You want to upgrade your gaming equipment, it’s the right time to book a powerful gaming laptop.
In case, portable, slim, and thin laptops are something you prefer, take a look at our concise list of the best portable gaming laptops. Whether you are a hardcore gamer or you balance between the two, rest assured you’ll find something to flatter you during the cold winter days. Take a look at the best portable gaming laptops for 2018.
#1. Razer Blade 14
Design
The laptop looks as stunning as other Razer’s gaming models, and is relatively lightweight at 4.16 pounds. Also, it’s lighter than the Alienware 13 gaming laptop which measures 5.4 pounds heavy, despite being a 13-inch gaming laptop. Nevertheless, as expected, you will be able to effortlessly lift the laptop and snuggle it in your bag on your way to the LAN party, library, café, or work. The laptop sports a black chassis with aluminum build, the laptop looks very sleek and attractive on the outside. The Razer’s green logo is etched in the center.
When the shell is opened, we see the laptop sports metal from inside too. The highlight feature of the laptop is its Chroma, backlit keyboard. The RGB colored keys look exciting, while the quality of the keyboard we’ll discuss later. Since the laptop is quite slim, there aren’t too many of ports decorating it. However, you will be satisfied to see the USB 3.0 port on the right side, followed by a Kensington lock slot and HDMI port. It’s worth to mention that the Thunderbolt 3 port made its appearance on this laptop, which you can use to plug a 4K display, if you have it. On the left side of the laptop, you’ll find two USB 3.0 ports, headphone and microphone jack, and of course the power cord.
All in all, the laptop sports a futuristic design, but then again, nothing less was expected from Razer’s laptops. Its outside look reflects its passionate gaming purpose.
Display
When you’re a hardcore gamer, it’s important to not settle for a mediocre display that’s dim and doesn’t allow you to experience colors and motion in the way high-end games demand it. Razer Blade 14’s screen is far beyond that. Sporting the matte display with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, Razer ensured that gamers will see a large and detailed image, with nice viewing angles from any position. The display is very comfortable for viewing, whether you’re watching a full HD movie or playing your favorite games.
We watched a couple of movies to determine its performance in real-time and were mesmerized with the quality of the colors, motion, details and everything else. Don’t be spooked, we tested the display for gaming performance too, in Witcher 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda. We loved the details of the ambient, that it was brighter than the mainstream laptops would produce, and overall, more realistic and natural. We were also impressed with Gerald’s facial details, and of other characters as well.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Although not many people fancy the multicolored keyboard, the Chroma keyboard of Razer Blade 14 is truly a charmer. The island-style keyboard is comfortable for either gaming and general use. The fine key spacing, and keyboard’s depth allow users to type swiftly, accurately, and comfortably. Moreover, the keyboard is not even too loud, so you won’t be annoyed with crunchiness found on different, low-end keyboards.
It is important to add that the backlights are incredibly strong, allowing you to easily type in low-light ambient without making too many typos. The anti-ghosting feature is truly amazing. However, the lack of the numeric keyboard is a slight let-down, although still understandable considering that the laptop measures 14-inches and gamers don’t really rely on it. Still, people who type a lot would appreciate a numeric pad, especially now that we know that the keyboard is of excellent quality.
For those who like to customize their laptops to their liking, it’s delightful to hear that each key of the keyboard is compatible with 16.8 million colors. Additionally, they can be combined with six lighting effects such as Wave, Ripple, Breathing, Reactive, Spectrum, Cycling, and Static. This should allow you to create exactly the setting you would like for your own laptop to have. The keyboard offers stable and reliable typing speed thanks to its slight bounciness, which allowed us to reach our average typing speed and little to no typos.
The Razer Blade 14 is equipped with a 4.1 x 2.5-inch Synaptics touchpad. As a gamer, you won’t be using this a lot. To be completely honest, I wouldn’t even play The Sims with the touchpad. Still, it’s your choice. Overall, it’s extremely comfortable and smooth to use. With a lot of supported gestures, you are going to enjoy using it effortlessly. Gestures are accurate and responsive. Moreover, they include a two-finger scroll and three finger swipe. The keys function properly too, they are swiftly responsive and easy to click. If you need to do other things on this laptop, the touchpad and keyboard will be of great help.
Audio
Razer Blade 14 is equipped with top-mounted speakers, which have been expected to deliver loud sound. Although it won’t disappoint you, the speakers won’t be capable of surrounding a larger room with the sound loud enough. Nevertheless, the speakers deliver clarity and accuracy, not to mention the details we noticed while listening to the music. You will enjoy the details, especially if you listen to the instrumental music, where every sound matters.
Moving onto gaming, the speakers delivered even more accurate and detailed sound. It sounds natural, and sort of evokes the emotions during the most intense gaming moments. You can use the preinstalled Dolby Digital Plus software, which will help you adjust the sound settings suitable to your preference. Also, if you listen to the dialogue, you will notice how detailed, accurate, and more natural it sounds on Razer’s 14-inch laptop.
Even so, if you prefer gaming with headphones on, the sound will be excellent. Still, we wished that the sound coming from the speakers was louder, you never know when you’ll throw a party and need to use your laptop as the music source.
Battery Life
Battery life is very important segment of every laptop. However, gaming has always compromised the battery performance for the sake of more power, mainly because of the discreet graphics card which drains more juice. Razer Blade has never been known for excellent batteries in laptops. Still, the manufacturer, to the surprise of all of us managed to make the laptop last for about 7 hours and 40 minutes, which is more than the surrounding competition. Nevertheless, we give that to the laptop’s portability. If the laptop has been larger like Razer Blade Pro, we doubt it would have lasted so long. That being said, you will comfortably finalize most of your daily tasks before the laptop runs out of power, although if you attend LAN parties, additional power socket for this machine is more than recommended.
Heating and temperature
Unfortunately, slimmer, and more portable laptops in particular have a lot of problems with heating. This laptop is no exception, while pursuing more framerate demanding areas in different games, we felt that the laptop started heating up, generally around the keyboard and touchpad part. Also, the lower part of the chassis turned pretty hot, at around 120 degrees Fahrenheit. That being said, while the surface wasn’t too hot and risked unexpected shutdowns and such, a cooling pad is advised.
Watching videos and results didn’t yield such “tropical” results. The bottom of the laptop reached 91 degrees which is far from impossible to handle. Still it is advised to enjoy using laptop in cool atmosphere, and also with a cooling pad, especially when more intense games are ran. Overall, the laptop isn’t too loud, instead it felt comfortable. Nevertheless, don’t forget the laptop has amazing, yet quiet speakers, which won’t entirely cover the fan noise if you find it louder than it actually should be.
Performance
The performance of Razer Blade 14 is beyond any class. It is equipped with Intel’s Kaby Lake Processor. The laptop boasts 7th generation 2.8GHz Core i7-7700HQ, followed by 16GB of RAM which can be extended to 32GB if you will ever feel necessity to do that. This amount of RAM and processor power is more than sufficient to the multitaskers who are streaming and have dozens of tabs opened in their browser.
Even if you are not using this laptop for gaming purposes, you will enjoy fast and reliable performance, with rare to no lags, or anything else that would ruin your fun. Additionally, laptop boasts 256GB PCIe solid-state drive with advanced transfer and accessing speed, faster than the mechanical hard drives in the competition. Still, there are some gaming laptops from our selection, capable of boasting 512GB solid-state drives.
In the past, it was hard enough to imagine a top-end gaming laptop, with a dedicated graphics chipset to flatter to it inside a 14-inch or smaller chassis. However, now, many companies along Razer managed to insert high-end graphics cards, suitable for VR games, the 10th series of Nvidia Ge Force. This model in particular is equipped with Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060M with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM. It is extremely powerful, despite being the weakest VR-ready mobile graphics card. Aside from running VR-friendly games with more than 90 FPS, it can successfully run the most of the PC games that came out in the recent years.
The games look gorgeous on ultra-graphics, while the framerate is high enough for everything to work smoothly. You’ll be able to play Witcher 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Mass Effect: Andromeda on the highest settings with reasonable framerates.
All in all, stacked against either larger and smaller competition, Razer Blade, took it like a champion, and its future-proofed performance will cater to even the most demanding gamers.
Things that we didn’t like
There are not too many things that we could possibly mind on this mini gaming powerhouse. We understand that mobile gaming is more difficult compared to the gaming PCs. That being said, gamers can face various difficulties. One of those difficulties is heating. Razer Blade 14 gets to heat a lot and it is basically bad, because after a while vents get filled with dust which affects the performance and framerates in games, especially those high-end games. It is a general issue with thinner laptops, whether they are gaming or workstations. It is advisable that gamers use their cooling pads to support cooling process in Razer Blade 14.
Another issue with the laptop are its speakers. While the sound is dynamic, detailed, and clear, it’s not loud enough to surround larger room or offices. Gamers might find it difficult to use the laptop for other, audio-related purposes and would need to add external speakers if they want to increase the range sound reaches. All in all, those are the only issues we had with this laptop so far.
Reason for recommending
With mobile gaming emerging closer every next year, gamers are looking for a way to play games on smaller devices, which are ultra-portable. Razer Blade 14 is an ideal laptop for that. It is one of the most wanted guests of the LAN parties and is good for multi-purpose. The laptop performs as reliable and strong as the other laptops, and sports one of the best graphics cards to have at the moment. With that in mind, there are not too many things to mind about this laptop, and is a wonderful value for everyone who can afford it.
Summary
With Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060M, Kaby Lake, processor and a handy, expandable amount of RAM, Razer Blade 14 can take whatever you throw on it. It’s the best combination of portable, 14-inch design, components, and gorgeous, vivid screen that can accompany you in your gaming endeavors. If this is something you can afford, you won’t regret getting Razer Blade 14. It doesn’t hurt to mention that the laptop is equipped with handy software that can either contribute to the richer gaming experience, but also other disciplines that you’ll use while experimenting with the laptop.
#2. Alienware 13
The laptop undoubtedly sports a powerful configuration. The Intel Core i7-7700HQ, quad-core processor, followed by 16GB of RAM which ensure smooth performance, even for the multitaskers. The VR-ready Alienware 13 boasts Nvidia’s GTX 1060 with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM, which is capable of running pretty much every game that came recently with high framerates. Users won’t lack on storage either with 512GB PCIe solid-state drive, although an additional external hard-drive is recommended if you have a lot of videos, or games.
Although gaming laptops don’t take pride in long battery life, Alienware 13 managed to consistently run for more than seven hours. The laptop would be a perfect feat if it wasn’t for its poor heat management, as it gets hot though not excessively hot. Nevertheless, we can ignore that considering that it is really a tiny laptop.
Things that we liked
Futuristic design
Wonderful display
Comfortable keyboard
Stellar performance
Things that we didn’t like
Expensive
Runs a little hot
Reason for recommending
Alienware has been setting a gaming standard for some years now, being Dell’s special gaming line. This laptop is no exception. For the fans of smaller screen, but top-notch performance, Alienware 13 is undoubtedly the best option. If you couldn’t get to hold our winning option, its runner-up is also a great value.
Summary
We don’t know what’s more majestic on Alienware 13. Backlit, bouncy, and deep keyboard? Sharp and bright screen? Or futuristic performance thanks to Intel Core i7-7700HQ, 16GB of RAM and Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060M from 10th GeForce series. Also, the powerful battery will support you most of the day, only if you can put up with a little heating here and there.
#3. Gigabyte Aero 14
When you lift the lid, you will embrace the 14-inch QHD IPS display with wonderful viewing angles, which can get you ahead in gaming, especially if you fancy PvP games. It boasts 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution and vivid and vibrant colors, with enough brightness that it doesn’t feel dim. The keyboard is not as good as the one of Alienware 13, or Razer Blade 14, but it is enough comfortable for every user to enjoy it.
The laptop is equipped with Intel Kaby Lake i7-7700HQ processor and 16GB of RAM, the ram is expandable up to 32GB. The laptop uses powerful VR-ready GTX 1060M with 6GB of VRAM, and 512GB solid-state drive, similarly like the Alienware 13. The only drawback is that although battery is quite large, its life doesn’t promise as much and can last up to 3-4 hours. Also, you will find a lot of bloatware pre-installed on Windows 10 that the laptop ships with. Overall, if you don’t want super-small display and don’t want to spend a lot of money, Gigabyte Aero 14 is a great choice.
Things that we liked
Solid performance
Slim and sleek design
Clear display
Comfortable to use
Great value
Things that we didn’t like
A lot of pre-installed bloatware
Weak battery
Reason for recommending
We simply can’t decide what we liked more. Whether it is sleek, attractive design, or the cutting-edge performance, it was hard to decide. Aero 14 wins a reward for one of the best portable gaming laptops, and if you have prior experience with the brand, then Aero 14 is ideal descendant.
Summary
Gigabyte Aero 14 sports a gorgeous and vibrant display, and possesses the equipment sufficient to run even the most demanding games and enjoy them.
#4. MSI GS43VR Phantom Pro
The laptop sports a 14.3-inch Full HD display with IPS panel with finish matte. The screen is bright and sports majestic 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. However, we wish that the laptop could spring for 4K resolution. The laptop also sports USB Type-C and Thunderbolt 3 ports.
When it comes to performance, the laptop sports similar specifications like previous laptops. There are i7-7700HQ processor, 16GB of RAM and GTX 1060M with 6GB of VRAM. Instead of solid-state drive, the laptop has a 1TB hard-drive with 7200 RPM speed, which is sufficient for optimal performance. Sadly, its battery life is a let-down, by not being able to survive more than 2.5-3 hours of intense usage. Also, the fans run pretty loud, when the laptop is running more intensive games, so good that the laptop has good speakers.
Things that we Liked
Attractive design
Portable
Powerful performance
Bright screen
Things that we didn’t like
Weak battery
Fans run loud
Reason for recommending
MSI’s laptops have always been something extraordinary. From the gorgeous and discreet design to the high-end performance. If you are looking for bold and discreet gaming, opting for MSI’s GS43VR Phantom Pro won’t do you wrong.
Summary
Equipped with a powerful Kaby Lake chipset, 16GB of RAM, and more than enough swift storage, Phantom Pro is a gaming powerhouse ready to overthrow even the most powerful laptops off the throne.
#5. Aorus X3 Plus 6v
The laptop is equipped with Intel Core i7-6820HK, quad-core, 6th generation processor, followed by Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB of VRAM. The 6GB of RAM that it supports are more than enough to run even the most demanding games of today, especially those that came recently, such as Destiny 2 and Middle Earth: Shadow of war. For game enthusiasts who play a lot of games, it is recommended to get one external hard-drive to store them all. Still, 512GB of solid-state storage should be more than enough to store all your favorite games, programs, and some images and music. The laptop has a lot of useful software, which you can use to help your gaming experience, but the overall experience on the laptop as well.
Things that we like
Portable and light
Impressive and stellar performance
Great selection of macro buttons
Things that we didn’t like
It is slightly thick despite good weight
Slightly expensive
Reason for recommending
Aorus X3 Plus 6 is not coming from a brand you likely heard of. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop it from delivering impeccable benchmarks. The laptop works charismatic, the screen is precise, bright and clear. The keyboard is comfortable to use and won’t require plugging new keyboard. If you want to experiment with your laptop, Aorus X3 Plus 6 is one of the best choices.
Summary
With GTX 1060M, powerful 6th generation processor with HK extension, and a lot of RAM, Aorus X3 Plus 6 will serve you for more than enough before the configuration outdates.
#6. Dell XPS 13
The laptop boasts 13.3-inches QHD+ display with 3200 x 1800 pixels resolution. More importantly, the screen is Infinity Edge and supports touch gestures. Its keyboard, although small, is extremely comfortable and easy to type on. It is undoubtedly convenient to work on it, and effortlessly reach your top typing speeds.
The high-end performance is established through the Kaby Lake, Core i7-7500U, a 3.5GHz chipset, ideal for multithreading, but capable of supporting little stronger games. Together with 16GB of DDR3 RAM and 512GB solid-state drive, the laptop will achieve optimal performance. Although it is not equipped with dedicated graphics memory, it still runs powerful enough for some lower-end games.
Things that we liked
Sleek and attractive design
Portable
Gorgeous display
Things that we didn’t like
It lacks discreet graphics
Reason for recommending
If you don’t find yourself playing games 24/7 and it’s your way of entertainment and hobby, this laptop is perfect. Unfortunately, it can’t carry out some more demanding games. However, it will be enough powerful for balancing between gaming and intense working performance.
Summary
Dell XPS 13 is equipped with powerful processor and expandable RAM, sports gorgeous Infinity display which supports touch gestures, and all in all looks extremely stylish and is comfortable to use. Hardcore gamers will mind the lack of dedicated graphics, although laptop should still support a portion of today’s most popular games.
#7. Razer Blade Stealth
The laptop sports gorgeous IGZO touch screen of 13.3-inches. Whether you play games or stream videos, its sharpness will result in impeccable details you can’t normally find on other laptops. It’s not Apple’s Retina display, although it will flawlessly display everything that you want it to display. The laptop sports the newst Core i7-8550U with 1.8GHz performance, followed by 16GB of RAM and 512GB of PCIe storage. The integrated Intel HD 620 GPU won’t enable you to play top-notch titles such as Destiny 2, and other recent games, although you can still get the best of other popular titles on medium settings. The battery won’t last you as much as our first choice but 5 hours and a half will be enough time for you to finish all you have to do.
Things that we liked
Portable
Gorgeous
Sharp screen
High-end performance
Things that we didn’t like
Expensive
Lack of discreet graphics
Reason for recommending
Not a fan of Apple products but want to have a good-looking laptop that works reliably in the process. Razer Blade Stealth is a great option as long as you can afford it. Still, if you’re looking for more gaming appearance and performance, our first option could be a better choice.
Summary
Razer Blade Stealth is a high-end multi-purpose laptop, which you can use for various endeavors including gaming. It is important to note that Razer exceeded our expectations and made a laptop that you can plug to other desktop computer. While it won’t run the most demanding games of today, it is sufficiently powerful for moderate gaming and multitasking. Moreover, if you find yourself working more than gaming, 8th generation of Intel’s processor will come in handy, and you won’t have to spend money on two separate laptops.
#8. HP Spectre x360 13t
It’s not a surprise to see HP Spectre 13t to boast Intel’s newest processor. The Core i7-8550U, boasting up to 4GHz performance with Intel’s Turbo Boost Technology. The Intel UHD Graphics 620 with 16GB of shared memory with RAM, just like the mentioned Razer Blade Stealth, won’t deliver cutting-edge graphical performance. Still, it will effortlessly run some older games. When it comes to storage, the laptop boasts 512GB PCIe NVMe solid-state drive with impressive transfer and accessing speed, more attractive than any older mechanical hard-drive.
Things that we liked
Thin and portable design
Cutting-edge performance
Lovely keyboard
Vivid colors
Things that we didn’t like
Thick bezels
Can’t match other gaming laptops
Slightly expensive
Reason for recommending
Choosing a cutting-edge laptop that can do both is quite challenging. However, not too challenging for HP Spectre x360 13t. The laptop effortlessly puts up with most of user’s demands. It runs quietly, it is portable and eligible for constant carrying. Moreover, its clear and bright display, followed by deep and bouncy keyboard are the winning combination for everyone who wants to enjoy their laptop whilst using it.
Summary
Whether you’re looking for a long-term gaming companion, or a long-term work companion, investing in one of the best overall, not just gaming, laptops is perfect. Of course, if you are a hardcore gamer with bold attitude, then opting for some other above versions is more worth it.
#9. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E470
Things that we liked
Relatively affordable compared to the other models
Decent battery
Runs cool
Things that we didn’t like
Slightly thick
Short warranty
#10. 2017 Dell Inspiron 13 5358
If you want to balance between work and gaming, and you have a restricted budget, Dell Inspiron 13 5358 will do more than sufficient job to do satisfactory work. Truelife LED-backlit touch display offers wide selection of vibrant colors, but unfortunately, like it’s the case with more affordable laptops, it is slightly dim. The keyboard is more comfortable, and offers enough bounce to effortlessly type for extended periods.
The laptop uses Intel Core i7-6500U chipset with up to 3.1GHz in Turbo mode, 8GB of DDR3 memory and 256GB solid-state drive, followed with the graphics with shared memory. The laptop boasts backlit keyboard as well.
Things that we liked
Affordable
Comfortable keyboard
Things that we didn’t like
Dim screen
Reason for recommending
If you can accept being away from too bright areas or take your laptop charger with you, Dell Inspiron 13 5358 is a great match for you. It is ideal for intense workers and gaming enthusiasts, who like to play a good party in the pauses from work.
Summary
Dell Inspiron 13 5358 is a powerful entry-level laptop for multiple purpose. It will especially appeal to everyone who is looking for a tad smaller laptop than the usual 15.6 screen diagonal standard, and is restricted on budget in the process. As mentioned above, it is equipped with Intel’s 6th generation processor, 3.1GHz, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB swift solid-state drive. Although it boasts an integrated Intel HD 520 graphics, it will do decent job on slightly older games, and current popular games. However, you won’t be able to play them on high settings. A wonderful buy, attractive for those who have hard time balancing work and their gaming hobby.
Final Verdict
Dell Inspiron 13 5358 was the last from our best portable gaming laptop list. Make sure to share with us which one is your favorite, and which one would you choose if you are after it. We made sure that all laptops meet the latest gaming standards, but also be eligible for other purposes.