The best 15-inch gaming laptops are not much different from the best gaming laptops in general, except this selection is intended for those who seek something travel-friendly.
We test laptops that can get as large as 18-inches, like the phenomenal Asus ROG Strix Scar 18, so it's understandable that consumers might be looking for hardware they can fit in their bag. After all, 15-inches is close to the bottom floor for a gaming laptop (or at least the ones that we recommend spending money on).
Otherwise, we determine the quality of a gaming laptop by testing the color depth and brightness of its display, performance metrics in both gaming and productivity tests, the fullness of its sound system, the satisfying clickiness of its keyboard, whether it runs at a comfortable heat, and how long its battery life lasts.
If you're shopping on a budget, be sure to check out our best laptops under $1.500 and best cheap laptops pages for the best deals on the market.
And if you're in the market for a peripheral or two, take a gander at our pages for best gaming headsets, best gaming mouse, best gaming monitors and best gaming keyboard.
The best 15-inch gaming laptops you can buy today
Why you can trust Laptop Mag Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 is easily one of the best gaming laptops you can buy right now. The laptop offers amazing performance from its AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS processor, though varied performance from its Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU. It boasts a similarly long-lasting battery life, a clicky keyboard, a 15.6-inch, 1440p display, and a set of powerful speakers wrapped up in an even more elegant Moonlight White design.
The Zephyrus G15 boasts a 15.6-inch, 2560 x 1440-pixel panel with a 240Hz refresh rate, making it sharper and smoother than its 14-inch counterpart. If you're looking for a reliable gaming laptop, the the Zephyrus G15 is right up your alley.
See our full Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 review.
This baby has it all. Power, beauty (on the inside and out) and a soft touch. The Alienware m15 R4 will grace you with its intense Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia 3000-series GPU, a poppin’ 15.6-inch, 4K OLED display, and a punchy keyboard wrapped in a familiar but stylish design. But don’t let this thin figure deceive you; there’s a mighty Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Max-Q GPU with 8GB of VRAM lying beneath the surface.
The Alienware m15 R4 is a stunning notebook that hits almost all of the boxes when it comes to being the best gaming laptop. The Alienware m15 R4’s 15.6-inch, 3840 x 2160-pixel (4K) OLED display is luxurious, delivering images that are incredibly bright and vivid. You can’t deny its raw power, incredible display and bangin’ keyboard. Overall, the Alienware m15 R4 is one of the best gaming laptops you can own if you can afford it.
See our full Alienware m15 R4 review
The MSI Crosshair 15 Rainbow Six Extraction Edition comes to us through a partnership between Ubisoft and MSI to craft a standout gaming laptop worth your money. It’s powerful and prepared to handle modern games with ease, all while boasting design elements inspired by Rainbow Six: Extraction.
Right now, you’re probably thinking: “Rainbow Six Extraction? The game that launched earlier this year and was forgotten in a month?” Yes, that Rainbow Six Extraction. Now I bet you’re thinking: “Why would I purchase a laptop featuring designs from a game I don’t care about?” That’s totally fair, but hear me out!
The Crosshair 15 does a good job of balancing its design elements without making overt references to its source material. On top of that, the laptop is an absolute beast, boasting fantastic gaming performance, a staggeringly vivid display and solid battery life. It’s not perfect, thanks to a dimmer-than-average display, thick bezels, and some small keys, but beyond that, it’s a solid gaming laptop overall.
See our full MSI Crosshair 15 R6E review
Lightweight, pretty and powerful. Those are the basic hallmarks of a Razer Blade. The latest iteration of the $2,999 Blade 15 Advanced Model raises the bar with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU. It’s the epitome of a portable powerhouse, plus you got that beautiful Chroma keyboard and a display with a fast refresh rate. Razer’s even providing gamers with a measure of security.
See our Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model (2021) review
Gigabyte got a lot of things right with the Aero 15, including its sturdy, all-aluminum, jet-black chassis, gorgeous OLED panel and satisfying, clicky keyboard. Its gaming and performance benchmarks are decent, too. The Aero 15 is an excellent choice for content creators. Photo and video editors will benefit from the Aero 15’s color-accurate 4K panel, but they’ll also enjoy the pleasures of diving into one of their favorite triple-A titles after a long day of work.
The Gigabyte Aero 15 packs a powerful Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU that can handle all of your taxing triple-A titles — just make sure to game in 1080p. If you’re a professional photo editor and/or video editor who loves gaming, the Aero 15 will be a beastly companion that will help you accomplish your work tasks in the morning and fire up your favorite games with decent frame rates at night. The Gigabyte gaming rig is a fine choice for early adopters who want to get their hands on an Nvidia 30-series laptop with a spectacular Samsung 4K AMOLED display.
See our full Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED review
The HP Victus 15 won’t appeal to professional gamers who demand the latest and greatest, but it has enough razzle dazzle to win the affections of casual players. The HP gaming rig sports a 12th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, a 144Hz refresh rate display, updated thermals, and a sophisticated, office-friendly onyx chassis that can double as a work laptop. The HP Victus 15 is a dream for unpretentious, budget-conscious gamers.
As long as you don’t plan on running Microsoft Flight Simulator, which is known for bricking GPUs, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, or any other game that requires a lot of graphical juice, you should be fine with the Victus 15.
See our full HP Victus 15 (2022) review
The Lenovo Legion 5 Pro proves what's possible when two opposing forces come together for the greater good. Those forces are AMD and Nvidia, and the greater good is the gaming community. Armed with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800 CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 graphics, the Legion 5 Pro gives gamers the power they need to run the latest AAA titles at Ultra graphics settings.
The Legion 5 Pro flaunts one of the best keyboards I've ever used. Paired with a comfortable typing experience is a bright and vivid 16-inch display, a generous selection of ports and decent battery life. Best of all, the Legion 5 Pro is priced aggressively. And what it lacks in flashy aesthetics, it makes up for with a gorgeous 16-inch QHD display. And despite harnessing so much power, the Legion 5 Pro delivers respectable battery life.
If you're a fan of Lenovo's line of gaming laptops, check out the battle between the gaming brothers: Lenovo Legion 5 vs. Lenovo Legion 7.
Read our full Lenovo Legion 5 Pro review.
How we test gaming laptops
When we bring a laptop into our laboratory, our goal is to see how it would work if you brought it into your home or office. While we use a number of industry standard benchmarks such as Geekbench and 3DMark, we focus heavily on real-world tests that we have developed in-house.
To test endurance, the Laptop Mag Battery test surfs the web at 150 nits of brightness until the system runs out of juice. To judge pure processing power, we use a giant spreadsheet macro that matches 65,000 names with their addresses, a video transcoder that converts a 4K video to 1080p and the Geekbench 4 synthetic test. We measure graphics prowess with both 3DMark Ice Storm / Fire Strike and a series of actual game titles.
We use a colorimeter to measure screen brightness and color gamut while other instruments help us determine a laptop's key travel and ambient heat. See this page on How We Test Laptops for more details on our benchmarking procedures.
How to find the right 15-inch gaming laptop for you
Gaming laptops can have plenty of fancy aesthetics and gimmicks, but at the end of the day, it's all about the games themselves. We recommend deciding which gaming laptop is right for you based on what you anticipate you'll be playing.
If you want to get the most out your hardware by running titles at the maximum settings with high frame rates and crisp resolution, look no further than the Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model. It may be $2,999, but it comes packed with a Intel Core i7-10875H CPU, RTX 3080 GPU and a 2K display with 240Hz refresh rate, making it perfect for those on the prowl for absolute power.
If you just need something capable without all the bells and whistles, the HP Victus 15 boasts an Intel Core i7-10750H CPU, RTX 2070 Super Max Q GPU, and a 1080p display at 144Hz. It is more than capable of running games at lower settings, and it's especially worthwhile if you're not interested in the AAA scene. All of that for $799 is certainly a steal.
Other laptops, like the MSI Crosshair 15 R6E Edition, strike a solid middle ground between performance and price. For a retail price of $1,849, the laptop delivers a Intel Core i7-12700H CPU, a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile GPU, and a 15.6-inch 2560 x 1440-pixel QHD display with a 165Hz refresh rate. We were impressed by the laptop's gaming performance, and if you want something that lets you play AAA titles without completely breaking the bank, look no further than the Crosshair 15.
Why trust Laptop Mag
Laptop Mag has been testing and reviewing laptops for over two decades. We test over 150 different models per year, subjecting each system to a series of rigorous benchmarks that provides a complete picture of performance, battery life and usability.
Our expert reviewers also use each product to see how it looks and feels in everyday situations. Because we see so many different notebooks, we can compare each to its direct competitors and give you an idea of how it stacks up to the average laptop in its price band.
