Last Updated on 2 years by On Trends Gear
Good Gaming laptops are prized for their ability to handle almost anything that’s thrown their way, which is why their global market value has ballooned by 22% year-on-year.
Designed with superior memory and processing power, these devices have the ability to avoid overheating despite their compact builds.
This makes gaming laptops capable of handling some of the biggest and most demanding games on the market, from the latest shooter, the newest instalment in the Far Cry or Tomb Raider series, or even high-stakes online games like poker or blackjack and baccarat.
Additionally, as more states allow online poker, the classic card game’s popularity is on the rise. This translates into further demand for gaming laptops, with players looking for the best platform that can deliver the quality of gameplay they need.
In high-stakes eSports and gaming competitions, gaming laptops are the key to better performance and top results, as well as portability and comfort.
Intrigued? Let’s review what to look for in a good gaming laptop.
Table of Contents
Good Gaming Laptop Performance
Gaming laptops typically have at least 8GB of RAM (DDR4) with the possibility of expansion, together with Intel i9 CPUs or equivalent and the option of running GPUs like the GTX 1070 or 1080 series (if you can get your hands on one).
Its features and specs like these make these machines ideal for some of the biggest and most detailed video games on the market, like Assassin’s Creed or the Far Cry series.
Great RAM allows gaming laptops to run platforms more sophisticated than your online Flash or HTML5 games.
With the right specs, your laptop can feature more complex graphics such as character avatar interactions and detailed environments, plus Ultra HD 4K visuals and ray-tracing capabilities.
A high-quality gaming laptop with some of the above-listed features will handle these newer and more visually sophisticated games smoothly.
As an added bonus, since gaming laptops are optimized to function just as well as most PC rigs, they can easily be paired with other gaming peripherals like pro gaming headsets.
This means that if you’re playing an online game with in-game music or voice chat features, you can use a cushioned headset with stable power integrity, so you can speak into a microphone and hear crystal clear audio in real time.
Portability
The portability of good gaming laptops suits gaming players in two respects. First, it’s simply convenient, making it easy to play in a coffee shop, or with a friend remotely.
Additionally, it allows more serious players to travel to areas in which eSports tournaments are held on an annual or monthly basis.
As of this writing, the most popular professional eSports events are held in arenas, convention centres and hotels on the West Coast and in Southeast Asia.
The League of Legends tournament, produced by Riot Games, had over 100 million viewers in 2019 and was set to take place in Shanghai, China last 2020,
On the other hand, the last Fortnite World Cup occurred in the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, NY last 2019 where solo winner Bugha became a multi-millionaire at age 16.
Due to their high stakes and competitive nature, these tournaments draw in participants from all over the world, and for those interested, packing away a laptop to make a quick trip for some “real” gaming experience is a handy option.
Good Gaming Laptop Extended Play Time
Where any kind of laptop use is concerned –– and particularly demanding gaming sessions –– device overuse is an unfortunate possibility.
Accordingly and unsurprisingly, the issue of gaming laptops overheating is a common one. These devices tend to have advanced components packed into tight spaces (unlike the “gaming towers” PC gamers construct), and this, combined with the heavy demands of gaming on those components, can lead to overheating.
Because this is a common issue, however, there are also solutions that reduce heating and lead to extended playtime.
Specifically, good gaming laptops utilize specific software to avoid overheating.
Thermal throttling software “kicks in and lowers the clock speed” when components are overheating, and other options like HWMonitor and HWiNFO allow users to monitor temperatures and make adjustments as needed so that gaming sessions aren’t ruined by heat.
Now, on most average gaming platforms, significant overheating is unlikely to occur.
But a more demanding platform, a longer session, or a lengthy game played with other applications open in the background can get any laptop heating up.
Players may thus appreciate gaming laptops equipped with some of the software that’s been designed specifically to circumvent these issues and enable longer sessions.
Comfort
It’s well known that extended gaming sessions aren’t exactly great for physical health and posture.
Gamers commonly complain of back and neck issues, for instance, to the point that it’s now recommended for them to take care of their backs by taking breaks to move around and stretch.
As a physical therapist, Dr Scott McAfee has stated, that it’s important to get up and move and avoid prolonged positions that the body can get used to.
This is actually important for gaming players to keep in mind because any online game can easily last 30 minutes or longer, and one-day tournaments can go on for in excess of four hours.
Here again, a good gaming laptop can prove useful. Being able to relocate, recline, or even position the computer on a counter to stand for a little while can keep a regular player from some of those aches and pains internet gamers regularly struggle with.
All in all, these make for benefits well worth considering for online, and even offline, games. In most cases, Internet platforms will run just fine on an ordinary computer or even a phone.
But for optimal performance (particularly with some newer online games), as well as portability and comfort, a gaming laptop is still the best option.