The Best Gaming Laptops for Students

12. 06. 2022

It's back to school season, which means it's a great time to get a laptop. If you are a student who is serious about gaming, your laptop must be powerful enough to power your late-night gaming sessions and portable enough to be easy to carry around.

Don't worry if you don't know where to begin. We can help you. We compiled a list of the top gaming laptops for students. We have taken everything into account, from portability to budget to display quality. Continue reading to find out more about our selections.

There are only a few weeks before the new school year starts, so now is the best time to grab amazing deals on laptops, MacBooks and tablets. Check out our back to school deals to find the best deals. Our roundup of the top laptops has more recommendations.

Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (2022) - Best overall

- Attractive, durable design
- Comfortable touchpad and keyboard
- There are many options for wireless and wired connectivity
- Excellent game performance
- Competitive pricing

- Processor performance is midpack
- Display is bright but lacks color performance
- Speakers can sound muddy

The Lenovo Legion 5 Pro ticks many boxes. It has great gaming performance, a wide variety of connectivity options, rugged design, and many other features. It is also very affordable. This machine is capable and offers the most bang for your buck.

The Intel Core i7-12700H processor powers the Legion 5 Pro, along with an Nvidia GeForce RTX3070 Ti GPU and 16GB RAM. There is also 512GB SSD storage. Our tester said that the laptop "screamed at the speed of 148 frames per second" during the Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmark. The non-touch IPS display has a resolution 2560x1600 and a maximum refresh speed of 165Hz. Although the display is bright, it is not as vibrant as other displays we have seen. We believe the cons outweigh the pros.

Asus VivoBook Pro 15 OLED Slim Laptop - Best Budget Option

- High productivity
- Superb display
- Rugged design
- Excellent battery life

Boring aesthetics
Unimpressive 720p webcam
- Unreliable fingerprint scanner
- Poor port selection

The Asus VivoBook Pro 15OLED is a great choice if you want to enjoy powerful gaming performance at a reasonable price. Our tester said that this laptop can handle streaming and gaming, as well as day-to-day productivity. It features an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 3050 GPU and 16GB RAM. There is also 512GB of NVMe SSD storage. When playing AAA titles, you may need to switch to medium or high graphics. This machine should still be able to run older titles. The OLED panel is excellent and the battery life is amazing. It actually lasted more than 11 hours on one charge during our battery-life benchmark. This is impressive for a gaming laptop. There are some minor issues to be aware of.

The fingerprint scanner is a bit finicky and the overall design is not inspiring. Port selection is also not too varied. The VivoBook Pro 15 OLED is a joy to use, and well worth the effort. If you are looking for more budget gaming laptop recommendations, check out our picks of the best gaming notebooks under $1500 and the best gaming notebooks under $1,000.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 - Most portable

- Compact design with powerful CPU and GPU performance
- AniMe Matrix screams unique
It has a webcam

- Half-permanent RAM
- Keyboard backlighting is subpar

The ROG Zephyrus is lightweight and powerful, which is a rare combination in gaming laptops. It is just three pounds in weight. The G14 is lighter than most gaming laptops that weigh five to six pounds. It features an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU, and an AMD Radeon RX6800S graphics card. This means that you can expect strong gaming performance. The keyboard is the only problem. It feels too soft. The backlighting is also unimpressive. The Zephyrus G14 is a great choice if you are looking for a portable gaming laptop with fast performance.

HP Victus 16 d0097nr - Best keyboard

- Excellent value
- Surprisingly comfortable keyboard
Large 16-inch 1080p display with high 144Hz refresh rate

- Budget RTX GPU
- Audio doesn't feel quite right
- The display hinge is a little fragile

The HP Victus 16 keyboard is very comfortable, making it great for schoolwork due to the longer typing sessions. Our tester said that he was happy to use the keyboard for long-term work. HP also included a number pad, which is great for gamers. How does it perform? Let's find out.

This laptop should be capable of running most older games at medium to high graphics. It can also handle everyday tasks such as writing papers and surfing the web. It is powered by an Intel Core i7-11800H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX3060 GPU, 16GB RAM, and 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD storage. The 16.1-inch display has a resolution 1920x1080 and a refresh speed of 144Hz. The hinge is a bit fragile so be careful when handling it.

Although we didn't have any issues with this laptop, the design is not a major drawback. The Victus 16 is a good choice if you can live with its ho-hum design, especially if your budget is tight.

Alienware x15R2 - The best high-end option

- Gaming performance enhanced by ample power
- Beautiful and smooth QHD display
Stunning design with RGB lighting

Rear-orientated ports may be difficult to reach
- Unplugged, average battery life
- RAM is soldered onto the motherboard

The Alienware x15R2 is the best option if you want the best. It boasts an Intel Core i7-12700H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX3080 Ti GPU, 32GB RAM, and 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD storage. The 15.6-inch display has a resolution 2560x1440, and a maximum refresh speed of 240Hz. Wow. Wow. However, it has its quirks. It is difficult to access the rear ports and the RAM is soldered on. Despite these drawbacks, the features are what really matter.

The Alienware x15R2 is a great option if you have the budget.