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The best gaming laptops in 2021 make the best of last year seem pedestrian in comparison. With new processors and graphics cards, they can even rival some desktops.
Compare SpecsThe Best Cheap Gaming Laptops for 2021
How do you define what makes for a real gaming laptop? We don t consider any laptop a true gaming machine unless it comes with a dedicated graphics chip (aka, a GPU ), as opposed to the integrated graphics built into the PC s main processor. For us and for sellers of laptops that s the bright line that divides a gamer from a pretender.
Still, depending on the kind of games you play and how fussy you are, sometimes a laptop doesn t have to pretend. On some level, almost any recent notebook PC can work as a gaming laptop. Current general-use laptops with Intel s 9th, 10th, or (more recently) 11th Generation Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs can play basic games passably if you roll back the screen-resolution and graphical-detail settings far enough. These chips have modest graphics acceleration built in, and that s all you need for casual or Web-based games. Plants vs. Zombies, here you come. The best 11th Generation Tiger Lake CPUs