The best gaming laptops you can buy

Modern gaming laptops often cost more than their business-grade counterparts but offset that premium with gaming-specific features that boost their performance when it counts most. They aren’t as pretty or light as mainstream notebooks like the Dell XPS or Apple MacBook, but they’re also a lot more powerful. These days, the list of reasons to choose a gaming laptop over the alternatives has never been longer while the caveats continue to shrink.

That’s probably the reason why sales for gaming laptops are at an all-time high. Nowadays, nearly every big name in computers has a gaming sub-brand fighting for consumers’ attention and dollars. Despite that popularity, manufacturers haven’t made much progress in making the process of finding the best gaming laptop your money can get any more straightforward.

We’re here to help fill in the gaps with this round-up of the best gaming laptops you can buy in Australia.

Lenovo has been cranking out Legion-branded gaming laptops for a number of years now, but the OEM's heavyweight Legion Pro 5i cuts above the rest of the crowd in a number of ways.

The latest Lenovo Legion Pro 5iisn't cheap, but the high price involved also includes all the bells, whistles, and performance you could want from a gaming laptop. There's an expansive 16-inch WQXGA IPS display clocked at 240Hz. There are also the best-in-class Intel Core and Nvidia RTX chips, up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM and up to 1TB of onboard storage.

More than just piling on the right parts and ticking all the right boxes, the Lenovo Legion Pro 5i elevates a familiar formula through smart innovations like the inclusion of a hyperbaric chamber and a suite of software tools that make optimising the performance of the hardware here easy and instant.

Wrapped up in stylish looks and ports aplenty, the Lenovo Legion Pro 5i is currently our pick for the best gaming laptop you can buy.

It might not do all it could to dispel the usual caveats that come with gaming laptops (and cheap ones in particular), but if you’re after something that will let you jump into PC gaming without breaking the bank, then Dell’s G15 gaming laptop delivers a ton of bang for your buck. 

Even if the display on the baseline Dell G15 is only FHD when it comes to quality, it's more generous when it comes to size and refresh rate than many other laptops in its class. What's more, it comes in both AMD and Intel varieties.

The Intel-based version of the laptop relies on an Intel Core i5-12500H as standard, but this can be upgraded to an Intel Core i7-12700H for an extra $200 or so. If you're looking at sticking with the  G15 for the long haul and squeezing as much performance out of it as possible, this is surcharge is probably one worth paying.

On the other hand, those looking to squeeze every bit of possible savings should seriously consider the Ryzen-based version of the G15. This model boasts an AMD Ryzen 5 6600H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card, 8GB of DDR5 RAM and 256GB of PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD storage.

The Dell G15  won’t let you crank up the in-game settings in the way that something twice its price will, but if you’re looking to do a modest amount of gaming on the go, it’s our pick for the best way to go about it.       

The ASUS Flow X13 isn't as lean as the latest ROG Zephyrus nor as powerful as the brand's roster of Strix gaming laptops, but the fusion of flexible form factor and AMD Ryzen processor here makes it a clear winner for those looking to spend a little bit more than what our best cheap gaming laptop pick costs and a little less than the price that our best overall gaming laptop commands.

Under the hood, the ASUS ROG Flow X13 is kitted out with an AMD Ryzen 6900HS processor, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage and your choice of either AMD Radeon 680M, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 or Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics. Adorned with a 4K IPS display clocked at 60Hz, the ASUS ROG Flow X13 is geared up to provide plenty of gaming goodness for years to come.

While the Dell G15 ticks plenty of boxes, it can't hold a candle to the Alienware M15 R7. Available in both AMD and Intel variants, this particular Alienware gaming laptop is our pick for the end-all-be-all of Dell gaming laptops. At least, for now.

Beyond the usual high-performance mobile processors mentioned above, the Alienware M15 R7 is also kitted out with up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM, up to 1TB of SSD storage and (for those who can afford it) discrete graphics that range from the more-than-modest Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 to the mighty Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.

Throw in a 15.6-inch IPS display that can be bumped up when it comes to both the resolution (up to 4K) and refresh rate (up to 240Hz), and the sum total of what the Alienware M15 R7 delivers is nothing short of a feast for those looking to game on the go or a full-blown desktop replacement.

MSI has always been great at picking the right parts, but they’ve sometimes struggled to bring things together and make the sum of those parts compelling. The MSI Katana GF66 solves this problem and looks good while doing it. It’s thin, light, and stacked with high-end hardware designed to make gaming that little bit better. Some of these inclusions sound small, like Wi-Fi 6 connectivity and high-speed memory. Combined with MSI’s house-brand Cooler Boost technology, these technical tweaks help the MSI Katana GF66  make good on its potential as a gaming laptop powerful enough to dethrone your desktop.

Within MSI's broader gaming laptop portfolio, the MSI Katana GF66 makes a strong case for itself as the "Goldilocks" option. It’s not the most powerful nor the most compact machine in MSI’s stable, but it’s going to be just right for the price for most consumers.

If you want the latest-generation gaming hardware, you’re going to have to pay for it. Case in point, the Razer Blade 16. Razer continues to defy the standard 13/15/17-inch screen trends, with the Razer Blade 16 boasting a 16-inch display. The cheapest configuration has a WQXGA display with a 240Hz refresh rate, which the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 would be working hard to max out.

Still, if you’re willing to invest more—and that’s up to $8K, mind you—the top-of-the-line Razer Blade 16 is something special. It boasts an RTX 4090 video card, dual-display modes up to 4K resolution and a breathtaking Mini-LED screen. The screen is so pretty it’ll ruin you for typical laptop displays, and it even holds its own against OLED screens.

Outside of the looming price, there’s also the expected fan noise to contend with, and we did hit some quirks while testing where the Razer Blade 16 wasn’t as intuitive as it should be at switching between integrated and dedicated graphics. That said, with 7.5 hours of battery life, a high-end CPU and speedy upgradeable DDR5 RAM, the Razer Blade 16 has performance to spare for everyday computing and all-important gaming.

Whether you're looking at a mainstream computer brand like Dell or a dedicated gaming brand like MSI, there's an immense number of decisions you'll need to make when purchasing a laptop. If you're not sure where to start, here are a few important features to consider when shopping for your next laptop:

• Screen size and type: Unlike upgradeable components like your GPU, RAM and storage, you're stuck with the display you buy when you purchase a laptop. Is it a comfortable size? Does it offer a wide-viewing angle?
• Resolution: Similarly, you can't change your display's resolution after the fact. 1080p (Full HD) is the bare minimum these days and most laptops worth their price tag aim for 1440p at least (QHD or QuadHD) but you can also opt for 4K if you're willing to spend a little extra.
• Refresh rate: A screen's refresh rate is the measurement of how frequently it changes. If you play fast-paced multiplayer games like Call of Duty, you know that the difference a few milliseconds that a high refresh rate gets you can count for a lot. The higher the refresh rate, the better. Most conventional laptops offer 60Hz to 90Hz but fancier gaming laptops can offer 144Hz, 165Hz or even 240Hz screens.
• Ports and connections: Like your screen, ports will impact your everyday experience with a laptop, particularly if you use it for work. While you can work around this with USB hubs and adapters, a laptop with fewer ports than you need can quickly become a headache.
• Future-proofing: There are no hard and fast rules here but as a general suggestion, you'll want to sure you're laptop has the legs to survive a few years of technology improvements in any way you can. You can overshoot on your desired specs, spending more on a machine that's more powerful than you currently need, or opt for a model or brand that has support for upgrades down the track. Check which features of the machine are upgradeable. The Dell XPS 15, for example, supports additional RAM, while Apple MacBooks do not.

Check out our dedicated laptop buying guide for more suggestions on shopping for the best laptop for your needs.