Best Gaming Laptops 2018 – Reviews and Buyer’s Guide

The stylistic elements that recommend it as the best gaming laptop of this category (and one of the top 10 best gaming laptops on the market) are rather at the level of form, not necessarily by the usual color combination.

The only colored item remains the ROG logo with red illumination on the lid. Otherwise, I noticed the asymmetric line on the metal cover of the screen, the textured pattern that covers the plastic of the body, and also the fact that the hot air exhaust grilles are now in black, not in red or in brown like other models I’ve seen. And I will admit it, this is a gaming laptop that I would go in public with, without risking people making fun of me for reliving my childhood.

From a constructive point of view, we appreciated the quality of the finishes and the materials used, however, the plastic is predominant in the casing (less on the cover of the screen, covered in aluminum). We also appreciated the stiffness of the body, which does not deform under pressure, a good feature for one of the top 10 best gaming laptops.

As for the values of its external dimensions and weight, it is up to each person if they want to carry it frequently where they are working, or if this laptop will leave the office less often. Along with the charger it weighs about 6 lbs. But still, not a deal breaker for this pick from the top 10 best gaming laptops.

The power connector, the RJ-45 network port, the miniDP, another HDMI, two USB 3.1 ports and the 3.5mm audio connector.

The SD card slot, a USB-C port and two USB 3.1 ports.

The easy access to hard disk and RAM changes.

The keyboard for the best gaming laptop must be a quality accessory, good for gaming and especially for quick and comfortable writing. It has a separate numeric block and has RGB background illumination (with four distinct zones).

It is quite generous in the surface and responds effectively to tactile commands. Normally, whilst gaming the mouse is inevitable, and cannot be replaced at this time.

The IPS screen of this ASUS ROG GL503V laptop is one of a very good quality that should not miss the best gaming laptop, capable of displaying a vibrant color palette with great contrast and excellent viewing angles.

Moreover, it has matte finish and is bright enough to be used without problems even in lighted environments.

It’s a nice screen for games or movies as well as browsing the Internet, office documents, photo processing, or graphic apps.

It covers 100% of the sRGB color palette and comes with 120Hz screen clocks for the smoothest gaming images.

The built-in audio system is capable of playing a rather strong sound, not necessarily of extraordinary quality, with a spectrum in which the average sounds are especially present. So, for musical auditions and even in games I recommend using a pair of headphones or a better speaker system.

As we are accustomed to by ASUS, gaming laptops offer hybrid storage solutions – with the SSD for the operating system and the main applications, a 256GB Samsung model in the present case, and a 1TB hard disk for storing multimedia collections or games being present in the configuration we had available.

It is clear that any configuration is being purchased it can be upgraded from a storage standpoint.

The cooling system is positioned behind the laptop and, like any other gaming laptop; the ventilation system becomes quite noisy when the laptop is more demanded in games or graphics applications.

Even if we talk about the best gaming laptop, you do not expect the wow battery life. From the point of view of the autonomy of use, it does not excel, like no gaming laptop we’ve reviewed.

In-Office and Internet-intensive activity with active Wi-Fi and screen illumination at 30% plus keyboard illumination goes up to 2 hours and 45 minutes. In a gaming session, it will drop drastically.

From the point of view of the technical datasheet, I do not have much to complain about, being the best powerful gaming laptop with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor with four physical logic (8 logic), Nvidia GTX1070 graphics card with 8GB VRAM and no less than 32GB of RAM, and having a well deserved place in our top 10 best gaming laptops.

It may be commercially available with Intel-based 8th generation processors, but I’m not even sure of this. Basically, it’s a device that can be deployed efficiently in a wide range of applications, in addition to running new generation gaming titles at maximum detail. It can be as useful in CAD applications as professional photo-video editing or other graphics applications.

Of course, my friend tried it in some of his favorite games, some of which are a real challenge for some laptops in our top 10 best gaming laptops chart – Overwatch, Rainbow Six Siege and The Division. Most games have run at over 70 Fps.

It does not have the aggressive look of a gaming laptop, it’s not as colorful, and it does not really call for attention by simply being on a desk. It addresses a more conservative, more reserved, but equally demanding audience with flawless performance and appropriate behavior in any application.

The case of the screen was covered with rigid plastic with a linear finish, the palm rest area and the surrounding keyboard is metal, and a soft rubberized plastic on the contact surface of the desk. Also, the frame around the screen was covered with a slightly rubbery black plastic – some features that are important for the privileged place in our top 10 best gaming laptops.

The area between the body and the screen is chrome, as well as the air exhaust grilles, also chrome. In fact, these chromatic elements were present on previous Nitro generations, with small and subtle changes for this model.

The construction of the Acer Aspire V17 Nitro is a mix of elements, colors and materials that work amazingly together. It’s a flawless construction that we have nothing to reproach from this point of view.

It’s not a lightweight or thin laptop, but rather a desktop replacement system. It has a 17 “generous screen and a high-performance Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics card. Such a configuration does not really fit into the ultraportable compact case.

Below the screen, the Tobii Eye Tracker system (a cool feature for this piece from our top 10 best gaming laptops list) monitors the eye movement. Two vertical dashes and a circle, illuminated in red, indicate when it is active.

Note that activation of Tobii Eye Tracker is made from the dedicated application.

Two USB 2.0 ports, audio connectors, and SD card slot are present on the left edge.

The USB-C port, the two USB 3.0 ports, the HDMI port, the Ethernet port, and the power connector

Unfortunately, access to the upgrade panel is not as easy as I wanted. Several screws must be loosened and the operation must be executed carefully so as not to accidentally break the case.

Ideally it would be to choose a top model with more RAM and storage to avoid risky upgrades.

The keyboard is of normal size and comes with the normal keyboard format for regular Acer laptops. The V17 Nitro is equipped with red LEDs for key illumination that cannot be customized like the Predator series. The keys are a bit short-paced for those familiar with PC mechanical keyboards, but the spacing of the buttons ensures the use without too much adjustment time. Also, the keyboard has a numeric block, so it can prove useful even in financial applications.

In full load, the coolers make an acceptable noise, not very disturbing, but not even silent, the amount of noise that can easily be covered by Dolby-certified stereo speakers.

Even if it has cooling, it burns! I could not keep it on my lap because it burned my skin. If you overuse the dedicated video card, you have to expect high temperatures, approximately 176 ℉ (80 ℃).

In terms of autonomy, the V17 Nitro seems to be pretty good, given that it benefits from a 4K display and powerful hardware. In normal use, with a balanced energy consumption, can be used away from the socket for between 3 and 4 hours. If you’re thinking about running games on the battery, you have to expect a time-spree up to 1 hour.

The Tobii system is monitoring the eye activity by means of infrared sensors, positioned at the interface between the screen and the body in the central area. Basically, once enabled, certain apps, and even games can be controlled by eyesight, with confirmation of commands by pressing the space key. There is a special demo application from Acer that works very well with Tobii.

Tobii is a new technology I would find particularly suited to virtual reality applications as well as 360 degree video clips. It works ok, detects eye movements quite accurately, I do not complain about it from this point of view. In games I can’t say he helped me very much during the shooting sessions. I just found that it can look around within certain limits around the character, only looking at those areas. But still cool!

Considering the hardware configuration of this gaming laptop, there are few things you cannot do. The games will not face big problems on high details as we’re talking about a seventh-generation Core i7 gaming laptop and a NVIDIA GTX 1060 graphics chip. Video editing and photo editing are also helped by these two components as well as the SSD on which the operating system is installed. Another strong point to pin this laptop so high in our top 10 best gaming laptops list.

Basically, it’s a great gaming laptop that you can do anything, in any kind of app, for entertainment, gaming, but also for professional purposes. A true hero for the top 10 best gaming laptops chart.

The Acer Aspire V17 Nitro Black Edition VN7-793G also performs well in new generation games, even at 4K resolution, but not at the maximum graphics settings. In any case, for fluent images, I recommend gaming at full HD resolution.

From the behavioral point of view, I do not have much to complain about this laptop, having everything that is needed for an optimal experience in any application, and then again, another reason why this laptop is part of our top 10 best gaming laptops on the market right now.

The integrated storage solution comes with a 256-strong Toshiba SSD and Seagate’s 1TB hard drive. Of course, in order for everything to be perfect, I wanted a 512GB SSD and a 2TB hard drive. But yeah, you can’t have them all!

When it comes to data transfer, whether is over the network, on wire or wireless, this laptop does it all amazing, thus being in the top 10 best gaming laptops.

The aesthetic appearance is aggressive, with straight edges and numerous red areas and red LEDs, such as the two front speakers or the exhaust from the rear.

Acer Predator has a modern, yet aggressive look that shows at first glance to which category of users is addressed.

A black casing with all kinds of stylish elements, and red illumination, having a black and red color combination that inspires strength and power; all of them come along with the exceptional engine hidden inside; and on top of all, a geometric design with straight lines and cut edges that is aggressively aesthetically pleasing for any user.

I have to mention the illuminated logo on the lid and its two vertical lines that fit it, with the triangular Power button, and red light, the red lines going in the air exhaust grilles on the rear, or even on the front speakers.

The case was covered in a matte, rubber-free, soft-touch plastic that retains fingerprints, so you’ll need to clean it frequently. It left me the impression of a rugged and resistant laptop for intense use.

Yes, lightness is not an attribute to characterize it, being rather thick and heavy equipment weighing 9.1 lbs. Of course, being a laptop, it can be transported to various gaming championships, but I doubt it will leave the office too often. But you have to sacrifice this if you want one of the top 10 best gaming laptops on the market.

From what I understand, the casing is made of a glass fiber plastic compound, a material that gives it a very good resistance (a feature that can be found also on other laptops featured in our top 10 best gaming laptops list).

On the left edge you find the power connector, two USB 3.0 ports, 3.5mm headphone and microphone connectors, the SD card slot, and the Blue-ray optical drive.

Note that the optical drive can be replaced with a special fan, which allows a more efficient cooling of internal components.

On the right, you have the Type-C USB port, two more USB 3.0 ports, the HDMI port, the Display Port, and the Ethernet port for your network.

I appreciated the quick access to the main internal components. You can change RAM, hard disk and SSD M.2 storage. I almost forgot- it comes with a Subwoofer!

The Acer Predator 17 keyboard is large, generous, allowing a comfortable usage. It has a separate numeric block and RGB backlight with four areas that you can set differently through the Sense Predator app.

The keys themselves are solid, have good resistance and a very long stroke, and these are the arguments for which the writing experience is excellent.

As with most gaming laptops, the WASD keys, and directional keys, are lightened better, making them easy to be noticed. Good and useful thing for a gaming laptop, but I had problems writing fast until I got used to their presence.

On the left side there are the five Macro buttons and, above them, the transition between modes of use – P. Basically, you can set 15 shortcuts, five for each of the three modes.

MACRO buttons

The Predator Sense application displays the main hardware information, allows programming with various controls on the macro buttons, or choosing the preferred colors for backlighting of the keyboard as well as deactivating it.

You can also choose the favorite multimedia mode – Game, Standard, Album or Movie, which automatically makes the necessary settings at the audio and screen levels.

The macro buttons can be assigned both gaming commands and for enabling / disabling the additional graphics card, activating video game recording commands, or accelerating fan rotation for more efficient cooling.
Normally, you can record the key combinations that are useful to you, I think in any application.

Only good words about the trackpad because its surface is responsive, the taps and gestures are well managed and the response to the clicks is good.

It’s great, generous, responds promptly to commands and works impeccably. Control buttons are positioned outside the touch pad, and has a special deactivation button useful during gaming sessions when using only a gaming mouse.

When you’re in the top 10 best gaming laptops, the Acer Predator 17 screen is certainly one of the strengths of this laptop.

It is great, with a good resolution that displays clear text and high quality pictures with good contrast and wide viewing angles, being useful both for games, movie viewing and productive applications. It’s even light, so it can be used without problems even in open spaces and has anti-glare finish.

The G-Sync support, useful for a fluid and jerky gaming experience; that the images on your laptop can be viewed on three additional screens connected via HDMI and Display Port. The HDMI port is type 1.4b and allows you to play 4K resolution, and Display Port comes with G-Sync support to connect it to monitors that incorporate this technology.

The built-in 4.1 audio system is pretty strong, but it generally plays average sounds, is not capable of delivering the highest quality sound to musical auditions. But it can do a great job for movies or games.

We also appreciate the choice of storage solution with a Samsung SSD for the operating system, applications and games, plus a 1TB hard disk, useful for storing multimedia collections or documents.

The Samsung SSD is one of the best performing systems that guarantees fast start-up of the operating system and the switching between apps or games.

Network wise, this gaming laptop comes with both a Gigabit Ethernet port and a Wi-Fi module. In Internet tests, we have obtained download speeds of over 400Mbps through Wi-Fi and 700Mbps through cable.

Also, worth mentioning is the Killer DoubleShot Pro application that allows both Wi-Fi and LAN connections to be trafficked at the same time. Killer Network Manager analyzes the connections of both networks and decides to target traffic to one of them for each application.

I know the current games are downloaded from the internet, so you do not need an optical drive. What I liked about Acer was that they had a brilliant idea to replace the optical drive with one for better cooling.

You can change it easily, and you have to balance it better to have better cooling, than staying connected with the optical drive all the time.

But I appreciated the presence for two reasons – we have the habit of buying original games from stores, just like I like to collect my favorite movies on blue-ray, which I would like to watch on the big screen of this laptop.

DustDefender cooling system

Noteworthy the Acer DustDefender system, designed to prevent dust in the fans. Basically, this inverts the direction of rotation of the fan blades every three hours to prevent the dust from settling.

For the fan noise to be at a level that does not disturb you, their blades are extremely thin and silent. There is also a CoolBoost technology that increases the speed of rotation for more efficient cooling.

However, the cooling system makes its presence felt at the hearing level when complex programs run. However, emanated heat is effectively directed behind the equipment, so the user will not be disturbed during excessive contact area heating.

In terms of autonomy, I was pleasantly impressed during the usual activities, also taking into account its configuration.

With the active wi-fi connection, with screen brightness set to 50%, for usual tasks, the battery lasts for 4 hours. Of course, if I want to play something, the autonomy goes down to 2 hours tops.

The Acer Predator 17 we tested has a top-of-the-line technical datasheet, one of the best performing laptops on the market at the moment. Basically, you can do whatever you need with this gaming laptop, from gaming, viewing movies at 4K resolution, professional video or photo editing…anything!

Normally, it can be useful for any other common activity, and it will even work flawlessly with all the programs and applications you need. Can be used for graphics or rendering in 3D applications for engineering, construction or architecture. So it is not only one of the top 10 best gaming laptops recommended for games, but also one of the top 10 best gaming laptops ideal for everyday use.

I played on Acer Predator 17 without any problem CoD Black Ops, CSGO, Warface, Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 (games that are a real challenge for any of the top 10 best gaming laptops in this list) and all of them ran at over 60 fps, the gaming experience being impeccable from my point of view.

Lenovo Ideapad Y700 is the newest gaming laptop series to debut. It has a very stylish design, and the area around the touchpad and keyboard is covered with a soft material that gives a pleasant feeling when touched.

In the upper corners there are two loudspeakers that imprint an elegant look, these two being complemented by a subwoofer placed on the bottom, under the trackpad.

Lenovo also used a combination of red and black, the one I’ve seen on so many gaming laptops (the Asus ROG series, that are also featured in our top 10 best gamin laptops list) lately, that it became boring. And I’m convinced I’m not the only one who’s tired of the association between these two colors.

Not so good is the trackpad, whose buttons require a strong push if you do not have a mouse available. An interesting feature is its ability to automatically turn off when typing to prevent accidental movement of the cursor.

The 15.6 ” Full HD display is good, but it does not impress when comparing it with other gaming laptops available at a somewhat similar price. Its brightness is relatively good, so you will have a good brightness even in the open air.

You will most likely feel a higher temperature on the right side of the laptop, that’s where the CPU is situated and also the video card is mounted. But since we are dealing with a gaming laptop, this could be good news, as the area around the WASD buttons will not be affected.

Even in terms of noise, you will not have any big problems; the laptop is extremely silent, which could help you in some cases. Even in situations where you use the included GeForce GTX 960M, the system will not produce as much noise as other gaming laptops.

The Lenovo Ideapad Y700 is available in two 15 “and 17” versions, and integrates the 6th-generation Intel Core i7 Standard Voltage processors with a Nvidia GTX 960M graphics card, 1TB storage and optional JBL stereo speakers.

Last but not least, the Lenovo IdeaCentre Y700 features a processor up to the 6th Intel Quad-Core i7 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 video card, 7.1 surround sound system with Dolby Home Theater – features that are vital for a device from the top 10 best gaming laptops on the market.

Performances, as I said earlier, are great, but do not expect to run the latest games with all the settings to the fullest. Games like The Witcher 3 or Fallout 4, for example, will approach 40 FPS at times, with the level of detail on “High”. Others, such as the Metro Redux, will skip 60 FPS.

Throttling, though present, to a certain extent, will not be a problem (as it is to some other devices from our top 10 best gamin laptops), so the processor will run very little at a frequency of less than 2.6GHz. Its temperature and graphics card, under the most difficult conditions, will remain between 70 and 80 degrees Celsius, a normal value for both components. The results, of course, are guaranteed by an Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor, 16GB RAM and a 4GB Nvidia GeForce, GTX 960M video card.

It really is a shock when you see this Acer Triton 700, a very thin gaming laptop with a thickness of only 19mm. especially taking into account the extremely powerful embedded graphics card with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, i7 quad-core graphics. It is a clear and palpable proof that this Max-Q technology enables the development of more compact performance equipments, and a reason it is on our top 10 best gaming laptops list.

It looks good, it does not look like the design of any laptop so far, with the keyboard near the bottom edge and the touchpad moved up to the screen (a bit atypical).

Otherwise, from a constructive point of view, I do not have much to complain about, I would not say that it is even the most attractive gaming laptop but it’s definitely somewhere up there in the top 10 best gaming laptops.

Straight lines, cut corners, geometric stylistic elements give it a modern design, being a gaming laptop that can be used without restraint even in professional environments. Only the Predator logo on the screen cover reminds that it is a gamer’s dedicated laptop.

The body of the laptop is almost entirely metallic, with a top quality construction, with no reproach finishes, which would aesthetically and constructively satisfy almost anyone that wants one of the top 10 best gaming laptops.

It does not resemble any Predator gaming laptop ever since, both aesthetically and in size. Until now, all Predator gaming laptops or Nvidia 1080 graphics cards were quite big, even “fat”, this Acer Triton 700 is at the opposite end, being the easiest to carry.

A hot air grille, a hidden USB 2.0 port, which perfectly integrates a wireless mouse adapter, two USB 3.0 ports and headphone and microphone connectors.

The Power button, a USB-C port, another USB 3.0, an Ethernet port, and another exhaust grid are present.

Other grilles and the power port between them, one HDMI and one Display Port. There is no SD slot, but for such a compact device, I appreciate all the other connectivity solutions, having everything that is needed at this time to attach external accessories or to play images on multiple screens at the same time.

The keyboard is too handy in the sense that the lack of palm rest will annoy everyone. This atypical arrangement upset me, and I use the touchpad very rare. The position of hands during gaming parties is not at all comfortable.

A logical explanation for this atypical arrangement is that the cooling system with many exhaust grilles is located at the top. I think constructively it would not have been possible to make such a slim figure when trying to place the keyboard over the cooling system.

The touchpad is integrated under a transparent glass through which you can see the video card’s cooler. Its position is not at hand, it cannot work comfortably with it, and you have a good chance of pressing a few keys, it has no control buttons, so you have to have a mouse.

The Predator Triton 700 has a very good IPS screen capable of rendering a beautiful color palette with great contrast and wide viewing angles. It is very good both in games or viewing movies, as well as in productivity applications. What’s more, it’s a modern laptop screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and G-Sync technology, all for fluid imagery.

Let’s not forget the matte finishing, which reflects harder sources of light. But also because it has a fairly bright light output for indoor use, less for comfortable reading in the open, on a sunny day.

For a gaming laptop, the built-in stereo audio system could be better. Although the manufacturer is delivering on Dolby Atmos, the quality of the playback sound does not match the overall quality of this laptop. It is quite powerful and clear but at maximum volume distorts really bad.

As an Acer gaming laptop, the Predator Triton 700 features a quad-core i7-7700HQ processor, 32GB of RAM, Nvidia GTX 1080 Max-Q graphics card, features common to top gaming laptops, and that’s about everything any gaming fan wants if he opts for a device from our top 10 best gamin laptops list.

An important role in this configuration is also the Nvidia’s Max-Q platform, capable of effectively cooling such a powerful graphics card.

I appreciated the storage solution with two 512GB M.2 SSDs in Raid 0 (significantly bigger than other devices from our top 10 best gaming laptops), the total storage capacity being close to 1TB. As far as performance is concerned, we have achieved approx. 2.2GB / s at reading, so it’s no wonder that applications and operating system start right away.

The Helios 300 has a metallic black body with red accents that make it stand out and appear more aggressive. On the edge of the screen is a tape of a very tough rubber; this gives better protection for the laptop, especially because it is the area where you hit it most often and is the most used to open / close it. The bottom is plastic but the body is metallic- a cool feature for this “top 10 best gaming laptops” entry.

The notebook is predominantly black, with sharp edges, embossed logos and red elements typical of the Predator series: a Predator logo on a lid flanked by two red bars, a red area around the evacuation, and an aggressive branding Predator under the screen.

The most important thing is that, unlike the Predator range, most of the indoor LEDs can be switched off at the same time as the keyboard (something very cool for this device from our top 10 best gaming laptops list), while there are no illuminated elements on the cover. Therefore, you can use your laptop at night to watch movies without any disturbing lights.

From the back it is clear that we are talking about a gaming laptop that wants to impose on the market. Being a gaming laptop, the Helios 300 is not super slim or lightweight. It has 2.7 cm in thickness and weighs 2.6 kg. But for a gaming laptop, it’s pretty portable.

The Predator Helios 300 also includes a USB 3.1 Type-C port, a USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, a card reader and an HDMI 2.0 connection. Can be wirelessly connected via 2 × 2 802.11ac technology and includes a Gigabit Ethernet port for those who prefer a wired connection.

Two USB 2.0 sockets, a USB 3.0, a USB Type-C 3.1, an Ethernet jack, an HDMI, a card reader and a combo audio jack. The lack of multiple USB 3.0 ports in 2018 is worrying, while the logic of integrating two USB 2.0 ports when USB 3.0 is compatible with all USB 2.0 devices is not clear.

The keypad is a decent one, similar to that of the Acer Nitro V15. The 1.2mm pressing-range of the keys seems to me a bit short for a gaming laptop. The keys appear slightly rubberized, especially when pressed, and are very silent.

The WASD area is red and the red light is only two steps off and on, you cannot change the intensity. Unfortunately, the keys on the right side of the laptop are somewhat cramped, a problem also found on other Acer models (the arrows overlap with the numeric keys on the right).

It is pretty small for a gaming laptop, precise, but a bit hard to use; although I do not think there are gamers who would use the laptop trackpad instead of an external mouse.

It is positioned centrally, under the Space key, has red edges, so you can easily identify it. The swipes, tapes and gestures work well, but the plastic sounds soft when you physically click or push harder on the trackpad surface.

The 15.6 “FullHD IPS Light IPS provides vibrant images, but I cannot say it impressed me too much. The Refresh Rate of the screen is 60Hz., and unfortunately it does not support G-Sync.

I’ve played the new extension from Diablo III – Necromancer, because this new class was just released and I had to try it. During the game we noticed that it reached 130fps, but it always kept constant at 100fps.

With sound, the Helios 300 features Dolby Audio Premium and Acer TrueHarmony technology for high-quality audio. The two speakers of the laptop are located on the bottom, they are pretty good, but they do not offer clear bass.

With sound, the Helios 300 features Dolby Audio Premium and Acer TrueHarmony technology for high-quality audio. The two speakers of the laptop are located on the bottom, they are pretty good, but they do not offer clear bass.

For uninterrupted gaming sessions, a two-fan AeroBlade 3D Fan cooling system with ultra-thin metal blades keeps the laptop’s temperature. Unfortunately, I noticed that the laptop gets hot enough when overused.

From the Predator Sense interface you can modify the fan settings, but even data at full power still did not cope with the performance of the Doom game- after 30 minutes I had to stop because the CPU temperature reached 176 F.

The most affected area was the one between the monitor and the keyboard; the area near the touchpad kept cool enough, that you could still hold your hands on it.

The battery lasts about 4 hours in normal use, and only up to two hours in gaming sessions. So I recommend that you always keep it plugged in when you play.

At the core of the new Predator Helios 300 is an overclocked NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 video card coupled with an Intel Core i7 (7700HQ) or i5 (7300HQ) 7th generation – I had the Quad Core Intel i7 7770 HQ.

All processing power is backed by 16GB of DDR4 memory (up to 32GB), a fast 256 GB SSD and a generous 1TB HDD that runs at 7200 RPM – a sum of features that are neat for one of the top 10 best gaming laptops on the market.

Performance was the chapter that managed to give hell in the case of Predator Helios 300. It turns out that the 15 “tested model of ours manages to deliver performance a little more than the 17”.

Helios 300 integrates an SSD (Micron) that does not seem to work at normal parameters. Speed tests have provided erroneous results that do not accurately describe the performance of the storage unit. We may have to deal with a lot of problem SSDs or a new type of memory controller that will not be optimized for such synthetic tests.

Memory can be easily accessed on the bottom of your laptop so you can upgrade your laptop yourself, proving that even one of the top 10 best gaming laptops can be incredibly handy.

For the VX15, Acer has decided to adopt a new design that borrows some items from Predator and Nitro gaming laptops, but adds some new lines, so it will be in the top 10 best gaming laptops list. A design that I consider to be a little overloaded, with multiple sharp angles and glossy red elements, but a design that other manufacturers have already used on their gaming laptop lines (Asus ROG, Acer Predator), so perhaps one appreciated by most of the users.

The laptop case is made entirely of plastic, but not rubbery and soft touch ones, as the laptops in the aforementioned ranges. The Taiwanese manufacturer that has quite many devices in our top 10 best gaming laptops, has opted for three types of carcass textures, an element that can be considered attractive or, on the contrary, less inspired, depending on taste.

The cover has a polished metal texture, the inside is fine to the touch, while the back has a tougher texture. Also, on the back are four rubber feet that provide a pretty good grip.

The hinge has metallic and solid interior components and on its silver plastic case the name Aspire V is engraved.

On the left we find two USB 3.0 ports, a USB port 3.1 with speeds of up to 10 Gbps, the HDMI port and the LAN connector.

To the right we find a USB 3.0 port, Kensington system, a card reader, and the battery charging port.

Aspire VX 15 does not offer a quick way to access these components, so you’ll have to remove the entire back cover to get to them.

The keypad comes with average keys (15 x 15 mm), being well spaced, but some designs choices are not that cool: the Shift key on the right side intersects with the up arrow, and sometimes you can press the wrong key. The Power button also is part of the keyboard, and the NumPad is very narrow and relatively difficult to use.

The keys have a slightly concave shape and a fine finish, so they are nice to the touch and the feedback is reasonable; the pressing range is long enough, but the ordering is not very firm, so you can have errors whilst typing.

The keyboard benefits from red LED illumination, with only one available intensity.

Although gamers will never use the touchpad for games, it is worth mentioning that the Acer Aspire VX 15has a great quality one.

The trackpad is made of plastic and positioned centrally under the Spacebar, surrounded by a red contour. Even if its surface is ok, it works properly, and physical clicks do not make excessive noise.

It’s OK for Solitaire, though there are very few chances that a fan of this game will buy this laptop.

It is a 15.6-inch diagonal screen, a 1920×1080 pixel resolution and a 16: 9 aspect ratio. The display panel uses TN technology, which means that its viewing angles are small. Although it will not give you the same brightness and color as an IPS panel, the advantage of this screen is that it has a lower response time, and that is exactly what a gamer wants.

The audio system is reasonable; the two speakers located on the front of the laptop do a good job, including the bass, at a maximum volume of about 78 dB.

The Aspire VX15 cools with two individually acting fans. The CPU cooler is fast-paced even when you start the browser or run a movie, and it’s amazingly silent; but when the video card comes into action, both fans will run at a high speed that can be heard at about 42 dB.

The highest temperature we recorded in the tests was 158 ℉, which was a very good result.

The battery is 52 Wh, quite small if we take into account the size of the laptop. Even so, autonomy is a decent one, and in everyday use you will get a 3-4 hour autonomy. In games, you can stay away from the socket for about 45 minutes, an average performance for such gaming laptops.

Full battery charge takes 2 hours.

Gaming laptops are also bought by professional photographers or videographers, so this one from our top 10 best gaming laptops is suitable for them also. That’s because the best gaming laptop tends to have more powerful hardware than a regular notebook. Both photographers and videographers need that power to do their job properly.

The Aspire VX15 is equipped with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ from the new Kaby Lake, 16 GB DDR4 RAM with 2,400 MHz, a 256 GB SSD with the capacity of 256 GB and a 1 TB HDD (quite decent for a device from our top 10 best gaming laptops on the market). The notebook comes with Intel HD 630 integrated graphics, plus a Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti video card with 4 GB of RAM.

We’re talking about one of the most powerful configurations that this laptop model will be available, so you do not have to worry about performance.

As the laptop is also equipped with a dedicated video card, we tested it in games and the results were really good. Obviously, an Nvidia GTX 1060 video card is 15-20% faster, but the one available on this configuration (still a high end one, suitable for one of the top 10 best gaming laptops on the market) gets performance up to 50% better than a GTX 960M gaming laptop.

The ASUS GL552 keeps all the design features of the series, but not the building ones, as the others from our top 10 best gaming laptops list. The case is made of 100% plastic, and even the silver plate on the cover, where the ROG and ASUS logo are, is made of plastic that imitates aluminum (for the more expensive laptops it is made of aluminum).

The bottom part of the laptop is made of plastic with various “inlaid ornaments”; the large upgrade area can be accessed by dismounting two screws, a cool feature for one of the top 10 best gaming laptops.

The ASUS ROG GL552 is thick enough for a 15 “diagonal gaming laptop, its profile measuring 32.6 mm. This seems to be due to the single fan cooling system and was a necessity to ensure a good cooling of the device.

The robustness and resistance of the laptop are very good, though many will criticize ASUS’s choice of using only plastic in this case, it is still one of the top 10 best gaming laptops out there. The cover resists to pressure, and the center of the keypad only flexes when pressed.

As far as finishing quality is concerned, if you have not already had contact with a ROG laptop, they will seem to be the best you’ve ever met. But, if you’ve been in touch with a top-of-the-line ROG laptop, you’ll become more pretentious, forgetting that this gaming laptop is the cheapest in the series and cannot compare to one that costs twice as much, but still a good gaming laptop, and one of the top 10 best gaming laptops.

The laptop opens quite easily with one hand, having high quality hinges. Once up, the lid will stand firm on positions no matter what.

The ventilation grid, the power supply, one USB TipC, two USB 3.0 ports, the internet jack and an HDMI.

1 USB 2.0 socket, 1 headphone audio input, and DVD read and write optical drive.

At the bottom, the laptop is provided with a maintenance area that offers easy access to the two memory slots. Upgrading memory does not lead to loss of warranty and can be done at home by any amateur.

The keypad is highlighted by large keys and a long stroke (1.8 mm). The WASD keys are highlighted by a red border, red being also the light of the keys. Lighting can be adjusted on 3 levels.

The only thing that can be reproached on this keypad is the stupid positioning of the Power key in the place where you expect the End key. You will get used to it quickly, but even after a long time this will seem illogical to you.

The keyboard is very comfortable, one of the best keyboards we’ve seen, ideal for a gaming laptop and almost perfect for a writer.

Surprisingly, the touchpad is a clickpad type, with the left / right click buttons on its general surface. It is clear that ASUS has thought that a gamer does not use the touchpad but to open an application, in no case for gaming, yet the presence of such a touchpad on a gaming laptop is at least curious.

Without lag, with a generous surface that perfectly supports multi-touch gestures, the touchpad is very good, being perfect for normal laptop use.

There are several Asus GL552 versions with both i5-4200H and i7-4720HQ CPU, with various memory and storage configurations, and even HD display. The model chosen for this item is the ASUS GL552VW, equipped with a 15.3 inch (38 cm) display with 1920 x 1080 pixel (Full HD) native resolution. The display is delivered by Samsung and is of the anti-glare IPS type.

The images are clear, with a lot of light and bright colors. In some cases, a slight blue tinge is observed. This can be solved with a calibration of the display.

The coverage degree of the sRGB spectrum is 67%, characteristic of an IPS display, which recommends this laptop for multimedia graphics.

The viewing angles are wide, both horizontally and vertically, contrast and brightness remaining in optimal conditions up to very high angles (178 F °).
Outdoor use is perfect, the matt display along with bright light makes it possible to use in the brightest conditions.

The sound comes with Bang & Olufsen name, and has two classical speakers above the keyboard. The music is up to expectations, strong, clear, and with good bass. I recommend installing the MaxxAudio software that greatly helps to get the perfect sound.

For a gaming laptop, the cooling system and the noise level is very important, and in normal use the processor reaches temperatures of approximately 113 °F, increasing to 158 °F at long-lasting demand.

The dedicated video card reaches 150 °F at maximum stress, all of which are well below the official maximum values announced by manufacturers.

These temperatures do not occur at the carcass, the hottest point being in the cooler, at 93-95 °F, while the touchpad and the rest of the hands have a maximum of 86 °F.

The low temperatures of both the hardware and the case, are showing that the cooling system on the ASUS GL552 is very good, pointing out the important role of the thick carcass.

The battery is a black ball for this laptop. Even if it’s a fairly heavy gaming laptop, 5.7 lb, and you’re not going to carry it with you to play in the middle of nature, the 4-cell Li polymer battery with a small capacity, 3200mAh provides only 3 hours of browsing the internet , 3 hours and 10 minutes of HD movie viewing and about 50 minutes of gaming. But it’s still too little … even for a gaming laptop.

ASUS opted for a high-end CPU, the Intel Core i7-6700HQ and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M graphics card with 4GB of GDDR5 memory.

Optimus technology automatically switches between the Intel HD Graphics 530 integrated video card, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M dedicated graphics card.

Strictly related to the act of gaming on this laptop, it looks really good! All games can be played, all thanks to the 4GB GDDR5 memory. Some of these games can be played to full details in Full HD resolution – an inevitable feature for one of the top 10 best gaming laptops on the market.
The storage is provided by a 1TB and 5400 rpm SATA HDD and an M.2 128GB SSD that will enable you to quickly start all applications.

The Lenovo Legion Y520 is a totally plastic-exterior gaming laptop, but this is a pro one, that rightly deserves its place in our top 10 best gaming laptops. The black color is predominant on the outside, the display cover being decorated with a texture that mimics the carbon fiber, very nice when in contact with the skin.

The only other color on the Y520 is the red, which can be seen on the keyboard buttons and around the trackpad (as in others from our top 10 best gaming laptops list). On the back there are the air vents, and under the display, the two stereo speakers that are positioned symmetrical, on both sides.

Also, even the Lenovo logo does not pop up with something special. The casing is made entirely out of plastic, the inside frame being quite solid, so we can overlook the fact that the cover area flexes easily.

Things are different when you open the lid, as the first things you notice are the red keyboard, the red frame around the trackpad, and the red Legion branding on the lower right side of the palm-rest. All of these elements suggest that, in fact, the Y520 is a gaming laptop, even one of the top 10 best gaming laptops on the market, camouflaged in an ordinary portable device.

The plastic used on the keypad area is slightly softer and feels comfortable in everyday use. This is very cool with this laptop- there are no sharp edges, the screen can be opened with only one hand, up to about 150 degrees, and it does remain pretty well fixed.

A USB 2.0 LAN port, a headphone input, and the power supply.

A USB 3.1 Type-C, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI port, and a 4 in 1 card reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC)

The rear has generous ventilation areas, where the air is absorbed before it is pushed out through the grilles on the edge.

The keyboard is one of the best in its class in terms of text-editing experience, through the small 1.2 mm stroke and low key resistance. Editing speed and accuracy are good, especially if you are already accustomed to such keyboards.

The best part is that the keyboard provides a major advantage for gaming enthusiasts: the directional keys, commonly used in games, are large and well-spaced; and the W-A-S-D tiles, like a gaming laptop deserves, are better lit in red with two levels of intensity.

It’s a Synaptics type, and offers good performance in everyday use. Even if it is made out of plastic, it has a great soft surface, and the main advantage is given by the many customization possibilities offered by the Synaptics settings. However, during the tests, we were unable to find the option for two fingers, or the Back and Forward gesture in the two-finger browser.

On the other hand, the trackpad surface is fixed, and the click buttons are positioned underneath, but these are not independent, which can sometimes cause left-click errors or right-click errors.

The screen connects to the laptop through a central hinge that looks robust. Although we cannot say the same thing about the screen, which can be bent relatively easily because of the plastic cover, we must appreciate that the screen does not tremble at all when you use your laptop.

From another point of view, the screen is probably the only significant weakness of this laptop. Although it is an IPS screen and its viewing angles are generous, it does not have a high brightness and the colors are a little too warm.

In other words, the screen is slightly dark and yellow. In strong light, when you use it out, you may have trouble seeing clearly on the screen.

Lenovo has made a number of compromises, and one of the largest is the 15.6 inch matt IPS screen. It provides medium-level brightness and contrast, but has color coverage and accuracy.

With maximum brightness, the screen is good enough for indoor use, but in bright places or in the outdoor environment it will not be as expected. The good news is that there is no visible bleeding effect around the frame.

Though some might say that 1080p is a small resolution for today’s standards, we think it’s more than enough for a good gaming experience.

The audio system consists of two Harman Kardon 2 W stereo speakers located at the top of the keyboard. Although this is an advantage compared to a rear-seat positioning, the sound quality is medium to good, with no bass major influences.

On the other hand, the performance is similar to what you will find on other laptops in this class.

The two fans are running at the same time, but their sound is barely perceptible in tasks such as browsing the internet browsers or watching movies, even in a quiet environment.

If you use more demanding or playful applications, the noise level reaches 43-44 dB, an average value for this segment. There is also an Extreme fan mode, in which case the noise level will reach 48 dB, but normally you will not have to use it.

The second major compromise was made on the battery, which has a capacity of only 45 Wh, being the smallest in the segment. What does this mean for the user? Autonomy of only 2-4 hours in normal use, and less than an hour in gaming mode.

Lenovo Levion Y520 is, however, primarily a gaming laptop present in the top 10 best gaming laptops, and design and construction would not mean much if it could not run the most popular video games of the moment. Games like Counter-Strike Global Offensive, DOTA 2, League of Legends, or Overwatch will not have any trouble running on this system, even on high-level settings.

The Lenovo Legion Y520 is available in a variety of configurations, and we tested the basic one, equipped with the Intel Core i5-7300HQ processor, 8 GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD and Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti with 4 GB of RAM DDR5.

It behaves decent whilst playing games, but our recommendation is to opt for a Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti video card configuration as it delivers a visible performance boost compared to the GTX 1050 for a slightly higher price.

In such a situation, you will be able to play without any problems the latest games available today on the market, but also those that will be launched in the next two years at Full HD resolution with details set to Medium or High.

You can also update the RAM, but this is well hidden under a metallic protection and must be unloaded from the bottom. If you decide to update here, it is very important to position this metallic protection correctly, as it may interfere with the keyboard pins that are located nearby. But other than that, it is still one of the coolest top 10 best gaming laptops out there right now.