While last year it looked like the prices of gaming laptops would skyrocket, this year the situation has taken the opposite direction. You can buy a quality model with an RTX 4060 for just 30,000, which is why we tested exactly six of them for you at this price level.
It wasn’t that long ago that gaming laptops were the domain of wealthy customers, heavy, clunky and thick. Today, they look like ordinary machines, they can be easily transported and practically every manufacturer offers them at a favorable price. If you look around the market today, you’ll find that a gaming laptop with usable dedicated graphics can be bought for as little as twenty grand. However, if you do not want to play with compromises and intend to be prepared for the future, it is advisable to look for a laptop in the price range of at least 30,000 CZK.
Alphabetical list of tested models
- Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-58-599Y)
- Asus TUF Gaming A15 (2023)
- Dell G15 Gaming (5530)
- Gigabyte G5 KF (2023)
- HP Diet 15-FA1822NC
- Lenovo LOQ 15APH8
In our test, we focused precisely on such machines, because they are not only affordable, but also very advantageous from the point of view of the price-performance ratio. Most manufacturers fit within the price limit of CZK 32,000 set by us with models equipped with the most modern Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics.
- We thank the e-shop for the rental of Gigabyte and Dell laptops CZC.cz
Key graphics card
As I mentioned before, the most important part of a gaming laptop is the graphics card, which is the first component you should look for. If you want to play all today’s games smoothly, look for at least an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. The new GeForce RTX 4050 already brings DLSS 3.0, with which you can play significantly more smoothly, but you can really use DLSS 3.0 without compromises only with the RTX 4060. That’s why is the GeForce RTX 4060 so affordable. At twice the performance of the RTX 3050, and when you start using DLSS 3.0, you can get even higher with the number of frames per second.
The GeForce RTX 4060 is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to play on a laptop with a Full HD display without compromise. If you do not insist on high details, this graphics is also sufficient for QHD (2,560 × 1,440 px) resolution, but with such a display it is more appropriate to reach for an RTX 4070 or higher. But the higher you go, the more you have to pay even for a slight increase in performance. Also pay attention to the indicated MGP, i.e. the TDP of the graphics chip, if the manufacturer states it. If you have two laptops with RTX 4060, one with MGP 105 W and the other 140 W, it is clear which will be more powerful.
Only Lenovo offers special buttons on its laptop that make it easier for you to control the volume and access the management application
When choosing a gaming machine, the choice of screen size and resolution is also key. If you look at the offer, you will find that the most widespread is the 15.6″ to 16.1″ diagonal, which is an ideal compromise between easy portability and a sufficiently large display area. The trend is also a significant narrowing of the frames around the display, so that the fifteen-inch machine is no longer as large as it used to be. If you want a 14-inch gaming laptop, you’ll have a very limited selection to choose from, it won’t usually be as well cooled, and you’ll pay extra.
On the contrary, the 17.3″ models are already so large that you will usually need a special backpack. IPS display is a matter of course today, but OLEDs are also starting to appear with a breathtaking image and extremely low response time. It may seem that the resolution is higher than Full HD much better, but on a 15.6/16.1″ display, you won’t notice the difference in the fineness of the image when playing games, while the demands on graphics performance will increase considerably.
If you want to play as many games as possible in full detail at a reasonable price, the combination of Nvidia RTX 4060 and Full HD display is an ideal choice
A high refresh rate is also important – 144 Hz was the standard in our test, but no less important is the support for adaptive synchronization of the refresh rate with the number of frames per second, which only Asus supported in the form of G-Sync. In general, this is the privilege of more expensive high-performance machines, because only those bring such high performance that G-Sync makes sense and brings you a breathtakingly smooth image without stuttering and tearing.
Manufacturers are increasingly coming up with gaming laptops equipped with high-quality IPS panels with a wide color gamut and low color deviation – in our test, only the Asus TUF Gaming A15 (2023) offered such. Accurate and rich colors are great, the difference is noticeable, although not as much as when switching from a TN panel to an IPS. However, if you are not going to do advanced photo editing on the laptop or use it for other applications that require color fidelity, you can compromise here and prefer smoother gaming thanks to more powerful graphics.
Fast processor and enough memory
After the graphics card, the processor has the biggest impact on gaming performance. Here you have a traditional choice between AMD and Intel, and it doesn’t really matter whether you go for one or the other. Our tests also showed that the new AMD Ryzen 7000 processors are great, as well as the 13th generation Intel Core, while you can’t go wrong with processors a generation older. Although they are slightly slower, laptops equipped with them are a bit cheaper.
The benefits of the new platforms are, among other things, faster interfaces such as Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4, or the PCIe 4.0 bus and the associated much faster SSD, but it depends on whether the manufacturer uses it. For example, the fact that there is an SSD with a faster PCIe 4.0 bus in the notebook, unfortunately, you usually cannot find out from the given parameters.
And finally, there are DDR5 memories, which, although they won’t bring you more performance, are at least no longer more expensive than DDR4, and from the point of view of a future upgrade, it makes sense to look for notebooks that already use DDR5. Regarding the memory capacity, the minimum for serious gaming should be 16 GB, the ideal is 32 GB, but it is not necessary. If you encounter a problem with a lack of memory, it is not a problem to replace the memory modules with others with a higher capacity on any of the tested laptops.
It goes without saying that new laptops should also have the most modern Wi-Fi 6E or at least Wi-Fi 6, and for gaming machines, ideally in a gaming version with network traffic optimization (for example, packet prioritization) for minimal delay. Only the Acer Nitro 5 offered this in our test via the Killer E2600 and Intel AX1650i network controllers. Other equipment should also include fast ports on the gaming machine – at least USB 3.2 Gen2, if not Thunderbolt 4/USB4. It is quite likely that you will transfer larger volumes of data.
In order to have somewhere to store games, the gaming laptop should be equipped with at least a 1TB SSD, which the winner of our test does not meet. You can only fit a few games on a 512GB SSD and soon you will be dealing with the problem of space. However, none of the tested laptops had a problem either replacing the SSD with another, or usually adding another one. The Acer Nitro 5 is the only one that also allows mounting a 2.5″ SSD/HDD.
Speakers, keyboard, construction
There are no less important aspects when choosing the ideal gaming machine, which you cannot read much from the parameters of laptops. For example, it is about the quality of its construction, which in this price category is mostly all-plastic, which, however, may not be harmful at all. On the contrary, sometimes the combination of metal and plastic can cause creaking or cracking sounds. However, it is ideal to use metal at least for the back of the lid and thus not only add an attractive look to the laptop, but also significantly better protect the display. An example in our test is the Asus TUF Gaming A15, which also received full points for its construction.
Even on such a keyboard, however, a lot can be spoiled – for example, by a significantly non-standard layout of the keys or by making them smaller and denser. The trend is also RGB backlighting, preferably multi-zone, where you can set the color of each area separately, thereby optically separating the keys intended for playing. The quality of the built-in speakers can also be important, especially for those who do not want to use headphones. Such a touchpad is perhaps no longer very important, because it is still necessary to connect a mouse to the laptop to play. There, however, the qualitative differences are no longer large – all the machines in our test already use a modern type of clickpad with a single button.
You can also find in the continuation for subscribers
Ranking of laptops from the objectively best to the weakest.
Detailed tables with comparison of parameters. We will explain the testing methodology.
We measured the performance of the processor, the battery life, we will show how the machines look under the thermal camera.
Try it for CZK 1 Or separate Live Premium
2023-12-16 11:45:20
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