The best laptops for gaming and schoolwork in 2025

Although there are still regular laptops and gaming laptops, the line that separates them has almost disappeared. Today, if you have a fast CPU and graphics card, as well as perks like a large screen and a good cooling system, you can play a fair number of games on your laptop. Furthermore, not everyone wants a big, flashy gaming rig, and not everyone wants to spend the money necessary to get one. If you’re considering a new laptop for school, there are now more options than ever that can get through your most challenging studies and keep up with your next AAA gamer. These are our top picks for the best laptops for gaming and schoolwork – but if you’re looking for a gaming laptop rather than an all-in-one, check out Best gaming laptops List of our recommendations.

The best laptops for gaming and school in 2025

Photography by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Read our full article ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 review

the Zephyrus G14 It’s been our favorite laptop recommendation for gaming performance for years, but it’s better than ever this year thanks to a unibody aluminum chassis, a gorgeous OLED display and a weight drop to just 3.3 pounds. It feels strangely light for a machine with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS CPU and NVIDIA RTX 4070 graphics. While the new Zephyrus G14 loses the RTX 4080 option from the previous model, that’s not a big deal. You’d be better off with a lighter, more attractive model that doesn’t cost as much.

$2,000 at Best Buy

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

Read our full article Razer Blade 14 review

Razer’s flagship Blade laptops have been the closest PC to Apple’s MacBook Pro since its debut, and the latest Blade 14 doesn’t change that one bit. It features the company’s signature build quality with a solid aluminum chassis, but now equipped with AMD’s Ryzen 9 8945HS CPU and your choice of NVIDIA’s RTX 4060 and 4070. The new LCD display with a 240Hz refresh rate will also let you game just about everything. At eye-bleeding speeds (or, at the very least, will give you a useful increase in accuracy while sniping Monitoring 2). Although we would have liked to see an OLED display like the one on the Zephyrus G14, the Blade 14 remains a great gaming laptop. Just be prepared to pay a premium for its impressive hardware.

$2836 at Amazon

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

Although Alienware has established itself as a solid premium brand, Dell’s cheaper G-series laptops are worth a look for anyone who needs a budget-friendly machine. particularly, Group of 15 It continues the trend of offering highly capable hardware – including Intel’s latest 13th Gen CPUs, AMD’s Ryzen 7000 CPUs, and NVIDIA’s RTX 30 and 40 series GPUs – for under $1,000. Granted, the case is mostly plastic, and the laptop’s display doesn’t offer all the latest features (at least there’s finally a 165Hz option!). But for the price it’s hard to find anything more powerful.

$800 at Dell

Dale

After just one year on the market, Dell is back to the drawing board with its latest product Alienware M16 And redesigned it from the ground up. The result is the m16 R2, a lighter, more affordable gaming laptop that can still deliver solid performance Cyberpunk 2077 With an RTX 4070 GPU. At 5.75 pounds, it’s a chunky beast, but it’s still 20 percent lighter than the previous model’s 7.28 pounds. For some, the weight is worth living with the m16 R2’s impressive 16-inch 240Hz LCD panel.

$1399 at Dell

Asus Rouge

Sometimes, a 16-inch or even a 17-inch monitor just won’t cut it. For the most demanding gamers and media editors, there it is Rog Strix G18an 18-inch sporting beast equipped with Intel’s latest 14th generation CPU and NVIDIA’s RTX 40 series family (which of course includes the high-end RTX 4080). The Strix G18 is described more as a “gaming laptop” than anything else in this guide, but it’s a solid option for anyone who wants a big-screen machine at a relatively affordable price.

$1,760 at Amazon

Are gaming laptops good for school?

As mentioned, gaming laptops are especially useful if you do any work that requires a lot of effort. Their big promise is powerful graphics performance, which isn’t just limited to PC gaming. Video editing and 3D rendering software can also take advantage of their GPUs to handle heavy-duty tasks. While you can find decent GPUs on some productivity machines, like the Dell XPS 15, you can sometimes find better deals on gaming laptops. My general advice to any new operator: pay attention to the specifications; Get at least 16GB of RAM and (ideally) the largest solid-state drive you can find (ideally 1TB or more). These components are usually difficult to constantly upgrade, so it’s worth investing what you can up front to get the most out of your PC gaming experience in the long run. Also don’t forget basics like a webcam, which will likely be necessary for the schoolwork portion of your activities.

The big downside to choosing a gaming laptop is portability. For the most part, we recommend the 15-inch models to get the best balance between size and price. These usually weigh about 4.5 pounds, which is much more than a three-pound miniature. Today’s gaming laptops are still much lighter than older models, so at least they won’t weigh you down with 10 pounds. If you’re looking for something lighter, there are plenty of 14-inch options these days. And if you’re not a fan of LED lights and other gaming-themed delights, keep an eye out for more simple models that still have basics like a webcam (or make sure you know how to turn those lights off).

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The best laptops for gaming and school in 2025

Are gaming laptops good for school?

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