Over 40. Top gaming laptops in 2023

This year, companies have released many new gaming models. Basically, they received NVIDIA video cards based on the Ada Lovelace or 4000-series architecture. We tested both relatively affordable models with GeForce RTX 4050, and mastodons with top-end RTX 4090.

Obviously, hypercars are interesting to talk about. However, models at lower price levels turned out to be even more interesting, because each point of parrots and frames per second is more expensive geometrically. If a laptop with 4050-4060 can be bought for about a thousand dollars, then 4080-4090 cost two or three thousand and up to a cosmic four to five thousand. The growth amounts differ by a factor of five, but the productivity there is not even twice as great.

We do not undertake to compare and present the performance ratio between laptops and desktop video cards, the difference between which is significant. You can read about the top representatives for desktop computers in RTX tests 4080 і 4090.

Now, let’s imagine that there are no desktops in the world and the only thing worth choosing from are gaming laptops. In particular, powerful models with backlighting and cool shapes. Game monsters and monsters for typing texts, editing Excel, playing solitaire, editing and post-production of videos, playing the new Cyberpunk patch and all this at the same time or in parallel.

Who is over 40?

MSI Raider GE78HX (13VI-209UA)

What’s inside:

Intel Core i9-13980HX (55W)

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

Approximate price: $5500

This is the most expensive and one of the two top gaming models we tested this year. The interesting design here is with retro-futuristic lighting, panels like those of hyper-cars ala McLaren and, of course, top-end equipment. The laptop is great in every way, including a high-quality display and an unusually adhesive touchpad, unlike all non-Apple laptops.

Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IRX8H

What’s inside:

Intel Core i9-13980HX (55W)

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 (175W) 80 – 150

Approximate price: $4100

One 4090 is good, but twice is even better. This model demonstrates that this can be obtained at a cost of almost a thousand conventional units. Of course, all prices are approximate, and the resemblance to real characters who will buy such models is fictitious.

ASUS ROG SCAR 16

What’s inside:

Intel Core i9-13980HX

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

Approximate price: $3900

Quite compact at first glance, but it has a top processor and a pre-top video card. All this with a trending 16:10 ratio display. It should be noted that while central processors are still trying to be placed within the framework of some kind of adequate consumption, this does not apply to video chips. With each generation of architecture that has tensor cores, the increase in consumption is enormous, sometimes reaching 100-150%. But this relatively compact model has managed to cope with this and does not melt the table on which it satisfies and does not fry the hands on the sides of the body to the bone.

Acer Predator Helios 16 PH16-71

What’s inside:

Intel Core i7-13700HX

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

Approximate price: $2850

Still some exorbitant prices, but this is already an average price class, which received a mid-level video card in combination with a good CPU. All this “averageness” in the current generation of NVIDIA video cards has played a cruel joke. Marketers are trying to get it out, but the engineering of the 4070 turned out to be some kind of nonsense. It is significantly more expensive than models with 4060, but it does not reach the 4080 in terms of performance (in some places by 40%). The RTX 4070 with high TGP is on par with the mobile RTX 3080 Ti. There are exceptions to this: in some games at 4K resolution, the RTX 4070 lags due to insufficient video memory. In general, when choosing, you need to be even more careful and monitor what TGP is set by the manufacturer for the RTX 4070. Because, with all other conditions being the same, you can recklessly pay for the power of a 4060 at the price of a 4080.

ASUS Vivobook Pro 16 (K6602)

What’s inside:

Intel Core i5-13500H

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

Approximate price: $1430

Finally we got to the worldly goods that are available, if not to everyone, then at least to the interested public. Marketers say that there is no need to talk much about models with 4050-4060. They say they buy them anyway. And we’ll tell you that it’s worth telling, because it seems that they don’t buy enough. Yes, we know that this is not a gaming laptop, but from the hardware point of view, everything is relevant.

Representatives of vendor sales departments will apparently be sad that our editors had the courage to build a histogram of approximate prices. And then compare it with performance histograms in different tests. Can you guess what the picture turned out to be?

Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58 (NH.QLZEU .003)

 

What’s inside:

Intel Core i5-12500H

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050

Approximate price: $1050

The case when the bottom has an exclusively positive meaning. While enthusiasts and gaming fans are choosing between the average positions in gaming laptops, moderate models are unfairly left on the sidelines. Remember that processors in smartphones have long surpassed all expectations and can cope with all tasks and games. Their productivity is excessive. The same thing sometimes happens with laptops. There’s no shame in going with a modern graphics card and last year’s processor. The result is a good price and access to modern technologies.

Instead of impressions

Please understand that gaming tests on these video cards may give unexpected results. Because here everything depends on the developers of each individual game and optimization. Therefore, the histograms that you will find in each test of new models reflect the results in synthetic tests, in combination with specific processors, RAM and drives. But in general, these reviews reflect how this or that “mobile” video card feels. And even more important is how much the model with it costs compared to other laptops.

This is what the top gaming laptops look like in 2023. The play on words and numbers “over 40”, as you can see, has great depth. Here you will find the cost in hryvnia, the range of models, and the number of parrots in the area with a spherical horse in a vacuum