Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

The only gaming laptops you should consider for college

The laptop market is a bit strange right now, which is particularly problematic if you’re going back to school. We’ve seen some of the best gaming laptops ever this year, but many solid laptops for going back to school haven’t been updated to the latest generation yet, making it hard to settle on one machine.

We’ve reviewed dozens of laptops in 2023, and there are only a select few that meet the balance of price, performance, and portability that students demand. If you’re going back to school, these are the only three laptops you should even consider.

The high roller: Razer Blade 14

Razer Blade 14 sitting on a coffee table.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

College students aren’t exactly known for having a lot of disposable income, but if you’re fortunate enough to have some extra cash to throw around, it’s worth spending on the Razer Blade 14. As you can read in our Razer Blade 14 review, it’s a little more expensive than last year’s model, but it comes with updated specs to justify its higher price.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

It’s almost the perfect gaming laptop for college, and if it wasn’t for the $2,400 list price (yikes), it would be perfect. First, the machine debuts AMD’s Ryzen AI in the CPU, which enables webcam effects like background blur and and eye contact during video calls with much higher quality than we typically see. The CPU itself is also a decent performer, though it really shines due to its efficiency. After tuning the machine in Razer Synapse, you can easily get over eight hours of battery life out of the Ryzen 9 7940HS and RTX 4070 inside the laptop.

And on battery life, another huge plus for the Razer Blade 14 is USB-C charging. You should use the 230-watt AC adapter for the fastest charge and best performance, but the Blade 14 supports up to 100W of charging over the USB-C port, allowing you to quickly top off with a small wall adapter between classes.

All of the previous perks of the Razer Blade 14 still apply here, too — the keyboard is one of the best you can find on a laptop, performance is competitive across the board, and the 240Hz display is gorgeous. Most college students won’t be able to afford a machine like the Razer Blade 14, but if you can, it’s worth the price.

The all-arounder: Lenovo Legion Pro 5

Lenovo Legion Pro 5 with the Digital Trends website.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

You can get all of the performance of the Razer Blade 14 for half the price with the Lenovo Legion Pro 5. Starting at around $1,100, it’s a crazy deal assuming you don’t mind a larger laptop that’s a little heavier in your backpack.

The Lenovo Legion Pro 5 delivers over eight hours of battery life away from the charger, and it supports USB-C charging so you don’t need to carry the 230W AC adapter around. The keyboard is also excellent, which is a surprising plus for a laptop that’s focused on providing a good value.

What really stands out is the performance, though. Consistently, Lenovo’s laptops punch above the hardware inside of them, and the Legion Pro 5 is no different. At its native resolution of 2,560 x 1,600, it delivers above 60 frames per second (fps) in games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Returnal when configured with an RTX 4070.

You don’t save over $1,000 without cutting a few corners, though. For as impressive as the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 is, it’s a little heavy at over 5 pounds, and it’s a bit thick at 0.86 inches. The display isn’t the best, either, with decent color and accuracy, but poor brightness. The screen comes with a 165Hz refresh rate, though, so it’s still solid for gaming.

The budget champ: Dell G15

Dell G15 (2023) sitting on a coffee table.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

If you’re shopping for a new gaming laptop, the absolute floor of prices is around $800. There are a handful of options around that price, but I’d recommend Dell’s new G15 above any other. It doesn’t come with extras like USB-C charging, it’s thick and heavy, and the screen isn’t the best, but it still offers great battery life and solid performance for a bargain bin price.

Starting at $800, you’re getting an Intel Core i5-1350HX and an Nvidia RTX 3050. Those are solid specs for the price, though unfortunately, you have to settlr for a single stick of 8GB of DDR5 memory and a 256GB SSD. You’re not going to be pushing ray tracing in Cyberpunk 2077 with this configuration, but the G15 can still hold up in games like Rainbow Six Siege, Fortnite, and DOTA 2 without breaking a sweat.

What the Dell G15 really gets right is build quality. The all-plastic construction can’t hold up to aluminum laptops, but it has minimal keyboard and screen flex, as well as a comfortable matte finish on all surfaces. The keyboard is also much better than its price would suggest, and it’s complemented by a thin number pad.

For most people, though, I would recommend looking at a machine like the Lenovo Legion Pro 5, especially if you can find an open box or refurbished model. The G15 only makes sense at its base, budget-focused configuration, but it’s much more expensive if you step up the specs, and there are better options available for cheaper in that case.

Jacob Roach
Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
AMD’s new Ryzen 9000 CPUs are only cheaper in spirit
The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X between two finger tips.

Following up on reviews for the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X, a flurry of reports are coming out about AMD's pricing for its new Zen 5 CPUs. Across the lineup, which is sure to earn some spots among the best processors, AMD reduced prices compared to the previous generation. That's great. But it's not exactly an accurate picture of pricing right now.

First, the prices. You can see in the picture below the prices for the main four Zen 5 CPUs. Both Ryzen 9 models are $50 cheaper compared to their last-gen counterparts, the Ryzen 7 9700X is $40 cheaper, and the Ryzen 5 9600X is $20 cheaper. That's only true if you compare the list prices that AMD set. Ultimately, it's up to retailers to dictate the final price, which is something we saw in full effect with AMD's last-gen CPUs.

Read more
Nvidia is giving away a $4,690 gaming PC for free
The Falcon NW Talon on a table in an office.

Nvidia is giving away something big. As part of its GeForce Summer program, Nvidia announced that it's giving away a Falcon Northwest Talon desktop currently valued at $4,690 -- and that's ignoring the unique GeForce design etched into the case.

The Talon is a monster PC, so much so that even calling it a "gaming PC" somehow feels reductive. As you can read in our Falcon Northwest Talon review, it's one of the few boutique PCs on the market that brings craftsmanship back into focus. Falcon spares no detail in putting together a PC, and it shows. Despite being one of the best gaming desktops you can buy, there's always been one problem with Falcon Northwest PCs -- they're just so damn expensive.

Read more
Careful — the new Jackbox game is corrupting Steam Decks
The Steam Deck OLED sitting in a case.

The Steam Deck is easily the best handheld gaming PC you can buy, but a new game that launched with native Linux support for the Steam Deck is corrupting some devices. The Jackbox Megapicker, a free launcher for Jackbox party games, is corrupting the installation on SteamOS on the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED, according to multiple sources.

GamingOnLinux first reported the story, which has been confirmed by both the developers and Valve's Pierre-Loup Griffais, following user reports of corrupted installations on Reddit and Discord a few days ago. After installing the game, the Steam Deck would refuse to load. It doesn't completely ruin the device, but if you install The Jackbox Megapicker, you'll be forced to reinstall SteamOS from scratch. That includes creating your own recovery media with Valve's SteamOS image and completely wiping all data from the device.

Read more