Traveling Gamer: Top 5 Gaming Laptops

Theoretically, the Acer Aspire F5-573G is a representative of the multimedia laptop class, but in fact it can be classified as gaming. The GTX 950M discrete graphics card (an analogue of the desktop GTX 750 Ti with 640 Maxwell microkernels), although it belongs to the last generation of GeForce, but handles with absolutely all gaming innovations of 2016-2017 at FullHD resolution, with at least low graphics settings and a frame rate of 30 FPS. Most of the gaming hits of the past years will run on medium or even high graphics settings. But the GTX 950M has practically no performance reserve for the future.

A pair of graphics cards is a four-threaded Intel Core i5-7200U processor with a fairly high frequency by the standards of low–voltage models - guaranteed 2.5 GHz and up to 3.1 GHz in auto-acceleration, if the temperature regime allows it. RAM is installed 8 GB, and with one bar. The second RAM slot is free and supports DDR4 modules with a volume of up to 16 GB. It is also empty and waiting in the wings to open M.2 for solid-state drives. Fortunately, it is very easy to get "under the hood" of a laptop – just unscrew a few screws and remove the bottom cover. The wireless adapter is installed high–speed - Wi-Fi 802.11ac standard, and the keyboard has an LED backlight. However, for laptops of the highest price category, these are generally accepted things.

But what Acer engineers have saved on is the display. Its resolution is good (for a 15.6-inch diagonal larger than 1920x1080 and not necessary), but the colour reproduction and especially the vertical viewing angles are lame. It is worth slightly tilting your head, as the image on the edges of the screen begins to darken or lighten. In addition, the pre-installed Linux OS is not the best way for games. You will also have to fork out for a licensed copy of Windows. However, given the low cost by the standards of gaming laptops, these disadvantages of the Acer Aspire F5-573G can be forgiven. As compensation, the buyer will receive an 8-hour battery life in web surfing mode, which is atypical for real gaming laptops.

MSI PL60 7RD is a vivid example of how much modern gaming laptops have changed externally. Thickness (up to 2.9 cm) and weight (2.2 kg) he has typical 15-inch multimedia laptops. The design is extremely conservative: silver unpainted metal of the lid and the underside surface, and black plastic of the bottom. Only two large ventilation grilles on the back panel give out a powerful gaming hardware. By the way, even under the gaming load, the fans are relatively quiet.

The processor in the MSI PL60 7RD is the most powerful of the four–threaded low-voltage - Intel Core i7-7500U, capable of overclocking as much as 3.5 GHz. A discrete GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card lives next door (exactly the same as in desktop PCs). Despite the relatively small amount of video memory – only 2 GB, this representative of the latest NVIDIA 10-series allows you to play new games even on average graphics settings at 1080p resolution. By the way, the MSI PL60 7RD screen is made using high-quality IPS technology: bright, contrasting and with wide viewing angles.

The disk subsystem is represented by two drives at once: HDD with a 1 TB SATA interface and SSD M.2 for 128 GB. On the SSD, in addition to the pre-installed licensed Windows 10 OS, one or two more favorite games will fit. As a result, the MSI PL60 7RD may not be the most powerful gaming laptop on the market, but it lacks obvious drawbacks, looks neat and weighs relatively little. The possible lack of video memory in the future is easily compensated for by RAM, which has 16 GB installed, but the power of the graphics chip may cease to be enough after a couple of years.

The Asus ROG GL502VM is another comparatively thin (2.3 cm) and lightweight gaming laptop (2.2 kg). His involvement in gaming solutions gives only a bulge on the upper metal lid, stylized as the hood of a sports car, and the inscription "Republic of Gamers". The bottom surface is made of plastic and, perhaps, it is a more pleasant to the touch and wear-resistant solution than metal. The fact is that the salts contained in human sweat lead to metal corrosion quite quickly and at the same time practically do not interact at the chemical level with plastic.

The Asus ROG GL502VM is built on an Intel Core i5-7300HQ processor with four physical cores (about one and a half times faster than four-threaded analogies) and a 3 GB discrete GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card. Of course, the 6 GB version of this graphics card (it also differs for the better in the number of microkernels – 1280 versus 1152) would look even better, but even on a three-gig you can play at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 in all new products with high graphics settings.

An IPS-matrix display, two drives (a fast SSD and a capacious HDD), a pre–installed Windows 10 OS is a gentleman's set for a mid-level gaming laptop. You can only complain about RAM: 8 GB is soldered directly on the motherboard, the same amount is installed in a single slot, which makes future upgrades difficult (you will have to change an 8-gig module to a 16-gig one, in total you will get 24 GB). Otherwise, it is a great option for those who want to get the power of a medium–level gaming desktop PC in a thin multimedia laptop case, and even with a capacious battery for 6 hours.

Dell Alienware 17 R4 is a gaming laptop in the traditional sense of the word: large (screen size 17.3"), weighty (4.4 kg) and with an ornate design. Laptops of the Alienware series, which gamers jokingly call "Aliens", outwardly resemble UFOs, as they are described by science fiction writers. Convex shape, asymmetry and muted mysterious glow. So, the Alienware 17 R4 has a glowing top cover, ends, keyboard and touchpad. Moreover, you can choose any glow colour or turn it off completely.

The ends and bottom of the laptop are almost completely cut by ventilation grilles, which is a completely justified step, considering what power lies inside. Firstly, this is an eight-threaded Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor – not the latest, but still one of the most high-performance. And secondly, a pre-flagship discrete GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card with 1920 microkernels and 8 GB of video memory. In order to cool all this, the fans have to make a lot of noise.

Such an impressive amount of video memory allows games, even on ultra-graphics settings, not to unload textures into RAM. Therefore, the installed 16 GB of RAM will last for a long time. The disk subsystem is improved: the SSD has an increased volume to 256 GB, and the HDD has an increased rotation speed to 7200 rpm (the read and write speed has been increased from 100 to 150 Mbps). Considering all this, Dell Alienware 17 R4 is able to meet the requirements of even the most avid gamers and has a margin of performance for three to five years ahead.

The MSI GT83VR 6RF Titan SLI is one of the most high–performance gaming laptops on the market. In fact, it's not even a laptop anymore, but a portable workstation: 18.4" diagonal, 7 cm thick and 5.5 kg weight, excluding an external charger. However, it is still more transportable than a desktop gaming PC, which has only one empty case that can weigh 7-10 kg.

As a processor, the MSI GT83VR 6RF Titan SLI uses the most powerful eight–thread processor of the Intel Skylake family - Core i7-6920HK. And video cards generally have two flagship GeForce GTX 1080 installed in a bundle of SLI. RAM is 32 GB, with two 16 GB slats, and two more slots are empty (maximum 64 GB).

In truth, this is even too much for FullHD resolution. On the other hand, the requirements for computer hardware in games are growing every year, and once you buy an expensive laptop, you don't want to think about upgrading it for many years. As a result, the MSI GT83VR 6RF Titan SLI is an uncompromising gaming laptop with two video cards, a capacious SSD and an accelerated HDD. The cherry on the cake is the SteelSeries built-in mechanical keyboard and a customizable touch screen instead of the usual touchpad.