7. Acer Predator Helios 300
We loved Acer’s Predator Helios 300 during the GTX 10-series era, and the current generation Helios still manages to punch above its weight class compared to other $1,500 laptops. It may not be the best gaming laptop, but it’s one of the best value machines around.
The newest version of the Helios packs an RTX 3060 GPU and a sleeker form factor without raising the price significantly. It also has a 144Hz screen and smaller bezels, putting it more in line with sleek thin-and-lights than its more bulky brethren of the previous generation.
The only real drawback is the diminutive SSD, although the laptop has slots for two SSDs and an HDD, which makes upgrading your storage as easy as getting a screwdriver. You often need to get handy with the upgrades at this end of the price spectrum, and the Helios 300 is no different in that respect.
If you’re desperate for just that little bit of extra gaming performance and hang the sense of it—or the sound and fury of it—the Turbo button is Acer’s one-touch GPU overclocking feature. The Predator laptops have this simple feature designed to eke out as much extra gaming performance as possible.
In theory, it’s a neat feature but much as we saw with the Predator Triton earlier this year, you really only get about a 1-3% increase in performance. It also makes your system run very hot and distractingly loud. Honestly, I really don’t think it’s worth it unless you’re truly militant about maximizing your frames per second. Or have a really good noise-canceling gaming headset.
But for its $1,500 sticker price, the 15-inch Predator Helios 300 provides high-end 1080p gaming performance at a mid-range price. Even without the dubious utility of the Turbo button. The design changes are small but smart—like the power cord in the back instead of the side, having room for three storage drives, and the price/performance ratio is great. And that all makes the Acer Predator Helios 300 a strong contender for one of the best gaming laptops around.
8. Asus ROG Strix Scar 17
There’s absolutely no question you can buy a much more sensible gaming laptop than this, but there is something about the excesses of the ROG Strix Scar 17 that make it incredibly appealing. It feels like everything about it has been turned up to 11, from the overclocked CPU—which is as beastly as it gets—to the gorgeously speedy 360Hz screen on the top model. Asus has pushed that little bit harder than most to top our gaming laptop benchmarks.
And top the benchmarks of the best gaming laptops it does, thanks in the main to the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti that can be found beating away at its heart. This is the 150W version of Nvidia’s new Ampere GPU, which means it’s capable of hitting the kind of figures thinner machines can only dream of. You can draw on Nvidia’s excellent DLSS, where implemented, to help hit ridiculous frame rates, too. And if that’s not enough, you can also grab this machine kitted out with an RTX 3080 Ti too.
The 17-inch chassis means the components have a bit more room to breathe compared to the competition too, and coupled with the excellent cooling system, you’re looking at a cool and quiet slice of gaming perfection. This extra space has allowed Asus to squeeze an optomechanical keyboard onto the Scar 17, which is a delight for gaming and more serious pursuits.
Importantly, all this power comes at a cost not only to the temperatures but also to the battery life. Sure, you’re not as likely to play games with the thing unplugged, but if you ever have to, an hour is all you get.
I’m not enamored with the touchpad either, while we’re nit-picking. I keep trying to click the space beneath it, and my poor, callous fingers keep forgetting where the edges are. This particular model doesn’t come with a camera either, which is a glaring omission for the price, and there’s a distinct lack of USB Type-A ports for the unnecessary arsenal of peripherals I’m packing. There are a couple of USB Type-C ports around the back to make up for it, though, and I’m happy there’s a full-sized keyboard.
Such gripes are easy to overlook when Asus has managed to pack such an immense config in here. The frankly unnecessary 32GB of DDR5-4800 RAM and that 2TB SSD are awesome, but a bit over the top for most mortals.
For a machine with a 17-inch chassis, it doesn’t weigh the world and doesn’t need two power adapters to work to its full potential either. For that, it doesn’t feel as much like a hulking desktop replacement as we’ve seen. And that’s okay. Particularly when you crown a portable machine like this off with a 1440p, 240Hz IPS panel with 3ms response time, which also does a smashing job of reducing glare.
While you could get a Lenovo Legion 5 Pro with its RTX 3070 for half the price, spending $2,999 on this Strix Scar config will put you ahead of the competition with very little effort. And sure, it’s not as stylish or as apt with ray tracing as the Blade 17, but there’s a good $1,000 price difference there. And for something that can outpace the laptops of yesteryear in almost every running, I’d pay that price for sure.
