The 6 Best Gaming Laptops in 2022

2 years ago

Quick test: What do you associate with the word “GAME”? If you think of toys or activities, you’re probably a parent. If it’s PUBG, Fortnite, Counter-Strike, WoW, or SIMS, we got you! And we know why you’re here.

Jokes aside, gamers need 2 important things: a chair that won’t let them down during the most epic battles and a laptop that won’t shut down during the most important moment. And while we’ve already managed to sort out the first problem, we still owe you our rating of Amazon’s best gaming laptops in 2022. Dive in!

This or that? To buy or not to buy? Is this the best option available for my budget? All these thoughts can overwhelm you when you’re in search of anything. And choosing the best of the best gaming laptops isn’t a different story.

This task is pretty tough, as there are tons of offers on the market, and you may not even know what features to look for. For example, you may not know what processor or display will suit your needs the most. Or how big the RAM and storage should be. Don’t worry, we’ve sorted these questions out for you, and suggest only the TOP 2022 options.

1. Customer favorite: Lenovo Legion 5 is a gaming laptop with the highest rate of positive reviews. It’ll easily play most modern games at the highest settings.

4.6 stars out of 5
81% positive reviews

This gaming laptop combines functionality, precision, and performance. It has clean lines and subtle design elements and is made of durable anti-smudge materials. A clean display framed by slim, 3-sided bezels and a top-placed webcam with a physical privacy shutter will let you easily blend your gaming and daily activities.

Looks like this laptop was designed to keep you in the game no matter where life takes you. It has a longer battery life and a smart power management system that will charge from 0 to 50% in about 30 minutes.

Features:

GPU: ‎NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: ‎512 GB, SSD
Display/screen: Non-touch
Size: 15.6″
Resolution: 1920×1080
Refresh rate: 144 Hz
Keyboard:
Travel time: 1.5 mm
Anti-ghosting: Yes
Battery life: 5 hours
Weight: 2.45 kg (5.5 lbs)
Other accessories: 4 USB-A ports, 1 USB-C port, RJ45 ethernet jack, headphone/mic combo jack, HDMI port, Kensington lock slot, Novo button

What users like:

Available options for upgradability
Fast 144Hz display
Powerful CPU
Great port selection
Fast dual-channel memory
Excellent display
High quality

What users don’t like:

No SD card reader
No Thunderbolt 3 port

Buyer’s reviews:

I had to return another laptop that was defective and decided to focus more on performance and picked the Legion 5 with the Ryzen 4800H and Nvidia 1660 Ti so I could get enough performance for work tasks and the occasional gaming session. Boy was I surprised at how good the performance would actually be! For starters, the fans are incredibly quiet (after updating the BIOS) even when doing pretty heavy work. I really love the fact that you can change thermal performance with Fn+Q and the modes actually make a massive difference.
The keyboard is well-designed with a nice amount of key travel, and I love that it has a full-sized Numpad. The trackpad is big enough and feels solid. It has a pretty smooth surface but enough texture to give some control. The overall build quality is fantastic. The back of the laptop is a bit tricky to remove, but once you get in you can see both slots of RAM are upgradeable, and there are 2 NVME slots and one 2.5″ bay. I’ve got the 60Whr battery, but if you get the 80Whr one, you won’t be able to use the 2.5″ bay. I haven’t needed to remove the heatsink as the thermals are fantastic, so won’t need to repaste for a while.
The performance is out of this world for what’s inside. The 1660Ti is quite dated now, but this laptop gets every last drip of performance it can get from it. The 4800H is on another level. My Cinebench scores are about 3 times better than my 9th gen 6 core i7 I had in my returned Inspiron. I’ve never seen the CPU temperatures get above 87°C. Even in long gaming sessions, the body of the laptop remains cool enough, especially around the areas you’ll be using most.
The screen is probably the biggest surprise for me, though. I wasn’t expecting much from an FHD 300-nit panel, but again, Lenovo has focused on just nailing the basics. The color accuracy is pretty good for a product in this price range. The 144Hz refresh rate is beautiful and makes me dread having to use my 75Hz external monitor! The response rate is also very good when you use the OverDrive option in the Lenovo Vantage software.
Honestly, there aren’t many things I don’t like about this laptop. I wish the secondary function keys had different functions. Airplane mode/project display/mic mute aren’t really useful for me, but this is a very minor complaint. There is also quite a lot of backlight bleed from the keyboard, so if you’re in a dark room, you probably won’t use the full brightness option much. But the black keys with white writing mean it’s very easy to read the keys even without the backlight on.
In conclusion, this laptop provides mobile workstation-level performance while remaining relatively portable and has all the creature comforts you want from a laptop in these times. Get this laptop if you need a laptop for productivity tasks, programming, data analysis, gaming, or creative work (although the color accuracy probably isn’t good enough for professional work). @tim
This machine is highly reviewed, and for good reason. I think this is the perfect gaming laptop for most people. The GTX 1660 runs most new titles on high and mostly all older titles on ultra. For 95% of people, this is the ideal price point for performance.
The 144Hz screen is good but not as crisp as an ultrabook. The colors are still good, and I’d take the refresh rate instead any day.
I use this for AutoCAD for my professional use, where I need a laptop that doesn’t scream “gaming” with RGB and wild decals, and its keyboard has Lenovo’s impressive feel.
Not bulky, runs cool, and the battery life is adequate for light tasks, but you’re not gaming long without your power cord. The battery can be upgraded, as well as your RAM, but I’m running happily on the stock 16 GB.
The ability to pack up a powerful machine for a weekend trip, or even to play on the couch instead of at a desk, is something I really appreciate. I think gaming laptops are overlooked or very pricey for convenience, but this one is a home run. Absolutely no regrets, highly recommend. @Amazon Customer

Buy this gaming laptop on Amazon HERE

2. Best bang for the buck: Acer Predator Helios 300 is a gaming laptop that provides a pretty nice balance of value and performance.

4.6 stars out of 5
78% positive reviews

The revolutionary architecture, combined with an all-new platform, fuses together real-time ray tracing, artificial intelligence, and programmable shading. All this will make you say, “Woah, I’ve never enjoyed games like this before!”

Features:

GPU: ‎‎NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
CPU: ‎Corei7-10750H
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: ‎1 T, SSD
Display/screen: Non-touch
Size: 15.6″
Resolution: 1920×1080
Refresh rate: 144 Hz
Keyboard:
Travel time: N/A
Anti-ghosting: N/A
Battery life: 5.5 hours
Weight: 2.9 kg (6.4 lbs)
Other accessories: 3 USB-A ports, 1 USB-C port, RJ45 ethernet jack, headphone/mic combo jack, HDMI port, Kensington lock slot

What users like:

It’s a well-rounded laptop that offers several upgrade options
The display offers a matte screen surface, good viewing angles, sufficient brightness, good contrast ratio, fast response times, and great color reproduction

What users don’t like:

No SD card reader
No Thunderbolt 3 port

Buyer’s reviews:

I have had this lappy for over a year now.
Initially, my priority was gaming and VR capability. Because I have an Oculus Rift S, this particular VR headset requires a miniport wired directly to the video card. A lot of laptops have their external ports wired to an inferior integrated Intel board, but luckily this laptop port goes to the Nvidia 2070, so it works. This laptop can run any game at high settings. It has a lovely 17″ screen for gaming and everything you need. Only thing I recommend is another 16 GB of memory, but it runs just fine on 16. You can’t go wrong. 5 stars! @Amazon Customer
First impressions: this thing is solid and sharp. It’s heavy, it’s substantial. The keyboard is slick. The screen is close to the same clarity as my 800-dollar graphic design monitor, for real. The fans do sound like a drone ready to take off from the ground when they kick in during heavy graphics, but hey, what do you expect, a buttercup machine? The speakers lack bass, but all laptops are like that. Let’s face it, you only have a slice of room to put a speaker, so bass isn’t happening. So, connect a larger set via the headphone out jack, and the problem is solved. OK, yeah, the battery lasts for about 3 and a half hours for normal usage, like typing a novel or browsing documents. During gaming, I’m sure it wouldn’t last more than an hour and a half, but that’s physics folks. It’s like complaining that your sports car is too noisy and burns too much gas. Just to verify, because I read one review here that mentioned the screen is only 60 Hz, the screen is actually 144 Hz, so no worries. I got exactly what was advertised.
This thing is a performance laptop, so I wouldn’t expect it to behave like an office laptop and get 10 hours of battery life. If that’s the computer you’re looking for, then this one’s not for you. Pull the trigger if you want a true desktop-like experience with near-4K visual clarity. I don’t think you’ll regret it. Time will tell about the durability and stability of this rig. DEFINITELY go with the bigger 17-inch screen over the 15! Awesome picture on this thing. LOVE the keyboard for typing. It lights up in a custom color and has an extremely nice tactile and precise yet light and durable feel. @M Shaw

Buy this gaming laptop on Amazon HERE

3. Best budget gaming laptop: HP Pavilion Gaming is a well-rounded laptop at an attractive price. It’ll play modern games at respectable frame rates. Plus, it offers other niceties, like a punchy screen and a comfortable keyboard, that make it even more enjoyable.

4.6 stars out of 5
77% positive reviews

This gaming laptop offers the perfect balance between work and play. You’ll experience high-grade graphics and processing power for gaming and multitasking, plus improved thermal cooling for overall performance and stability. Immerse yourself in the game with a micro-edge bezel display and custom-tuned audio.

Features:

GPU: ‎‎NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
CPU: ‎AMD Ryzen 5
RAM: 8 GB
Storage: ‎256 GB, SSD
Display/screen: Non-touch
Size: 15.6″
Resolution: 1920×1080
Refresh rate: N/A
Keyboard:
Travel time: N/A
Anti-ghosting: N/A
Battery life: Up to 13 hours
Weight: 2 kg (4.4 lbs)
Other accessories: 2 USB-A ports, 1 USB-C port, RJ45 ethernet jack, headphone/mic combo jack, HDMI port, SD card reader

What users like:

It’s equipped with a dual fan system, which helps enhance thermal cooling. There are also extra air inlets that stop the airflow and optimize the overall performance and stability
Comfortable full-size keyboard

What users don’t like:

Poor speakers
Horrendous battery life + the model does not allow setting the charging limit to 80%

Buyer’s reviews:

I bought this instead of my usual go-to brand, largely due to the more professional look of this laptop, which wouldn’t look out of place at work, rather than the somewhat garish appearance of the alternatives.
I really like the style of this laptop. The sleek black finish, the curved lid, and the ridged speaker grille — having said that, the styling will not be to everyone’s taste.
The laptop is very responsive, as you would expect with the latest 10th generation i5 (a rarity in this price range), and can handle the games I’ve tested with ease due to the 4 GB dedicated GTX 1650 Ti, which is enough memory to handle most games at 1080p. For context, GTA V plays at 40 fps with everything manually changed to the highest setting. World of Warcraft runs at 140 fps on graphics preset 10 (highest).
The speakers have a good, full sound and are capable of quite a high volume as far as built-in laptop speakers go.
8 GB of RAM is enough, although 16 GB would be better, but again, at this price point, it is probably too much to ask. The RAM included is fast but at a strange speed, which I have been struggling to match another stick to — DDR4 3200 MHz. A new kit is rather expensive.
I have gigabit internet and I’m averaging 170 Mbps down and 210 Mbps up over a 5 GHz Wi-Fi connection. Plugged into the router, I get 880 Mbps down and 950 Mbps up. These speeds are not terrible and match or exceed my other devices.
The laptop is extremely quiet for a gaming machine. Just about silent when not under heavy load to pretty quiet while gaming. Even with the fans at full speed in the BIOS, it is quieter than most machines when they are gaming. It really moves some air through those corner vents. One huge drawback of most gaming laptops is noise, so this is a big plus for this machine.
It does have a few niggles for me, though. The battery life is awful. 2 hours at most with moderate gaming. Little more when just browsing the web. The battery is also not removable, which I didn’t realize when I purchased it. Had I known, this “may” have changed my mind. Finally, the keyboard backlighting timing cannot be adjusted. The lights go off if there is no input for 15 seconds or so (I haven’t counted). It’d be nice if this feature could be added in a future BIOS update, as it is available on most other HP gaming machines.
All in all, I’m happy with my choice and would urge anyone who fancies something a little different to give it a go. @David Hoyland
This is my first proper gaming laptop and I have to say I’m very impressed with it for the money.
The quality and feel of the laptop are excellent. The green backlit keyboard looks awesome and it is very good to type with. Yes, the battery is OK when in normal use, but I keep it plugged in when playing games. It is very fast at loading games like Forza Horizon 4 and Call of Duty, and it plays them very well. I’d say it gets only warm at best when playing top-end games, and I’ve had no issues with it at all.
The speakers are OK and loud for light use but lack bass, so for gaming, I’d recommend headphones so you can really enjoy your content. With my headphones, it really transforms watching films and playing games.
I upgraded the RAM to 32 GB and installed a second 500 GB 2.5 inch SSD as this model already has a second blank slot ready. The 60 Hz screen is very clear also, and everything I have played (games, videos, etc) looks fantastic. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a decent gaming laptop that is under 1K, although they have now dropped the price since I bought it, so it is even more of a bargain 👍 Don’t think about it — get it, and you won’t be disappointed. @glenn

Buy this gaming laptop on Amazon HERE

4. Best for beginners: Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 is a simple yet solid option that will run a great variety of games with no problem, providing the user with respectable graphics and FPS.

4.6 stars out of 5
76% positive reviews

It’s time to elevate your game and e-sports experience beyond the realm of the “just acceptable” with a laptop that stands tall amongst your gaming circle. Engineered with the latest generation processors and graphics, memory, and storage, the IdeaPad Gaming 3 stays cool with an updated high-performance thermal system. It also is stunning visually turned on or off with a clear FHD display and an advanced gaming keyboard housed in a shadow black exterior.

Features:

GPU: ‎‎NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
CPU: ‎AMD Ryzen 5
RAM: 8 GB
Storage: ‎256 GB, SSD
Display/screen: Non-touch
Size: 15.6″
Resolution: 1920×1080
Refresh rate: 120 Hz
Keyboard:
Travel time: 1.5 mm
Anti-ghosting: N/A
Battery life: 8 hours
Weight: 2.25 kg (5 lbs)
Other accessories: 2 USB-A ports, 1 USB-C port, RJ45 ethernet jack, headphone/mic combo jack, HDMI port

What users like:

Strong performance and decent graphics
Decent battery life
Comfortable keyboard

What users don’t like:

Only 1-zone keyboard lighting
No SD card reader
Features that unlock better performance are off by default

Buyer’s reviews:

This laptop combines the capable and proven Nvidia GTX 1650 (April 2019) with the modern and efficient AMD Ryzen 5600H. The 5600H facilitates efficient on-the-go browsing from the undersized battery, while the GTX1650 delivers an affordable gaming performance. For the relatively low price, specs are not very high, but both RAM and storage can be upgraded. With this laptop, Lenovo has given up on endurance, choosing instead to provide a lower cost and lighter weight with quite a small battery.
System: The Windows 10 laptop does not come with much bloatware. It includes a 30-day trial of McAfee LiveSafe. Another included utility, Lenovo Vantage, is necessary for operating the computer.
Keyboard: Lenovo has opted for a 96% keyboard with a Numpad, which is sure to please users who like having a full-sized keyboard with a separate Numpad. The keyboard is backlit with a white backlight, which is nice and visible but a bit less eye-friendly than red. While many laptops treat function keys (F1... F2, etc.) as secondary to media keys (volume up... brightness up) and require Fn to activate function keys, here the function keys require holding down Fn to activate media keys, which is the more traditional control scheme.
Monitor: This laptop uses a 1080p, 120 Hz matte screen, which provides for silky smooth gaming as long as you turn the settings down a bit. 120 Hz is not quite the 144 Hz we see in many monitors, but it is double that of the standard 60 Hz. The matte finish performs decently well in bright environments. The difference between the maximum and minimum brightness seems to be around 2–4 W of power, and the screen automatically turns off at the lowest brightness when using the brightness adjusting hotkey. Interestingly, the brightness media keys do not support the press and hold (you have to lift, then press for each notch to make large adjustments to brightness), but the volume keys do support press and hold.
The Lenovo Vantage software allows tuning the fan speed to maximize cooling and laptop performance, as well as limiting charge to 55%—60% to increase battery longevity. Since this laptop is likely to be plugged in most of the time, enabling this feature is highly recommended.
In terms of power, this laptop can consume as much as 128 W when plugged in with the GPU/CPU pushed to their maximum performance and screen brightness set to maximum. The laptop will consume a hair more than 135 W on the 135 W power brick if high-powered peripherals are connected. Like all laptops, good ventilation is recommended to prevent overheating when doing high-performance tasks like playing a game, at the very least, propping up one end of the laptop with a pen.
The battery is labeled as 44 Wh, has a “design capacity” of 45 Wh, and my particular battery has an “actual capacity” of 46.38 Wh, according to Lenovo Vantage. The battery is capable of charging and discharging at 80 watts, which is quite a high performance for such a small battery. Pushing the battery to the limit like this no doubt reduces longevity. If you want to game at max performance on battery power, going from 100% to 20% takes less than 40 minutes from a full charge. If you want to stream videos at medium brightness, the laptop will last longer, more than 2 hours.
This laptop is meant to be plugged in, but you can only plug it into Lenovo’s weird rectangular DC charger. There is a type C port, but while some laptops support type C charging (which opens up the possibility of extending the endurance from a common power bank), this laptop does not support charging from its type C port.
In terms of upgradability, the back panel can be removed with a screwdriver and prying tool, revealing an additional M.2 SSD port and pins for a hard disk next to it. Accessing the RAM requires lifting up the side of the metal RAM cover, then shifting it to remove it — there is 1 unused RAM slot.
As a side note, I accidentally dropped mine from a height of 3 inches, screen first, and scratched the paint (my fault). There was no functional damage, although the lid was scratched on the outside, so consider this a data point in an unintentional drop test. @Eric
For sure, this is the most affordable, easily upgradeable gaming laptop on the market this year. Not only for the cost but also for the improvements that can be made. The keyboard is rock solid, the 120 Hz display is awesome, the heat dissipation is very good, despite that the laptop heats significantly when working hard or gaming. But, in general, the build is much better than other brands in the same price range.
I recommend making 2 important improvements to the laptop. The first one is to improve the RAM. Firstly, because a single module works on a single channel. But my recommendation is to replace the original RAM module in the laptop. AMD processors are very sensitive to memory latency and rank. But the memory that comes by default is a single-sided, dual-rank (1Rx16) Samsung memory. If you look up reviews on expert channels on YouTube, the speed with a single-rank/double-sided RAM improves by up to 20%. I opt for this pair of T-Force modules because right now, they are the cheapest and work so well, just like other more expensive memories.
The second important improvement I recommend is the hard drive. The laptop came with a WD 256 GB PCIe 3.0 disc, relatively slow (1900–950 Mb/s), but tiny (2242). The motherboard supports up to PCIe 4.0, so you can buy a disc up to 7000 Mb/s. For the second 2280 slot, I chose a 2 TB Inland disc, considerably faster (3500–3000 Mb/s) but considerably cheaper than a PCIe 4.0 disc. The motherboard supports 2 NVMe discs and an additional SATA disc, and the laptop came with adapters and the enclosure for a standard 2.5 SATA disc (mechanical or SSD). But unfortunately, there is no way (or no clean way) to connect all 3 discs at the same time. It can be done in a dirty way if anyone figures it out. I tested the 3 discs at the same time with the laptop open, and it worked, but there is no room for the 3 discs at the same time once you close the laptop. Additionally, do not forget to migrate the SO to the faster disc. @Alejandro

Buy this gaming laptop on Amazon HERE

5. Best for gaming on the go: ASUS ROG Strix Scar is thin, light, and portable. Above all, it boasts massive power under the hood to rival the best desktop gaming PCs.

4.6 stars out of 5
79% positive reviews

Draw more frames, win more games, tackle any enemy, and leave competitors in the dust with the peerless processing power of this laptop. You’ll be able to show off your personality with an Aura-sync per-key RGB keyboard and light bar, and swappable armor caps.

Features:

GPU: ‎‎NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070Ti
CPU: ‎Corei9-12900H
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: ‎1 TB, SSD
Display/screen: Non-touch
Size: 15.6″
Resolution: 1920×1080
Refresh rate: 300 Hz
Keyboard:
Travel time: N/A
Anti-ghosting: N/A
Battery life: N/A
Weight: 2.3 kg (5 lbs)
Other accessories: 2 USB-A ports, 1 USB-C port, 1 Thunderbolt 4 port, 2.5 G LAN port, headphone/mic combo jack, HDMI port, DisplayPort / power delivery

What users like:

Superb gaming and application pace
Excellent optomechanical keyboard
Great 1440p display and punchy speakers
Bold, RGB-covered design

What users don’t like:

No webcam
No SD memory card reader
Not the most portable

Buyer’s reviews:

Coming from a desktop rig I built in 2019 (Ryzen 7 3700x, RTX 2070 super, 32 GB RAM), this thing annihilates it in gaming. Some initial thoughts after playing with it for a few hours tonight:
— Build quality is good. It’s no MacBook but feels premium for a Windows laptop. Not a fan of all the RGB lighting, though I’m just using this plugged in as a desktop replacement. Luckily, nobody will witness me lit up like a Christmas tree.
— The included ROG software is easy to use. Some useful physical hotkeys allow you to quickly switch between the different power modes (Silent? No way, give me Turbo!) Enabling the MUX switch is simple through the ROG software (and does require a restart).
— Tested Battlefield 5 and Halo Infinite. Laptop handled both like it was nothing (consistent 100+ FPS in both with a mixture of med/high settings — didn’t try to push it as I prefer performance over fidelity). I’ll have to test some more demanding games, but even in those, I see significantly better performance than I did on my old desktop.
— FHD screen is not a big deal for me personally. The picture looks good and buttery smooth with that high refresh rate.
— In turbo mode, the fan does get really loud, and I can definitely feel a decent amount of hot air blowing out onto my mouse hand. Will be nice in the winter.
Thing is a beast for the price. The fact that it can outperform desktop gaming rigs of respectable caliber is stunning for a laptop. Excited to put it through more rigor, which I feel confident it will be able to handle very well. @John Doe
I needed a laptop to plug into my workstation (on which I also game at ultra-wide 1440p) and after comparing laptops for weeks, I found that this one has the best performance-to-price ratio.
Cons:
— It doesn’t have an SD memory card reader.
— It doesn’t have an integrated webcam.
— I kind of miss the Numpad (but I suppose I’ll get used to the support one)
— That’s it.
Pros:
— Has a support Numpad.
— Cooling is awesome, no thermal throttling so far.
— Even though it’s made of plastic, it feels high quality.
— I’m impressed with the display. It doesn’t feel like 1080p.
— You can dominate Starbucks with the RGB lights or you can turn them all off, no problem.
— It’s easily upgradeable (for a future 32 GB and 2 TB).
— The MUX switch lets you plug your external monitors directly into the GPU. @Carlos Villa

Buy this gaming laptop on Amazon HERE

6. Best for gaming enthusiasts: HP OMEN is a strong-performing gaming laptop packed with features and it has an attractive design.

Stunning desktop-grade power in a sleek, portable design will keep you playing your best wherever gaming takes you. Take on the most demanding AAA game titles and immerse yourself in smooth gameplay!

Features:

GPU: ‎‎‎NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
CPU: ‎Core i7-10750H
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: ‎1 TB, SSD
Display/screen: Non-touch
Size: 17.3″
Resolution: 1920×1080
Refresh rate: 144 Hz
Keyboard:
Travel time: N/A
Anti-ghosting: Yes
Battery life: N/A
Weight: 3.2 kg (7 lbs)
Other accessories: 3 USB-A ports, 1 Thunderbolt 3 port with USB-C, RJ45 ethernet jack, headphone/mic combo jack, 1 mic port, HDMI port, Mini DisplayPort, AC smart pin

What users like:

The NVIDIA GPU fused with a G-Sync display is ideal for fast-paced gaming
The display with a backlit screen, anti-glare, and in-plane Switching technology, provides a great viewing experience
Sturdy build, gaming macro-keys + Thunderbolt 3 port

What users don’t like:

One of the heaviest in its class
The noisy cooling fans
Missing backlighting
Poor battery

Buyer’s reviews:

I know what you’re thinking... “Does HP even make good gaming laptops? I don’t really trust HP over other brands.”
Trust me and read below...
The HP Omen 17 is an all-round excellent laptop for gamers who are looking to get their name onto the gaming hardware ladder. With an RTX 2060 GPU, Intel Core i7 & 16 GB of RAM, there is not a lot that can go wrong.
There are very minor things to point out that you may find questionable, but other than that, this laptop stands out from the rest.
Positives:
— The process rate is second to none. The i7 really shows its worth. Just imagine that with a 2060 RTX with it. From navigating File Explorer to shooting down a wave of Stormtroopers in Star Wars: Battlefront 2, the HP Omen can tackle anything. I was very impressed by its speed.
— The picture quality is no joke. Every color is bold and vibrant, just as a display should be. With the 144 Hz working away in the background, there is no way you’ll be disappointed. It’s a 17″ screen, so yes, it’s big. But not too big to fit in your ordinary backpack. Normally, with gaming laptops of this screen size, you lack depth and detail with display quality, especially if it’s not 4K, but this is a clear exception (pun intended). The hinges attaching the screen to the base are sturdy, with almost zero movement on the screen during gaming. (I even broke my desk when I lost in FIFA, and I’m pretty sure the screen didn’t even move). The back of the display is simple but effective, with a carbon feel to it, which makes it look slick & smart.
— Keyboard & touchpad are spot on. With hardly any pressure needed to hit a key, it makes typing quick and easy. If you’re selecting a different weapon loadout mid-game to get one-over your opponent, the pre-selected hotkeys on the left-hand side are the way forward. The keyboard is lit in 4 segments, which, in my opinion, is perfect as I don’t want to spend valuable time selecting what color I want each individual key to be. The touchpad keys are deep and easy to click, with a rubber feel to them for some grip. The touchpad is smooth and reactive, with an almost matte feeling to it. (Just in case you don’t invest in a mouse)
— One really cool thing that you don’t get in a lot of gaming laptops is internal fan control. There are 2 settings for the fans, “Auto” & “Max.” When more power is needed, more cooling is needed, and the “Auto” function takes care of that. However, if you’re worried about heat, don’t be. Just set them to “Max” 24/7.
— Plenty of options when it comes to external equipment. This can take both HDMI & Mini DisplayPort. It has your standard USB as well as the new USB-C connectors, which is quite rare, giving you flexibility depending on what you use. It has Bluetooth for all your wireless headsets out there, but just in case you are using wires, it has your classic mic & headset jack-in connections. Also, an Ethernet cable if you still don’t trust Wi-Fi, and finally an SD card reader... (Because apparently, that’s still a thing?)
Possible things to think about:
— As I said before, it’s a 17″ screen, so yes, it feels big, which means it’s heavier than your average laptop. But what do you expect from a powerful gaming laptop? In my opinion, this isn’t a flaw. I just wanted more from my display, and I was over the moon with what I received. It’s about 4 KG, which isn’t a problem if you want more power and a bigger display. You could get a lot worse.
— Believe it or not, the speakers are located on the back of the base of the laptop, which means it needs to live on a solid surface like wood. Putting it on your bed or a carpet doesn’t bring out the full sound quality. However, that being said, it’s Bang & Olufson, which is one of the best audio companies in the world. If you know sound and audio, you’ll know they mean business.
— Battery life, the one flaw all gamers know about when it comes to laptops, and to be honest, it’s no different here. Computer companies are still trying to tackle this. Maximum 2 hours of gameplay when not plugged in.
Overall, this is worth every penny. I would highly recommend this to any gamers who are looking to get their first laptop and also to gamers who are looking to upgrade their existing one. To be honest, I think any extreme gamer would settle for this. @Connor Beesley
I was very unsure about buying it. I thought I’d just be paying for the brand more than anything, but honestly, it is an amazing piece of kit. Okay, so it’s not the latest spec, but this laptop will play anything you throw at it. I’ve played very demanding games like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, and The Medium (with ray tracing on), and it plays them like a dream.
The fans aren’t as loud as I thought they might be, but that is because before this laptop, I had a PC from PCSpecialist and the fans sounded like jet engines!
Since I’ve had the laptop plugged in since I got it, I can’t really comment on the battery life. As it’s a gaming laptop, I’m not expecting it to last all day.
I’ve made a few Zoom calls with the built-in camera and it’s pretty decent. Not the best, but definitely not the worst. The quality doesn’t separate itself from the other cameras in the Zoom call, so it’s absolutely fine.
Overall, I’m extremely pleased with this laptop. I haven’t put it down since I got it, and even after days without a shutdown, there were no signs of the computer slowing down. I’d recommend this laptop to anyone. It does everything! @Peter Hall