Gaming laptops come in various shapes and sizes, though many of the heavy hitters remain thick and beefy machines that maximize cooling to get the most out of their powerful chips. Most are awash in RGB lighting and edgy designs geared towards capital-G Gamers, but there are also thinner, lighter options that are more portable and less showy.
Our go-to recommendation that checks the boxes for most people is, and has been for a while, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. It’s a gaming laptop that doesn’t forget the “laptop” part. The G14 is a versatile machine for both play and work, and it travels exceptionally well.
Other great, though pricey, recommendations include the big and heavy Asus ROG Strix Scar and Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, or the Razer Blade 16 for lots of graphics power in a thin and sleek design.
The most important part of any gaming laptop, just like desktop PCs, is the graphics card. Laptop GPUs can’t stack up to full-size cards that reach much higher wattage in desktops, but that doesn’t stop the likes of Nvidia from making things a little confusing with the naming scheme on its RTX brand of GeForce cards. So keep in mind that, for example, an RTX 5090 laptop card doesn’t come anywhere near the performance of a desktop 5090. Desktops may always win out in raw performance, but gaming laptops are a simpler turnkey solution that can easily go places (yes, even the ones that feel like you’re toting around a cinderblock).
Even more confusing: the same GPU in one laptop may not perform as well in another if it’s throttled by thermal constraints. We try to test a wide range of gaming laptops, as well as regular laptops, and these are the ones we confidently recommend.
The best gaming laptop
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025)
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Where to Buy:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 270, HX 370 / GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060, RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080 / RAM: 16GB, 32GB / Storage: 1TB / Display: 14-inch OLED, 2880 x 1800, 120Hz, 500 nits / Dimensions: 12.24 x 8.66 x 0.63 to 0.64 inches / Battery: 73Whr / Weight: 3.31 pounds
Asus’s ROG Zephyrus G14 has been a favorite among Verge staffers for years now, and it remains our go-to pick for its balance of power and portability. It can be your full-time gaming machine as well as your commuter-friendly everyday laptop. Asus redesigned it in 2024 and toned down its more playful aesthetics for a sleeker, refined look, and for 2025 it just got a modest chip bump with RTX 50-series graphics and the ability to charge via USB-C on either side (but you still need to use its proprietary charger for max wattage).
It now starts at $1,799.99 instead of $1,699.99. But you get a little more for your extra money since even the base Zephyrus G14 comes with a lovely, high-res OLED display capable of a 120Hz refresh rate, and it still has a great keyboard and trackpad. Games play well on high settings, though due to the thin chassis, the G14 — and even its 16-inch sibling, the Zephyrus G16 — are known to get a little hot to the touch, and their fans are quite noisy.
Zephyrus laptops are never going to offer quite the same performance as much thicker models, like the Asus ROG Strix or other chunkers running equivalent GPUs — they just don’t have as much thermal headroom. But if you want a jack-of-all-trades notebook that puts gaming at the forefront, the G14 (or G16, if you want to go bigger and have the budget) is unlikely to steer you wrong.
The most powerful gaming laptop
MSI Titan 18 HX AI (2025)
Score: 7
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Where to Buy:
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX / GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 5080, RTX 5090 / RAM: 64GB, 96GB / Storage: 2TB, 6TB / Display: 18-inch Mini LED 4K (3840 x 2400), 120Hz display, 1,000 nits, 100 percent DCI-P3 / Dimensions: 15.9 x 12.08 x 1.26 inches / Battery: 99.9Whr / Weight: 7.93 pounds
The MSI Titan is your pick if budget isn’t a concern. It starts at a ridiculous $4,799.99 with Intel’s flagship Core Ultra 9 285HX CPU and Nvidia’s second-highest GPU, the RTX 5080. The RTX 5090 configuration costs $5,799.99 or more with expanded storage and RAM. The Titan pairs these flagship chips with a massive 18-inch 4K / 120Hz Mini LED screen that gets incredibly bright, along with 64GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD.
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