Want a powerful new OLED gaming laptop with a $1,000 discount on top? This HyperX Omen Max 16 gaming laptop from HP is down to $3,699.99 right now and features, among other top specs, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 mobile GPU. You'll struggle to find a better spec'd laptop at this price point, and it's much cheaper than buying or building a top spec desktop gaming PC, too.

● Check out this deal at HP

The mobile version of the RTX 5090 isn't quite as beefy as its desktop counterpart, but it's still the best GPU for a laptop that you can buy. Specs wise, it has 10,496 CUDA cores as its disposal, with 24GB of GDDR7 VRAM, operating on a 256-bit memory bus. A peak 175W TDP is much less than the desktop's 575W rating, but laptops are designed to be portable.

What's interesting is the pricing here. This laptop costs $3,699.99, and that's for an entire working system. If you wanted to buy the desktop version of the RTX 5090 alone from a retailer that has it in stock, it'd set you back at least $5,899. You could argue that they're totally different beasts, but PC gaming is getting really expensive. Buying a new desktop PC will set cost you thousands of dollars more than it would have last year. A top-spec laptop this like HyperX Omen Max 16 is the better of the two options from a financial point of view right now, especially as it'll still be able to handle modern games with the best settings for years to come.

As for this laptop, our HyperX Omen Max 16 review made clear that its original launch pricing didn't quite work, with better performance from rival laptops. The $1,000 drop makes it a much more attractive system, with a gorgeous build quality that's "solid as a rock." It's built with aluminum, with no flashy styling gimmicks, just a matte black finish and RGB lighting for the keyboard. It's weighty, too, measuring 14.04 x 10.59 x 1.03 inches and weighing 6.56 pounds.

This HyperX laptop has a 16-inch OLED display, will give you perfect blacks and infinite contrast compared to a cheaper LCD, with an ultra-fast 240Hz refresh rate for smooth, blur-free motion. The top resolution on this laptop's display is 2,500 x 1,600, and coupled with the RTX 5090, you won't struggle to hit the highest frame rates with Ultra graphics presets applied at 1600p, with the option to hook up to an external display using the supplied HDMI port if you prefer.

Games, movies and more are going to look incredible on this OLED panel, as it'll produce rich colors with plenty of depth, with 500-nit rated brightness, along with a max 1,100 for HDR content, to keep things vivid on-screen. Our review found it performed extremely well against the competition, with 131.2 percent of the DCI-P3 color space and 185.2 percent of sRGB. It also beat the MSI Raider 16 Max HX for panel brightness in our tests, with 464.6 nits vs 455.6.

The RTX 5090 is the centerpiece of this laptop, but you're also the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus as your CPU. It ships with 24 cores, eight of which are performance cores, which are good for gaming, along with 16 efficient cores for multi-threaded work. You're getting 32GB of DDR5-6400 RAM included, so no need to worry about the RAMpocalypse with this rig, along with a 2TB SSD offering Gen 5 speeds.

Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 support ensures the fastest wireless connectivity, and you've got plenty of I/O too, including 2.5Gb Ethernet, the already-mentioned HDMI, a headphone jack, and two Type-C ports.

The $3,699.99 sale price for this HyperX Omen Max 16 OLED gaming laptop makes it a much more appealing option for buyers. In a market where an equivalent high spec desktop PC can set you back over $6,000, this price for a high spec laptop with an RTX 5090 is a good one in the current market. Grab it while you can, because HP aren't likely to keep it this cheap for long.

A cracking deal at Walmart could set you up with a brand new gaming laptop, capable of hitting high frame rates at 1080p. This MSI Cyborg 15 gaming laptop is down to $1,049 right now, a saving of $250, and it makes it one of the best value machines you can buy for gaming right now, especially considering the specs.

● Check out this deal at Walmart

This laptop was $100 cheaper last month, but given the AI-fueled boom in PC hardware prices, that's a modest increase for a laptop that is still good value at this price. You're getting a 15.6-inch 1080p display with this MSI laptop, featuring a decent 144Hz refresh rate.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060, meanwhile, is the best component in this rig. You're ditching integrated graphics for a current-gen Nvidia Blackwell GPU with 8GB VRAM and 3,328 CUDA cores. With Nvidia DLSS support enabling multi-frame generation for the most intensive games, you're going to easily hit high frame rates in games on this 1080p display.

The CPU, meanwhile, is an eight-core Intel Core 5 210H CPU, featuring four performance and four efficient cores apiece. You're also getting 16GB of DDR5-5600 RAM, which is a plus, as you're not settling for slower DDR4 speeds. A small compromise, given the price, is the 512GB SSD, which is still Gen 4, so it won't be particularly slow.

The MSI Cyborg 15 has a clear aesthetic for gamers, with a slate gray chassis, combined with a symmetrical pattern on the keyboard and transparent plastic cutouts. The keyboard has four RGB zones, which you can configure, with the chassis also including a fingerprint reader and webcam privacy shutter. There's also a decently large 55.2 Wh battery for those on-the-go gaming sessions.

As for connectivity, you're getting Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 support for wireless networking, while a Gigabit Ethernet port is included if you want to max out your connection. You've got USB-A and USB-C ports, along with an HDMI 2.1 port to hook up your laptop to a separate monitor.

The $1,049 sale price for this MSI Cyborg 15 makes it one of the best value laptops on the market right now for 1080p gaming. You're not settling for outdated components, with the RTX 5060 setting you up for gaming for several years to come. If you want a budget-friendly rig before the holiday season, this is the deal you'll want to take advantage of.

Best Buy is throwing a huge sale for Labor Day, meaning you can grab a big discount on tech right now. In fact, you can save up to $900 on select gaming laptops, along with $500 off a new MacBook. Gaming PCs are on sale, too, with up to $600 knocked off big-brand tech, along with monitor savings of up to $500 also available.

● Check out Best Buy's tech sales

It's the end of the summer break, and with back-to-school deals all around us, now could be the best opportunity to pick up a bargain before the prices go up again. The PC hardware market is running super hot right now, with RAM and SSD costs pushing prices up, and a deal from a big retailer like Best Buy is a great way to treat yourself without breaking the bank.

We've put together some of the biggest and best discounts on offer from Best Buy below. You better be quick, though, as these deals are set to run out in less than 24 hours, and could sell out before then.

Best Buy Labor Day Gaming Laptop and Handheld Deals

Best Buy Labor Day Gaming PC Deals

Best Buy Labor Day Monitor Deals

In today’s AI-dominated tech space, gamers have been bombarded with rising prices for storage, memory, and even GPUs. So gamers are increasingly looking for value when purchasing a new system. To that end, HP is attempting to deliver solid gaming performance at an accessible price with the HyperX Omen 15. It’s worth noting that the Omen now takes the place of the Victus 15 in HP’s mainstream gaming laptop range, with the Omen Max occupying the top spot.

The Omen 15 has a strong foundation with a Core Ultra 9 processor, 32GB of RAM, a 15.3-inch 1800p OLED display, and a sleek design. HP delivers all this for just over $2,000, and it has strong gaming performance, but there are compromises in chassis construction and features you’d expect at this price point.

Design of the HyperX Omen 15

The Omen 15 shares its design language with the slightly larger Omen Max 16 that I previously reviewed. It’s an unassuming design, finished in Shadow Black, with just a hint of shimmering flakes if you look closely under light. There aren’t any garish design flourishes or additional RGB effects (other than the keyboard).

Like the Omen Max 16, the Omen 15 identifies itself with an “O15” script on the right side of the deck. Given that the Omen 15 is less than half the price of its larger sibling, you only get an aluminum lid. Everything else, including the upper and lower chassis, is constructed of a much cheaper (and more pliable) plastic.

The desk easily deforms when pressing on it, and the whole laptop flexes with minimal effort, twisting it from corner to corner. The overall feel of the laptop doesn’t quite seem up to par with what I’d expect from a gaming laptop priced over $2,000.

There’s also another interesting omission when looking around the chassis. Despite its price tag, there are no Thunderbolt ports. And you only get one USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port on the back, beside an HDMI 2.1 port. There’s a GbE Ethernet port and a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port on the right side of the chassis, while a proprietary barrel-style power port, another USB-A port, and a 3.5 mm combo audio jack are on the left.

Our Omen 15 review unit measures 13.5 x 9.96 x 0.93 inches and weighs 4.89 pounds. For comparison, the Gigabyte Aero X16 is 14 x 9.9 x 0.78 inches and 4.2 pounds, while the Framework Laptop 16 measures 14.03 x 11.43 x 0.82 inches and 5.29 pounds. Finally, the Predator Triton 14 AI is 12.68 x 8.84 x 0.71 inches and 3.5 pounds (due to its smaller 14.5-inch display).

HyperX Omen 15 Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the HyperX Omen 15

Our Omen 15 review unit came configured with an Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor, 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory, and a GeForce RTX 5070 GPU (85W TGP).

As for the assembled competitors, we have the Aero X16 (Ryzen AI 7 350, 32GB, RTX 5070 85W), Predator Triton 14 AI (Core Ultra 9 288V, RTX 5070 110W), and Framework Laptop 16 (Ryzen AI 7 350, RTX 5070 100W).

I’ve been playing a lot of Battlefield 6 recently, and I tend to run at native resolution in Overkill detail mode, with DLSS Quality and frame generation enabled. However, I dialed it back to High detail mode instead of Overkill to accommodate just 8GB of memory on the RTX 5070. Using these settings, I was able to average between 70 and 85 frames per second.

We start off our gaming benchmarks with Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest settings), where the Omen 15 started off on the right foot with 126 FPS at 1080p resolution and 60 FPS at 1800p. The Framework Laptop 16 eked out 6 additional FPS at 1080p and another 17 at its native resolution. However, we still consider it a good showing, given that the RTX 5070 in the Omen 15 operates at a 85W TGP (versus 100W for the Framework) and at a higher native resolution (1800p versus 1600p).

Cyberpunk 2077 (Ray Tracing Ultra settings) again saw the Omen 15 in second place to the Laptop 16. This time, it hit 35 FPS at 1080p resolution compared to 38 FPS for the Laptop 16. Performance at 1800p was in the single digits for the Omen 15, while the Laptop 16 managed 18 FPS. Both are slideshow-worthy numbers that are nothing to brag about.

Far Cry 6 (Ultra settings) was a high point for the Omen 15, which bested all competitors with 107 FPS at 1080p resolution. Cranking the dial to 1800p, that figure dropped to 69 FPS, compared to 70 FPS for the Aero X16 running at 1600p. The Laptop 16 forged ahead with 83 FPS at 1600p.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Medium settings) was something of a sore spot for the Omen 15 (59 FPS at 1080p), which fell well below the Aero X16 (78 FPS) and the Laptop 16 (91 FPS). Boosting the resolution to 1800p also saw the Omen 15 in third place, with 35 FPS, well off the pace set by the Laptop 16 (57 FPS).

Forza Horizon 6 (Ultra settings) is a more recent benchmark in our testing suite, and so far, the Omen 15 is the only entry in this class of gaming laptops. With that said, the Omen 15 achieved 80 FPS at 1080p and 51 FPS at 1800p.

On our Metro Exodus stress test, the Omen 15 review unit averaged 141.62 FPS at 1080p across 15 loops using the RTX preset. The CPU performance cores averaged 3.52 GHz, the efficiency cores averaged 2.82 GHz, and the low-power efficiency cores ran at 1.9 GHz. The RTX 5070 GPU averaged 2.0 GHz.

Productivity Performance on the HyperX Omen 15

With a Core Ultra 9 386H processor, 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory, and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD onboard, we expected solid performance from the Omen 15. Those expectations were met in terms of CPU performance, while storage performance lagged a bit behind the competition.

The Omen 15 performed well in Geekbench 6, hitting 2,857 in the single-core benchmark, keeping it right in the mix with the other competitors. However, it sprinted out ahead of the pack in multi-core, delivering 15,916 compared to 14,074 on the second-place Aero X16.

The Omen 15 was at the back of the pack on our file transfer test, coming in at 999 MBps from the Samsung MZVMX1T0HCLD-00BH1 SSD versus an average of around just under 1,500 MBps for the other three competitors.

Moving on to our HandBrake test, where we transcode a 4K video file to 1080p, the Omen 15 took the top spot, finishing the task in 3 minutes and 39 seconds. That was about 15 seconds faster than the second-place Aero X16.

Display on the HyperX Omen 15

Our review unit came equipped with a 15.3-inch 2880 x 1800 OLED display. Interestingly, the refresh rate is limited to just 120 Hz, compared to the faster 144 Hz to 165 Hz that we see in competitors like the Aero X16 and Laptop 16.

The Omen 15’s OLED panel performed roughly on par with the rest of the laptops in this segment, as it covered 132.3 percent of the DCI-P3 color space and 186.8 percent of sRGB. It even managed to take the top spot in the brightness category, hitting 460.2 nits compared to 444 nits for the Laptop 16.

I love OLED panels, and the 1800p unit on the Omen 15 just proves that that love shows no sign of abating. Colors looked rich, blacks were jet black, and brightness levels in my home office setting (with an abundance of overhead lighting) were more than adequate.

I played quite a bit of Forza Horizon 6 using the Omen 15, and marveled at the bright, colorful, and reflective car bodies as I competed in various events.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the HyperX Omen 15

There have been noticeable improvements made to the Omen 15’s keyboard, at least compared to the previous Victus 15. The biggest change is the move from half-height arrow keys to full-size. The tiny, half-height function keys have also been enlarged.

HP also boasts of an 8K polling rate for the Omen 15’s keyboard (equating to a response time of 0.125 ms). I wouldn’t consider myself to be a highly competitive gamer, so any upgrades in this area are lost on me. The keyboard also features 4-zone RGB backlighting.

Using the Keyhero.com typing test, I averaged around 87 words per minute with 95% accuracy, which is on par with my typical typing speed. I found the keyboard comfortable for typing and gaming.

There’s nothing particularly noteworthy about the touchpad, which features a top-hinged design. Its surface allowed my finger to glide smoothly, although it is a bit loud and clanky when clicked.

Audio on the HyperX Omen 15

The Omen 15 features stereo speakers supporting DTS:X Ultra and HyperX Audio Control. I was pleasantly surprised by the sound emanating from the speaker, which was rich in volume and clarity. While lacking any real semblance of bass, the underlying output was clean.

I took the opportunity to fire up “Mujahadin and Opium,” which is a horn- and string-filled track by John Barry from The Living Daylights soundtrack. There is just something very chilling about the interplay of the strings and horns; the former of which starts the track, while the latter beautifully fills in classic James Bond tradition.

The speakers also did well to mimic engine sounds as I went corner carving in Forza Horizon 6, be it a high-strung flat-6 or a burbling V8.

Upgradeability of the HyperX Omen 15

Flipping the Omen 15 over to reveal its bottom panel, you’ll find five screws holding it in place. Three of the screws are exposed, while the two corner screws at the back are hidden beneath tiny rubber plugs. I needed to use a safety pin to pry them out, which was annoying.

With the panel removed, you’ll find easy access to the battery, both M.2 SSD bays, the Wi-Fi card, and the two SO-DIMM slots (which are covered by a flexible I/O shield).

Battery Life on the HyperX Omen 15

The Omen 15 is powered by a 70 WHr battery, and it performed well against its peers. Our battery test leverages web browsing, video streaming over Wi-Fi, and OpenGL testing with the screen brightness set at 150 nits.

The HyperX laptop endured for 8 hours and 30 minutes, which was 10 minutes longer than the Laptop 16 and 14 minutes longer than the Predator Triton 14 AI. However, it was no match for the Aero X16, which lasted 9 hours and 13 minutes.

Heat on the HyperX Omen 15

During the Metro Exodus stress test, we measured the Omen 15's keyboard at 95.4 degrees Fahrenheit (F) between the G and H keys, while the touchpad was 85.1 F.

The hottest part of the laptop was near the bottom-rear of the chassis, measuring 110 F.

While running the Metro Exodus stress test, the CPU measured 63.4 degrees Celsius (C). Meanwhile, the RTX 5070 came in at 63.2 C.

Webcam on the HyperX Omen 15

The Omen 15 uses a standard 1080p webcam with IR capabilities, meaning it can be used with Windows Hello biometric authentication in Windows 11.

The camera is fine, and by no means a standout in any particular area. It covers the basics, offering decent color reproduction, and did a passable job of picking out my facial hair. However, I did notice a fair amount of noise in the image. However, if you mainly use the camera to hop on a few Zoom calls here and there, it’s more than adequate.

HyperX Omen 15 Software and Warranty

HP has no qualms about loading up its systems with a copious amount of apps, as you'll find a variety of software including HP, HP Documentation, HP PC Hardware Diagnostics, HP Smart, HP Privacy Settings, and HP TV+ (and that's not even all of them).

However, the HP utility that you'll probably interact with the most is the Omen Gaming Hub. Here you'll find controls for tweaking nearly every aspect of the system, from power modes to RGB lighting for the keyboard.

The Omen 15 comes with a one-year manufacturer warranty.

HyperX Omen 15 Configurations

Our Omen 15 review unit came configured with an Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor, 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, and a 2880 x 1800 OLED 120 Hz display. It’s listed on HP’s website with an MSRP of $2,799, but is currently available for $2,099 with a 25% off coupon.

There are various configurations available with slightly different specs, but the 15-ga0762nr SKU features a Core i7-14650HX processor, 16GB of DDR5-5600 RAM, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, an RTX 5060 GPU, and a 2560 x 1600 OLED with a 180 Hz refresh rate. This system is priced at $1,999, or just a $100 discount compared to our review unit’s sale price. However, the price disparity makes more sense when you consider our review unit’s MSRP.

Bottom Line

On the one hand, the HyperX Omen 15 has solid gaming performance across the board, and its CPU performance in productivity tasks is top-of-the-class. In addition, the 15.3-inch OLED display looks great and offers an expansive 2880 x 1800 resolution.

On the other hand, the chassis is constructed of cheap and flexy plastic, while SSD performance lags behind its competitors. In addition, the display is limited to a 120 Hz refresh rate, and you don’t get any Thunderbolt ports (if that’s something that’s important to you at this price point).

Where things get even more complicated is with pricing. Our review unit carries an MSRP of $2,799, but HP is currently selling it for $2,099 after discounts. At MSRP, our review unit is an absolute non-starter, while the sale price makes it a much more palatable option. But even at its sale price, we feel that the Gigabyte Aero X16 makes a far more compelling buy at just $1,799.

It's officially Labor Day, and Amazon has been hosting its Labor Day sales event with discounts of up to 46% on tech products all weekend. If you're on the hunt for some great bargains, then take a look at the list of our favorite deals that are still available, but you don't have much time left.

Amazon has a little bit of everything on sale, from QD OLED gaming monitors to SSDs to gaming headsets, keyboards, mice, and webcams. There are also some great prices on networking gear, from mesh network routers to switches and even some gaming-oriented routers.

These sales are set to finish tonight (Monday, September 7, 2026) so, if you see anything you like, you'll need to act fast before the deals run out.

• See Amazon's Labor Day sales

Alienware’s 16X Aurora (starts at $1,979.99) isn’t just another spec-sheet powerhouse – it’s a statement in restraint. Alienware has shifted toward performance-first minimalism with a cleaner, RGB-free chassis, but it doesn’t compromise on the specs: a 16-inch OLED display running at a blistering 240 Hz, Intel’s Core Ultra HX-series CPU, and Nvidia’s latest RTX 50-series graphics. While its bulk and limited battery life prevents it from being a great travel companion, the Aurora’s overall competence make it worth your attention.

Design of the Alienware 16X Aurora

The Aurora is a discreet gaming laptop. Aside from its nearly inch-thick profile, it does little to distinguish itself. Alienware’s “interstellar indigo” chassis is plain, and the iconic Alien head on the lid is hard to see against it. Unlike many previous-generation Alienware laptops, this one has no external lighting.

Alienware’s build quality is substantial, with aluminum top and bottom panels. A magnesium internal frame keeps the laptop rigid, though the lid can still be opened one-handed. Rounded edges on the bottom of the chassis make the Aurora comfortable to transport, though at 5.66 pounds, it’s a handful. Acer’s Nitro V 16S AI (4.55 pounds) and Gigabyte’s Aero X16 (4.2 pounds) are much lighter.

Alienware’s port selection spreads across the left and rear edges: Thunderbolt 4, USB-C (10 Gbps), two USB-A (5 Gbps), HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, and an audio jack. Having some connections on the back, particularly the barrel-style power connector, preserves mouse space. Internally, the Aurora includes Wi-Fi 7 courtesy of a MediaTek MT7925 card.

Alienware 16X Aurora Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the Alienware 16X Aurora

We tested the 16X Aurora in its entry-level configuration, featuring a Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus processor, a GeForce RTX 5060 GPU, and 16GB of dual-channel DDR5-5600 RAM.

I saw between 60 and 70 frames per second (fps) playing 007 First Light at 2560 x 1600 with medium settings and DLSS (but not frame generation). The game ran smoothly and didn’t stutter.

For performance comparisons, the Aurora faced the Acer Nitro V 16S AI (Ryzen 7 260, RTX 5060 85 W, $1,299.99 when tested), the Asus TUF Gaming F16 (Core i7-14650HX, RTX 5050 115 W, $1,199.99), and the Gigabyte Aero X16 (Ryzen AI 7 350, RTX 5070 85 W, $1,899.99).

Our comparisons will focus on the 1920 x 1080 resolution. We also included results at each laptop's native resolution: 2560 x 1600 for our Aurora as well as the Gigabyte Aero X16, and 1920 x 1200 for the Acer Nitro and Asus TUF units.

The Aurora 16X is competitive but doesn't stand out in this group. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Far Cry 6, and Borderlands 3, it performed 20 to 25% better than the RTX 5060-powered Acer and RTX 5050-powered Asus, but those two surprisingly did better in Cyberpunk 2077 and matched the Aurora in Red Dead Redemption 2.

The Aurora produced varied results against the RTX 5070-powered Gigabyte; While the Aurora took a sizable lead in Far Cry 6 and matched it in Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Borderlands 3, it fell behind in Cyberpunk 2077 and Borderlands 3.

At its 2560 x 1600 native resolution, the Aurora took a drastic performance hit of around 50% from 1080p – from 111 to 64 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, 101 to 72 fps in Far Cry 6, 99 to 64 fps in Borderlands 3, 28 to 15 fps in Cyberpunk 2077, and 69 to 45 fps in Red Dead Redemption 2 – but, excepting Cyberpunk 2077, its performance remained playable.

To stress-test gaming laptops, we run 15 loops of the Metro Exodus benchmark at RTX settings, simulating about half an hour of gaming. The Aurora averaged 76 fps across all runs with no more than a fraction of one frame between runs. During the test, the Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus ran at 3.1 GHz on its P-cores and 2.5 GHz on its E-cores while the RTX 5060 ran at 2.48 GHz.

Productivity Performance on the Alienware 16X Aurora

Our Aurora 16X arrives with a Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD.

Powered by the Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus, the Aurora predictably outclassed these competitors, which all use previous-generation processors and/or lower-tier chips. In Geekbench 6, it took the top single-core (3,065) and multi-core (17,753) scores, distantly trailed by the Core i7-14650HX-powered Asus (2,710 and 15,013) and Ryzen AI 7 350-powered Gigabyte (2,916 and 14,074). It also clinched the leading time of 2 minutes and 25 seconds in our 4K-to-1080p Handbrake transcoding test, easily outdoing the Asus (3:33), Gigabyte (3:54), and Acer (4:32).

The Aurora also took top honors in our 25GB file transfer test, averaging 2,358.23 MBps. Acer’s Nitro V 16S AI (1,838.88 MBps), the next fastest unit, wasn’t even close.

Display on the Alienware 16X Aurora

All Aurora configurations include the same 16-inch OLED panel with a 2560 x 1600 resolution, 240 Hz refresh rate, and Nvidia G-Sync support. It’s the laptop’s standout feature, pairing the inky contrast expected from OLED with vivid color and unusually strong brightness for this panel type.

In 007 First Light, OLED added a level of depth that a lesser display wouldn’t match, giving shadow-heavy night scenes a richer, moodier look while keeping Malta’s sunlit desert environments bright and crisp. The panel’s sharpness and color also stood out while watching Avengers: Endgame, where fine details such as the nano-texture pattern on Iron Man’s suit were easy to pick out. There’s little to criticize here: the Aurora’s display is excellent.

Our lab results back that up. The Aurora peaked at 381.4 nits, which is bright for OLED and nearly tied the IPS-equipped Acer Nitro V 16S AI at 391.8 nits while nudging past the Gigabyte Aero X16’s 368.6 nits. Color coverage was also impressive, reaching 138% of DCI-P3 and topping both the Asus TUF Gaming F16 at 122.2% and the Gigabyte at 110.8%.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Alienware 16X Aurora

I nearly matched my personal best typing speed on the 16X Aurora, hitting 123 words per minute with 99% accuracy in the MonkeyType typing test. The keys have enough travel and a precise feel, but the overall typing experience is competent rather than memorable. The RGB backlighting only has one zone, and while Alienware Command Center offers effects such as breathing, morph, pulse, spectrum, and rainbow wave, the excitement is undermined by the lighting being too dim to stand out in a well-lit room.

The touchpad is similarly ordinary. It’s average-sized, with a smooth tracking surface and predictable top-hinged mechanical clicks, though those clicks are louder than I prefer.

Audio on the Alienware 16X Aurora

The Aurora’s speakers are serviceable but unremarkable. Their placement on the sides of the palm rest creates a decent stereo effect, and output is clean enough, with no obvious tinniness and adequate volume for personal listening. In Phil Collins’ “Don’t Lose My Number,” however, drum hits lacked low-end impact, even though vocals came through clearly and instrument separation was strong.

Movies and games fare better with the Dolby app’s Movie and Gaming modes since they boost the sense of surround sound and help the sound feel fuller, but the weak bass still holds back the overall experience.

Upgradeability of the Alienware 16X Aurora

The Aurora is about as upgradeable as laptops get. Opening it up is mostly straightforward - undo the Philips-head screws in the bottom cover, then use a plastic pry tool to pop the clips around the edges. Not all the screws are the same size, and the rear corners are captive and don’t come out.

Upgrades include two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots under the square black shield between the cooling fans, two M.2 2280 drive slots, an M.2 2230 wireless card, and the 96 Whr battery.

Battery Life on the Alienware 16X Aurora

Our battery testing consists of web browsing, running OpenGL tests, and streaming videos with the screen at 150 nits while connected to Wi-Fi. The Aurora’s time of 7 hours and 58 minutes is middling, outlasting only the Asus (6:57). The Gigabyte (9:13) and the Acer (10:17) both lasted several hours longer.

Heat on the Alienware 16X Aurora

During our 15-loop Metro Exodus stress test, surface temperatures on the Aurora were 101 degrees Fahrenheit (F) between the G and H keys, 83 F on the touchpad, and 101 F on the underside around the exhaust vents.

Internally, the Core Ultra 7 270HX plus averaged 67 Celsius (C) while the RTX 5060 ran at 73 C.

Webcam on the Alienware 16X Aurora

Alienware’s 1080p webcam shows slight grain and the image looks slightly over-sharpened, but the picture is well-exposed, colorful, and doesn’t blow out highlights. It’s missing a privacy shutter, but that’s not unusual for a gaming laptop. It does, however, include an IR sensor for facial recognition logins via Windows Hello.

Software and Warranty on the Alienware 16X Aurora

The Aurora’s main app is Alienware Command Center, which brings system monitoring, power profiles, keyboard lighting, and game library management into one place. Its power presets cover battery, quiet, balanced, and performance modes, while AlienFX handles the single-zone RGB keyboard effects. The app also links out to Dolby for audio tuning. Dell SupportAssist is also included for support access and system updates.

The laptop is backed by a one-year warranty.

Alienware 16X Aurora Configurations

We tested the 16X Aurora in a mildly upgraded configuration, which pairs a Core Ultra 7 270HX processor with an RTX 5060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. It retails for $2,279.99 from Dell, though I saw it as low as $1,679.99 during our review period. The base model drops to a 512GB SSD and retails for $1,529.99.

Available upgrades include a Core Ultra 9 290HX CPU and RTX 5070 or RTX 5070 Ti graphics. Adding both the Ultra 9 and the 5070 Ti pushes the price to $3,029.99. The memory tops out at 64GB (two 32GB modules) and storage drives are available up to 4TB (two 2TB drives in RAID 0).

Standard features across all models include the 16-inch 2560 x 1600 OLED display, 96 Whr battery, single-zone keyboard backlighting, and Wi-Fi 7.

Dell’s pricing seems to align with the market – I found various other gaming laptops featuring a Core HX-class CPU, a premium screen, and an RTX 5060 or RTX 5070 for within about $100 of what the Aurora commanded.

Bottom Line

The Alienware 16X Aurora is a highly competent gaming laptop with a clear highlight: its superb 16-inch OLED display. It pairs solid gaming performance with reassuring build quality, practical connectivity, and strong upgradeability, while avoiding any major pitfalls. Portability is the main tradeoff, as its weight, size, and middling battery life make it feel more like a desktop replacement than an everyday carry than something like the Razer Blade 16. But if you want a sturdy, capable 16-inch gaming system with a gorgeous screen and few real compromises, the Aurora is easy to recommend.

A great deal on an OLED gaming laptop could be yours, if you're quick. This Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI machine has dropped to just $1,899.99 right now, giving you a machine capable of X, thanks to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti included within. Powerful GPU aside, this 16-inch laptop also ships with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD, with this deal saving you $300 on its usual price thanks to Best Buy's Labor Day sale.

● Check out this deal at Best Buy

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI features an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti laptop GPU with 12GB of fast GDDR7 VRAM, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD. This is a high-end spec sheet built with gaming in mind. The 16-inch display is one of the big MVP's here, though, with an insanely fast 240Hz refresh rate on a gorgeous-looking OLED panel that'll make games look stunningly vibrant.

You simply won't find a better alternative for gaming on a laptop than an OLED panel like this one, either. OLED's are fast, with near-instantaneous response times and infinite contrast ratios that give a depth and clarity to the colors on your screen that a traditional LCD can't really match.

For gaming, the mobile version of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is still powerful, even if it doesn't quite match the desktop version. It still has 12GB of VRAM, however, which will mean you can easily hit high frame rates at the OLED display's native 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, along with a pared-down count of 5,888 CUDA cores. You'll be able to manage high and ultra graphics presets in the most intensive games, with Nvidia DLSS support helping in a crunch, thanks to multi-frame generation.

32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD means you're not compromising on storage or memory with this Acer gaming laptop, despite the AI price boom affecting the entire market this year. Both are more than enough to handle the demands of modern gaming, along with any productivity work you might need to complete. You're also getting the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU, which has 24 cores, eight of which are the best-for-gaming performance cores.

You're getting a mix of plastic and metal with this laptop's chassis, all-black with RGB lighting, with customizable zones all over. You've got longevity with this build, too, with two DDR5 RAM slots that support up to 64GB, along with two M.2 slots. It's thin and lightweight, weighing just 5lbs with a thickness of just 19mm. You get a good amount of ports, too, including USB-C, and USB-A, along with Ethernet and HDMI. Wireless connectivity is included with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4, with a 76Wh battery that Acer claims will last almost all day long.

The $1,899.99 sale price for this 16-inch Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI gaming laptop is a seriously good one in the current market. Less than $2,000 for an OLED gaming laptop, especially with these specs, is a deal that you'll struggle to match elsewhere. This Best Buy Labor Day sale discount is set to run out by September 7, but with a deal this good, expect it to sell out before then.

Asus has been putting liquid metal on mobile dies used in its laptops for a few years at this point. Liquid metal as a TIM has its place, but it's a highly inconsistent solution to a problem that can be solved by other materials. Such was the case with u/nicknickmeetnick, whose Zephyrus M16 gaming laptop was overheating and restarting on its own. Turns out, the instability came from an issue born from the factory — the liquid metal applied on the CPU had slowly eaten away at the heatsink and almost reached the silicon itself.

The post above explains the ordeal in detail and how the user ultimately fixed their problems. The laptop in question is a Zephyrus M16 model from 2022 with an Intel Core i9-12900H processor that was bought just over three years ago. During this period, the laptop was mostly used for lightweight tasks instead of gaming or anything that'd stress it. However, as of late, Nick started to run into various issues where his laptop would overheat and thermal throttle to the point of hard-crashing. Before it'd crash, performance in games would already be degraded.

Nick felt his machine was getting warmer than usual, so he ordered some PTM7950 phase change material to repaste the aging hardware. He was ready to use GD900 thermal paste, but upon opening the laptop, he discovered something shocking. The liquid metal on the CPU was so poorly applied that the overheating processor made some of the liquid metal burn onto the heatsink. Underneath, there's only a thin lid that protects the silicon, and Asus applies liquid metal on top of that as well. The metal here had also spilled out of its dedicated cavity.

We don't need to tell you why that would be a devastating and instantaneous catastrophe. Liquid metal is electrically conductive, which means if it comes into contact with surrounding componentry, it can create microbridges that will short anything in the way. Asus, however, seems to be mixing some abrasive chemicals into the liquid metal to make it more adhesive, such that it sticks to the die better. Unfortunately, these chemicals eat away at the metal over time and cause corrosion.

That's ostensibly what wore out the heatsink and almost the lid underneath as well. Had the user waited for just a while longer, the liquid metal could've seeped onto the die itself. Thankfully, the rogue TIM was removed just in time, but even that process was quite interesting. The OP explained how he used dried cotton to manipulate the existing liquid metal into sanding away the corrosion before taking everything out. For that, he used lots of isopropyl alcohol with cotton sticks to form the liquid metal into a blob that was easy to pluck away with painter's tape.

Once the CPU was nice and clean (well, as clean as possible), OP re-applied GD900 thermal paste and closed everything back up. Right away, the temperatures improved tenfold, and the laptop ran much cooler. Remember, the PTM7950 hasn't even arrived yet, so it will only get better from here. The random reboots stopped, and the only game Nick plays with his kids is now running three times as smoothly. Removing the liquid metal tripled his FPS and restored the Zephyrus M16 to its full glory.

He advised others to do the same. In fact, he suggests banning liquid metal entirely from electronics. It shouldn't be used in laptops to begin with since they're portable devices that move a lot, but even discrete GPUs that sit still for years face problems. This wasn't an isolated case either. A simple Google search returned a dozen different posts on Reddit about liquid metal woes on Asus laptops, which just goes to show that automated, assembly-line liquid metal application is still not perfect.

Ahead of the Labor Day weekend, HP is hosting its Labor Day sales event with discounts of up to 65% on HP gaming PCs, desktop computers, gaming and productivity laptops, and HyperX peripherals. If you're on the hunt for some great bargains, then take a look at our list of some of our favorite available deals.

With Labor Day looming, it also heralds the end of the summer break and the return to school, so taking advantage of a sales event like this is a great opportunity to pick up some essential pieces of tech at a discount ahead of the new semester, or just as a new gaming system; there doesn't need to be a reason to treat yourself.

A gaming laptop with an original design and a big discount could be yours. There's a huge $900 saving on this Asus ROG Flow Z13 right now, bringing the price down to $2,099.99. This rig is fit for serious gaming, but it can transform into an easy-to-use touch-screen tablet, too.

● Check out this deal on Best Buy

The Asus ROG Flow Z13 comes with a 13.4-inch IPS display, offering an 180Hz refresh rate and a max resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. The display is also a touchscreen and comes with Gorilla Glass protection to help avoid damage. The laptop's design means you can switch from an ordinary laptop to a tablet orientation using the built-in kickstand.

The specs in this portable rig are pretty formidable. You're getting a 16-core AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor with integrated Radeon 8060S graphics, along with 64GB of LPDDR5X unified memory running at 8,000 MT/s and a 1TB SSD for storage. This Strix Halo CPU is a good option for gaming at 1080p, but you might need to compromise on your graphics presets to reach 1440p to keep those frame rates high.

The build quality of this Asus ROG Flow Z13 is high, too. It's constructed from a CNC-cut aluminum block for a completely solid structure, and features a lightweight stainless steel vapor chamber to efficiently dissipate heat while giving the laptop extra physical strength. Liquid metal thermal cooling helps to keep the CPU nice and cool under heavy loads while also keeping it as quiet as possible, even during heavy gaming or while using AI apps.

This 2-in-1 convertible laptop is a great option for those who are always on the go. The $2,099.99 sale price for this Asus ROG Flow Z13 laptop is a decent one in the current market, especially with RAM costs skyrocketing. Pick it up while the current discount lasts.

If you're in the market for a potent gaming laptop, then the mobile RTX 5090 is as good as it gets. Right now at Walmart, you can scoop up a Gigabyte Aorus Master 16-inch gaming laptop with RTX 5090, 240Hz OLED display, 24-core Arrow Lake CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD for just $3,599, a whopping $800 off the list price.

● Check out this deal at Walmart

This laptop features Intel's Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, with 24 cores, eight performance and 16 efficiency, 5.4 GHz boost clock speeds, and 40MB Total L2 Cache. With the heavy lifting for gaming done by the GPU and its 24GB of VRAM, this is a superb laptop for both work and play.

For the price, this is a serious bit of mobile gaming hardware. The GPU and CPU will combine to give you the very best gaming performance you can expect from a mobile graphics unit, all while offering decent efficiency and speeds in productivity workloads. We've reviewed the RTX 5080 version of this laptop with the same CPU, beating out rivals in Geekbench 6 testing for CPU performance.

Even the RTX 5080 version of this laptop can run Shadow of the Tomb Raider at its highest settings at 185 frames per second in 1080p, or 114 frames per second at its native resolution. As such, you can expect a big leap in performance from the more potent 5090, with titles like Cyberpunk 2077 easily playable at the native 2560 x 1600 resolution this laptop offers. The OLED display of this laptop also impressed us, beating rivals in our display measurement testing thanks to its 240Hz OLED screen.

Aside from the headline specs, this laptop also offers ample RAM and storage, 32GB of DDR5 (one spec page says 16GB, but the listing and marketing images clearly state 32GB) and a 2TB Gen 4 SSD respectively.

Connectivity is supplied by way of Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, and ports include USB-C with Thunderbolt 5, USB 3.2 Type-A, MicroSD card slot, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. If you want a no-nonsense laptop that offers the most mobile graphics power of any machine on the market, this could be a fantastic laptop for heading back to school or campus.

Buying a gaming laptop is a great way to sidestep the exorbitant costs of RAM, SSDs, and GPUs that are plaguing the PC component market in 2026. Right now, Best Buy is selling a premium Lenovo gaming laptop with a massive discount as part of its 60th anniversary sale. Normally $4,249, a $1,350 discount gets you a 2.5K, 16-inch OLED laptop with Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and Nvidia RTX 5080 GPU.

● Grab this deal at Best Buy

This premium laptop combines a hefty mobile GPU for gaming with an impressive 240Hz, 2560 x 1600 screen, plenty of RAM for multitasking, lots of storage, and great networking and connectivity options. We absolutely loved it in our review and this $1,350 discount makes it all the more enticing.

This is a premium gaming laptop that scored well in our Tom's Hardware review. The display in particular is outstanding, as is the sleek aluminum design, customizable RGB lighting, and sharp webcam. As you can see below, the laptop performs extremely well in our display measurements testing thanks to that impressive OLED panel.

We actually tested the 5080, 32GB RAM, 275HX variant of this laptop, which means we can tell you exactly how the device performs when gaming. In our gaming benchmarks, the Legion Pro 7i pumps out 163 frames per second in Shadow of the Tom Raider at 1080p, or 101 frames per second at the laptop's native resolution of 2560 x 1600. We also clocked Crysis Remastered at Very High, running in the mid-90s, with the 16 VRAM pool and 175W power draw putting in plenty of work.

This is a laptop that will handle anything you throw at it, work or play. Other noteworthy features include 32GB of DDR5 6400 RAM, 1TB SSD, HDMI, USB-C, and USB-A ports, as well as a headphone jack, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4. It also has an impressive 1440p webcam and scope for upgradeability thanks to its two M.2 drives. As per our review, this is an "outstanding" laptop that easily passes muster in terms of performance, while blowing us away with its OLED screen.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

Walmart isn't the first choice you think of for computers and components, but it, of course, does stock them and is guilty of being a bit of a sleeper when it comes to hosting some great tech deals if you can find them. One of the main deals I spot at Walmart is on their gaming laptop selections, and today, we have a $350 saving on a little 15-inch gaming powerhouse for under a grand. MSI's Cyborg 15 with RTX 5060 graphics is just $949. That's a pretty good price for an entire gaming laptop in the current economic climate, and at a price that many can afford.

● Check out this deal at Walmart

The Cyborg has a 15.6-inch 1080p display with a 144Hz refresh rate, more than ample resolution for a small screen. Images will appear crisp thanks to the pixel density on the 15.6-inch IPS panel. Powering the display is an Nvidia RTX 5060 laptop GPU with 8GB of VRAM, plenty of memory for 1080p gaming. Rounding out the rest of the internal specs for the MSI Cyborg is an 8-core Intel Core 5 210H CPU, 16 GB of DDR5-5600 RAM, and a 512 GB PCIe 4.0 SSD.

The Cyborg 15 has a distinct aesthetic, with a slate gray coloring to its outer shell and a somewhat symmetrical pattern on the keyboard, with some transparent plastic cutouts. There's 4-zone RGB lighting on the keyboard, a fingerprint reader, a webcam shutter, and a healthily large 55.2Wh battery.

Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless networking, and an Ethernet port for a stronger cabled network. For your peripherals, there are fast USB ports that include USB-A and USB-C (DisplayPort and Power Delivery 3.0) ports, and an HDMI 2.1 (4k 60) port for hooking up to an external display.

The MSI Cyborg 15 in this deal is a 2026 model selling for just $949 at Walmart right now, making it one of the cheapest up-to-date RTX 5060 gaming laptops we've seen in a while, and a great counter to the ever-rising price barriers to jumping into PC gaming.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

We've been highlighting the benefits of going down the pre-built gaming PC and laptop route a lot recently, thanks to the ever-rising prices of PC components. Today is another example of a price cut on a ready-made gaming computer that might be the saviour of those looking to buy into PC gaming in the current climate. Hitting a new all-time low price at Amazon is the Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 AI, falling to $2,199.99. That's a saving of $600 from its most recent sale price of $2799.99, which we've confirmed via price comparison sites.

● Check out this deal at Amazon

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 AI features an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti laptop GPU with 12GB of fast GDDR7 VRAM, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD. These components power your gaming on the huge 18-inch IPS display with an insanely fast 240Hz refresh rate and 3ms overdrive response time.

The chassis of the Predator Helios Neo 18 AI is a mix of metal and plastic, with an abyssal black finish. There is room to upgrade parts in the future if RAM and SSDs don't become unaffordable, with two DDR5 RAM slots that support a maximum of 64GB and two M.2 slots. For that gamer aesthetic, there's plenty of bright RGB zones all over the laptop, so you can dial it up to 11 if you want to go for the full light show.

The RTX 5070 Ti is one of the more powerful laptop graphics chips, and although not comparable to a desktop version, it still has 12GB of VRAM and will be able to run games smoothly on the 18-inch 2560x1600 WQXGA+ screen. Being an Nvidia GPU, the laptop will be able to access Nvidia's DLSS software to increase or smooth out frame rates on more taxing titles. This is a large laptop at 18 inches, and quite expensive due to its size and amount of memory and storage used. So it's good to see it hit a new all-time low price at Amazon of $2,199.99.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

We all know that prices of memory, storage, and graphics cards have all shot up in price this year due to the insane AI-boom sucking up all the production resources, and the outlook for PC component upgrades is pretty grim, but luckily there are still a few ways to nab a gaming computer without emptying your bank account. Gigabyte's Aero X16 gaming laptop is down to $ 1,099.99 at Walmart, a $600 discount off the $1,699.99 list price. A gaming laptop or a pre-built gaming desktop is turning out to be the best value-for-money way to keep playing in the current climate.

● Check out this deal at Walmart

The Gigabyte Aero X16 features an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, an 8-core, 16-thread processor that can boost up to 5 GHz, paired with an Nvidia RTX 5060 with 8GB of VRAM, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD for storage.

The Aero X16 laptop sports a 16-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, offering 100% sRGB color gamut coverage and up to 400 nits of brightness. The IPS panel supports a refresh rate of 165Hz with a 3ms gray-to-gray response time for a smooth gaming experience.

There's no unified soldered RAM or storage in this laptop either. There are dual memory and M.2 slots for upgrades, so that when the prices of RAM or SSDs hopefully subside a little, you can add some more capacity.

Other features of the Aero X16 include a single-zone RGB-backlit keyboard, a 1080p webcam with Windows Hello support, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.2. For connectivity to peripherals and external displays, there are two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A ports, a USB 4.0 Type-C port, a USB 2.0 Type-A port, and a 3.5mm headphone and mic combo jack, plus a network Ethernet port.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

If you’re looking for the absolute best performance in a gaming laptop, then you’ll likely want to consider a desktop replacement. If you’re in the market, the HyperX Omen Max 16 makes a strong case with a 16-inch form factor and a thick chassis that accommodates some beefy hardware.

Our review unit carries a sticker price of $4,699, packs a Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, and includes an RTX 5090 GPU. It also tips the scales at 6.56 pounds, making it a more suitable companion for your desk than for lugging around while traveling.

Despite its imposing dimensions and beefy hardware, the Omen Max 16 doesn’t quite pass muster in performance against its slimmer competitors among the best gaming laptops.

Design of the HyperX Omen Max 16

“Solid, solid as a rock,” is the phrase that comes to mind when describing the Omen Max 16. The laptop feels like it was forged from a solid piece of granite, but in actuality, it’s aluminum. It’s also thick, measuring 1.13 inches at its thickest point (at the rear).

To my eyes, the Omen Max 16 is attractively designed with no outrageous styling gimmicks. The aluminum is coated in a matte black finish, and design flourishes (like the O16 printed vertically along the deck and the HyperX logo on the lid) are subdued and don't draw significant attention. There’s also a laser-etched grille that runs nearly the width of the chassis that sits above the keyboard.

The only thing that really clues you into the gaming nature of the laptop (other than its sheer size) is the per-key RGB lighting for the keyboard, and a single LED strip on the bottom front edge of the chassis that you can configure with the Omen software.

When it comes to external ports, the Omen Max 16 has a USB-A (10 Gbps) port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a 3.5 mm audio jack on the left. On the right side of the chassis, you'll find another USB-A port. The back panel of the laptop is home to an HDMI 2.1 port, a 2.5 GbE port, and a proprietary power port (a 460W GaN power adapter is included).

The Omen Max 16 measures 14.04 x 10.59 x 1.03 inches and weighs 6.56 pounds. For comparison's sake, the Razer Blade 16 is 13.98 x 9.86 x 0.69 inches and weighs 4.71 pounds. The MSI Raider 16 HX comes in at 14.29 x 10.62 x 1.14 inches and weighs 5.73 pounds. The Alienware 16 Area-51 weighs 7.49 pounds and measures 14.37 x 11.41 x 1.12 inches.

HyperX Omen Max 16 Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the HyperX Omen Max 16

The Omen Max 16 is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, 32GB of RAM, and an RTX 5090 GPU (175W TGP). Given these specs and a sizable chassis to aid cooling (300W total system power), I was expecting strong numbers from the Omen 16 Max. Instead, the laptop was relegated to the back of the pack, except for one game benchmark: Far Cry 6.

My game of choice these days is Battlefield 6, running at native resolution in Overkill detail mode, with DLSS Quality and frame generation enabled. Using these settings, I was able to average between 100 and 110 frames per second.

For the competitive set, we have the Blade 16 (Core Ultra 9 386H at 25W, RTX 5090 at 175W TGP), MSI Raider 16 Max HX (Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus at 55W, RTX 5090 at 175W TGP), and the Alienware 16 Area-51 (Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus at 55W, RTX 5080 at 175W TGP). It should be noted that the Omen Max 16 uses slower DDR5-6400, whereas systems like the Blade 16 use faster LPDDR5X-9600.

We started our benchmarking spree with Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest setting), and here the Omen Max 16 achieved 171 FPS at 1080p, putting it in last place behind the Razer Blade 16 (182 FPS). At 1600p, it landed in a comfortable third place (114 FPS) behind the Alienware 16 Area-51.

Cyberpunk 2077 (Ray Tracing Ultra settings) wasn't a strong showing for the Omen Max 16, either. It brought up last place at 1080p (59 FPS) and 1600p (37 FPS).

Far Cry 6 (Ultra settings) was the lone bright spot for the Omen Max 16, as it garnered 144 FPS at 1080p and 125 FPS at 1600p, easily putting it in first place. Both of these results far outpaced the rest of the field, with the next closest competitor being the MSI Raider 16 Max HX at 119 FPS and 114 FPS, respectively.

Moving to the Red Dead Redemption 2 (Medium settings) benchmark, the Omen Max 16 again wound up in last place, hitting 93 FPS at 1080p and 65 FPS at 1600p. However, in this instance, the margin between the Omen Max 16 and The Blade 16 at 1080p was just 1 FPS.

The Omen Max 16 again had trouble during the Borderlands 3 (Badass settings) benchmark, falling well off the pace set by its three competitors. The laptop hit 146 FPS at 1080p, nearly 20 FPS off the pace of the third-place Alienware 16 Area-51. At 1600p, it mustered just 113 FPS.

Metro Exodus is our go-to benchmark for laptop stress testing. Our review unit averaged 141.62 FPS at 1080p across 15 loops using the RTX benchmark preset. The CPU performance cores averaged 4.91 GHz, and the efficiency cores averaged 3.95 GHz. The RTX 5090 GPU ran at 1.81 GHz.

Productivity Performance on HyperX Omen Max 16

With its Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD, the Omen Max 16 fared better in the productivity tests than it did with gaming.

On Geekbench 6, the Omen Max 16 with the Core Ultra 9 290HX was able to muscle past the Blade 16 with its Core Ultra 9 386H on both the single-core (3,182) and multi-core (17,989) benchmarks. However, the Alienware 16 Area-51 and Raider 16 Max HX, which use the same Core Ultra 9 290HX processor, achieved much higher multi-core numbers (each surpassed 20,000).

The PCIe 5.0 SSD used in the Omen Max 16 performed quite well in our 25GB file transfer test, coming in second place at 2,439.22 MBps. The Alienware 16 Area-51 was a few ticks ahead at 2,738.90 MBps.

The soft performance of the Omen Max 16 continued with our Handbrake test, which involves transcoding a 4K video file to 1080p. Here the laptop performed the task in 2 minutes and 59 seconds. However, at least one other laptop with the same Core Ultra 9 290HX did the deed in less than two minutes.

Display on the HyperX Omen Max 16

The Omen Max 16 uses a 16-inch 2560 x 1600 OLED panel with a 240 Hz refresh rate. As is the case with most OLED displays that we test, this one had a glossy finish.

Instrumented testing on the OLED panel showed it excelling against the competition, covering 131.2 percent of the DCI-P3 color space and 185.2 percent of sRGB. Even better, the Omen Max 16 nudged past the Raider 16 Max HX to also take the crown for panel brightness (464.6 nits versus 455.6 nits).

OLED panels rarely disappoint, and I was more than impressed with the overall quality and brightness. The brightness was high enough that I was able to game while on my back porch during a partly cloudy day with minimal interference from reflections on the glossy panel.

I also viewed the first Avengers: Doomsday trailer using the display, and besides getting a tiny bit emotional while watching it, was delighted with the color reproduction, particularly in the short battle between Gambit and Shang-Chi, with flashes of purple playing cards and orange rings.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the HyperX Omen Max 16

The Omen Max 16 features a full-size RGB backlit keyboard (with per-key lighting) and NKRO anti-ghosting technology. RGB effects are customizable using HP's Omen app or directly from within Windows 11.

The keys felt quite springy when typing, and I found it incredibly comfortable to rest my fingers and click away. And while some keyboards audibly make their presence known as you type at a furious pace, the key actuation on the Omen Max 16 was whisper-quiet.

Turning my attention to the Keyhero.com typing test, I plugged away at 95 words per minute with 97% accuracy, which is definitely on the high side for me (I’m usually in the mid-80s realm).

Given the Omen Max 16 price tag of over $4,500, I was disappointed that HP didn’t go with a haptic touchpad. Instead, we get a top-hinged trackpad that is just OK. It gets the job done, but for this much money, I’d prefer to be able to click anywhere on the touchpad surface without hitting a dead zone. At least while gaming, you probably use a mouse or controller.

Audio on the HyperX Omen Max 16

Audio quality is another area where I think HP missed the mark. To beat a dead horse, but this is a laptop that retails for $4,699, and it only comes with stereo speakers. Would it have killed HP to add another pair of speakers in this tank of a chassis?

While the speakers had good overall volume levels, I felt the sound lacked some depth compared to similarly priced laptops with four (Raider 16 Max HX) or even six speakers (Blade 16). While I was more than happy listening to Keane’s “Fly to Me” from the album Hopes and Fears, I was disappointed in the sound while playing Battlefield 6.

When it came to gunfire, vehicle sounds, and background explosions while gaming, I wasn't impressed. I prefer throwing on a pair of the best gaming headsets, but there’s still no excuse to drop the ball at this price point.

Upgradeability of the HyperX Omen Max 16

Six screws need to be extracted to remove the bottom aluminum panel. While that was easy enough, it’s only half the battle. All of the serviceable components (save for the readily accessible battery) are underneath an extensive metal shield. That shield is held in place by roughly a dozen screws, making upgrades a bit tedious.

Once the shield is removed, you’ll find access to the M.2 slot for the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module, two SO-DIMM slots (both of which were filled on our review unit), and an additional M.2 slot for a second SSD. Yet another metal shield covers the first M.2 SSD slot, although I didn’t go through the process of removing another dozen screws to uncover it.

Battery Life on the HyperX Omen Max 16

Despite its considerable girth, the Omen Max 16 is equipped with just an 83 WHr battery. For comparison, the thinner and lighter Blade 16 manages to squeeze in a 90 WHr battery.

The Omen Max 16 lasted 5 hours and 7 minutes on our battery test, which consists of web browsing, video streaming over Wi-Fi, and OpenGL testing with the screen brightness set at 150 nits. This was over three hours shorter than the Raider 16 Max HX, while the Blade 16 lasted over twice as long on a charge (12:46).

Heat on the HyperX Omen Max 16

During the Metro Exodus stress test, we measured the Omen Max 16's keyboard at 106 degrees Fahrenheit (F) between the G and H keys, while the touchpad was 84.9 F.

The hottest part of the laptop was near the rear center of the bottom of the chassis, which measured 114 F.

While running the Metro Exodus stress test, the CPU measured 87 degrees Celsius (C). Meanwhile, the RTX 5090 was cooler at 75 C.

Webcam on the HyperX Omen Max 16

Another area where it feels like HP skimped is with the webcam. Rather than going with a higher resolution unit, the Omen Max 16 features a bog-standard 1080p unit that looks about as good as one you’d find in a $1,000 entry-level gaming laptop.

The camera didn’t do particularly well with a nearby window where light was shining through, and there were a lot of noise artifacts in less-than-ideal light conditions. In addition, the camera didn’t really pick up fine details well, which is disappointing considering the price.

Software and Warranty on the HyperX Omen Max 16

Like many HP laptops, the HyperX Omen Max 16 comes loaded with additional software bloat that you can mostly ignore or simply delete. Scrolling down the list of “H” apps in the Start Menu, HP basically set up camp with no less than eight apps/shortcuts—everything from HP Documentation to HP Privacy Settings to HP TV+. In addition, you’ll find the usual third-party add-ons like McAfee and promotional links for Dropbox, Adobe, and Booking.com.

The only really useful preinstalled app is the Omen Gaming Hub. It gives you control over power modes, lets you see CPU/GPU/RAM utilization, and provides plenty of configuration options for the onboard RGB lighting.

The Omen Max 16 comes with a one-year manufacturer warranty.

HyperX Omen Max 16 Configurations

Our Omen Max 16 came configured with an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, 32GB of DDR5-6400 memory, a 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD, RTX 5090 GPU, and a 16-inch 1600p 240 Hz OLED display. The MSRP on our review unit was a staggering $4,699.99.

There are also several less expensive options, with the cheapest being a $2,699 SKU with a Core Ultra 7 270HX processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an RTX 5080. For $3,099, you can swap the Core Ultra 7 270HX for an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 475 and double the SSD capacity to 2TB.

Bottom Line

The HyperX Omen Max 16 represents a swing and a miss. When I first saw the enormity of the chassis, I was looking forward to some impressive gaming performance given the 55W processor and 175W RTX 5090 onboard. Instead, what I was left with was a $4,699 gaming laptop that lingered in last place for most of the gaming benchmarks, and often by a large margin. Even the Razer Blade 16 with its 25W processor managed to get the upper hand in most benchmarks.

But the gaming wasn’t the only disappointment. Given the price tag, I would have expected a better-equipped machine. Where’s the haptic trackpad, and why do we only get two speakers? And on a minor annoyance angle, while I appreciate the two M.2 slots for storage and replaceable memory, why do I need to remove another dozen screws just to access those components?

In the end, the Omen Max 16 could have been so much more. Quite frankly, it would make sense to spend the extra $200 and grab a Razer Blade 16. Not only is it thinner and lighter (by two pounds), but it offers double the battery life.

Given how much PC hardware prices have risen in recent months, an RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop for under $2,000 is sure to grab our attention. Walmart has slashed $750.99 off this 16-inch Gigabyte Aorus Master gaming laptop, bringing the price down to just $1,999. Alongside the powerful Nvidia GPU is 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 24-core Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, along with a gorgeous 16-inch OLED display.

● Check out this deal at Walmart

There are two features that make this laptop a serious option for gamers, especially at this price, and it's the display and the GPU. The 16-inch OLED panel included here is a stunner, offering a top resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 for gaming, with an ultra-fast 240Hz refresh rate. It has a top brightness of 500 nits, with full 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, meaning you'll see vibrant colors with true-to-life accuracy, with games and movies looking fantastic on this display.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, meanwhile, won't be troubled to hit the high frame rates at this display's native 1600p resolution. This mobile GPU ships with 5,888 CUDA cores and 12GB of GDDR7 VRAM, along with a total TDP of 175W. At 1600p, expect to be able to play games with Ultra graphics presets enabled. This is an Nvidia Blackwell GPU, so you've also got DLSS 4 to fall back on, including multi-frame generation. If you use a second monitor with this laptop, that'll be a useful feature for the higher resolutions, with AI able to fill in the gaps to boost your frame rates.

This Gigabyte laptop also ships with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU. It has 24 cores, eight of which are performance cores, which are best for gaming, along with 16 efficiency cores for multi-threaded work. You're also getting 32GB of DDR5 RAM in this laptop build, so no need to compromise there, along with a 1TB SSD for storage, which should be enough for a few big game installations.

Other specs include four 2W speakers with Dolby Atmos support, a three-zone RGB backlit keyboard, along with several USB-C and USB-A ports to choose from. It also includes Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 support for wireless connectivity.

The $1,999 sale price for this 16-inch Gigabyte Aorus Master OLED gaming laptop is an absolute steal in the current market and one that'll save you over $750. You'll struggle to find specs this powerful in a rival laptop at this price point so if you're looking for an upgrade, grab this deal fast before the price or stock runs out.

The Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11 has the right idea to compete with the best budget gaming laptops: skip the flashy design extras and focus on the hardware that matters. Its RTX 5060 graphics, 144 Hz IPS display, solid keyboard, and generous internal upgrade options give budget-strapped gamers plenty to like on paper. The reality is that this configuration is compromised in the area that matters most: gaming performance. Its RTX 5060 is held back by a 65W power limit and the CPU is several generations old, allowing rival machines in the same price range to post stronger results. The LOQ is usable and practical, but at this price, it needs stronger performance to stand out.

Design of the Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11

Aptly named, the LOQ Essentials 15 embraces a no-frills design. Aside from LOQ branding on the lid, there’s little here meant to catch the eye, which is fitting for a laptop that’s intended to deliver performance at the lowest possible cost. Lenovo reserves premium materials and styling for its Legion gaming laptops.

Fortunately, the budget considerations are mostly aesthetic, as the LOQ’s plastic chassis feels solid and has the durability you’d expect for daily home or school use. Its 0.97-inch thick profile and 5.07-pound weight don’t make it a great traveling companion are in line with competing laptops like Acer's Nitro V 16S AI, Asus’ TUF Gaming F16, and MSI's Cyborg 15. The latter is the lightest in the group, at 4.36 pounds.

Lenovo’s port selection is practical: one USB-C port (10 Gbps), two USB-A ports (5 Gbps), an audio jack, Ethernet, and HDMI. You won't get truly high-speed ports like USB4/Thunderbolt 4 at this price. The Intel AX203 Wi-Fi 6 card is another example of this laptop's economical focus, though it shouldn't hold users back.

Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11 Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11

We evaluated the LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11 with a Core i7-13650HX processor, RTX 5060 graphics (65W), and 16GB of single-channel DDR5-4800 RAM. The processor is several years old though still packs a punch, with six Performance cores.

Playing 007 First Light at 1080p with medium lighting settings, post effects on, and DLSS set to balanced, the LOQ produced playable frame rates, ranging from the mid-50s to low-70s FPS depending on the scene. The experience was never poor, but it lacked the fluidity I expected from a laptop carrying Nvidia's latest midrange GPU.

Our benchmark comparison lineup consists of Acer's Nitro V 16S AI (Ryzen 7 260, RTX 5060 85W, $1,299.99 when tested), Asus' TUF Gaming F16 (Core i7-14650HX, RTX 5050 115W, $1,199.99), and MSI's Cyborg 15 C13WE (Core i5-13420H, RTX 5050 70W, $1,219.99).

Overall, the LOQ’s results were disappointing. With a 65W power limit, its RTX 5060 simply doesn't deliver the level of performance buyers might expect from the badge. It was routinely outperformed by the TUF Gaming F16 using an RTX 5050, while Acer's higher-powered RTX 5060 laptop also finished comfortably ahead. The result is a gaming laptop that works well enough but struggles to justify its price when similarly priced alternatives make better use of comparable hardware.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider at the Highest detail preset, the LOQ’s 88 FPS only outpaced the Cyborg (82 FPS), while the Asus (95 FPS) and Acer (98 FPS) both pulled ahead. This story repeated in Far Cry 6 – with 75 FPS, the LOQ trailed Acer (82 FPS) and Asus (90 FPS), though it was within a few FPS of those units in Red Dead Redemption 2. The LOQ’s only real victory was Cyberpunk 2077, where it achieved 38 FPS, with the Acer (32 FPS) trailing. The LOQ was one of two laptops tested with Forza Horizon 3, where it predictably had no trouble outgunning the Cyborg, 58 FPS to 51 FPS.

To stress-test gaming laptops, we run 15 loops of the Metro Exodus stress test at RTX settings to simulate half an hour of gaming. The LOQ demonstrated stable performance throughout the test, averaging 59.79 FPS without a variance of more than one FPS across runs. During the test, the Core i7-13650HX ran at an average frequency of 2.73 GHz while the RTX 5060 averaged 1,919 MHz.

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11

Our LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11 is built around a Core i7-13650HX, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD.

Throughout our testing, the LOQ's outdated CPU struggled against the newer silicon in the competition, only consistently outpacing the Cyborg with its equally dated Core i5-13420H. In the multi-core portion of Geekbench, the LOQ's score of 11,300 was well behind the Ryzen 7 260-powered Acer (12,837) and couldn't touch the Core i7-14650HX-powered Asus (15,013). The Asus also dominated Handbrake, completing that test in 3 minutes and 33 seconds compared to the LOQ's 4:35.

The LOQ's average speed of 136 MBps in our 25GB file transfer is abnormal, but it also occurred on other drive benchmarks, though I never noticed any issues in loading games. The drive is a WD PC SN5000S using QLC.

Display on the Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11

Lenovo didn't cut too many corners with the LOQ's display. The 15.6-inch IPS panel pairs a smooth 144 Hz refresh rate with an anti-glare finish that minimizes reflections. While the 1920 x 1080 resolution isn't especially sharp by 2026 standards, it isn’t too hard for the RTX 5060 to drive in today’s games.

Watching X2: X-Men United and playing 007 First Light, the LOQ’s display stood out as one that’s better than typical budget laptop fare. Colors have enough punch to make game environments feel lively, and enough contrast to give darker scenes reasonable depth. Brightness is just adequate – the panel is best suited for indoor use and can't compete with the significantly brighter screen in Acer's Nitro V 16S AI. Still, for gaming, streaming, and everyday use, the LOQ's display is one of its better attributes.

Covering 86.1% of DCI-P3, the LOQ’s display proved more colorful than the Acer (77.4%) and effectively tied the others. Its 290-nit peak brightness was on par with the Asus (298 nits) and brighter than the MSI (233 nits) but not nearly as bright as the Acer (392 nits).

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11

Lenovo’s keyboard offers an ample 1.3 mm of travel for comfortable typing sessions. Its two-level white backlighting provides excellent visibility in low light. The number pad isn’t quite full-size but offers the expected layout. In MonkeyType, I reached 122 words per minute with 99% accuracy on the first try.

The touchpad is also well-designed, with a comfortably-sized surface and quiet physical clicks.

Audio on the Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11

The LOQ's twin 2W speakers produce acceptable sound for a laptop. Bass is lacking, but the sound is clear enough to pick out footsteps and shell cases dropping in games. Overall, the setup works for casual gaming.

The included Nahimic app is essential for sound quality – without it, the speakers are tinny and dull. The Music preset with bass and treble boost works well all around. The Smart preset also gets the job done; my ears didn't detect much of a difference versus the Music preset. The Movie preset's virtual surround adds a hollowness that I find unnatural.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11

Getting inside the LOQ is somewhat tricky. Removing the Philips-head screws is straightforward – they’re fortunately all the same size – but the bottom panel sits flush with the chassis edges, with no obvious entry points. I created one using my thumb to push in one of the rear chassis corners, which created a gap for my plastic pry tool.

Upgrade prospects are excellent, with two DDR5 SODIMM slots and two SSD slots, one M.2 2280 and one M.2 2242. The 512GB SSD in our model is M.2 2242 format and installed in the M.2 2280 slot. The M.2 2230 wireless card and the battery are also replaceable.

Battery Life on the Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11

Our battery testing consists of web browsing, running OpenGL tests, and streaming videos with the screen at 150 nits while connected to Wi-Fi. The LOQ's runtime of 4 hours and 54 minutes is short even for a gaming laptop, with the Asus lasting about two hours longer. Acer's Nitro completely outclassed it, lasting 10 hours and 17 minutes.

Heat on the Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11

We measure laptop surface temperatures while running the Metro Exodus stress test. The LOQ's peak temperatures were 108 degrees Fahrenheit (F) between the G and H keys while the touchpad was 79 F. The highest temperature was 112 F on the bottom near the cooling fan exhaust. Internally, the Core i7-13650HX measured 70 degrees Celsius (C) while the RTX 5060 was 66 C.

The LOQ’s fan noise is noticeable while gaming, but is no louder than other entry-level gaming laptops I’ve tested. Its speakers are easily loud enough to be heard over the fans.

Webcam on the Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11

Lenovo's webcam is a basic 720p model with a soft focus. It handles lighting reasonably well – a lamp behind me wasn't blown out – but detail is lacking and there's considerable grain. There's no physical shutter, but you'll find an e-shutter switch on the right edge.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11

The LOQ includes two main apps. Legion Space shows component readouts like CPU speed and temperature, plus power profile toggles between Performance, Quiet, Balanced, and Custom. The app can also auto-disable the Windows key and auto-close specified apps when games are launched, and prioritize network traffic to apps you specify. An aim assist feature puts a crosshair in the center of the screen. The app also provides access to the Lenovo community and can be a game library.

The Vantage app is familiar across Lenovo laptops for support services, troubleshooting utilities, and system updates. System settings include battery smart charging (limits charge to 80% to extend battery lifespan). The app also has a security advisor that verifies anti-virus and firewalls are active and tells you if a Wi-Fi network is safe. The app contains upsells for Lenovo’s identity protection, system recovery, and performance tuneup subscription services.

Lenovo backs the LOQ with a one-year warranty.

Lenovo LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11 Configurations

We tested the LOQ equipped with a Core i7-13650HX processor, RTX 5060 graphics card, 16GB of DDR5-4800 single-channel RAM, and a 512GB SSD, retailing for $1,269.99 at Best Buy. It was not yet available directly from Lenovo at the time of this review.

An even more basic spec with a Core i5-13450HX and RTX 5050 is listed on Lenovo's site as "coming soon" but wasn’t at the time of publishing. All configurations include a 1920 x 1080 IPS display with a 144 Hz refresh rate and Windows 11 Home.

Bottom Line

Lenovo’s LOQ Essentials 15 Gen 11 is a reminder that spec sheets don’t tell the whole story. While it delivers an RTX 5060 and a 144 Hz display for a competitive price, its conservative GPU power limits and older platform leave it trailing rivals in real-world performance. Though it gets many fundamentals right -- its display, keyboard, and upgradeability are all solid – it’s ultimately a serviceable gaming laptop rather than a competitive one. At this price, Acer’s Nitro V 16S AI is a stronger value.

It can seem a little doom-and-gloom when shopping for computers in the current climate. Trying to find a laptop that has your desired hardware specifications and doesn't require selling your firstborn is getting harder and harder. Prices have been creeping up thanks to massive spikes in RAM and storage costs, with the AI boom sucking up all the manufacturing and stock resources. The future is uncertain, but what is currently available can sometimes be found with a decent discount. Best Buy is currently running a limited-time deal on Gigabyte's Aero X16 gaming laptop with RTX 5060 graphics, and asking $1,199. This is a quick $100 saving off the usual $1,299 asking price.

● Check out this deal at Best Buy

The Aero X16 is powered by a Ryzen AI 7 350 processor, which is based on AMD’s Zen 5 architecture. It has four Zen 5 cores and four Zen 5c cores, with a max boost of 5 GHz (3.5 GHz for the Zen 5c cores). Not only does it come with the powerful AMD processor, but it's also packing dedicated graphics processing power, with Nvidia's RTX 5060 laptop GPU with 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM. A solid combination for chomping through the latest games and giving respectable frame rates on sensible settings.

Another boon to this budget laptop deal is the inclusion of a healthy amount of memory. This model of the Aero X16 comes with 32GB of precious DDR5 RAM installed. This alone gives this deal an advantage, as upgrading memory capacity has now become an extremely expensive affair.

The laptop’s native resolution on the 16-inch IPS panel is 2560 x 1600px. A very crisp resolution for a small screen that offers tight pixel density. The display has a max refresh rate of 165 Hz, with a 3 ms gray-to-gray response time, and 100% sRGB color space coverage. The screen also outputs a reasonable 400 nits of brightness, so the games and media can be easily viewed in both darkened and overly light environments.

As for physical ports, the laptop features plenty of connectivity with three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB-C port (USB4), an HDMI 2.1 port, a GbE port, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. For wireless connectivity, there’s Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.

You can save $1,000 on a truly high-end gaming laptop that, for many, is way over the top for the average user in both hardware and price. But if you want the most powerful laptop gaming setup, or a portable desktop replacement, then this Lenovo Legion 9i gaming laptop from B&H Photo, priced at $5,799, is something you should check out. It's certainly not your average gaming laptop, as it comes with the top-tier halo components from Intel and Nvidia, and is absolutely massive at 18 inches.

● Check out this deal at B&H Photo

Gaming laptops have always been more expensive than desktop gaming PCs with comparable components, even with the comparable components not being as powerful as their desktop counterparts due to the size, power, and heat limitations of stuffing hardware components into a smaller laptop chassis.

This model of the Lenovo Legion 9i contains the most powerful laptop graphics card available, Nvidia's RTX 5090 with 24GB of GDDR7 VRAM, and Intel's Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus 24-core processor, plus a massive 64GB of DDR5 RAM (2 x 32) with four RAM slots available, able to support up to 192GB of total RAM. For storage, there is a 2TB SSD, with Windows 11 Home edition pre-installed.

The luxurious 18-inch display features a detailed 3840 x 2400 resolution with a 3ms gray-to-gray response time. The display can reach up to 240Hz at native resolution and up to 440Hz when set to an FHD resolution. The display uses an IPS panel with 520 nits of brightness and a color gamut of 100% DCI-P3

The Lenovo Legion 9i also uses the latest Thunderbolt 5, WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and 2.5GbE Ethernet. The keyboard is fully RGB backlit with chiclet-style keys. This is a very powerful gaming laptop that you can also use for some serious creative work and go hard on some smaller local LLM models if you want to dabble with some AI workloads.

It is a very expensive laptop, made more costly by the price of RAM and NAND in the current economy. Still, it's also $1,000 cheaper than the usual price, so if this kind of laptop is something you're interested in, then head to B&H Photo and check out the RTX 5090-powered Legion 9i available for $5,799.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

It's that time of year when you need to start thinking about prepping for starting a new semester or heading off to college. One of the handiest items to get a hold of is a competent laptop computer for doing lots of your coursework on. If that same laptop also happens to be able to play games, well, that's a big bonus. Shaving a massive $900 off the list price, HP's HyperX Omen 16 gaming laptop is now just $1,099.99. That's a superb price for a laptop that packs an RTX 5060 mobile GPU and a crisp 16-inch 2K display.

● Check out this deal at HP

The HyperX Omen 16 packs some seriously good components for the price tag, as finding a capable RTX 5060 gaming laptop for near $1000 is a rarity in today's computer market. Inside the chassis of this model of the Omen 16 is an AMD Ryzen 7 8745HX processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 laptop GPU with 8GB of dedicated GDDR7 VRAM, 16GB of RAM, and a small 512GB SSD. The display measures 16 inches diagonally and has a crisp 2K (1920 x 1200) resolution with a max refresh rate of 165Hz and a 3ms gray-to-gray response time. The IPS panel has a micro-edge display, anti-glare, low blue light emissions, a brightness of 400 nits, and 100% sRGB for the color gamut.

We haven't had the opportunity to review this particular model of the HyperX Omen 16, so we can't fully use our Omen 16 review as a fair comparison. Our review unit used the much more powerful RTX 5080 GPU and Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU. The components that are included in this model, though, are very familiar, so we do have a good idea how they will run, and the chassis, screen, and features of the Omen 16 will overlap.

The RTX 5060 will be able to run games smoothly on the 16-inch 1920 x 1200 display, and will be able to make use of Nvidia's DLSS software to increase framerates for a smoother experience on more taxing titles.

So if you're looking for a competent laptop for heading back to school, you can't go far wrong with this $1,099 deal on the HyperX Omen 16 for both work and play.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

If you're in the hunt for a back-to-school gaming laptop, then look no further than this excellent Gigabyte Woot deal. Right now at Amazon's outlet, you can save 33% off the list price and get a 16-inch laptop with an Nvidia RTX 5070 for just $1,399, one of the cheapest 5070 laptops around.

• Grab this deal at Woot

For that, you get Nvidia's punchy mobile RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB of RAM for gaming and multitasking, 1TB of storage, and a nifty 2560 x 1600 WQXGA display. Given the current prices of RAM and storage, getting a laptop of this spec at this price is pretty much unheard of these days. We actually covered the HX 350 version of this laptop at $1,389 earlier this month. This deal gets you a snappier HX 370 CPU for just $10 more.

We've actually reviewed the aforementioned 350 version of this laptop, where we praised the Aero's excellent productivity performance, good battery life, and scope for upgradeability. However, it was let down by its display and performance given the price. At the $1,399 discount, however, it becomes a much more enticing prospect. As you can see, it sails past rivals in our battery test, scoring nearly an hour longer usage compared to its next-closest rival.

As you can see from our gaming benchmarks, the Aero X16 can easily deliver over 100 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p, or 64 fps at its native 2560 x 1600. It's not the most potent gaming laptop on the market by any means, but it's one of the best-value options given the sub-$1,400 price point on offer here.

Our productivity testing is based on AMD's Ryzen AI 7 350 processor. This 8-core CPU delivered decent Geekbench 6 scores, so expect the 12-core 370 in this model to offer better performance still and also give gaming a much-needed boost, with 24 threads and boost clocks of up to 5.1 GHz.

The other specs of this laptop, notably the 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD, are also impressive. 32GB of DDR5 is worth nearly $400 these days, and that'll get you all the multitasking and performance you need for work and play. While this isn't an OLED laptop, the 2560 x 1600 display offers a refresh rate of up to 165Hz.

As the 'Aero' moniker suggests, the X16 is also thin and light. It measures just 0.65 inches in thickness and weighs 4.18 lbs, making it a very portable option. You'll also be pleased to know that the laptop can be upgraded in the future, with two SODIMM memory slots and two M.2 drive slots offering you headroom to add RAM or storage later in life.

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If you're headed back to school or college later this summer, or you're embarking on new study endeavours for the first time, then you might well be in the market for a powerhouse laptop that can tackle work and play with ease. This excellent HP Omen Max laptop is currently $1,100 off at Best Buy, netting you an RTX 5070 Ti GPU, 24-core Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD, all housed under a slick OLED display.

● Check out this deal at Best Buy

This laptop is not only fantastic for gaming, but the powerhouse Core Ultra 9 290HX is Intel's flagship laptop processor, with a massive 24 cores, including eight performance cores and 16 efficiency cores. That makes it great for all manner of productivity tasks, no matter what you're studying.

The HP Omen Max 16 laptop is a model we've reviewed, and we like its general premium feel thanks to its aluminum enclosure, good audio, and decent webcam. The headline here is that Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX CPU. This flagship Arrow Lake Refresh CPU features boost clocks of up to 5.5 GHz. Below is a selection of laptops we've tested running this CPU, and as you can see, it delivers very impressive Geekbench 6 scores.

That CPU is backed up by the punchy RTX 5070 Ti GPU. While it doesn't have the coveted 16GB of VRAM of the desktop variant, it does have 12GB, getting you more than the 8GB configurations you'll mind on the lower end of Nvidia's scale. This Blackwell GPU has 5,888 CUDA cores and should provide ample power at the laptop's native resolution of 2560 x 1600 at 240 Hz. That display is also really notable because it's an OLED panel, rather than IPS, offering much better contrast and response times for gaming and watching content.

Alongside the potent CPU and GPU combo, you get 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD. The former is crucial for multitasking and gaming, while the latter should be fine to get you started with a few Steam games and your studies.

As always with the Omen Max, you get two USB-A ports, two Thunderbolt 4 with USB-C, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an Ethernet port, and HDMI 2.1.

If you'd like to compromise a little, you could get a 5080 version of this laptop for a little more. Priced at $2,949 ($1,070 off), this model comes with a slightly less potent Core Ultra 9 275HX (still 24 cores), a 2TB SSD, and the aforementioned 5080. That gives you more storage and a better GPU for $150 more.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

With the AI price crunch driving up the price of gaming laptops, good deals are harder and harder to find these days, but HP has just slashed $1,500 off this Omen Max 16-inch gaming laptop, getting you an AMD Ryzen 9 with an RTX 5080 for just $2,199. That's a 40% saving on the $3,699 MSRP.

● Check out this HP laptop deal

As you can imagine, the focus here is on the RTX 5080, a 16GB VRAM beast, which even in its mobile format will chew through any title at the 2,560 x 1,600 resolution the display offers. However, the rest of the specs are also noteworthy, including the 12-core AMD Ryzen 9 HX 375, 32GB of DDR5, and the 1TB SSD.

We haven't reviewed this exact spec of laptop, but we have tested the more potent RTX 5090 version of this model. As you can read in our HP Omen Max 16 laptop review, it's a little on the heavy side (5.99 lbs), but that's a trade-off for the premium look and feel of the aluminum enclosure. We also liked the excellent audio and sharp webcam.

Our testing data from other laptops shows the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 chip easily bests Snapgradon's X Elite and Intel's Core 7 Ultra 258V in Geekbench 6 scores. With a 5.1 GHz max boost clock, 24MB L3 cache, and 12 cores, this is a solid processor.

As mentioned, the headline feature is the RTX 5080. With 16GB of VRAM and 7680 CUDA Cores, it will easily run any game at 1080p or the laptop's native resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. That display is a 16-inch WQXGA IPS panel (so no OLED, sadly), with a 3ms response time and 500 nits of brightness.

You also get the coveted 32GB of DDR5 5600 RAM, as well as a 1TB Gen 4 M.2 SSD, plenty of storage for your Steam library. Other features include Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-FI 7, as well as battery fast charge, which gets you around 50% charge in just 30 minutes.

In terms of connectivity, the Omen Max features two USB-A ports, HDMI 2.1, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and two USB-C ports. There are also a further two M.2 SSD expansion slots, so you can open it up and increase your storage with a bit of DIY tinkering in future.

To put the value of this deal into perspective, HP is also currently selling an Intel Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus version of this laptop. Although the processor is a little better, you only get a 5070 Ti with 12GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, for $1,999. So for the extra $199, you're getting double the storage, double the RAM, and a 5080 instead of the 5070 Ti, which is a sizeable GPU performance jump.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

The Razer Blade 16 has long been leading contender among the best gaming laptops, thanks in part to its careful component selection and strong style. In this case, our review unit comes equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor and a flagship RTX 5090 GPU.

While the chassis remains the same as the Razer Blade 16 that we tested a little over a year ago, the 25W processor in our new review unit enabled some impressive runtimes that eclipse the competition. You’ll have to pay a considerable sum for the luxury, but the Blade 16 makes as strong a case as a compelling premium gaming laptop.

Design of the Razer Blade 16

We were impressed with the design of last year's Blade 16, and luckily, Razer hasn’t altered the formula for this year’s model. You get the same matte-black chassis that measures just 0.69 inches at its thickest point (0.59 inches towards the front). Build quality remains excellent in true Razer fashion.

The overall design is minimalist, with a minimal amount of RGBs and no obvious ventilation slats along the sides for heat management. Instead, the clean design would look at home sitting on your desk while you're gaming with an Xbox controller, or sitting on your desk in a cubicle at work. The only bit of flash that you’ll find is the RGB Razer logo on the lid.

You’ll find thin bezels around the glossy 16-inch OLED display, below which you’ll find the full-size keyboard and a large trackpad. There’s also a small status LED at the front right of the chassis (just below the Intel Core Ultra sticker on the deck). It pulses white when the laptop is in standby mode.

There’s a healthy assortment of ports on the laptop, including three legacy USB 3.3 Gen 2 Type-A ports. There’s also one Thunderbolt 4 port, one Thunderbolt 5, an SD card reader (UHS-II), a full-size HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5 mm combo audio jack. There’s also a proprietary power port.

The Blade 16 measures 13.98 x 9.86 x 0.69 inches and weighs 4.71 pounds. For comparison, the MSI Raider 16 HX also packs an RTX 5090, but measures 14.29 x 10.62 x 1.14 inches and weighs over a pound more (5.73 pounds). The Alienware 16 Area-51 is heavier still at 7.49 pounds, with dimensions of 14.37 x 11.41 x 1.12 inches.

Razer Blade 16 Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the Razer Blade 16

Our Blade 16 review unit is equipped with a Core Ultra 9 386H processor, which has 16 total cores (4 performance, 8 efficient) and a maximum performance turbo frequency of 4.9 GHz for the performance cores. There’s also 32GB of LPDDR5x memory and a GeForce RTX 5090 GPU (1,597 MHz boost clock, 175W max TGP).

This combo generally performed well across our gaming benchmark suite, with a few exceptions. While playing Battlefield 6 at native resolution in Overkill detail mode, with DLSS Quality and Frame Generation enabled, I was comfortably getting between 110 and 120 FPS, even with a lot of action happening on the screen.

For this review, the competitive set consists of last year's Blade 16 (Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 at 28W, RTX 5090 at 160W TGP), MSI Raider 16 Max HX (Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus at 55W, RTX 5090 at 175W TGP), and the Alienware 16 Area-51 (Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus at 55W, RTX 5080 at 175W TGP).

As usual, we start our gaming benchmarks with the Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest setting) benchmark, where the Blade 16 delivered 182 FPS at 1080p. Performance at 1600p scaled down to 133 FPS. The 2025 edition of the Blade 16 was 16 FPS behind at 1080, but at the resolution that most would play at, 1600p, the older model was nearly 30 FPS faster (162 FPS versus 133 FPS).

Cyberpunk 2077 (Ray Tracing Ultra settings), the laptops were pretty evenly matched, with most running between 65 and 70 FPS at 1080p and at around 40 FPS at 1600p. For the Razer Blade 16 specifically, it achieved 65 FPS at 1080p and 42 FPS at 1600p.

Far Cry 6 (Ultra settings) saw the Blade 16 running in third place ahead of its predecessor (106 FPS at 1080p, 108 FPS at 1600p). The Alienware 16 Area-51 and Raider 16 Max HX were a few FPS ahead at each resolution, but it was still a relatively close fight among the top three.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Medium settings) proved challenging for the Blade 16, as it lagged behind with 94 FPS at 1080p and just 71 FPS at 1600p. For comparison, last year's model eclipsed those numbers at 121 FPS and 94 FPS, respectively. The 25W CPU simply couldn’t keep up with the 28W Ryzen and 55W Intel HX chips

However, the Blade 16 was back to its fighting form in the Borderlands 3 (Badass settings) benchmark, easily slipping into second place behind the Raider 16 Max HX with 175 FPS at 1080p and 126 FPS at 1600p.

Metro Exodus is still our preferred benchmark for gaming laptop stress testing. Our review unit averaged 133.39 FPS at 1080p across 15 loops using the RTX benchmark preset. The CPU performance cores averaged 3.96 GHz, and the efficiency cores averaged 3.5 GHz. The RTX 5090 GPU also ran at 1.95 GHz.

One item of note is that the two system fans are incredibly loud while gaming, which may force you to use a pair of the best gaming headsets to block out the added noise.

Productivity Performance on the Razer Blade 16

The Razer Blade 16 uses a 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor, 32GB of memory, and a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. With some of the competition sporting upwards of 8 additional cores, the Blade 16 didn’t really break through in the multi-threaded benchmarks.

The synthetic CPU benchmark Geekbench saw the Blade 16 lag slightly behind its predecessor in single-core (2,895 versus 2,922), but pull ahead in multi-core performance (16,971 versus 16,025). However, neither Blade system was a match for the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processors in the Alienware 16 Area-51 and Raider 16 Max HX; the latter of which pulled numbers of 3,231 and 20,656, respectively.

In our 25GB file transfer test, the Blade 16 took second place by the slightest of margins, hitting 1,735.09 MBps. However, this result was still 1,000 MBps behind the first-place Alienware 16 Area-51.

The multi-threaded performance shortfall crept up again in our Handbrake test, where we transcode a 4K video file to 1080p. The Blade 16 pulled up the rear in this group, even falling behind the Blade 16 with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. It took 3 minutes and 17 seconds to complete the task compared to just 1 minute and 51 seconds for the Raider 16 Max HX.

Display on the Razer Blade 16

As Tom's Hardware's resident monitor editor, I’m absolutely smitten with OLED panels. Thankfully, the OLED display on the Blade 16 doesn’t disappoint: it’s a 16-inch panel with a 2560 x 1600 resolution and a native refresh rate of 240 Hz.

We found that color volume was 90 percent for DCI-P3 and 127 percent for sRGB. Brightness levels were also fairly impressive, earning second place behind the Raider 16 Max HX at 408.2 nits.

Although the instrumented tests show some regression compared to last year’s Blade 16 in the sRGB and DCI-P3 color spaces, the display looks amazing in a vacuum. The gritty visuals while playing Battlefield 6 in Overkill mode were a delight to my eyes, with sunlight glinting through windows and concussive bomb blasts kicking up debris all around me.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Razer Blade 16

The keyboard on the Blade 16 uses scissor switches with 1.5 mm of travel. The key presses are slightly clicky, and my fingers had no trouble getting used to typing on the keys.

I used my standard keyhero.com typing test and scored 89 words per minute with 97 percent accuracy, which is about par for the course for me.

The touchpad is absolutely massive, measuring 5.9 inches wide and 3.8 inches tall. It’s one of the largest trackpads you’ll find outside of Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pros. What isn’t Apple-like is the insistence on using a mechanical linkage for trackpad actuation instead of the steadier, more consistent presses made possible by a haptic touchpad. For a laptop with a sticker price of nearly $5,000, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for some haptics here.

However, if you’re using this laptop primarily for gaming, you’ll likely be using one of the best gaming mice for your competitive sessions.

Audio on the Razer Blade 16

The six-speaker audio system on the Blade 16 is THX-optimized, and the audio quality is good, if not quite price-appropriate. While playing Battlefield 6, in-game dialog, explosions, gunfire, and vehicle noise generally sounded good, but the effects were competing with the turbine whine of the dual system fans. Cranking the volume to near-max levels helped drown out the fan noise, but at that point, I was experiencing a bit of aural overload, so I opted to put on a pair of headphones.

When the CPU and GPU weren’t heavily taxed, I was able to better enjoy the speakers, such as by playing Dave Matthews Band’s album Before These Crowded Streets for the 300th time. I cruised through the album with the volume set to a comfortable 50%, savoring the acoustic and bass guitars on “Dreaming Tree,” which always results in a relaxing frisson for me.

Similarly, I watched the Mel Gibson-helmed The Patriot to get into the mood for the Fourth of July, and reveled in the heavy dialogue, flintlock musket blasts, and cannon bursts.

You can make adjustments to the audio using the Razer Synapse software,

Upgradeability of the Razer Blade 16

Accessing the interior of the Blade 16 involves removing 10 Torx screws. Once all screws are removed, the bottom panel lifts off with minimal force. You’ll find the large 90 WHr battery at the bottom front of the chassis, and above are two M.2 slots that accept full-length 2280 SSDs.

The right slot was populated with a 2TB Lexar NM790 PCIe 4.0 SSD, while the left slot was empty, allowing for future upgrades. Also accessible is the PCIe Wi-Fi 7 network adapter (Intel BE213).

Battery Life on the Razer Blade 16

One thing to keep in mind is that the Blade 16 maintained competitive gaming performance among its peers, while its multi-threaded performance took a back seat. However, those compromises were fully redeemed in terms of battery life.

The Blade 16 uses a 90 WHr battery, which delivered shockingly long endurance (for a gaming laptop) in our battery test, consisting of web browsing, video streaming over Wi-Fi, and OpenGL testing with the screen brightness set at 150 nits. The system lasted a staggering 12:46, besting the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370-equipped Blade 16 by over 5 hours and the Alienware 16 Area-51 by over 9 hours. Even the Raider 16 Max HX was no match, falling short by over 4 hours.

That is a fantastic result for such a thin and light 16-inch gaming laptop, and it is a testament to the miserly energy consumption of the Panther Lake processor.

Heat on the Razer Blade 16

While running the Metro Exodus stress test, we measured the temperature of Blade 16's aluminum-alloy chassis in various spots. The keyboard measured 102 degrees Fahrenheit (F) between the G and H keys, while the touchpad was 92 F.

The hottest part of the laptop was near the rear center of the bottom of the chassis, where we measured 130 F. So it’s best to keep the laptop firmly planted on your desk while gaming, lest you roast your legs.

During the Metro Exodus stress test, the CPU measured 75.3 degrees Celsius (C). Meanwhile, the RTX 5090 came in at 87 C.

Webcam on the Razer Blade 16

Razer continues to use a run-of-the-mill 1080p webcam with an IR sensor for Windows Hello support. It’s by no means a class-leading webcam, but it’s perfectly usable for Zoom or Teams meetings.

I found the colors to be mostly adequate, but there was a little lightness in the detail in my facial features.

Software and Warranty on the Razer Blade 16

One of my favorite things about Razer laptops is that they aren’t loaded down with too much added software. On our Blade 16 review unit, Razer Chroma and Synapse were preloaded.

Synapse is an all-in-one utility that lets you adjust performance profiles, keyboard macros, audio presets, and more. Chroma, on the other hand, gives you full control over system RGBs, including the per-key keyboard effects.

Otherwise, you’ll find requisite utilities, like the Nvidia app and the usual Windows app shortcuts (we’re looking at you, LinkedIn) on the Start menu.

The Blade 16 comes backed by a one-year warranty for the system itself and a two-year warranty for the 90 WHr battery.

Razer Blade 16 Configurations

Our Blade 16 review unit came configured with a Core Ultra 9 386H processor, 32GB of LPDDR5X memory, a 2TB SSD, RTX 5090 laptop GPU, and a 16-inch, 240 Hz. 1600p display. The price as-configured is a whopping $4,899.99.

There are cheaper configurations available — if you retain the Core Ultra 9 386H and opt for an RTX 5070 Ti, 1TB SSD, and 32GB of memory, the price drops to $3,499.99. Going with RTX 5080 bumps (all other hardware staying the same) takes the price to $3,999.99.

Bottom Line

Overall, the Razer Blade 16 was a strong performer in our gaming benchmarks, which is the primary reason why most people would be willing to spend nearly $5,000 for this system. More importantly, the Panther Lake-based system delivered nearly 13 hours of non-gaming battery life, outrunning its closest competitor by over 4 hours. Combine those results with the beautiful display, attractive chassis, and under-the-radar design, and you have a winning combination.

However, there are some detractions; the lack of a haptic trackpad at this price point is annoying, and multi-threaded performance significantly lagged the competition. Also, the $4,900 asking price is high, although not completely out of line for a system with these specs. You can save roughly $900 by going with an RTX 5080 instead of the RTX 5090 that was in our system.

But if price isn’t an issue for you, it’s hard to argue with this compelling combination of gaming performance and battery life.

Asus’ ROG Strix Scar 18 (starting at $4,299.99) is an example of abundance in the world of gaming laptops, built around an 18-inch display and the latest flagship silicon: a Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090 in our test unit. This machine makes a loud first impression, from its stellar (albeit tricky to configure) mini-LED display to the unique scrolling marquee lighting on its lid. But at this price - $4,999.99 as tested – the Scar 18 must prove it can hold the line against Razer’s Blade 18 before it can claim a spot at the top.

Design of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026)

At 15.71 x 11.73 x 1.38 inches, the Scar 18 has the footprint of a cafeteria tray – this isn’t a laptop you’ll be getting out on a plane. And at 8.16 pounds, this is also one of the heaviest laptops on the market. But performance is the goal here, not portability. Razer’s Blade 18 (15.74 x 10.84 x 1.1 inches) is thinner and significantly lighter, at 7.06 pounds.

The vibrant Aura Sync lightbar around the base of the laptop also demands attention, as does the RGB-lit Republic of Gamers logo on the lid. Both are configurable with customizable lighting and patterns in the Armoury Crate app.

The lid also has a special feature called AniMe vision, a diagonally scrolling marquee of text via LEDs shining through holes in the lid backing. (This is extremely similar to the AniMe Matrix that debuted on the Zephyrus line years ago.) There are several preconfigured versions of the Republic of Gamers logo, and you can add your own text effects. Layered effects are possible and don’t always produce the desired effect — I had a “raining” effect enabled at the same time as my text, and the text was almost impossible to make out.

The bottom line is that the Scar 18 couldn’t do anything more to look like a gaming laptop – it is designed to be seen. Build-wise, it’s a solid machine, showing minimal flex no matter how I handled it. Only the lid is metal, with the rest of the construction thick plastic.

Connectivity is thoroughly modern: two Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) and three USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, HDMI 2.1, an audio combo jack, and 2.5 Gbps Ethernet. Internally, it offers Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 from an Intel BE200 networking card. The power connector is proprietary for the 450 W power brick.

Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026)

We tested the ROG Strix Scar 18 in flagship form, featuring a Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, RTX 5090 graphics card (175 W maximum graphics power), and 32GB of RAM. This is top-of-the-line gaming technology, though with one misstep: single-channel RAM. This might affect its performance as we’re about to see. The Task Manager confirms that only one SO-DIMM slot was used.

I put the Scar 18 through its paces playing 007: First Light at 3840 x 2400 with all detail settings maxed out. At first, this proved too demanding – I saw 26 to 32 frames per second (FPS) in most scenes. Enabling DLSS more than doubled the frame rate – I saw around 70 FPS or better, and the game was supremely playable.

Our comparison lineup includes Alienware’s 16 Area-51 (RTX 5080), MSI’s Raider 16 Max HX (RTX 5090), and Razer’s Blade 18 (RTX 5090). All laptops use a Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and have GPUs rated for 175 W like our Asus. Their native screen resolutions, however, are different: Alienware and MSI are 2560 x 1600 while Razer has a unique dual-model display supporting both 1920 x 1200 and 3840 x 2400.

The Scar 18 was competitive across the board at 1200p, typically a few FPS ahead of the Alienware but a few FPS behind the MSI and particularly the Razer.

Bumping the resolution to 4K, the Scar 18 trailed the Razer in most games – the delta was at or almost 10% in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Far Cry 6, Cyberpunk 2077, and F1 23. (Red Dead Redemption 2 was the exception.) While those numbers won't make the difference between playability and unplayability, the price of these laptops makes it difficult to overlook.

Differences versus the Razer aside, the Scar 18 still demonstrates ample performance for gaming at 4K in most of the games we tested, though not all – it averaged only 21 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 on ray tracing ultra, indicating that it won't be possible to play every game at maximum detail settings.

We stress test gaming laptops running 15 loops of the Metro Exodus stress test at RTX settings. During the test, the Scar 18 averaged 141 FPS with minimal variance between runs, starting at 141.5 FPS and finishing at 141.1 FPS. The Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus CPU averaged 4.59 GHz on its P-cores and 2.58 GHz on its E-cores while the RTX 5090 had an average boost clock of 1.98 GHz.

Productivity Performance on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026)

We tested the Scar 18 with a Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. Not including a PCIe 5.0 drive seems like a missed opportunity at this price, though Razer does the same thing.

In Geekbench 6, the single-core numbers between these laptops were almost indistinguishable as we might expect given they all use the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, though the Scar 18’s multi-core score of 17,629 points significantly trailed the others, which all scored over 20,000 points.

The Scar 18 landed middle of the road in our 25GB file transfer test, averaging 2,042.69 MBps, putting it ahead of the MSI (1,357.93 MBps) and Razer (1,670.53 MBps) but behind the Alienware (2,738.9 MBps).

The Scar 18 also proved competitive in our 4K-to-1080p Handbrake transcoding test, completing it in two minutes and 11 seconds to lead the Alienware (2:24) but trail the MSI (1:51) and Razer (2:01).

Display on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026)

The Scar 18’s “Nebula” HDR display is its crowning feature. With a 3840 x 2400 (4K) resolution, mini-LED backlighting with 2,000 dimming zones, a 240 Hz refresh rate, and Nvidia G-Sync, this is quite advanced.

Tweaking is required to get this display to perform as intended, and it’s not simple. Out of the box, HDR is disabled, the refresh rate is capped at 120 Hz, and G-Sync is unavailable since Nvidia Optimus, which dynamically switches between the CPU’s integrated graphics and the RTX 5090, is enabled. To unlock maximum performance, the GPU must be put in “Ultimate” mode in Armoury Crate, which is effectively a MUX toggle that disables the integrated graphics. A restart is required for this to take effect. G-Sync, the 240 Hz refresh rate, and a special feature called “Extreme Low Motion Blur” (ELMB) then become available. The latter is aimed at esports players– it manipulates the pixels so that they turn off when switching colors, theoretically eliminating blur. (More on this in a moment.)

Those aren’t the only settings you’ll need to know about. You can toggle the mini-LED backlighting control between one zone, multi-zone balanced, or multi-zone strong. These settings produce very different images – one-zone provides the deepest contrast, multi-zone balanced is the dimmest but evens out the contrast to make dark scenes appear brighter, and multi-zone strong is the brightest and most vibrant. I stuck with the latter for nearly everything.

ELMB only works in one-zone mode without HDR. I tested it using the Blur Blusters UFO Test. It clearly made a difference – in the 240 fps scrollbar, the UFO looked crisp moving across the screen. Disabling ELMB caused it to become blurry, making it harder to see details. This feature can really matter for competitive esports.

But wait, there are even more settings! Armoury Crate includes many color modes through a feature called GameVisual — racing, scenery, RTS/RPG, fps, cinema, eyecare, vivid, and e-reading. On top of that, it also provides color temperature and gamut settings.

Then there’s the question of HDR. To get that working, it must first be enabled in the Windows Settings app. Back in Armoury Crate, you’ll find GameVisual, color temperature and gamut settings, Extreme Low Motion Blur, and mini-LED backlighting settings are no longer available. That’s the trade-off.

Complicating all this is that the settings I just mentioned are in different places in Armoury Crate. Some are in the display section, while others require going into the Devices section, selecting the Scar 18, and making changes there. It’s not straightforward, and those that simply use this laptop out of the box without tweaking won’t get the best visual experience.

After much experimentation, I played 007: First Light in GPU Ultimate mode, G-Sync enabled, a 240 Hz refresh rate, and True Color HDR enabled through Windows. The picture left little to the imagination – colors seemed to pop off the screen and the 4K resolution provided exquisite detail right down to the patches on Bond’s uniform. HDR effects from muzzle flashes and explosions were dazzling in dark environments.

When I watched Zootopia 2, I switched off HDR and used SDR multi-zone strong. Colors looked exquisite, and brightness was borderline excessive in a darker room. Bright objects like lamps almost seemed overexposed, but they weren’t – the display was simply that bright, and colors were so saturated that I found it hard to look away.

The Scar 18’s numbers are from its default out-of-the-box display settings. In color coverage, its 77.9% DCI-P3 coverage was last in the group – Alienware's OLED screen achieved 93.7% — but is still high enough to create vibrant-looking colors. Its 428.2-nit peak brightness was mid-pack, brighter than the Alienware's 368.6 nits but well back from Razer's 538 nits.

Also shown in our charts are the multi-zone strong settings, which produced 584.6 nits of brightness, with parts peaking at 625 nits. Enabling HDR, we measured an astounding 1,124 nits at 10%, 1,090 nits at 40%, and 943 nits at 100%. If you're looking for one of the brightest laptop displays around, the Scar 18 ranks high on the list.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026)

The Scar 18’s keyboard is great for gaming – the keys require enough actuation force that resting your fingers on WASD or the arrow keys won’t produce accidental presses. Key travel is communicative in the sense your fingers know exactly when a key is at the top or bottom of the stroke. The bright RGB backlight is sharp and easy to see.

The keyboard is less ideal for productivity. The tactile feel is rather lifeless, though I still managed 126 words per minute with 99% accuracy in my usual MonkeyType run. Layout-wise, a two-thirds-size number pad on an 18-inch laptop is a miss – there’s plenty of space to make it full-size. Additionally, the arrow key cluster isn’t separated out, resulting in no right Ctrl key, and there are no dedicated Home, End, Page Up, or Page Down keys. Asus does, however, provide five dedicated macro keys, a rarity on any laptop. These are configurable in the Armoury Crate app.

Asus’ mechanical touchpad is excellent, with an expansive surface and a smooth but fingerprint-resistant surface coating. Its clicking action is quiet.

Audio on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026)

The Scar 18’s quad-speaker array delivers a decent, if not remarkable, audio experience. In 007: First Light, soft details like the footsteps of approaching enemies were easy to pinpoint, thanks to the expansive soundstage – there’s plenty of room to separate the speaker placement on a laptop this large. Bass is muted, though, resulting in explosions and gunfire that don’t stir up as much excitement as they could.

In Phil Collins’ “Don’t Lose My Number,” high hats on drum hits were sharp but missed low-end bump. Switching to the Chainsmokers’ “Summertime Friends,” I also noted the lack of bass, though the vocals were crisp. The overall sound signature is on the hollow side, but that can be sharpened up using the Atmos Detailed equalizer in the Dolby Access app. None of the equalizers made up for the lack of bass, though. Volume levels are also moderate – I found myself pushing at least 80% volume for most situations.

Upgradeability of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026)

Getting inside the Scar 18 couldn’t be easier – simply slide the latch below the palm rest, slide the entire bottom panel forward, and lift it away. You don't even need tools.

Upgrade possibilities include two M.2 slots, two SODIMM slots, and the battery.

Battery Life on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026)

Our battery test consists of web browsing, running OpenGL tests, and streaming videos with the screen at 150 nits while connected to Wi-Fi.

One minute shy of the five-hour mark, the Scar 18 demonstrates respectable battery life for an 18-inch gaming laptop. The Razer lasted half an hour longer (5:31) and the MSI Raider (8:34) clearly does a better job conserving power, but the Scar 18 did outperform the Alienware (3:33) by several hours.

Heat on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026)

We measure the surface temperatures of gaming laptops while running the Metro Exodus stress test. Peak temperatures were 91 degrees Fahrenheit on the keyboard between the G and H keys, 90 F on the touchpad, and 108 F on the underside near the cooling vents. Internally, the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus averaged 66 Celsius while the RTX 5090 ran at 64 C.

The laptop’s fans are well-behaved for daily use. Though fan noise increases while gaming, I had no trouble hearing footsteps and distant conversations in 007: First Light using the built-in speakers.

Webcam on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026)

Asus’ FHD webcam has the minimum resolution expected on a modern laptop. The picture looks soft and washed out. Highlights aren’t handled that well – a window in the background appeared blown out – and I had trouble making out details on my face from just a few feet away. Gamers who value visual quality will want to invest in an external webcam.

Software and Warranty on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026)

Asus includes a useful software bundle, starting with the familiar Armoury Crate. This app provides component monitoring, a macro editor, game library, an exhaustive amount of display settings, and lighting settings via Aura Sync and AniMe Vision. Accessing some settings is unintuitive since you need to go to the Device section and select the laptop. There you can access Windows key and Touchpad toggles and several display settings, including panel overdrive (240 Hz refresh rate). Most settings can be saved in profiles.

The MyAsus app is more generic. In addition to diagnostics and system updates, it provides a battery care mode, microphone noise cancelation, and networking preferences that allow prioritizing traffic to games or other apps.†

The Scar 18 also works with Asus’ GlideX app to share content across devices, including phones and tablets.

Asus includes a standard one-year warranty.

Configurations

Asus offers two Scar 18 configurations with only the GPU different between them – model G835LWG-DB96 uses an RTX 5080 for $4,299.99 while our review model, G835LXG-DB96, steps up to the RTX 5090 for $4,999.99. All other components are the same: a Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and the 18-inch mini-LED display.

Pricing is slightly higher than Razer’s Blade 18 with the RTX 5080 – it was $4,099 at this writing. Razer runs $5,399 with the RTX 5090, but that price also includes a 2TB SSD.

Bottom Line

The Scar 18 is an undeniably impressive machine that goes all-in on visuals. Its mini-LED “Nebula” display looks breathtaking when properly configured, producing exceptional brightness. The AniMe scrolling marquee, dedicated macro keys, and easy serviceability also elevate its appeal.

However, when it comes to performance, the Scar 18’s single-channel RAM and lack of a PCIe 4.0 SSD are significant shortcomings on a $4,999.99 machine. Several of our gaming benchmarks and multi-core CPU performance showed meaningful dips against Razer’s Blade 18. Additionally, while its display is brilliant, the maze of settings required to unlock its potential means it doesn’t provide the best experience out of the box.

Overall, the Scar 18 is a formidable and visually stunning laptop with plenty of power and one of the best displays you’ll find in a laptop. It simply doesn’t perform consistently enough to displace the Blade 18 as our top recommendation among elite 18-inch gaming laptops.

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The headline spec on this laptop is the RTX 5080 GPU. Even though it's only the mobile version, it still packs 16GB of VRAM and 7,680 CUDA cores, which should make light work of pretty much every title at the 2560 x 1600 resolution you'll be playing.

While we haven't reviewed this exact spec, the Omen Max 16 with RTX 5090 scored well in our HP Omen Max 16 laptop review. It is a little on the heavy side, but the aluminum enclosure gives it a premium look and feel. As you can see from our Geekbench testing, productivity performance beats out rivals with the same CPU in both single- and multi-core testing. That CPU is Intel's Core Ultra 9 275HX, a capable 24-core processor with 8 performance cores and boost clocks of up to 5.4GHz.

The display here is IPS rather than OLED, but you'll still get up to 240Hz refresh rates and 500 nits of brightness.

Other noteworthy features include 32GB of RAM, which is becoming increasingly rare in this economy due to the impact of AI on PC components. The 1TB SSD is Gen 4, so it should be plenty quick enough for gaming and workloads. You also get speedy Ethernet and Wi-Fi 7, as well as two USB-A ports, HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

For your troubles, you'll also get a copy of the new LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, a nice addition to any Steam library. As mentioned, this 34% discount is part of HP's July 4th sale, so there's no guarantee as to how long this deal will last. If you're interested, act sooner rather than later.

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With ongoing inflation in PC component prices, investing in a gaming laptop can be a wise choice to avoid the rising cost of building a desktop PC from scratch. Additionally, it is portable, allowing you to game, work, or study anywhere without sacrificing much on performance. A standout laptop deal we've spotted is the Gigabyte Aero X16, now available for its lowest-ever price of $1,099.99 at Best Buy. The laptop is originally priced at $1,399.99, so you save $300.

• Check out this deal on Best Buy

The Gigabyte Aero X16 features an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, an 8-core, 16-thread processor that can boost up to 5 GHz, paired with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD for storage. One can upgrade the RAM up to 64GB, and there is a secondary M.2 slot to add more storage. For graphics, the laptop comes with an Nvidia RTX 5060 with 8GB of VRAM. The laptop sports a 16-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, offering 100% sRGB color gamut coverage and up to 400 nits of brightness. It also supports refresh rates of up to 165 Hz and a 3 ms response time for a fast, responsive visual experience.

The laptop also comes with a single-zone RGB-backlit keyboard, a 1080p webcam with Windows Hello support, and built-in Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. I/O options include two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A ports, a USB 4.0 Type-C port, a USB 2.0 Type-A port, a 3.5mm headphone and mic combo jack, and an Ethernet port. There’s also built-in Wi-Fi 6E along with Bluetooth 5.2. The battery has a capacity of 76 Wh, and the charging brick is rated at 150W.

Overall, the Gigabyte Aero X16 is a well-rounded gaming laptop that balances performance, modern features, and upgrade potential, making it a compelling choice at its current discounted price of $1,099.99. Do note that the deal is only valid until June 29, so you'd better hurry before stocks run out.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, gaming chair, or CPU Deals pages.

Given the spikes in RAM and storage prices, finding the best deals on systems can be somewhat challenging. Luckily, there are still deals to be found for those looking for a value-priced gaming laptop, and the best ones aren’t always from Amazon. Best Buy is currently running a promotion on the Gigabyte Aero X16, with the price dropping from its MSRP of $1,399.99 to $1,099.99.

So what exactly do you get for your just under $1,100 outlay? Well, the Aero X16 is powered by a Ryzen AI 7 350 processor, which is based on AMD’s Zen 5 architecture. It has four Zen 5 cores and four Zen 5c cores, with a max boost of 5 GHz (3.5 GHz for the Zen 5c cores). Although it’s common to see 16GB of DDR5 memory in budget laptops, the Aero X16 doubles that figure to 32GB. On the storage front, you’ll find a 1TB SSD. I should note that the laptop supports up to 64GB of memory and up to a 4TB SSD – that is, if you’re made of money when it comes to future upgrades.

Gaming is likely front and center on your mind, and the Aero X6 makes use of a GeForce RTX 5060 discrete GPU. This is towards the lower end of Nvidia’s mobile GeForce GPU lineup, but you can expect pretty good frame rates at 1080p or the laptop’s native resolution, which is 2560 x 1600. Speaking of the display, it’s a 16-inch IPS panel with a 165 Hz refresh rate, 3 ms response time, and 100% sRGB color space coverage. You can also expect 400 nits of brightness in typical situations.

As for physical ports, the laptop features three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB-C port (USB4), an HDMI 2.1 port, a GbE port, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. For wireless connectivity, there’s Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. Finally, Aero X16 packs a 76 Whr battery into its 4.19-pound frame, which Gigabyte says can last for up to 12 hours per charge.

This Best Buy promotion is only available for a limited time, so the $1,099 price for the Aero X16 could disappear at any moment.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, gaming chair, or CPU Deals pages.

There are plenty of great deals out there with discounts on Intel, AMD, and Nvidia's latest mobile hardware. We're constantly combing through the best deals across multiple retailers, such as Best Buy, Newegg, Walmart, and Amazon, backing up our deal selections with in-depth reviews, benchmarks, and comprehensive historical pricing analysis. We're checking deals around the clock to find the best options and keep this page up to date, but please note that they often won't last long, so you'll need to act quickly.

There may also be some older laptops, which you should definitely avoid. For instance, anything older than one generation is better off avoided. If you have the cash, spring for a system with a GPU with at least 8GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, and at least 512GB of storage.

We also maintain lists of the best gaming laptops, the best gaming laptops under $1,500, and the best gaming laptops under $1,000, should you want to peruse some of our favorites.

Best Gaming Laptop Deals: Quick Links

• Amazon: All Gaming Laptop Deals, up to $1,000 off
• Amazon: Up to 29% off MSI Gaming Laptops

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SELLIN' FAST: These deals are still in stock, and the discounts are still live, 24 hours later! We're seeing a lot of interest, so jump on these while you can.

With memory prices at all-time highs, it can be challenging to find stellar deals on gaming systems. Luckily for all of us, Walmart has some deals on MSI gaming laptops, starting at $1,089 for the Cyborg 15. It may be the eve of Amazon Prime Day, but who’s to say that Walmart can’t get in on the deals action?

• Check out this deal on Amazon

The Cyborg 15 is the definite value play wth its $1,089 asking price (a $510 discount). That price gets you an Intel Core 7-240H processor, 16GB of DDR5 memory, and a 1TB SSD. The Series 2 “Raptor Lake” processor has a maximum turbo frequency of 5.2 GHz and 10 cores in total: 6 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. You’ll also find an 8GB GeForce RTX 5070 discrete GPU.

Front and center is a 15.6-inch 1080p IPS display with a maximum refresh rate of 144 Hz. Also on deck are a four-zone RGB keyboard, Wi-Fi 6E/Bluetooth 5.3, and a 55.2 WHr battery. Regarding ports, the Cyborg 15 has a healthy balance of USB-A and USB-C ports along with a GbE port (which is becoming rarer these days as manufacturers aim for thinness).

If you need a bit more spring in your gaming step, look no further than the MSI Vector 16, priced at $1,899, or a discount of $800. This system delivers a healthy performance boost over the Cyborg 15, which uses a Core Ultra 9 275HX processor. This “Arrow Lake” chip has 24 cores in total (8 performance, 16 efficiency), a maximum turbo frequency of 5.4 GHz, and 40MB of total L2 cache.

You still get 16GB of DDR5 memory and a 1TB SSD, but you also get a big performance boost with a 16GB GeForce RTX 5080 GPU. Not only do you get a higher-resolution, larger 16-inch panel (2560 x 1600) with a 240 Hz refresh rate, but you also get a much larger 80 Wh battery to power the system. As for the keyboard, you get another upgrade courtesy of a 24-zone RGB setup.

Both of these MSI laptops are compelling options for gamers, no matter your budget. Especially with the Vector 16, which offers a lot of bang for the buck at $1,799. After all, that value proposition is made even more abundantly clear, as who would have thought we’d live in the age of $1,800 handheld gaming PCs?

Join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

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If you want a no-compromise laptop gaming experience, then opting for the world's most powerful mobile graphics processor is a must. Pair the mobile RTX 5090 with a 240Hz OLED screen, and you have today's deal at B&H Photo, where the 16-inch Acer Predator Helios AI is now $2,999 after a $500 discount. You couldn't currently even buy a desktop RTX 5090 for the price of this whole laptop.

● Grab this deal at B&H Photo

This model of the Acer Predator Helios AI features a 24-core Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU with 24GB of fast GDDR7 VRAM, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 SSDs. The chassis is a mix of metal and plastic, with an abyssal black finish. There are multiple RGB zones located on the laptop, so you can illuminate the darkness with a rainbow light show should you wish it.

The RTX 5090 from Nvidia is the absolute king of gaming for both desktop and laptop gaming, but don't get them confused, as the laptop version of the RTX 5090 is a completely different beast: same name, but not quite as powerful. That doesn't change how good it is, however, as the mobile RTX 5090 is definitely the most powerful graphics chip you'll find inside any modern gaming laptop.

We haven't had the opportunity to review this model of the Acer Predator Helios AI, so we can't fully compare the laptop to any competition or see its performance benchmarks. These are familiar components, though, so we do have a rough idea of the capabilities.

The RTX 5090 will be able to run all the latest game titles smoothly at maximum settings on the gorgeous 16-inch 2,560 x 1,600 OLED screen, plus you can also make use of Nvidia DLSS 4 support to boost framerates and gain a smoother experience on more taxing titles, should you need it.

Coupled with that 24GB RAM and 2TB SSD and you've got a portable rig with serious performance that'll chew through modern games with ease. Grab this Acer Predator Helios AI laptop for just $2,999 while you can, because this is a deal that will sell out, fast.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

The summer is upon us, the World Cup is in full swing, and with it, the opportunity to leave the house. This well-priced gaming laptop deal lets you take your computer with you. Whether that's to stream the soccer or to play some games, the choice is yours. At just $1,199.99, the Gigabyte Gaming A16 with RTX 5060 sees a $300 saving in today's Walmart deal. The original list price is $1,499.99, which is still pretty good for a 16-inch gaming laptop, but the $300 saving makes it a superb value. So if you're looking at purchasing a gaming laptop on a limited budget, then definitely take a peek at this offer.

• Grab this deal at Walmart

The IPS display on the Gigabyte A16 has a screen resolution of 1080p but uses a taller 16:10 aspect ratio, giving you a little more screen space. The FHD display will still look sharp on a 16-inch panel, plus a speedy 165Hz refresh rate will keep the gaming motion nice and smooth. Powering the laptop is an 8-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 260 processor, an Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, 16 GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1 TB SSD.

The laptop also packs plenty of connectivity options with both Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth. For video connections to a monitor or television, there's an HDMI 2.1 port and a USB Type-C port that supports DisplayPort 1.4. The Gigabyte A16 is a well-rounded budget gaming laptop offering from a trusted brand, perfect as a portable gaming PC or for taking away to college for the new year.

At just $1,199.99, the Gigabyte Gaming A16 is worth taking a look at. You can boost your game library with the $300 you save on this gaming laptop.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

Even when you game on a portable device, some people want the biggest screen they can find. The Razer Blade 18 looks at some of the best gaming laptops — largely 16-inchers — and calls them tiny.

This system, at $5,399.99 as tested (and starting at $3,999.99) has a huge price tag, but that comes with strong build quality, top-end specs, and a dual-mode display that lets you switch between higher resolution and higher frame rates depending on what you're doing.

The Blade 18 and its aluminum chassis do have some drawbacks. The machine runs quite warm, with loud fans, and at this price, I wish Razer had taken advantage of the PCIe Gen 5 slot with an appropriate drive.

Design of the Razer Blade 18 (2026)

Razer's industrial design hasn't seen a change in a while, so the Blade 18 appears identical to the way it did last year. It's a CNC aluminum block with a Spartan, rectangular design. There is a bit of flex right behind the green, three-headed snake logo at the center of the lid, which I wish didn't exist in a design this premium.

Otherwise, though, the Blade feels rock solid. It's also tremendous, at 15.74 x 10.84 x 1.1 inches and 7.06 pounds before the 400W power brick. It just fits in my backpack, which definitely isn't designed for a system this large. The all-black affair is interrupted only by the 18-inch screen and the per-key RGB on the keyboard.

There are a ton of ports on this system. The left is lined with a proprietary power port, Ethernet, a pair of USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C), and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. On the right, you'll find the Thunderbolt 5 port, HDMI 2.1, another USB-A port, the SD card slot, and a Kensington lock slot.

The two different Thunderbolt ports aren't labeled. I wish Razer had made it clear which is which without looking it up or plugging a device in.

Razer Blade 18 (2026) Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the Razer Blade 18 (2026)

Between the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus CPU and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, the Blade 18 can tackle just about anything you throw at it.

In Resident Evil Requiem, with the resolution set to 3840 x 2400 and settings topped out, including path tracing and hair strands, the game typically ran between 30 and 37 frames per second, though it dropped to 28 FPS during a scene in which Leon was chased by a giant spider. Upscaling was forced on, so I opted for quality, but left frame gen off. By dropping to 2560 x 1440, I had a more consistent 49-57 FPS, including during a boss fight with that spider.

Soon after, I realized that the 3840 x 2400 display mode had forced me into a 60 Hz refresh rate while gaming. Switching to 1920 x 1200 mode, the same boss fight at a lower resolution ran around 90 FPS.

On our benchmarks, we found that the Blade 18 didn't deliver a meaningful performance bump over last year's model, which utilized a Core Ultra 9 275HX with the RTX 5090 (our review model from last year also had 64GB of RAM). The Blade 18 beat out the MSI Raider 16 HX and Alienware 16 Area-51 at 1920 x 1200 in our tests, though in some cases the leads were small. In most cases, the Blade 18 at 3840 x 2400 ran very similarly to last year's system at the higher resolution. The Alienware and Raider top out at 2560 x 1600, a much more common resolution on gaming laptops these days.

On our stress test, which consists of running Metro Exodus 15 times in a loop, the Blade 18 averaged 146.03 FPS. The system actually did best after three runs, when it warmed up, and never dipped back down. During this test, the CPU's performance cores averaged 5.14 GHz while the E-cores averaged 2 GHz. The GPU ran at an average of 1,986.32 MHZ.

Productivity Performance on the Razer Blade 18 (2026)

We tested the Blade 18 with a Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD. Unsurprisingly, it's a strong competitor.

On Geekbench 6, the Blade 18's single-core score of 3,170 and multi-core score of 20,166 are admirable, but not terribly different from last year. In fact, the multi-core score was down a few points. Both the Alienware 16 Area-51 and MSI Raider 16 Max HX, each with the same CPU as this Blade 18, were slightly faster on both the single and multi-core tests.

The new Blade copied 25GB of files at a rate of 1,670.53 MBps, beating the MSI Raider 16 Max HX, but falling far behind the Alienware's PCIe Gen 5 SSD, which Razer supports but didn't include, even in a laptop over $5,000.

The Blade 18 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 2 minutes and 1 second, effectively the same as last year. That's faster than the Alienware, but the Raider did the job in 1:51.

Display on the Razer Blade 18 (2026)

The big (sorry) selling point on the Blade 18 is its massive, 18-inch display. The dual-mode display can switch between 3840 x 2400 at 240 Hz for productivity work or 1920 x 1200 at 440 Hz for gaming, though this does require a reboot in some instances. While trying to game at 4K, I was limited to just 60 Hz even when plugged in.

The Dual-mode is a unique advantage, though some people might prefer OLED for gaming at this price. That being said, I haven't seen 18-inch OLED panels, so Razer may have opted for dual-mode as advantageous over Mini LED. There aren't too many gaming laptops that offer 4K resolution these days.

In Resident Evil Requiem, I found myself wishing for the black levels on OLED screens in dark environments. Still, when Leon shot a gas can that exploded into an orange fireball during the game's infamous spider boss fight, it was quite vivid.

The biggest change Razer is promising outside of performance over last year's model is a brighter screen. At 538 nits, it was brighter than last year's model (467.6 nits) and both the Alienware and MSI Raider.

The color volume coverage didn't change, however, at 80.8% DCI-P3 and 114.1% sRGB. The Raider was slightly higher, while the Alienware led the pack with its OLED screen.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Razer Blade 18

Razer outfitted the Blade 18 with a full keyboard, including a number pad. Razer claims 1.5 mm key travel and 63 grams of actuation, along with a 1,000 Hz polling rate and N-Key rollover for gaming.

Using MonkeyType, I hit 115 words per minute with 97% accuracy, which is fairly standard for me. The keys are comfortable enough, though I've seen competitors like MSI and Alienware use mechanical switches in their most expensive halo products. That would be a nice addition here.

The layout is fine, but in its quest for a totally symmetrical layout, Razer used half-size up and down arrow keys and full-size left and right keys. I prefer an "inverted T", no matter which size is used, but this comes down to preference.

The touchpad is massive. At this price, I'd really like to see haptics, but Razer has opted for a standard mechanical touchpad. You can use it relatively high up, but clicks get stuck above the halfway point, leaving some of that space just for moving the cursor. There's plenty of room for gestures, though.

Razer put the touchpad in the center of the palm rest. That looks great aesthetically, but it means that when you're not using the number pad, you're likely to hit it with your hand while typing. Most gamers will use a separate gaming mouse, but if you're the type of AI developer Razer is aiming this machine at, and you're working on the go, you might accidentally move the mouse while using the keyboard. (You can disable the touchpad with a press of the decimal key on the number pad.)

Audio on the Razer Blade 18

The Razer Blade 18 has a six-speaker sound system, with four firing upward and two down-firing speakers. They support THX Spatial Audio (THX is owned by Razer), and can be customized in Razer Synapse.

These speakers are very loud. They could fill my apartment at just above 50% volume. "Raise Him Up," the immensely catchy satirical gospel tune off the soundtrack to Season 5 of The Boys, filled my home with actor Daveed Digg's voice, along with horns, a choir, and drums. I've heard better audio, particularly when it comes to pure clarity and bass, but this is pretty solid, especially if you like your music and games loud. Playing with the well-labeled ranges in Synapse THX did help me draw out the vocals and low-end from the busy track.

In Resident Evil Requiem, the speakers showed off. When Leon stepped on a skull in Racoon City, the crunch was sharp. In a boss battle with a giant spider, the shrieks were terrifying, and the gunshots were booming. Someone from my office politely came over and asked me to turn it down. I couldn't blame them.

Upgradeability on the Razer Blade 18 (2026)

Twelve Torx 4 screws hold the Blade 18's bottom to the chassis. Once I removed them, the base popped off with just my hands, and no worrying plastic clips. That's about as easy as it gets unless you have a dedicated door to components.

There are two SSD slots. On our review unit, the PCIe 4 slot was already filled, but you can add a second SSD to a slot that supports PCIe 5. The Wi-Fi card is removable, as is the slotted RAM, which is under shielding.

The battery is replaceable as well, though there is a fan integrated in the middle of the battery, so you'll need to be sure to disconnect the fan connector from the motherboard before removing the screws. This is a fascinating battery, and it might be harder to get than more standard shapes.

Battery Life on the Razer Blade 18 (2026)

When it comes to 18-inch gaming laptops, portable really is a turn of phrase. You'll largely want this thing plugged in for performance, if for no other reason than that it's huge.

That being said, it can run off the battery for a decent amount of time. On our test, which browses the web, streams videos, and runs light OpenGL tasks with the screen set to 150 nits of brightness, the Blade lasted for 5 hours and 31 minutes. That's slightly longer than last year, and a big improvement over the Alienware (3:33). But the MSI Raider lasted the longest of the bunch at 8:34 — a full workday.

Heat on the Razer Blade 18 (2026)

The Blade's vapor chamber and tri-fan cooling have their work cut out for them. The system still gets hot under use.

After 15 runs of the Metro Exodus benchmark, the keyboard was hot to the touch at 109 degrees Fahrenheit. The touchpad was cooler at 100 F (though that's still toasty for a touchpad), while the bottom of the system was 116 F at the hottest point.

The CPU measured 88.90 degrees Celsius during the test, while the GPU averaged 69.62 C.

Webcam on the Razer Blade 18 (2026)

The Blade 18 comes equipped with a 5-megapixel webcam. Its biggest strength may be in color accuracy. In our well-lit office, it caught the exact shade of red-orange in my shirt, and some tired bags under my eyes after a long weekend. It did, however, have some graininess.

The camera system includes infrared for Windows Hello login duties, as well as a physical privacy shutter.

Software and Warranty on the Razer Blade 18 (2026)

The only software on the Razer Blade 18 is the company's Synapse app. It does a ton, including managing macros, letting you set custom profiles for games, adjusting lighting and audio, and setting performance modes. There's a lot here. Unfortunately, there are a few ads for Razer's hardware, but they're not too intrusive.

Razer sells the Blade 18 with a 1-year warranty on the laptop and a 2-year warranty on the battery.

The company has two RazerCare plans, Essential ($729.99) and Elite ($999.99), which extend your warranty to 3 years and add 24-hour claim support and coverage for mechanical failures and surge protection. Only the Elite plan covers accidental damage.

Razer Blade 18 (2026) Configurations

The Razer Blade 18 is supremely expensive. We tested it with an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage, which adds up to $5,399.99.

The cheapest version is $3,999.99, with the same processor, an RTX 5070 Ti, 32GB of memory, and 1TB of storage. A maxed-out version is $6,999.99 and is identical to what we reviewed, except with 128GB of RAM, which is pointed more at AI developers.

As of this writing, last year's models with a Core Ultra 9 275HX are still available, and they're all $500 less than this year's version. Given the CPU upgrades aren't huge, that's a discount worth considerling.

Bottom Line

If you want one of the biggest gaming rigs with top-end components, a bright, dual-mode screen, and tons of ports, the Blade 18 will absolutely fit the bill. But that bill will be expensive, with the system starting at $4,000 and getting more expensive from there (our review unit goes for $5,399).

For those who want an 18-inch gaming rig with few compromises, this is the one to get if you can afford it. Last year's model is $500 cheaper with a Core Ultra 9 275HX, but you'll also lose the brighter screen. I'm not sure how many people dropping $4,000-$6,000 care about that extra $500, but it's worth noting.

You won't want to miss this huge saving on this formidable HP gaming laptop right now. HP has itself slashed the price of one of its top-spec HP Omen Max 16 laptops down to just $1,999.99, or slightly more if you opt for an OLED display, fitted with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and a top-spec Intel CPU, and securing you a saving of $800 in the process.

● Check out this HP laptop deal

Your focus, first of all, should be on the GPU installed in this rig. The mobile version of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti isn't quite an equivalent to the desktop version, coming with a pared-down set of 5,888 CUDA cores and 12GB GDDR7 VRAM. That aside, this is still a 115W GPU with plenty of power for high-resolution gaming, especially compared to running games on a laptop's integrated GPU.

You won't find it difficult to comfortably hit high frame rates on this HP laptop's native 1600p resolution. This current-gen Nvidia Blackwell GPU's DLSS 4 support will give you extra breathing room, too, if you find you need a bit more performance muscle in the most intensive games, with multi-frame generation giving you an AI-generated boost. As our HP Omen Max 16 laptop review explains, this laptop is an extremely competitive option for gamers who want a high-quality, high-spec build. The build quality will match the base model on offer here, but the GPU (and display) will vary, depending on the specs you choose.