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Are you trying to put together the ultimate gaming setup in your home? If so, you’re going to want to add all of the best gaming equipment to it.
This will obviously include things like a gaming console, gaming controllers, and, of course, a gaming chair to keep you comfortable at all times. But a gaming computer should be at the center of it all.
More specifically, you should make it a point to invest in the best laptop possible for your gaming setup. Your game room isn’t going to be complete without one as laptops are some of the most necessary tools for gamers.
If you’re in the market for a new laptop for your gaming setup, we’ve put together a great guide that is designed to help you pick one out. It’ll help you to choose the right laptop to play games on.
Check out our guide on buying the best laptop for your gaming setup below.
Start by Deciding Which Type of Display You Want a Gaming Laptop to Have
Are you going to hook the gaming laptop that you buy up to a separate monitor and use it when you play games? If that’s the plan, then you won’t have to be too concerned about trying to find a gaming laptop that has a great display for your gaming setup.
But if you’re going to play games right on your laptop and use its screen pretty much all the time, you’re going to need to decide which type of display you want it to have. Your display is going to have a big impact on your ability to put your best forward each and every time that you play games on your laptop.
Laptop screens come in a wide range of different sizes. More often than not, they’ll have 13-inch screens, 15-inch screens, and 17-inch screens. You should try to buy a gaming laptop with a bigger screen if you can.
You should also consider some other key features when it comes to a laptop’s screen, including its resolution and its refresh rate. It would be great if you can secure a laptop with 4K resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate.
Consider Which Kind of CPU You Would Like to Have in a Gaming Laptop
The central processing unit, or CPU, in a gaming laptop is going to serve as the “brain” of it. As a result, it’s one of the most important parts of a gaming laptop.
With this in mind, you should set out to find a gaming laptop that has the most powerful CPU possible in it. Your gaming laptop’s CPU is going to have an impact on everything from the frames per second that you see on your display to the time that it takes for your battery to run out.
Ideally, you should try to purchase a gaming laptop that has an Intel Core i7 processor or better. This should provide you with the power and the speed that you’ll need from a CPU found in a gaming laptop so that you can play games without experiencing any issues.
Give Some Thought to Which Type of GPU You Want From a Gaming Laptop
Once you get done figuring out which CPU you want to have in your gaming laptop, you should also give some serious thought to which GPU you want. GPU is short for graphics processing unit.
The GPU in a gaming laptop works closely with a CPU to create all of the images that you’ll see on your laptop display or external monitor when you play games. So as you might imagine, it has a very important job to do as far as gaming is concerned.
If your plan is to play games in 4K or even just 1440p, you’ll need a gaming laptop with a GPU that is up for the challenge. A GPU that can deliver 144 FPS will ensure that you’re able to take full advantage of your laptop’s refresh rate.
Figure Out How Much Storage Space You Need in a Gaming Laptop
As you can probably guess, a gaming laptop is going to need to have plenty of storage space available on it. You’re going to be saving your fair share of data on it, so you should have lots of places to put it on the gaming laptop that you buy.
But maybe more importantly, you’re also going to want to look into buying a gaming setup that has the right type of hard drive built into it. Solid-state drives, or SSDs, have become a much better option for those who play games on their laptops than older mechanical drives, or HHDs. SSDs don’t have any moving parts like HHDs do, so they’ll allow you to access data way faster than HHDs can.
You might also want to look into getting an external hard drive that you can use to free up space on your gaming laptop’s hard drive. It would be well worth it if you know that you’re going to be saving a lot of things on your gaming laptop.
Determine How Much RAM You Need in a Gaming Laptop
In addition to having a hard drive that you can use to save things on your gaming laptop, your gaming laptop will also have random access memory, or RAM, in it. RAM is used for temporarily storing data that can then be accessed very quickly.
The more RAM that you have tucked inside your gaming laptop, the better. You’ll be able to run more programs at one time when your gaming laptop features plenty of RAM.
Many mid-range gaming laptops only have about 8GB of RAM. This might be OK for casual gamers. But if you consider yourself to be a hardcore gamer, you’re going to need to buy a gaming laptop with at least 16GB of RAM and maybe even 32GB of RAM.
A lack of RAM is going to slow things way down for you when you play games. So if possible, you should look high and low for a great gaming laptop that has 16GB or 32GB of RAM. It’ll enhance your gaming experiences and help you make the most of your whole gaming setup.
Look For a Gaming Laptop That Has the Right Design
Gaming laptops can come with almost any design that you want. There are some gaming laptops that are thin and sleek and others that are thicker and on the heavier side.
If you’re planning on taking your laptop out of the house on a regular basis, you might benefit from buying one that has a thinner design. It’ll make your gaming laptop a whole lot more portable than it would be otherwise.
But if you’re mostly going to be using your gaming laptop as part of your gaming setup, you might not need the most portable laptop in the world. You’ll be better off buying a gaming laptop that has everything that you’ll need in it, even if it’s a little heavier than some of its counterparts.
Search For a Gaming Laptop With More Than Enough Ports
There are a bunch of different things that you might want to plug into your gaming laptop at some point. We already touched on the fact that you may want to hook up an external monitor or an external hard drive to your laptop. But that’s not the only thing that you’ll want to plug into it.
You might also want to plug in things like:
- Headphones
- Speakers
- Keyboard
- Mouse
- And more
In order to hook all of these things up to your gaming laptop, it’s going to need to have more than enough ports. They’ll give you an opportunity to hook as many things as you want up to your laptop.
But there are some gaming laptop manufacturers that have started to do away with the ports located on the sides of gaming laptops. They’ve done it in an effort to make their gaming laptops thinner and lighter than ever before.
You might not mind sacrificing some ports for the sake of your gaming laptop’s design. But you might also want these extra ports and need a gaming laptop that can provide them to you.
Try to Track Down a Gaming Laptop With an Effective Cooling System
If you plan to spend hours on end playing video games on a gaming laptop, it’s going to get to be very hot on you if it doesn’t come with an effective cooling system. It’s why you should make it your mission to locate a gaming laptop that has a great cooling system tucked inside of it.
Every single laptop on the market today, gaming laptop or otherwise, has a cooling system inside. But laptop manufacturers take different approaches to the cooling systems that they put into their laptops.
You should read the reviews for different gaming laptops to find out which ones are known to overheat. You’ll want to stay far, far away from any gaming laptops that don’t seem to have good enough cooling systems in them.
Keep Cost in Mind at All Times When Shopping for a Gaming Laptop
Buying a gaming laptop for a gaming setup is typically going to cost you more than buying a regular laptop that you can use for school or work. You should mentally prepare yourself for this prior to shopping around for a gaming laptop.
But you should also know that you don’t have to break the bank to invest in a great gaming laptop for your gaming setup. You can score a fantastic deal on a gaming laptop by shopping around for one and comparing your different options.
You’ll sleep better at night knowing that you got one of the best laptop deals available today. It’ll give you more money to spend on all the other accessories that you’ll want to buy for your gaming setup.
Attempt to Get Your Hands on a Gaming Laptop With a Great Warranty
As long as you buy a great gaming laptop from a reputable laptop manufacturer, you shouldn’t have to worry too much about it breaking down on you. It should last you for at least five years or so before you have to deal with any problems.
But even still, it’s always a good idea to shop around for a gaming laptop that comes with a great warranty. This way, you won’t have to pay for any laptop repairs that might pop up during the first year or two that you own your gaming laptop.
A lot of people don’t spend any time thinking about what kind of warranty a laptop comes with. But they often regret this if and when something ever goes wrong with their gaming laptop.
Make Sure You Add the Best Laptop to Your Gaming Setup by Using This Guide
You’re going to need to get your hands on all kinds of gaming equipment to create the perfect gaming setup. But you could make the argument that the gaming laptop that you buy will make or break your entire setup.
Because of this, you shouldn’t just purchase a gaming laptop on a whim. You should spend days, weeks, and maybe even months shopping around for the right gaming laptop for your gaming setup.
Remember everything that we’ve discussed today while you’re doing it. These tips should lead you in the right direction as you set out to find a great gaming laptop that will provide you with years of fun.
Would you like to obtain some additional tips on buying laptops and looking for the right features in them? Look for them in the other articles that we’ve put up on our blog.
