These are the best and worst gaming laptops coming out this year from each brand.
Let’s start out with ASUS, as I think they’ve got the biggest updates coming this year!
Last year’s popular Zephyrus G15 has now been replaced by the Zephyrus G16. Along
with the bigger 16 inch screen, the G16 ditches AMD processors for Intel 13th gen
and goes up to RTX 4070 graphics, so should offer much more performance compared to the
G15. It’s still got just one memory slot, as it’s using the same M16 chassis as last year.
The M16 has a new redesign this year and is kind of like a higher tier version of the G16,
as it goes up to RTX 4090 graphics with a higher power limit, made possible by the
addition of a third fan inside. Not only that, but the M16 now has 2 upgradeable memory slots,
last year it only had 1. There’s also a Mini-LED screen option,
and an option of animated lid, just like the G14’s had for years.
Speaking of the G14, somehow that goes right up to Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics this year,
so another instance of ASUS ditching AMD, as last year’s G14 used Radeon graphics. The 4090 goes
up to 125 watts, and sure it’s not the maximum 175 watts found in thicker and heavier laptops,
but I’m sure it’s going to smash most of the 14 inch competition in terms of FPS, even if
it will cost 19 wallets. It’s got a 14 inch QHD+ Mini-LED screen option this year, and although
it’s still using an 8 core Ryzen processor, there are both Zen 3 or Zen 4 CPU options. As discussed
in my AMD video, this new naming scheme can be confusing if you don’t understand it,
which could result in you buying something with less performance. So look out for that this year.
The ASUS Zephyrus Duo 16 gets a nice upgrade to AMD’s Dragon Range CPUs, so up to 16 cores
and 32 threads now, a 2x increase plus a 4x increase to cache compared to the best
available from AMD last year. This is a massive difference if you need multicore performance,
and I suspect the cache will help in games too, we’ll see for sure in the upcoming review.
We’ve also got the new Strix G and Scar 16 and 18 models with 16:10 screens. Both have
3 fans this year rather than 2, which means no more ports on the back as it's an air
exhaust instead, but hey at least there’s RGB lighting there now. Speaking of RGB,
the front light bar is improved and no longer has ribbon cables attaching the bottom panel
of the laptop to the main body - something I’ve forgotten about when opening it before
and broken. There’s liquid metal on both the CPU and GPU now instead of just CPU,
as well as a camera above the screen, something that was missing before now.
There’s still a 17 inch version of the Strix G17 and Scar 17, but it’s using last year’s
design. The specs have been refreshed to AMD’s Zen 4 CPUs and Nvidia RTX 40 series GPUs though,
so more performance than before, just in the older body with 16:9 screen.
There’s a new TUF A16 Advantage Edition laptop, so both the latest AMD Zen 4 CPUs with Radeon
graphics, up to the new RX 7700S - one of the few all AMD gaming laptops announced at
CES. Otherwise the TUF A15,17 and F15 and 17 have also been updated to latest CPUs,
Nvidia RTX 40 GPUs, as well as other minor improvements like Type-C charging and advanced
optimus - something I was surprised to see in a more budget friendly tier product.
The Flow X13, Z13 and X16 also get some nice updates, including higher power limits along with
the new RTX 40 series GPUs, bigger battery for the X13, and the X16 is another that’s moved away from
AMD Ryzen CPU to Intel 13th gen this year. ASUS are also continuing the XG Mobile eGPU with an RTX
4090 version, which is backward compatible with all Flow series devices back to the start in 2021.
All of those models have also been updated with advanced optimus this year,
and the general trend from ASUS along with new CPUs and GPUs is higher power limits,
better cooling and more screen options with lots of Mini-LED.
Lenovo on the other hand were a bit of a let down this year.
They’ve got their new Legion Pro 5 and 5i which seem to replace the Legion 5,
and the new Legion Pro 7 and 7i, which replace the Legion 7 series.
I mean in terms of specs, we’re looking good with AMD’s new Zen 4 or Intel’s new
13th gen CPUs with Nvidia RTX 40 GPUs, but they’ve made some strange design choices.
Things start to go backwards with the 7 series with the ports. For some reason,
ethernet is upside down this year. They fixed it last year after doing the same thing in 2021,
the 2022 model was much easier to take out without lifting the laptop.
Last year we also had 4 Type-C and 2 Type-A ports, but now this has reversed to 4 Type-A
and 2 Type-C ports. Maybe some people will prefer having Type-A ports on the side,
and I know a lot of devices still use Type-A, but for a new higher end device
I feel like we should be moving to the future, which is clearly Type-C.
We’ve also got these vent bits which stick
out around the rear corners now. I'm not sure if they’re metal or plastic,
but personally I really liked the smooth brushed metal finish from last year.
The front light bar is only on the front now and no longer wraps around the sides. Speaking of no
RGB, it looks like there’s no more in the rear air vents, which I personally don’t care about, and
it’s gone from the lid logo too. I can only assume this makes it easier to produce or lowers cost, so
hopefully that tradeoff means there will be more availability this year, but only time will tell.
Based on the comments on my Lenovo CES video, a lot of you aren’t happy that
they aren’t introducing Mini-LED or OLED screens this year. To be fair to Lenovo,
I don’t think any company is doing 16 inch OLED yet, at least in gaming laptops. Right now,
I think high refresh OLED only exists at 15 inches, and Lenovo and all the other brands
can only use the displays that are out there in the market. And it seems like most companies this
year have prioritized going to 16 inch screens with 16:10 aspect ratios rather than 15 inch
OLED. Now that said, there are of course 16 inch mini-LED screen’s which we’re seeing in laptops
like ASUS’s Zephyurs M16 or Razer’s Blade 16. So I’m not sure why Lenovo didn’t use those as an
option this year. It also doesn’t quite seem like mini-LED is as simple as just shoving it into the
laptop. As ASUS did note that their laptops with the mini-LED screen installed were a bit thicker,
so maybe Lenovo just didn’t want to make that tradeoff to portability, I’m not sure. All
these gaming laptops going to 16 inches does also increase the size, they are technically
bigger than a 15 inch model, despite the marketing saying that it’s a 15 inch gaming laptop but with
a bigger screen. But I suppose that extra space might also be good considering all the HX CPU’s
we’re seeing this year. So I suppose it does also mean there might be more room for cooling.
Anyway, let’s move over to MSI, who have updated pretty much their whole gaming laptop lineup!
The top-end GT77 Titan gets Intel’s highest possible Core i9-13980HX,
RTX 4090 graphics with max power limit, and a 17.3” 4K 144Hz Mini-LED screen. This
thing sounds insane, but for whatever reason it’s still got a 720p camera.
The 15 inch GE67 from last year has been replaced with a 16 inch GE68, which also means no more OLED
for the reasons just discussed. The 17 inch GE77 also gets replaced by the 17 inch GE78,
though it’s also 16:10 now. Both have Intel 13th gen CPUs and Nvidia RTX 40 GPUs,
and the lightbar on the front has been redesigned to look blockier with what
seem to be individual lights, compared to the smoother bar they had last year.
MSI’s lower tier GP series also gets updated to the latest CPUs and GPUs,
and now that it’s got Thunderbolt and an SD card slot, it’s starting to creep
closer to the higher tier GE series, though that still has a bigger battery,
PCIe Gen 5 support, the light bar, and a higher quality camera.
There’s a new 14 inch stealth laptop, which might bring competition to ASUS’s Zephyrus
G14 and Alienware’s x14, as this is the only 14 inch gaming laptop I’m aware of
that has two upgradeable memory slots - so it's always nice to see something new. With
up to i7-13700H CPU and RTX 4070 GPU, it might not be specced as high as the G14 with 4090,
but I’m guessing it also won’t cost anywhere near as much either.
The Stealth 15 also seems to be an update of the Stealth 15M,
but now there are actually good screen options including OLED, but the CPU and
GPU actually end up speccing lower compared to the new smaller 14 inch model for some reason.
There’s also a new 16 inch Stealth that we don’t know too much about just yet,
and in case that’s not enough the Stealth GS77 from last year has been rebranded as the Stealth
17. The chassis looks the same, but it has a MUX switch this year along with more power thanks to
the latest CPUs and GPUs, so maybe it won’t be as bad as when I reviewed it last year.
Otherwise MSI also have the new Cyborg series, and they’re refreshing their katana,
sword and pulse series, so more budget friendly options that will still have mid-range specs
like Intel 13th gen H series i5 and i7 chips and Nvidia RTX 3050, 4050 or 4060 graphics.
Acer only just redesigned the Helios 300 last year, fixing all the problems I had
with it the year before, but in 2023 they’ve already redesigned it again! Now we’re getting
the Helios 16 and 18, with 16 inch and 18 inch screens respectively. It’s got
this unique RGB light bar on the back, Intel’s latest 13th gen CPUs and RTX 40 series GPUs,
and the 16 inch also has a mini LED option too, just like many others this year.
Except Lenovo. Hopefully they haven’t made it worse right after fixing it!
Acer’s Nitro 5 has also been replaced by the Nitro 16 and 17, but these have either Intel 13th gen or
AMD’s latest Zen 4 CPU options. Last year’s Nitro added a MUX switch for the first time,
and now this year the Nitro expands upon that by getting advanced optimus. It’s
also got liquid metal on the CPU now, and along with a higher $1200 USD entry price
for what I assume is the RTX 4050 option, it feels like the Nitro is getting closer
to the Helios rather than being a budget friendly option this year.
Alienware are also jumping on the 16 and 18 inch
bandwagon by replacing their m15 and m17 with bigger m16 and m18 versions.
Both the m16 and m18 will have AMD advantage versions with Ryzen CPUs and Radeon GPUs,
some of the few laptops announced at CES featuring
AMD’s new GPUs. Otherwise there are Intel 13th gen and Nvidia RTX 40 options too.
Something crazy is that both the m16 and m18 apparently have 4 M.2 slots,
so that’s far more storage than I’ve ever seen from any 16 inch model.
Alienware’s x15 also gets replaced by a bigger x16. The new x16 gets an animated RGB touchpad,
and get’s Intel’s 13th gen CPUs and Nvidia RTX 40 series GPUs,
anywhere between the 4050 and 4090 with max 175 watt power limit, so plenty of choice,
and hopefully good performance. The X series is meant to be a thinner design,
but with 4 fans and liquid metal it should stand a chance of running those high end specs well.
The smaller x14 also gets an update with 13th gen CPUs and RTX 40 series GPUs. The
GPU power limit is now 10 watts higher than last year, but there are fewer CPU cores this year,
which I’m guessing is so they can shift that power over to the GPU. Personally,
I think the new 2560 by 1600 screen at 14 inches is a weird increase from last year’s 1080p,
but hey maybe the new RTX 4050 or 4060 will be able to run games well
enough at that resolution, we’ll have to find out when it’s available to test.
The redesign of the Alienware Command Center software sounds interesting too, as the management
software is something I’ve always had a problem with and reviewed negatively, so if this makes
it better then that’s a big win. Especially as cheaper Dell laptops also use this software too.
Dell’s are updating their existing G15 and G16 gaming laptops, again with the
latest Intel 13th gen CPUs and Nvidia RTX 40 series GPUs, with the Ryzen 7000 models
coming later in Q2. The angled design is a bit blockier looking compared to before,
but they’ve got some interesting new colors. I hope we get the purple one when we do our
review! Otherwise I don’t think there was anything too ground breaking here.
I wasn’t too impressed with Razer’s announcements this year. They’re replacing the Blade 15 and 17
with the new Blade 16 and 18 respectively, which makes them larger and heavier. To me,
the value proposition of spending more on Razer was for a slimmer,
more portable gaming laptop that can still pack a punch. So if they start to move away from this,
then what makes them stand out? I’ve got no doubts they’ll offer more performance than ever with
Intel’s new 13th gen CPUs and Nvidia RTX 40 GPUs, but yeah we’ll have to see just how portable they
are when they come in for review. It’s also a bit sad that the AMD Ryzen based Blade 14 doesn’t seem
to be getting an update, hopefully that happens later in the year and it hasn’t been abandoned.
XMG announced their redesigned Neo 16 and updated Neo 17, along with an
updated liquid cooler. The liquid cooler is now easier to connect and disconnect with magnets,
but perhaps more importantly, it’s now got way more RGB lighting.
The new cooler design means far less fan noise and maximum performance from the 24 core i9-13900HX
CPU and up to RTX 4090 GPU. Along with a bigger 16 inch screen this year we’ve also got a larger
battery, advanced optimus, overclockable RAM up to DDR5-6400, and RGB lighting in the air vents.
As for HP, the only news I could find was this paragraph on their press site about
the Omen 17 being refreshed with Intel’s Core i9-13900HX and RTX 40 series graphics.
Gigabyte didn’t provide me with any details either, hence no dedicated video,
but it looks like the Aorus series has a new design with some sort of light bar
either on the back or below the screen. The 17X and 17 appear to have a different design,
so maybe there will be more of a difference this year. They’ve also been updated with
Intel 13th gen CPUs and Nvidia RTX 40 GPUs, and with 15 and 17 inch options it doesn’t
look like they’ve followed the 16:10 trend like most other brands this year.
The Aero 16 was also updated to actually have ports built in now,
it looks like last year’s flimsy dock is gone. There’s also a 14 inch Aero
this year with a 90Hz OLED screen, so more portable but still packing some
nice specs with both 13th and 12th gen CPU options that are hopefully a bit cheaper.
Get more information on all of these new gaming laptops in the rest of my CES coverage over
here! There are like 10 or 11 different videos going into every brand in depth,
and of course my full reviews and benchmarks will be coming as soon as possible,
so make sure you’re subscribed for those! There’s going to be a lot coming this year!