Buying the best gaming PC is an expensive pastime, but there are huge differences in the top end of the market. Many of the biggest gaming behemoths will set you back over £2,000, but it's not always necessary to spend that kind of money.
Many of the best gaming laptops we've looked at here cost far less, and while they might struggle with the latest games on the highest settings, they're still formidable gaming machines.
Of course, packing in the latest hardware not only costs money, but it adds weight. The Alienware M17X weighs in at over 5kg, so don't expect to be carrying it around with you. Weigh up the benefits, and you can walk away with the perfect machine for your gaming needs.
1. Alienware M11x – £599
Alienware was bought by Dell in 2006, and has since revamped its laptop range. The M15x and M17x were the first of the new range to appear and they're now joined by the stunning 11.6-inch M11x – the world's smallest gaming laptop, which offers a unique blend of graphical power and portability.
A dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 335M graphics card has been used – featuring 1,024MB of video memory – and proved stunningly powerful in our benchmark tests.?? We were seriously impressed by the Alienware M11x. Not only is it the first of its type, but it succeeds in combining great 3D performance with everyday portability and usability at a competitive price.
??Read our full Alienware M11x review
2. MSI GX740 – £899
??The MSI GX740 is one of the best-priced, best-looking gaming notebooks around. There's plenty of power under the hood for the avid gamer, while the Intel Core i5 processor provides plenty of performance for your average consumer.
The real selling point of this machine is its price, and this much power for under £1,000 makes it a very affordable option, especially when the likes of an entry level Alienware M17x, providing very similar performance, will cost you around £500 more.??
The GX740 does provide fantastic graphical punch, and the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 is exactly the same as you'll find in an entry level Alienware M17x just, as mentioned before, for £500 less. Similarly, there's also 1GB of dedicated memory, ensuring a smooth ride.??
Read our full MSI GX740 review??
3. Alienware M15X – £999
This 15.6-inch gaming laptop features a 1,600 x 900-pixel resolution. It's very sharp and provides vivid colours, which makes games look crisp and bright, despite it not being the most vibrant panel we've ever seen.?
This isn't a laptop you'll want to travel regularly with, however. It weighs a hefty 4.3kg and offers just 164 minutes of battery power with a nine-cell battery on board, so is much better suited for use as a desktop replacement system.
?The single Nvidia GPU used here is a high-end solution. It's not the most powerful available, but still allows for the latest games to be played without issue while allowing costs to be kept down.??
Read our full Alienware M15X review??
4. HP Pavilion dv8-1250ea – £1,092
The Pavilion dv8-1250ea is a stunning example of high-end mobile computing and capable of amazing performance, mostly thanks to the Nvidia GeForce GT 230M GPU.
This is a great machine for gaming, with the latest titles running with suitable speed. Frequent video and photo editing – including high-definition (HD) video – is also possible, adding to the HP's usability.
This laptop features a Blu-ray-compatible optical drive for watching the latest HD movies. The drive also functions as a standard DVD/CD rewriter, backing up the ample 640GB of storage provided by this machine's twin 320GB hard drives.???
Read our full Pavillion dv8-1250ea review
5. Sony VAIO VPC-F12M0E/B – £1,499
The VAIO VPCF12M0E/B is a stunning big screen Blu-ray media centre and provides staggering quad-core performance. Powered by a powerful Intel Core i7-740M processor, it was only after extensive supplementary testing that the full power of this CPU was revealed.
Graphics power is exceptional, with the dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 330M GPU working like a powerhouse under the hood. The latest games and high-definition (HD) video run smoothly and quickly, so whether you want to use your laptop for work or play, you'll be fully catered for with the VAIO.??
Combining stunning performance, great usability and HD features, the VAIO VPCF12M0E/B is a fantastic machine at this price. Costing £650 less than a MacBook Pro, it stands head and shoulders above all competition at this price.??
Read our full Sony VAIO VPC-F12M0E/B review
6. Asus G51Jx – £1,699
The G51Jx proves is more than a capable gaming rig, and offers enough power and performance not only to play the latest gaming titles at full settings, but also enable you to play in 3D as well. It packs in a quad-core Intel Core i7-720QM and, with 8912MB of DDR3 memory onboard, produces enough performance for you to multitask a variety of very resource-intensive applications with little problem.??
The G51Jx also features a Blu-ray optical drive, for watching HD movies on. Though it can both write and read DVDs, it can only read Blu-rays. It's also a shame that because of the low resolution of the screen, you won't get the Full HD effect on the laptop.??
The Asus G51Jx itself is a good machine, with just a couple of quirks that stop it from being a great one. Either way, the 3D element of the laptop works well, and we think you'll be pleased with the results.??
Read our full Asus G51Jx review??
7. MSI GX660R – £1699
Performance-wise, the GX660R is a monster. Everyday applications are blitzed by the quad-core Intel Core i7-720QM processor, while the AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5870 graphics card offers comprehensive performance for running the latest games at full whack.
The GX660R features a 15.6-inch screen with a Full HD 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution. Detail is excellent, while colour vibrancy and brightness are also impressive, ensuring your games and multimedia look great.
The GX660R succeeds as a very powerful and usable machine with an impressive specification (think Blu-ray drive and 1TB of storage on top of the processing chips) and, at £1,699, it's not a ridiculous price.??
8. Alienware M17x – £2,000??
While many gaming-rig manufacturers often employ a generic chassis in a bid to offset the cost of high-end components, it's great to see Dell take care to design a laptop that's as beautiful as it is powerful.
Two ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics cards sit in a CrossFire configuration – an ATI technology that enables the two cards to work together for a major power increase – and the result is phenomenal. The laptop destroyed all benchmarking tests we chucked its way, and thrashed all games we tried – even the infamous Crysis – with video settings up on full.
The M17x combines awesome power with great design, has a host of great features that'll keep you entertained for hours and is a product that you'll enjoy owning for many years.
???Read our full Alienware M17x review??
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