There is no better time to buy a laptop now that we are in the middle of the school season. However, if you’re a student who’s serious about gaming, you’ll need a laptop that’s powerful enough for late-night gaming sessions as well as schoolwork. You won’t find low-end Chromebooks here. If you don’t know where to start looking, don’t worry. That’s where we enter. We’ve taken it a step further and carefully compiled a list of the best gaming laptops for college students. We’ve taken everything from display quality to budget into consideration. Read on to find out more.
[Need something strictly for schoolwork? Check out our picks for the best laptops for college students]Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (2022) – Best Overall
pros
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Attractive, durable design
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Nice keyboard and touchpad
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Plenty of wired and wireless connections
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Excellent gaming performance
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Competitive pricing
Minuses
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Processor performance average
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The display is bright but lacks color reproduction.
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Speakers may sound dirty
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro meets many requirements. It offers fantastic gaming performance, a wide range of connectivity options, a solid build and more. Prices are also competitive. This machine is more than capable and best for your money.
The Legion 5 Pro is powered by an Intel Core i7-12700H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. According to our tester, the laptop “screamed at 148fps” during the Rise of the Tomb Raider test. The non-touch IPS display has a resolution of 2560×1600 and a maximum refresh rate of 165Hz. The display is also bright, but not as colorful as others we’ve seen. Overall, we think the pros here far outweigh the cons.
Read our full Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (2022) review
Asus VivoBook Pro 15 OLED Ultra-Slim Laptop is the Best Budget Option
pros
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Good performance
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Excellent display
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Rugged construction
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Excellent battery life
Minuses
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boring aesthetic
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Unimpressive 720p webcam
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Unreliable fingerprint scanner
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Wrong port selection
If you want high gaming performance at an affordable price, the Asus VivoBook Pro 15 OLED is a great choice. According to our tester, this laptop handles “gaming, streaming, and day-to-day productivity” with ease. It features an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of NVMe PCIe SSD storage. You may need to switch to medium or high graphics when playing newer AAA games. However, this machine should run older games just fine. The OLED panel is also excellent and the battery life is great. In fact, it lasted over 11 hours on a single charge during our battery life test. That’s impressive for a gaming laptop. However, there are a few minor niggles to be aware of.
The fingerprint scanner is downright finicky and the overall aesthetic is underwhelming. The choice of ports is also not very diverse. If you can live with those caveats, the VivoBook Pro 15 OLED is an absolute joy to use and well worth considering. If you’re interested in more budget-friendly gaming laptop recommendations, be sure to check out our roundup of the best gaming laptops under $1,500 and the best gaming laptops under $1,000.
Read our full review of the ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 OLED ultra-slim laptop.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is the most portable
pros
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Powerful CPU and GPU in a very compact package
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AniMe Matrix screams single
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He has a webcam
Minuses
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Half permanent RAM
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Keyboard backlight not up to par
The ROG Zephyrus G14 is light and powerful, a rare combination for a gaming laptop. It weighs a little over three kilograms. Compared to most gaming laptops that weigh five or six pounds, the G14 is very light. In terms of internals, it features an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS processor and an AMD Radeon RX6800S GPU. In other words, you can expect high gaming performance. The only real knock is the keyboard, which feels too musky. The backlight isn’t impressive either. However, if you’re dreaming of a portable gaming laptop that promises fast performance, the Zephyrus G14 is a great choice.
HP Victus 16 (16-d0097nr) – best keyboard
pros
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Very good value for money
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Surprisingly comfortable keyboard
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Large 16″ 1080p screen with 144Hz high refresh rate.
Minuses
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Budget RTX GPUs
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The sound isn’t quite right
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Display hinge is a bit flimsy
The HP Victus 16 has a very comfortable keyboard which is great for school work due to longer typing sessions. According to our tester, he was “happy to use the keyboard for a long time.” HP has also put a numeric keypad in there, which is perfect for gamers. But how does it work? Well then, let’s go inside.
This laptop should be able to run most of the older games on medium to high graphics as well as everyday tasks like writing articles, browsing the web and so on. It features an Intel Core i7-11800H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage. The 16.1-inch display has a resolution of 1920×1080 and a refresh rate of 144Hz. The display hinge is a bit flimsy, so you need to be careful when handling it.
We haven’t had many hits on this laptop, but the design isn’t eye-catching at all, that’s for sure. If you can live with a boring design, the Victus 16 is a good choice, especially if you’re on a budget.
Read our full HP Victus 16 (16-d0097nr) review
Alienware x15 R2 is the best high-end option
pros
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Enough power for gaming performance
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Sleek and gorgeous QHD display
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Stunning otherworldly design with RGB lighting
Minuses
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Rear ports can be hard to reach
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Average battery life without network connection
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RAM soldered to motherboard
If you’re looking for the cream of the crop, the Alienware x15 R2 is the way to go. It features an Intel Core i7-12700H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU, 32GB RAM, and 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD. The 15.6-inch display has a resolution of 2560×1440 and a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz. Blimey. Just wow. However, it has some features. The rear ports are hard to reach and the RAM is soldered on. However, the features really dominate any shortcomings.
If you’re willing to shell out, the Alienware x15 R2 is sure to deliver an incredible experience.
Read our full Alienware x15 R2 review
How We Tested
The PCWorld team puts every Windows laptop through a series of intense tests that check GPU and CPU performance, battery life, and more. The idea is to push the laptop to its limits and then compare it to others we’ve tested. Below you will find a breakdown of each test and the reasons why we conduct them.
Notebooks with Windows
- PCMark 10: The PCMark 10 test is how we measure how well a laptop performs on general use tasks such as web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, streaming, and more.
- HandBrake: HandBrake is more intensive than PCMark 10. It measures how long it takes a laptop processor to encode a powerful 30GB file.
- Cinebench: Cinebench is a short stress test of processor cores. It renders a 2D scene in a short amount of time.
- 3DMark: 3DMark checks to see if 3D performance remains consistent over time by running graphics-intensive clips. Here’s how we test the GPU of a gaming laptop.
- Video testing: To measure battery life, we loop 4K video using the Windows 10 Movies & TV app until the laptop is turned off.
Frequently Asked Questions about Student Gaming Laptops
When it comes to choosing the right laptop, it really depends on what you plan to do with it. Are you going to play light games like Minecraft or something more graphically demanding like Cyberpunk 2077? Are you going to use the car for school as well? If yes, then gaming laptops are a great choice, especially for video rendering or graphic design. Luckily, you don’t need a powerful GPU for games like Fortnite or Stardew Valley. Insolence, my friends. That’s what’s important. Below you will find a simple breakdown of what you should be looking for.
How much graphics power do I need?
The GPU is important because it determines how smoothly your machine runs games. Luckily, you don’t need the best graphics card to get solid graphics performance, which is good news if you’re on a budget. If you’re looking to save some cash, go for the GTX 1650. This is an entry-level GPU that’s powerful enough to play 1080p games on mid-to-high-end graphics. If you need more power and higher frame rates, we recommend choosing a GTX 1660 Ti or higher, or a more modern RTX 30-series GPU.
What about computing power?
For Intel processors, aim for the 12th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7. For AMD, choose Ryzen 4000 or 5000. A processor with four cores is good, but six or more cores are better. More cores help your machine distribute the workload.
Are memory and storage settings important?
Absolutely! 8 GB of RAM is the minimum I would recommend, but if you can afford it, go for 16 GB. This will improve the overall performance of the browser, which is important when completing school assignments. The memory is usually expandable, so you can always replace it and add it later.
Storage directly affects how many games you can install on your computer. You should get at least a 512GB SSD plus a hard drive as new games tend to take up a ton of space. SSD drives load games faster because the data is stored on chips rather than on a spinning disk. In addition, SSDs are quieter and more energy efficient. You will also need a place to store homework and so on.
Is it worth investing in a high quality display?
Do not select a resolution below 1080p. If the image is not clear enough or too dim, you can always connect an external monitor. For those who suffer from eye strain headaches (hello!), 4K is the way to go. However, 4K displays are expensive because they have higher refresh rates and faster response times.
How long should my laptop last without recharging?
Generally speaking, most gaming laptops have poor battery life. This is because they are energy intensive machines. Do you know that running a AAA game on ultra graphics requires a lot of work? Depending on your usage, most gaming laptops will last four to six hours on a single charge. However, if you limit your use to just schoolwork, you can squeeze in another hour or two.