When researching what your next big gaming device should be, chances are you've seen gaming laptops appear more and more in lists, discussions, and thought-pieces.
Gaming laptops aren't without their faults, but nowadays, these mobile powerhouses pack a whole lotta punch. Let's look at some of the biggest strengths gaming laptops offer and why you should consider them.
1. Gaming Laptops Are Portable
If you're thinking of upgrading from your main static console (i.e. anything that's not a Switch) or your now-outdated gaming PC, don't underestimate a gaming laptop's portability.
Once you make the change from being constantly tied to one place, to being able to play a wealth of games—including blockbuster AAA games—anywhere you want, the expanded freedom is one you'll likely not want to give up.
What's more, you'll love how basically everything is all in one place, in terms of your monitor, controls, and power source. This is a huge plus over both Sony and Microsoft's main consoles and gaming PCs, where you need to think about monitors, space, speakers, and your overall set-up.
Gaming laptops are portable. It sounds obvious. It is obvious. But, it's also an eye-opening moment where you realize how freeing that really is.
2. Gaming Laptops Boast Powerful Specs
In order to keep up with the latest games, manufacturers fit gaming laptops with some impressive components.
Already, in 2021, upcoming gaming laptops are showing a lot of potential, showcasing improved CPUs such as AMD's Ryzen 5000 Mobile CPUs, set to boost laptop gaming. We're also seeing brands such as MSI revealing their powerful new gaming laptops.
These specs aren't just "good for a laptop"—they're capable of delivering gaming results that surpass even the PS5/Xbox Series X, despite them being less than six months into their launch.
Though you can't make direct comparisons with PS5/Xbox Series X specs, due to their custom architecture, gaming laptops do contain the mobile PC equivalent and beyond, with newer models likely pushing gaming laptops well past what the PS5 and Xbox Series X have to offer.
Boasting powerful specs, it looks like upcoming gaming laptops will last you a while.
3. Gaming Laptops Offer Varied Choice
This is an interesting point because of a reason that was mentioned earlier; all of your gaming components are in one place. Your monitor, speakers, and controls are all connected together and in a variety of different models.
If you've got a console or gaming PC, you would have to buy either one or more of these things individually and connect them all up. With a gaming laptop, it's all provided, and you simply need to choose and purchase the right model for you.
Which leads us to the fact that there's so much choice. There are so many of these all-in-one gaming devices for you to decide between, at different price-points, and with a range of physical and aesthetic designs and materials.
Gaming laptops do push the looks of a laptop in interesting directions as well, with lighted keyboards, distinct logos, and vibrant colors adorning their cases. However, this doesn't mean you won't find any sleek and stunning designs. If you're looking for a laptop that's as aesthetically clean as it is powerful, there's plenty out there, namely with Razer.
Gaming laptops take the customizability of gaming PCs and combine them with the convenience of consoles, offering something you won't find in any other gaming device.
4. Gaming Laptops Offer an Impressive Gaming Experience
At first, this can sound obvious—it's a gaming laptop, isn't that what they do? Well, yes, but it's worth mentioning why they're better than non-gaming laptops.
With the impressive specs on a gaming laptop, you'll experience a wealth of vast improvements in your gaming experience, not just a few superficial ones, that non-gaming laptops cannot provide.
Many gaming laptops, such as the Razer Blade 17, can deliver advanced, next-generation graphics, smooth gameplay, and faster load times. Manufacturers design them to give an immersive and impressive gaming experience with as few issues as possible.
Non-gaming laptops often have much weaker components. Manufacturers don't design them for gaming. Instead, they are suitable for everyday tasks, which are much less demanding. Non-gaming laptops lack the cutting-edge GPUs required to play most games, let alone the most demanding.
Gaming laptops have dedicated graphics cards (GPUs), which come with their own processing unit as well as their own RAM, amongst other things. Let's compare this to non-gaming laptops, which come with integrated graphics cards. These lack the features of a dedicated graphics card. Instead, these cards rely on purely using your laptop's CPU and GPU power.
Packing powerful components, gaming laptops can deliver an impressive gaming experience that non-gaming laptops simply can't.
5. A Good Gaming Laptop Is a Flexible Laptop
Gaming laptops strive to have powerful components and tough, durable builds, designed to give you cutting-edge speed and performance.
These features are perfect for a laptop period. The beauty of getting a gaming laptop is that you've also got a device that can serve as a work computer, run non-gaming entertainment, and deliver a fantastic gaming experience. Gaming laptops' powerful components mean that they're ideal for GPU/CPU intensive tasks, such as video-editing, 3D-modeling, and programming.
What's more, is that you can upgrade parts of a gaming laptop to suit your needs. Have you run out of hard drive space? Or, is your RAM lacking during intensive tasks? No problem, just upgrade them!
This is perfect for the aforementioned tasks, which can eat up hard drive space and hog RAM during their most intensive sessions.
If you're a programmer, video editor, or content-creator, a gaming laptop could be the perfect device for you, letting you both work and play without issue.
Now You Know the Benefits of Gaming Laptops
Gaming laptops present a strong case for your next gaming upgrade, and they're only getting better. They're seriously worth considering, especially if you travel or prefer the convenience of a laptop.
With the arrival of Sony's new flagship console, the PS5, gaming laptops present a compelling case and one worth exploring if you're torn between the two.