10 Best Gaming Laptops of 2017

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The MSI GT83VR Titan SLI is the Zeus of gaming laptops, at least on this list. One look at it and you’ll understand why. The 18.4” laptop took up an impressive amount of space on my desk, and it took me some time to get used to it. Like a lot of manufacturers, MSI decided to go with a combination of red accents on the dark gray brushed aluminum chassis. It looks gorgeous but is getting redundant. The Cherry MX Speed Silver keys on the keyboard offer great response and are extremely comfortable. It is the world’s first laptop to have these features.

There are a few things that make it the best gaming laptop of 2017. Under the hood, I was glad to find out the 7th-gen Kaby Lake processor. It was long overdue, and Intel has finally released these bad boys into the wild. The 3.1GHz i7-7920HQ is a beast, and it was able to rip apart anything that I threw at it. Benchmark scores were solid and the MSI GT83VR Titan SLI tops most of its rivals. Apart from the Kaby Lake processor, this powerhouse comes with a whopping 64GB of DDR4 RAM clock at 2,400MHz. Besides, there is also the GeForce GTX 1080 in SLI resulting in 16GB of GDDR5X VRAM.

In simple words, this is the best gaming laptop for those who can afford it. Running a Kaby Lake processor, with 64 gigs of RAM, 16GB of VRAM and a massive 18.4” FHD display will require some serious battery power. Things get a bit disappointing when it comes to such instances. The laptop lasted for less than 120 minutes on my tests with heavy gaming and web browsing over Wi-Fi. Comparing this to its sole competitor, the Origin EON17-X 10 Series, whose battery life is just over an hour, MSI has done a commendable job. Hats off to MSI for including 15 heat pipes for a super cool operation throughout.

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I’m a huge fan of ROG laptops because they often bring out powerhouses. The Asus ROG G701VI is no different. It sports a similar design to the MSI laptops I’ve mentioned below with deep running lines on its back. But what makes it stand out from the rest of the best gaming laptops is its choice of color. Rather than going for the clichéd black, dark gray and red, Asus decided to go with light gray, dark gray and orange. The choice of color along with the white ROG logo on the back side makes it mesmerizing.

It is quite heavy at 8.2 pounds, but this is mainly due to the serious hardware that is in it. There is the Intel i7-6820HK processor along with 32GB of DDR4 RAM. Apart from that, there is also the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU with 8GB of GDDR5X VRAM. The Asus ROG G701VI is all set for VR with its score of 10.9 on StreamVR Performance test. The 17.3” FHD display has ample amount of detail and sharpness and reproduces 112 percent of the sRGB color gamut.

At about half the price of the MSI GT83VR Titan SLI, the ROG G701VI is almost as good as the MSI GT83VR Titan SLI. It has some solid performance in games and VR applications. The battery life is pretty decent at around 3 hours, and this makes it a very enticing option for someone looking for the complete package.

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I was waiting for an OLED display on a gaming laptop for as long as I can remember. That is the sole reason why the Alienware 13 OLED is on the list of the best gaming laptops. It has some powerful hardware, but slightly outdated if you ask me. The Intel Core i7-6500U runs the show along with 16 gigs of DDR3L RAM. For all the gamers, it comes with the GeForce GTX 965M with 4GB of GDDR5 memory. These specs might not impress you, but what I’m going to tell you next definitely will.

The 13.3-inch display on the Alienware 13 packs in the maximum amount of pixels that you can get. With a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels on the 13-inch panel, I was swept away by the amount of detail and accuracy in color reproduction. The color reproduction average on the sRGB color gamut is 87 percent, but the Alienware 13’s OLED display smashes all its rivals, literally, with a 206 percent coverage.

I cannot explain it in words, and you’ll have to witness it for yourself. Watching a 4K video on a 4K OLED display with so many vivid colors and details are just mesmerizing. Like with most of the other laptops on this list, the battery life is slightly on the lower side. I was able to have lights on for about three and a half hours before it ran out of juice. Another disappointment is the heating, which can get disturbing after around 15-20 minutes of gaming. Buy the Alienware 13 OLED as it is the best gaming laptop in terms of its display.

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The MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro is another option from MSI and costs about one-fifth of the MSI GT83VR Titan SLI. The specifications are quite different, and you don’t get a Kaby Lake processor and a 1080 GPU in SLI. But you do get a powerful i7 processor coupled with 16GB of DDR4 RAM and the mid-range GeForce 1060 with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM. What I loved about this laptop from MSI is its design and footprint. If you’re on the lookout for the best gaming laptop that is lightweight and compact, then this one will not disappoint you.

The black brushed aluminum chassis attracted a lot of my fingerprints, but I couldn’t take my hands of it. It is also extremely light at just 4.2 pounds. Considering the likes of the MSI GT83VR Titan SLI and Origin EON17-X 10 Series weighing over 12 pounds, this is feather light. Another plus point for the GS63VR is its display. Even though it sports a 15-inch FHD display, the color reproduction and viewing angles were great.

I was impressed by the 111 percent color reproduction on the sRGB gamut which is way higher than the 90 percent average. Experiencing VR on MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro is also not an issue, and I was able to score a decent 7.4 on the StreamVR Performance Test. I found the battery life to be really average at just around 2 hours and 54 minutes. Heating was prevalent after 15-20 minutes of gaming, and the bottom part of the laptop can get extremely hot.

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Razer has always produced some of the best gaming laptops as well as gaming accessories. I am a huge fan of their gaming headsets, cabinets, and keyboards. You have no idea how much I love their logo and their trademark neon green color. Let me start off with this because I want to sweep you off of your feet. The Razer Blade Pro is the thinnest gaming laptop in the world at just 0.88-inches in thickness. There are not a lot of laptops that comes under 1-inch. Razer has never failed to impress me, and this is yet another milestone for them.

I wasn’t expecting a lot of serious firepower under the hood with so little room. But with the i7-6700HQ, 32GB of DDR4 RAM and the latest and greatest GeForce GTX 1080 with 8GB of GDDR5X VRAM, I was sure that Razer meant business. The performance was top-notch, and the overall experience was smooth without any hiccups. The whole laptop personifies what Razer is all about, and their trademark colors are present all over.

Oh! I almost forgot. The Razer Blade Pro also has one of the best displays on a gaming laptop. With a 17.3” UHD touch-enabled display that also has Nvidia G-Sync, you’ll be blown away. The color reproduction on the sRGB color gamut was 185 percent and is second only to the Alienware 13 OLED’s 206 percent. Something that I didn’t quite like are the silent speakers and the average battery life. The laptop was able to chug on for about two and half hours before shutting down.

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Another gaming laptop from MSI! These guys know what they’re doing. When I started my hunt to find the best gaming laptops, I was sure that it would have more than a couple of laptops from MSI and Asus ROG. I wasn’t mistaken, and here I am, reviewing my third MSI gaming laptop. The GT62VR Dominator Pro comes with all the serious hardware like most its rivals. It excels in the looks department with deep running black and red strips on the rear side.

MSI keyboards have always been great, and this one is extremely comfortable to use. Under the hood, it comes with the i7-7700HQ coupled with 16 gigs of DDR4 RAM and GeForce GTX 1070 with 8GB of GDDR5 VRAM. The laptop is 1.6-inches thick and weighs 6.4 pounds which is manageable. I’m a person who loves matte display panels, and it seems like MSI knew that!

The display on the MSI GT62VR Dominator Pro is one of the best matte displays that I’ve experienced with great assistance from MSI’s very own True Color Software. It was able to produce 105.6 percent of the sRGB color gamut which is more than the mainstream average of 90 percent. Alas, everything can’t be perfect. The battery life on this laptop is below average clocking around 3 hours before running out of juice.

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I’m not a huge fan of HP laptops; however, the HP Omen 17 changed my perception. This dynamite from HP packs in a lot more than you think. It has one of the best displays among gaming laptops, one of the best VR experiences and also decent battery life. Like many other laptops on this list, it features the 2.6GHz Intel i7-6700HQ processor. RAM was adequate at 16GB and the graphics card used is the mid-range monster, the GeForce GTX 1070 with 8GB of GDDR5 VRAM.

Coming to the positives, I was impressed with the G-Sync enabled display. The UHD resolution is slowly catching up, and with a color reproduction of 178 percent, it is one of the top displays in the market right now. What I found a bit discouraging was that the display lacked a bit of brightness. This can be overlooked and is not a major flaw. It is one of the best gaming laptops for VR as it scores a commendable 10.1 on StreamVR Performance test.

Other impressive additions include speakers from Bang and Olufsen and a soft-touch keyboard that is extremely responsive. Battery life was also decent with the Omen running for more than three hours on an average. So, I would recommend getting this one from HP if you want to experience VR without shelling out some big bucks.

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The EON17-X 10 series is a refresh of their predecessors with the latest 10 series GPUs from Nvidia. This now means that they are ready for VR. I’ve specified this laptop as the best gaming laptop because it has some monstrous specifications and performance to back it up. On benchmarks like the 3DMark Fire Strike and 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited, it has the best scores and is only second to the MSI GT83VR Titan SLI. The 17.3-inch laptop has one of the best displays on a laptop with its 4K resolution.

For gaming, the Origin EON17-X 10 Series is equipped with the most powerful GPU, the GTX 1080, in SLI resulting in a jaw-dropping 16 gigs of GDDR5X VRAM. This, along with the brilliant 4K display, results in some of the best visuals that you would ever want to see. Apart from being the best gaming laptop, I’ve also mentioned that it comes with a huge caveat.

The Origin EON17-X 10 Series comes with an 82Whr battery which is pretty high. But it was only able to churn out around one and a half hours of battery life. With some serious amount of gaming, this went down to 1 hour or less. For a laptop that performs so well, the battery is its Achilles heel.

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This is the second laptop from Asus ROG. The Strix GL502 continues Asus’ use of orange. This one, however, uses neon orange throughout along with the dark gray aluminum chassis. One word to describe it would be, ‘gorgeous.’ I never knew that neon orange could go with the dark gray on a laptop, but it surely does. The deep lines at the back, along with the ROG logo, USB ports and some of the keys on the keyboard are all neon orange.

It doesn’t have a 10 series GeForce GPU, and that means that you won’t be able to experience VR. But you do get the GeForce GTX970M with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM. There is also 16GB of DDR4 RAM supporting the Intel i7-6700HQ processor. What is impressive is that Asus was able to stack in all this inside a 0.9-inch footprint.

Its battery life makes it one of the best gaming laptops. Yes, you heard that right. Most of the laptops on this list have only moderate battery life, but this one is on a different level altogether with over 5 hours of battery. But there are issues with heating, and it can get really hot while gaming. The audio output is also mediocre and lacks bass.

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You’re not going to believe that this is the best budget gaming laptop. For starters, it doesn’t look anything like a budget laptop. The use of dark gray and red on it has worked well and the crisscross mesh patterns look gorgeous. Things get interesting when it comes to performance. The Dell Inspiron 15 Series 7000 showcases solid mid-range performance across all games. Equipped with the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, I was able to run games like The Rise of the Tomb Raider, GTA V and Hitman at 49, 31 and 35 frames per second respectively.

If you want to game for hours on the go, the Dell Inspiron 15 Series 7000 has got you covered. The 4-cell 58Whr battery might not look impressive on paper but is on a different level altogether. I was able to get it going for over 10 hours with moderate usage and more than 7 hours on heavy usage.

The only downside to this budget gaming laptop is its display. But this cannot be considered a huge flaw since it comes for under $1,000. The display has an adequate sharpness, and I was able to see the details in most of the games clearly. But the lack of color was a letdown. Everything looked dull and without life. If that is something that you can compromise, it is a no-brainer to go for this one.