

SMALL GAMING LAPTOP 2015 PRO
We won't waste any time before we mention the Razer Blade Pro a 17.3-inch screen with a 4K resolution and 120-hertz refresh rate are basically unheard of. The Acer Predator Helios is another medium-budget offering that measures 15.6".īut in some cases, bigger is better, and gaming is one of those cases. The Lenovo Ideapad 元40 is another affordable option, although we prefer the general build quality and rugged construction of most of the stuff from Asus. On the other end of the price spectrum is the Asus Tuf, which is a good choice for those who like high frame rates but don't need the absolute most advanced technology. On the small end of the range, the Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX502 is an extremely high-powered unit that, while expensive, should leave all but the most demanding users satisfied. So if you need something smaller, for example, for travel purposes, and you don't play the newest AAA titles, a regular laptop should do the trick. Of course, that range really only consists of two sizes - 17.3" and 15.6" - but there aren't any modern laptops bigger, and if you're going smaller you may not even need a dedicated gaming rig, because many of today's integrated graphics chipsets can play games at 720p. Gaming is highly visual, so we stuck to the 15"-17" range that's where the overwhelming majority of gaming laptops are because anything smaller is just not very immersive.

There are a few main considerations when buying a gaming laptop. Alternatively, for just a few hundred more, you can pick up the MSI GF65, although you'll almost certainly want to add an extra 8 gigabytes of RAM right away.
SMALL GAMING LAPTOP 2015 SERIES
At the moment, though, the RTX 2000 series notebooks remain viable options if you don't want to spend a fortune. In fact, a laptop known so far as just the Samsung 760XDA was recently discovered on GeekBench, and it will apparently come with an optional 3050 or 3050 Ti. The MSI GP66 Leopard 10UG is another such model.Īt the other end of the spectrum, the entry-level 3000-series cards have not yet been released, although they should come out soon. For example, the CUK Asus ROG Strix G17 is one of the few Asus models with a TGP of over 105, as its TGP rating of 130 is nearly on a par with the best. With that in mind, we left off a handful of otherwise promising options that, after investigation, throttled down GPU performance by as much as 30 percent. Thankfully, Nvidia is also now requiring manufacturers to list their GPU's actual specifications, and that kind of disclosure is a must-have for consumers. This isn't entirely unexpected due to consumer frustration over subpar Max-Q output.

The major change here is that Nvidia is no longer binning a portion of the GPUs, but rather leaving it up to the laptop manufacturers to determine clock and memory bus speeds. The Max-Q variant was highly efficient but performed poorly, and the full-power "Max-P" worked very well, but got hot and was particularly hard to find in a laptop. Previously, Nvidia mobile GPUs came in two configurations. One seemingly small but actually significant difference in the latest crop of gaming laptops is how the GPUs are designated. So, if you're looking for something high-end, there are a few 3000-series notebooks to choose from, but you'll want to pay close attention to the exact specifications of the GPU. I think the hardware is finally good enough to enable great graphics performance on an ultraportable laptops, but the docks need to be compatible with more laptops (and probably need to be more affordable) for them to make sense for more gamers.Some six months after the release of the Nvidia RTX 3000 series, a gaming laptop is, surprisingly, just about the only place most people will be able to find one of the new GPUs. Will this be the year that external docks really take off? Much as I’d like to see that happen, I’m guessing the answer is no. MSI and Alienware aren’t the only ones trying it this year, either: Gigabyte had their own prototype dock on display at CES 2015, too.
SMALL GAMING LAPTOP 2015 PC
The Graphics Amplifier will be available solo for $300, and it’s already compatible with two Alienware laptops, with more on the way.Ī few PC companies have tried this idea in the past, using Thunderbolt and other high-speed connectors, but no docking station has caught on just yet. MSI’s got the better hardware, but Alienware currently has a leg up on flexibility. It’s also missing the full-on docking station features of MSI’s dock, with no Ethernet or audio ports, no speakers, and no 3.5-inch drive bay. Instead of filling 16 PCIe lanes, it can only use 4, which limits the bandwidth of the desktop graphics card. Alienware’s Graphics Amplifier is the same basic piece of hardware, with a few limitations.
