How to choose a gaming laptop in 2021: A Buying Guide

 

Hello guys and welcome again on your own tech guide Techanalysia. This article will find out some key features that you should look out for before buying a gaming Laptop. By keeping these features in mind Gamers can make a proper buying decision. You might be worried and confused looking at Amazon or Flipkart with options of thousand of laptops with different price points and specs before buying a laptop online or going to an offline store. You are not aware of computer terminology then seeing the laptop's specs get confused. You could just decide upon a budget and grab whatever a big manufacturer such as Dell, Lenovo, HP, or Acer is selling for that price, but what if the machine doesn’t do what you want? For this reason, you need to think carefully about what you need your laptop for before you hand over your cash.

 After reading this article till the end, you will have a thorough idea of what kind of gaming laptop to purchase, what features to keep in mind when buying a gaming laptop, and which processor is needed for specific requirements. This article categorized this laptop buying guide into six categories:- Design and Portability, CPU and GPU, Upgradeability, Display, Storage and Battery Life, and some other features.

And I'll assure you after reading this article you'll be able to understand points to consider when buying a gaming laptop, some key features of a gaming laptop and will be able to answer questions like:- What to look at when buying a gaming laptop?

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Gaming Laptop Buying Guide: How to choose a gaming laptop

I hope that this gaming laptop buying guide will help find the right gaming laptop for you and help you navigate the morass of gaming laptops.

Some Quick Tips:

1. Don't go for touch screens. Quite expensive and the battery drains faster compared to normal laptops.
2. Always invest in a laptop with SSD storage, it provides faster game installations and quick load times. 
3. Don't buy a laptop with a resolution lower than Full HD(1920×1080) pixels.
4. Pick a laptop where you can upgrade the  RAM and storage later.
5. choose the laptop with the newest GPU, because most of the games are GPU dependent, and sadly you can't upgrade GPUs. So a laptop with the newest and powerful GPU will let you play games at higher settings for at least 3 to 4 years.

1. DESIGN AND PORTABILITY

When it comes to gaming laptops they came in all shapes and sizes. From a true portable gaming laptop with a 13-inch display size to a heavier or less portable 17-inch display size laptop. Although there is a sweet spot between these two sizes i.e. a 15-inch display laptop and it would be the perfect gaming laptop if you're looking for a gaming rig that you can use on your lap and carry around often. But most gaming laptops have 15 or 17-inch screens, and a couple of 14-inch systems. The size you choose it's totally up to a personal preference, but remember that portability decreases with the increasing screen size, the larger the display, the larger and the heavier the laptop. You can understand better by looking at this:-

• Best portable laptops (13 to 14 inches)
• Medium portable laptops (15 inches)
• Negligible portable laptops ( 17 to 18 inches)

In addition to this always look for an aluminum casing laptop over the plastic body ones, because aluminum frame laptops provide you a slimmer, lighter, and thinner designs which ultimately increase your portability. 

Also, choose a gaming laptop that is rich in connectivity ports. Like choose a gaming laptop with an HDMI and display port and should have multiple USB Type-A 3.0/3.1 ports, also look for a USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 3 or 4 technology that can provide transfer of video and audio to monitors using the standard display port and even supply power. An RJ-45 Ethernet port is a must if you want a fast, stable internet connection. Don't forget to check the 3.5mm headphone jack for your headsets and compatible speakers. Also, make sure your laptop should have the latest wireless connectivity options like Bluetooth 5.1/5.2 and Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-fi 6e. 

2. CPU & GPU

Whether it's Intel or AMD, both companies have solid offerings for gaming CPUs. Depending on your budget you can choose a variety of CPUs from both AMD and Intel in every price range. 

So if you're in team Intel and looking for a gaming laptop powered by Intel CPUs and you're sort of casual gamer and ready to play some games at low to medium settings at the resolution of 720p then an Intel Core i5 (10th or 11th Gen) processor will comfortably allow you to play. And if you're into some heavy gaming and doesn't want to compromise with a performance at higher settings then in this case the Intel Core i7 (10th or 11th Gen) processor will allow you to play most of the AAA gaming titles with graphics set to high at 1080p resolution very easily. And if you're doing some competitive gaming and live streaming as well then there is the top of the line Intel Core i9 (10th or 11th Gen) processor would be a perfect choice and will offer the best performance at higher settings with a resolution set to 2K or even 4K very easily. 

And now if you're in team AMD (like me) then there are plenty of options too. Just look at this for better understanding:-

For casual gaming:- Ryzen 5 3500H, Ryzen 7 3750H will get your job done easily.

For Intermediate gaming:- Ryzen 5 4600H, Ryzen 5 4600HS, Ryzen 7 4600H will do the job easily.

For high performance/competitive level gaming:- Ryzen 7 4800H, Ryzen 7 4800HS, Ryzen 9 4900H, Ryzen 9 4900HS, Ryzen 5 5600H, Ryzen 5 5600HS, Ryzen 7 5800H, Ryzen 7 5800HS, etc will allow you to play games at higher settings at the resolution of 2K & 4K very easily. 

GPU

When looking for gaming laptops, the graphics processor (also referred to as GPU or Graphics Card), plays a key role. Having the latest series of dedicated graphics processors ensures the best gaming performance. 

Here are the dedicated graphics cards with their usage according to your work:-

 Nvidia have (GTX 1050<GTX 1050Ti<GTX 1060<GTX 1650<GTX 1660<GTX 1660Ti) in increasing order for casual gaming and editing. 

For heavy video editing, photo editing, gaming Nvidia has (GTX 1070<GTX 1070Ti<GTX 1080<GTX 1080Ti< RTX 2060<RTX 2070<RTX 2070 Super<RTX 2080<RTX 2080 Super<RTX 2080Ti) in increasing order of power and performance. 

And newly launched RTX 3070 & RTX 3080 are the most powerful high-end GPUs for competitive and VR-ready gaming.

In the case of AMD, they have (AMD RX 550, AMD Radeon RX 560, AMD Radeon RX 570, AMD Radeon RX 580, AMD Radeon RX 590) in increasing order for light editing and gaming. 

For heavy video editing and gaming, AMD has (AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Liquid Cooled, AMD Radeon VII, AMD Radeon RX 5700, AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, Radeon RX 5300M, Radeon RX 5500M, Radeon RX 5600M, Radeon RX 5700M) in increasing order of power and performance.

Choose wisely according to your need remember one thing, which is important choosing the dedicated graphics card laptop, will surely increase the laptop's price and weight also.  

3. UPGRADABILITY

Most gaming laptops will have at least 8GB of RAM as a minimum system requirement and this 8GB RAM will allow you to easily play most of the games at medium settings. So whenever you are buying a gaming laptop go through the specs sheet very carefully and try to find out whether the RAM is upgradable or not? Choose a laptop wherein you can at least increase the RAm up to 16GB, which will allow you to run newer and more intensive games at higher settings smoothly. 

Now if we talk about the storage most modern-day gaming laptops have a minimum of 512GB of SSD or at least 1TB HDD as a minimum system requirement which is adequate for normal usage. But modern games are getting bigger with time and require even more space to install and run easily. That is why always try to pick a laptop with an additional slot for extra SSD and HDD installation whenever required in the future. 

[TIP:- Always choose a laptop with a large amount of SSD over HDD, especially if you're buying it for gaming.]

4. DISPLAY

When it comes to laptop displays the display size and resolution are the key factors that one needs to consider. Matte displays don’t have reflection and are best suited for content creation. These displays are expensive. The glossy display makes the color on-screen pop that means they also have reflections.  

 a. RESOLUTION: Higher resolution allows you to fit more content on the screen while making content (text and images) sharper and more pleasant to the eye.  

HD RESOLUTION- Offers 1280 x 720 pixels, Found in entry-level laptops, Good for basic tasks  

FULL HD RESOLUTION- Offers 1920 x 1080 pixels, Found in premium and gaming laptops, Good for entertainment and productivity apps  

4K RESOLUTION- Offers 3840 x 2160 pixels, found in high-end laptops, consider it if you watch a lot of 4K content. Best suited for Photographers and those who do a lot of heavy video editing work.  

To more on resolution click here. 

b. DISPLAY SIZE 

Finding the sweet spot which offers the desired level of portability while offering an adequate amount of screen real estate is the key to determining the screen size.  

Consider 11-inch to 13.3-inches or lower display size- If you plan to travel frequently, when looking for a lightweight laptop, primarily use the laptop for office applications  

Consider 14-inch display size- Perfect balance between screen size and portability, Mixed usage of office applications as well as entertainment  

Consider 15.6-inch to 17-inch display size- Entertainment-oriented Laptop, Portability is not too important for you, More USB ports and an optical drive, ideal for gaming and watching movies. 

Always remember bigger the screen, the heavier the laptop. 

c. REFRESH RATE: This is the number of times an image is changed per second on the laptop screen. It is measured in Hz or FPS. For gaming purposes, a higher refresh rate is always considerable. And of course, you need a good GPU to pull out the maximum frame rate or refresh rate according to the game requirements.

d. NVIDIA G-SYNC and AMD FREE-SYNC TECHNOLOGY: This is something new technology introduced by Nvidia and AMD particularly on high-end gaming and content creation laptops. This will automatically synch your laptop's display with your graphics card, which will put an end to the problems like- ghosting, flickering, and screen tearing. 

5. STORAGE:- SSD or HDD which will be more ideal?

Some budget gaming laptops are equipped with only a hard drive as primary storage, but most of the gaming laptops nowadays consist of both SSD and HDD as primary and secondary storage respectively. In this case, an SSD serves as a boot drive that consists of your OS and related files to run and start your laptop. this is so because SSD provides blazing fast load up times, transfer speeds which ultimately give much faster game load times. Always choose a laptop with both SSD and HDD. This way you can use SSD as your primary booting drive and HDD as a pure storage option for everything (photos, videos, files, movies) else.

6. BATTERY LIFE

No matter how good and expensive a laptop you're using for gaming you surely need to keep your laptop plugged in to get the maximum output and performance of your GPU. A gaming laptop can't run continuously for a longer period of time without charging it and if you're lucky enough then your laptop lasts at least an hour or so on a single charge. So if you're planning to play games for a longer period of time then it's better to keep your charger plugged in.

7. KEYBOARD

Now what to check on a keyboard? This is the exact question that crossed your mind when you this point, so let me tell you there are some points to check in the keyboard as well for a seamless gaming experience.

Key Travel: This is basically a parameter that determines how far down you can press a key. Ideally, this value should be at least 1.5 millimeters, and if you find it 2 millimeters then it's perfect. This will prevent you from hitting the frame of the keyboard every time you press the key.

Actuation: Basically this is how much necessary force you need to press a key. the ideal value of this ranges from 65 grams to 70 grams. Keys below the value of 60 grams often feel mushy and can slow you down in the middle of an intensive gaming battle.

Anti-Ghosting: It means whenever you hit multiple keys simultaneously to perform a special move or combo and they will all register. This is something you need to play special one-to-one fight games. 

Check out some of the best Gaming Laptops here. 

CONCLUSION

So that's it guys this is the step-by-step guide for buying a gaming laptop in 2021 which will tell you some key points to check/consider when buying a new gaming laptop. And if you're buying a gaming laptop, get one for at least lasts for 3 to 4 years. 

And also let me know if I missed something worth mentioning. And if you like it, please let me know in the comment section down below and share it with your family and friends. And don't forget to follow the official Twitter handle of techanalysia to get the latest tech updates.