next!