When deciding between TN or IPS panels on gaming laptops, there are positives and negatives for each that must be considered, but the newer OLED technology is better suited for gaming with their fast response and punchy colors. Winner: The Alienware 13 R3 (Score: 88%) can be configured with a beautiful 13.3-inch 1440p OLED display that is stunning to look at. You can click on any laptop's name in the table below to read our comprehensive review for more details.
To reduce the list, we decided that any candidates needed a review from within the last 12 months, a modern Intel Kaby Lake, Kaby Lake-R, Coffee Lake, or AMD Ryzen processor, and an Nvidia GTX 1060 or AMD RX 580 or higher graphics card.
We have pulled the top 10 gaming notebooks from our database based on the overall NotebookCheck score and identified our top picks for portability, display, gaming performance, battery life, and value. With Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and New Years sales, the last two months of the year are a great time to snag yourself a bargain on a new notebook. The designs themselves might typically be more old-fashioned or traditional than the sleek ultra-slim devices we often see today, but the idea that something that is still quite compact can pack as much performance as a gaming desktop is impressive. Gaming laptops are one of the most exciting areas of notebook development.