The 7 best gaming laptops for 2025 based on hundreds of hours of testing
Finding the best gaming laptop is no easy task. You want something as portable as it is powerful, all while balancing battery life, heat, and fan noise. A lot of gaming laptops get this balance wrong, but a select few rise above and get it right.
While there are some 2025 gaming laptops already coming out, there aren’t new mobile GPUs out,meaning they’ll have to battle against the best from last year, which are increasingly discounted.
So, whether you’re looking for something less expensive tomatch a lower budget or an all-in, no-compromise machine, you’re bound to find something below that suits your fancy.
We stand behind these gaming laptops as the best you can buy right now. These recommendations are all based on our own in-depth testing and reviewing, which involves countless hours of performance, screen, and battery life testing.
The best gaming laptop
HP Omen Max 16 (2025)
- Conservative gamer aesthetic
- Strong productivity performance
- Excellent gaming performance
- Spectacular OLED display
- Good keyboard
- Solid connectivity
- Attractive pricing
- Thick and heavy
Why you should buy this: It’s the best gaming laptop we’ve reviewed, packing serious firepower and inching close to perfection.
Who it’s for: Gamers who want top-tier performance but don’t want to spend an absolute fortune.
Why we picked the HP Omen Max 16 (2025):
We named the HP Omen Max 16 the best gaming laptop in our review roundup, and with good reason. We gave it a rare 4.5 out of 5 stars based on hours of in-depth benchmarking and testing, and our only real complaint was that it’s heavy. In all fairness, it’s not much of a complaint — many gaming laptops are hard to lug around, and this one houses top-notch components, so that explains the thickness and weight.
Our review unit had the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a supremely powerful RTX 5080. The laptop also comes with a stunning OLED display.
The OLED panel is a real standout, offering deep contrast, vibrant colors, and a 240Hz refresh rate that makes games look gorgeous and feel ultra-responsive. Whether you’re playing the latest AAA titles or just watching a movie, it’s one of the best displays we’ve seen on a gaming laptop.
Performance is equally impressive. The Omen Max 16 chewed through our gaming benchmarks, holding its own against other flagship machines and often coming out ahead. DLSS 4 support on the RTX 5080 pushes frame rates even further, making this laptop more than capable of handling demanding titles at high settings for years to come.
If you’re looking for a gaming laptop that delivers uncompromising performance, a gorgeous OLED screen, and a design that won’t feel out of place in class or at work, the HP Omen Max 16 is as close to perfection as we’ve seen.
The best 16-inch gaming laptop
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2025)
- Superfast CPU performancer
- Very fast GPU performancer
- Promises the best gaming visuals everr
- Excellent OLED displayr
- Very good keyboardr
- Fun gaming aesthetic
- Expensiver
- Large and heavyr
- Really bad battery life
Why you should buy this: It’s one of the fastest gaming laptops you can buy.
Who it’s for: Hardcore gamers, creators, and anyone who wants a desktop replacement.
Why we picked the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2025):
The Legion Pro 7i is among the first laptops with Intel’s Core Ultra 9 275HX and Nvidia’s RTX 5080, a Blackwell GPU that pushes performance far beyond what we’ve seen from RTX 4090 systems. It’s paired with a 16-inch OLED display that’s sharp, color-accurate, and runs at 240Hz, making it ideal for both competitive gaming and creative work.
In our review of the laptop, we were floored by both the CPU and the GPU performance, and we loved every second of using the gorgeous OLED display. Unfortunately, the Legion Pro 7i loses some points for its subpar battery life, but that’s the way it is — these high-end gaming laptops rarely offer robust batteries.
If you want one of the fastest gaming laptops ever made, the Legion Pro 7i is hard to beat. Just be prepared to keep it plugged in on your desk rather than gaming on the go.
The best compact gaming laptop
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14
- MacBook-like thinness and weightr
- Gorgeous OLED displayr
- Redesigned charger and USB-C power deliveryr
- Great productivity performancer
- Much cheaper than the competition
- A little behind in gamesr
- Soldered memory
Why you should buy this: It’s the best portable gaming laptop you can buy.
Who it’s for: Gamers, students, and content creators.
Why we picked the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024):
The ROG Zephyrus G14 has always been a favorite, but in its 2024 update, Asus has taken it to the next level. The system has been completely redesigned, opting for a MacBook-like chassis that makes it attractive as a hybrid device — one that can work just as well for games as it can for the rest of your computing needs. It’s thinner than ever, just within striking distance of the MacBook Pro, while also sporting a larger touchpad, a range of recent (although no longer the latest) Ryzen processors, and gorgeous new OLED 120Hz screen.
The system can be configured with up to an RTX 4070, which means that there are newer options available, but this one still remains good value. There’s never been a gaming laptop quite like it, and considering the major price advantage it has over the Razer Blade 14, that laptop has since become hard to recommend.
So, whether you’re looking for an honest alternative to the MacBook Pro or just a particularly premium and compact gaming laptop, the ROG Zephyrus G14 is as good as it gets.
The best premium gaming laptop
Asus ROG Strix SCAR 18 (2025)
- Spectacular mini-LED display
- Very fast gaming performance
- Excellent creativity performance
- Solid build quality
- Attractive gaming aesthetic
- Good gaming keyboard
- Expensive
- Very large and heavy
- Touchpad is disappointing
Why you should buy this: It’s an outstanding gaming laptop with one of the best displays we’ve ever seen in a laptop of this kind.
Who it’s for: Gamers and creators who want uncompromising visuals on a massive canvas.
Why we picked the Asus ROG Strix SCAR 18 (2025):
The ROG Strix SCAR 18 is all about going big, and its 18-inch mini-LED display is nothing short of spectacular. With over 1,000 nits of sustained brightness, a sky-high contrast ratio, and near-perfect color accuracy, it’s a panel that outshines even the MacBook Pro. Paired with a 240Hz refresh rate, it makes games look stunningly sharp and smooth, while HDR content truly comes alive.
Of course, it’s not just the screen that impresses. Equipped with Intel’s latest Core Ultra 9 chip and Nvidia’s RTX 5080, the SCAR 18 delivers top-tier gaming performance, chewing through demanding titles without breaking a sweat. Thermals are well-managed thanks to Asus’s advanced cooling design, though the fans do get loud under heavy load.
At over seven pounds, it’s big and heavy, and battery life isn’t much to write home about. But if you want a no-compromise gaming laptop with the most impressive display we’ve ever tested, the ROG Strix SCAR 18 stands in a class of its own.
The best last-gen gaming laptop
Lenovo Legion Pro 5
- Fantastic valuer
- Top-tier gaming performancer
- USB-C charging availabler
- DLSS 3
- Middling screenr
- A bit heavy
Why you should buy this: It’s a reasonably priced gaming laptop that doesn’t sacrifice performance.
Who it’s for: Gamers who want peak performance without breaking the bank.
Why we picked the Lenovo Legion Pro 5:
There aren’t many laptops that nail balance quite like the Lenovo Legion Pro 5. It’s not a flimsy gaming laptop you feel like you’re going to break, and it’s not an expensive monster that will drain your bank account before you can enjoy it. It’s reasonably priced, well-built, and powerful, and very few gaming laptops nail all three.
Although the Legion Pro 5 is now firmly last-gen, it’s still a supremely powerful laptop. It packs in an AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX, along with an RTX 4070 laptop GPU, easily offering over 60 frames per second (fps) in the most demanding games at its native resolution of 2560 x 1600.
Paired with a solid keyboard and great battery life considering the power inside, the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 is still a very solid option despite the fact that newer models have come out this year.
The best laptop for gamers and creatives
Asus ROG Strix G16
- Quality buildr
- Attractive gamer aestheticr
- Solid gaming performancer
- Very good creative performancer
- Reasonably affordable
- Disappointing IPS displayr
- Keyboard and touchpad are just okayr
- Thick and heavy
Why you should buy this: It’s fast for the money, with strong gaming chops and smart thermals.
Who it’s for: Gamers who want high-end performance without Scar-level pricing, and creators who value CPU speed over GPU muscle.
Why we picked the Asus ROG Strix G16 (2025):
With AMD’s Ryzen 9 9955HX3D andNvidia’s RTX 5070 Ti, this Strix G16 punches above its weight. In our testing it delivered smooth 1440p gaming and snappy creative performance, helped by robust cooling (tri-fan, liquid metal) that keeps clocks high, albeit with loud fans under load. The chassis is sturdy enough, the keyboard feels great for typing, and you get plenty of useful ports.
But it’s not without trade-offs. At 1.2 inches thick and over 5.5 pounds, it’s a beast to lug around, and battery life is only okay. More importantly, the 16-inch 2560 × 1600 240Hz IPS panel is dim and not very color-accurate, which limits HDR and creator work. There’s also no IR or fingerprint login, and wireless is a generation behind.
If you can live with the screen and size, the Strix G16 delivers excellent gaming performance and strong CPU-driven productivity at a more approachable price than true flagships.
The best gaming tablet
Asus ROG Flow Z13
- Bright, beautiful screenr
- Amazing portabilityr
- Ingenious designr
- Surprisingly good performancer
- Comfortable keyboard and touchpad
- Poor battery lifer
- Dorky aestheticr
- Mediocre webcam, no Windows Hello
Why you should buy this: It’s a gaming machine in tablet form.
Who’s it for: Gamers who want the most on-the-go option possible.
Why we picked the Asus ROG Flow Z13:
Gaming laptops have a reputation for being large — that means bigger screens, more memory, better graphics, and other advantages. But some gamers are looking for a small option, models that prioritize fitting into a backpack or case while still offering gaming capabilities on the go. This Z13 2-in-1 model is a perfect example: You can easily switch to a tablet mode for casual gaming anywhere, with anyone.
The 13-inch tablet houses some serious specs too: We’re talking about a 120Hz refresh rate, a GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card, and 16GB of RAM. It even manages to make room for 512GB of SSD storage. You’ll also find a highly capable 12th-gen Intel i7 processor under the hood. The 2024 model that we’ve yet to review bumps that up to an astounding RTX 4060 and Core i9, which should provide significantly better performance.
That may seem like a lot to pack into a tablet body, but fortunately, the model also includes intelligent cooling with a custom vapor chamber module. The other advantage of the design is the lack of heat around the keyboard, which is something all gaming laptops struggle with. With the Z13, your hands are always comfortable, even while gaming.
Also, if you’re interested in a particularly vivid picture, you may want to stop byour list of the best OLED laptops around, too.
Luke Larsen is the Senior Editor of Computing, managing all content covering laptops, monitors, PC hardware, Macs, and more.
Monica is a computing writer at Digital Trends, focusing on PC hardware. Since joining the team in 2021, Monica has written over 1,000 articles covering components, desktop PCs, laptops, and peripherals.
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