Best Laptops for Gaming

When you're looking for the best laptop for gaming, you'll have a wide array of options to consider. From thin and light devices to 4K gaming laptops and devices that scream with power, the wide variety of gaming laptops on the market allows you to choose a device that ideally suits your needs, style of play and budget.

As an innovator in laptops and gaming technology, Dell offers an assortment of devices that include some of the best laptops for gaming on the market today. Pre-configured options allow for selecting the processors, RAM, and storage drives to needed to design your dream machine.

Components in the best laptop for gaming

Determining the best laptop depends on your level of competitiveness. Here are some of the components you'll want to consider as you configure your gaming laptop.

The latest graphics cards
The best gaming laptops and gaming towers inevitably have the latest and fastest graphics cards. The GPU is responsible for rendering images and motion on your display. The better your graphics card, the more impressive your visuals will be. To get the highest performance, two or more graphics cards can be linked together to boost total gaming performance this configuration increases the available frame rate and provides more depth and detail. With the added horsepower of dual graphics cards, you can use higher resolution displays and enjoy high-definition (HD) gaming without sacrificing graphics performance.

High RAM
While 8GB of random-access memory is adequate, best PCs for gaming today are equipped with 16GB of RAM to handle heavy-duty gaming titles.

Combination hard drives
Laptops are built with solid-state drives (SSDs) and hard disk drives (HDDs). SSDs are much faster, helping to improve gameplay speed. Many gamers opt for a combination of both drives, using the SSD drive to deliver faster load times and the HDD device to store the bulk of gaming data.

Faster CPUs
Your CPU is critical to game-related calculations like physics and AI. It doesn't matter how powerful your GPU is if your CPU isn't up to the task. The best laptops for gaming tend to have the latest generation CPUs with higher clock speeds and multiple cores.

Screens with fast refresh rates
The best gaming PC setups are built with screens that have higher refresh rates, which indicate the number of times per second that images are redrawn on the screen. While many gaming laptops have screens with a 60Hz refresh rate, the best gaming laptops offer refresh rates of 120Hz or higher to deliver a visual experience free of screen tearing and stuttering.

Keyboards with more key travel
Key travel refers to how far you can depress a key. Keyboards with a key travel of at least 1.5 mm are essential for the kind of responsiveness and control that gamers expect. 2.0 mm is even better.

When you visit Dell.com, you can find a custom gaming PC or laptop for your style of play. Start by selecting an Alienware or Dell G Series device by form factor, price range or level of competitiveness. Select a screen size and filter your options by size and type of hard drive, amount of RAM and type of processor. Once you have identified your ideal device, you can customize it further with options for displays, support, software, and accessories.

What's the best laptop for gaming?
The best laptop for gaming depends on the gamer's level of competitiveness. Thin and light gaming laptops are more portable, while heavier devices may deliver more power. Entry-level gamers will be happy with devices with midrange processors and graphics cards, while competitive gamers will want the fastest and latest CPUs and GPUs on the market.

What components are essential in the best gaming laptops?
The best gaming laptops are built with the highest-end elements that provide the ultimate gaming experience:

• Latest graphics cards that render images more clearly and move more fluidly
• Faster CPUs that help handle demands of processing-intensive games
• SSD drives and large amounts of RAM for quick loading and processing of data
• Displays with fast refresh rates and low response times