The Best Gaming Laptops That Pwned the Competition

The Razer Blade 14 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) blew me away when I tried it right around when Starfield came out. Razer is known for its high-end gaming laptops, and the slim, aluminum chassis on this laptop has the same luxe build quality we’ve liked it for in the past. But the 2,560 x 1,600 IPS, G-Sync-compatible display is what caught my attention. Even at 30 to 40 percent brightness, it felt bright and vivid, with blacks so dark it’s as if the screen disappears in dark rooms. It’s not quite what you’d see in an OLED display, but it was close enough that it fooled me for hours while I flew through space. Best of all, the 240-Hz panel allows for ultrahigh frame rates for the smoothest gameplay.

Inside, the Blade 14 comes equipped with the powerful AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS. There is a slightly newer version with the Ryzen 9 8945HS, but you likely won’t see much of a difference in performance. You also get 16 GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1-TB NVMe SSD, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU (upgradeable to an RTX 4070). The RTX 4060 is decently powerful, but the RTX 4070 is a respectably strong GPU that can help power through even demanding games like Starfield. It also has a USB-C and USB-A port on both the left and right of the laptop, making it convenient to plug in peripherals. It comes with a full-size HDMI port too. It includes a large charging block, which you’ll need for charging while playing power-hungry games, but you can charge it via USB-C if you need to top it off while working. It’s pricey, but the Blade 14 routinely dips to $2,000, which is great value.

Specs to look for: AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060/4070 Laptop GPU, 16 GB DDR5, 1-TB NVMe PCIe SSD, 14-inch 2,560 X 1,600 IPS display with 240-Hz refresh rate.