What Makes a Gaming Laptop?

The most concise way to describe a gaming laptop is a portable PC capable of handling demanding video games.

They are several hundred dollars cheaper on average.

A leaked screenshot of the aleged Oblivion remaster.

The easiest way to do this is on whatever gaming platform you plan to purchase from.

After the OS requirement, the CPU, RAM, and GPU will typically be listed.

The CPU is the brain of your PC,allowing it to execute “thinking” tasks.

SanDisk Micro SD Express on pencil near external drive and calculator-1

Each CPU is made up ofindividual processors known as cores.

Next, well look at RAM requirements.

Typically, most modern games will require 8GB of RAM with 16GB recommended for smooth results.

Two gaming laptops and two PS5 controllers.

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Most standard laptops are equipped with the necessary 8GB and some have upgrade options available.

The last of our big three is the GPU.

At its most basic, the GPU is responsible for whats displayed on your monitor.

The Lenovo Legion Pro 5 Gen 8 with a gaming mouse plugged in.

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Gamers rely on their graphics card formuch more than simple images, though.

This not only limits your graphics quality, but you may also miss out onimportant features like ray tracing.

Of course, this would still be limited by your CPU andcould lead to a bottleneck effect.

System requirements of Apex Legends mentioned on the Steam website.

Gamers searching for their next laptop will also want to consider the display throw in and features.

Most notably, the refresh rate, which isthe number of times your monitor updates per second.

The higher your refresh rate, the smoother your gameplay will look.

Laptop ram sitting on a laptop keyboard-2

Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek

Though many standard laptops are capable of reaching 120Hz, gaming laptops typically start out at 144Hz.

Some have HDR support, or feature OLED panels that produce better blacks for a more vibrant image.

Are Gaming Laptops Worth the Sticker Shock?

A person gaming on a PC laptop.

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The answer largely depends on what pop in of gamer you are.