6 Best Laptops for Gaming and Programming

While programming and gaming are two very different ends of the market (unless, of course, you’re a game developer), they require a lot of very similar specs from a laptop.

Some of these requirements, which I suggest should be your priority, would be RAM, processor, storage, graphics card, and display.

If you have a laptop with the best of all of these features, there is a chance that you’ll be able to run even the most demanding games and computer programs without issues.

I have done the dirty job for you, looked at and tested some powerful laptops, and I have put together six of the best laptops for gaming and programming you’ll find. Whether you’re playing games like COD, Age of Empires, FIFA, or Fortnite, or working with programming languages like C/C++/C, Java, Python, and JavaScript, these will work well.

Best Laptops for Gaming and Programming | Game Development, Coding, Software Development

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Razer Blade 15 – Laptop for Programming and Gaming

Specs	Razer Blade 15 Review
Display	15.6 inches 4K OLED Touch (3840 x 2160 pixels)
Processor	Intel Core i7-10875H 8-Core
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER Max-Q
Hard Drive	1TB SSD
RAM	16GB RAM DDR4 SDRAM
Battery	1 Lithium-ion
Weight	8.93 pounds

Decent battery life, superb performance, and amazingly strong and sturdy build are just a few of the things we can say about the Razer Blade 15. While it comes off as one of the priciest laptops you’ll find on the market at a time when many competing producers are giving more consideration to budget options, the Blade 15 still manages to double down on style and performance, with pricing being an afterthought.

The base of this gaming laptop is way chunkier than you would have expected; it comes with Razer design elements that differentiate its products. The Blade 15 comes in a metal chassis, the touchpad is pretty large, and the speakers are very loud.

One of the top features we look for in a laptop that can be used for gaming and programming is the battery life, and the Blade has an especially powerful battery.

The Blade 15 comes with an 8-core 10th Gen Intel Core i7, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q, a 4K OLED touchscreen, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and Thunderbolt three. All of these are features you’d need in a gaming laptop while at the same time being features that will help you code seamlessly.

The graphics are around 25 percent faster than the RTX 20 Series; it comes with more cores and higher clocks, which is great for any graphics-intensive software and operation.

With the display, you’re able to get around 1ms response time, and it comes with a vacuum-sealed copper vapor chamber that helps the laptop stay cool even when you’re gaming or coding the daylight out of it.

No doubt, this Razer ultrabook easily passes as one of the lightest ultrabooks, and if you have an estimated value of below $1500, here is one to try.

Acer Predator Helios 300 – Best Laptop for Running Multiple Programs

Specs	Acer Predator Helios 300 Review
Display	5.6 inches Full HD 144Hz, 3ms (1920 x 1080)
Processor	Intel Core i7-9750H
Graphics	GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
Hard Drive	512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
RAM	16GB DDR4
Battery	1 Lithium Polymer
Weight	2.96 pounds (1.35 kg)

The Acer Predator Helios 300 comes as the next product on our list of the best laptops for gaming and programming. The PC comes with an Intel Core i7 processor, a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card, a Full HD 15.6 inches display, 144Hz refresh rate, 3ms response time, 16GB RAM, and 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD.

The thickness and the quality of the build are two things I couldn’t take away from this gaming laptop. The Helios 300 is bulky and sturdy, and the laptop sports a black finish with blue accents. It weighs around 5.3 pounds and is around 0.9 inches thick.

There are some aggressive silver vents on the backside of this gaming laptop, which is one of the first things you’d notice as it stands out and calls for attention.

You’d also love how the top and bottom bezels are thick, but the side bezels are slimmer, giving you a modern look and feel when using the laptop.

Moving on to the display, the Helios 300 comes with a 144Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time, which are two features that will help you achieve optimal performance in fast-paced online games like Overwatch, Fortnite, and Counter-Strike, while you’re still able to get fast and fluid input.

I didn’t like that this laptop doesn’t support G-Sync, so you may experience frame-tearing occasionally. I felt the Helios 300 could have done better on the brightness and color.

The Helios 300 doesn’t come with a maintenance cover, but removing the bottom plate was easy. As soon as the plate comes off, you’ll be able to access the drive bays, the Wi-Fi card, the RAM socket, and the battery.

Some other hardware specs of the Helio 300 include the 6-row Chiclet keyboard, with keys that don’t rattle as they all sit firmly in their housing.

The keycaps are large enough for most fingers, they have great pressure points, and they respond superbly. I should also add that the keyboard comes with a backlight, which is one feature every gamer and programmer needs.

Overall, for coming at healthy pricing, having one of the best panels for gaming, having good cooling features, and coming with some of the best keyboards I have used on a laptop, the Helio 300 is surely one of the best laptops for game development and gaming.

MSI GL65 Leopard – Best MSI Laptop for Programming and Game Development

Specs	MSI GL65 Leopard Review
Display	15.6 inches FHD 144Hz 3ms (1920 x 1080 pixels)
Processor	Intel Core i7-10750H
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
Hard Drive	512GB NVMe SSD
RAM	16GB
Battery	1 Lithium Polymer
Weight	9.78 pounds

If you’re looking for a laptop with unmatched gaming and productivity power, then the MSI GL65 Leopard is one of the best high-power gaming laptops you’ll find on the market.

The MSI GL65 Leopard comes with a 15.6-inch FHD display; it sports a 144Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time. Other features include an Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB RAM, 8GB RAM for the graphics, and 512GB NVMe SSD.

This 9-pound laptop comes with very thin bezels around the display and comes in plastic chassis, with the outer lid being the only outlier as it’s in brushed aluminum surface.

You’d love that the bottom panel has been redesigned, coming with more ventilation support, as about 1/3 of the bottom has been perforated. The MSI GL65 Leopard also sports a red and black color scheme, which is popularly seen as the gamer color scheme.

On the display, the MSI GL65 Leopard comes with a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, which is just perfect for gaming and productivity.

Also, you’re going to get a GeForce RTX 2070 graphics card, and one of the best features about this laptop, which is rare to find on other gaming laptops, is the super bright, colorful picture production and anti-glare surface.

I should also add that the laptop’s 144Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time are perfect for gaming.

The Windows Key on the laptop keyboard was replaced with an MSI Dragon Center utility button; there is another dedicated button on the top right of the keyboard, which can also be used to launch the Dragon Center.

One feature we love about the keyboard is that it works with SteelSeries software, allowing you to customize your keys and save your profiles for in-game use.

The battery ran for around 3 hours on a single charge when used for gaming, which isn’t the best, but also isn’t the worst. On other productivity tasks, the MSI GL65 Leopard delivered close to 6 hours of juice, which was a pass in our books for a productivity laptop.

Asus TUF FX505DT – Best Laptop for Programming and Light Gaming for Developers

Specs	Asus TUF FX505DT Review
Display	15.6 inches Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels)
Processor (AMD Graphics)	AMD Ryzen 5 R5-3550H
Graphics	GeForce GTX 1650 Graphics
Hard Drive	256GB PCIe SSD
RAM	8GB DDR4
Battery	1 Lithium Polymer
Weight	4.85 pounds

The Asus TUF FX505DT is a 15.6-inch laptop that comes with some of the features we would need in a gaming laptop that can double as a work laptop.

The laptop comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 R5-3550H processor, the graphics card is a GeForce GTX 1650 card, it sports 8GB RAM and 256GB PCIe SSD, and an RGB keyboard out-of-the-box.

The TUF FX505DT places more emphasis on the frame rates while giving you all the RGB you’d need.

The first thing you’ll notice about this gaming laptop is the build. It comes in a build that’s very similar to what we get on Acer Nitro 5 and MSI GF63. The bezels are narrow, it comes in a plastic base, the lid is pretty stiff, and we noticed that pushing down the keyboard center flexes the surface of the laptop.

I should also add that the fans come with anti-dust technology, and the keyboard features an RGB backlight while coming with the durability of around 20 million keystrokes.

The TUF FX505DT still managed to come with a full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels display; it sports a 120Hz refresh rate, 3.7GHz CPU speed, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card with 4GB RAM. The Hard drive rotates at around 10,000 RPM, while the laptop weighs almost 5 pounds.

If you’re into light gaming and need a laptop that primarily works for programming and other work-related activities, you should consider the TUF FX505DT. At 120Hz, we believe it’s one of the best in its price range.

For other activities, the TUF FX505DT displays texts and pictures pretty neatly; we also loved how it performed when playing fast-paced videos. The color reproduction was great for its budget.

Other features include a 35W thermal design power clocked at 2.1GHz split among four cores and an AMD Turbo Cord that helps you archive 3.7GHz on all cores. These help you get the most out of this laptop in terms of productivity.

The laptop ran seamlessly even when we kept around 15 tabs open, streamed YouTube videos in the background, and even opened a couple of spreadsheets.

It performed well on its 8GB RAM, but if you need to squeeze out more juice, you might upgrade to 16GB; even without that, you’re getting the real deal out of the box.

We expect most gaming laptops we use to be easily serviceable, and on the TUF FX505DT, we only needed to pop the bottom panel open after removing the screws.

There are two storage bays, a BIOS battery, and two SODIMM slots, but we didn’t like that we had to remove the M.2 storage drive before we could access the WLAN module.

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Lenovo Ideapad L340 – Cheap Laptop for Python Programming and Gaming | Budget Option

Specs	Lenovo Ideapad L340 Review
Display	15.6 Inch FHD (1920 X 1080) IPS Display
Processor	Intel Core i5-9300H
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
Hard Drive	512GB Nvme SSD
RAM	8GB DDR4 RAM
Battery	1 Lithium Polymer
Weight	4.84 pounds

The Lenovo Ideapad L340 comes as one of the cheapest gaming laptops on this list but still manages to sport some of the features we love to see on gaming and productivity laptops.

This is a 15.6-inch FHD 1920 x 1080 pixels IPS display, and it comes with an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and 512GB SSD, coupled with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card.

With its 9thgeneration Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and 512GB NVMe SSD, the Ideapad L340 comes with enough power to run virtually every game seamlessly while still delivering some of the best-looking and smoothest graphics with its Nvidia GeForce Graphics card.

You can play the fastest-paced games with not-so-high demand on the laptop’s power.

The Ideapad L340 has a quick mode for gamers and a quiet mode for work, two modes that help you get optimal performance irrespective of what you’re doing with your gaming laptop.

This gaming laptop weighs almost 5 pounds, which is pretty much the standard for most gaming laptops. Its 15.6-inch size ensures that the laptop doesn’t feel too clunky and is easy to carry and move around. The laptop design and build are both strong and simple.

The laptop comes with an RGB backlight, which can be customized to your preference using the software. The keyboard offers a clear pressure point; it was very responsive to touch and still not too sensitive.

All the keys on the keyboard except the up and down arrow buttons seem to have great sizes for your fingertips.

The build of the laptop is mostly plastic, and the side bezels aren’t as thin as we expected. The battery ran for around 4 hours when gaming with the laptop, while we got close to 6 hours when using the laptop for other productivity tasks like robotics programming, graphics design, video editing, and school work.

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HP Spectre X360 – Best HP Laptop for Programming and Gaming

Specs	HP Spectre X360 Review
Display	13.3 Inches 1920×1080 Pixels
Processor	Intel Core i7-1065G7
Graphics	Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti
Hard Drive	512GB SSD
RAM	16GB RAM
Battery	1 Lithium-ion
Weight	2.88 pounds

Another outstanding option among our best laptops for gaming and programming is the HP Spectre X360. This laptop is great for anyone who is into any kind of programming, from game development to Python and robotics programming, for anyone who is looking for a laptop for running multiple programs seamlessly, for students, and many others.

While it isn’t your traditional gaming laptop, it’s great for you if you need a laptop for light gaming.

This laptop is the only 13-inch laptop for coding and gaming we have on this list; it sports an FHD display, Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD. Other features include a fingerprint reader and an HP Stylus pen.

Out-of-the-box, the Spectre X360 comes in a sturdy chassis, it’s surprisingly lightweight considering its build quality, and the screen bezels are so thin that you would think they’re nonexistent. The laptop weighs almost 3 pounds and is 0.67 inches thick, so it comes as the thinnest laptop we have on this list.

Two small cooling fans on the base of the laptop ran very quietly, although I noticed they started making noise when the CPU was in high demand when gaming. The laptop can also get hot when used for gaming for some time, which is why we wouldn’t recommend this laptop for you if you’re a hardcore gamer.

I should point out that the keyboard was one of the best I have used for my productivity demands. The keyboards have a white backlight, the keys are large enough for most fingertips, the trackpad is wide, and it has a very firm click. The keys were very soft and very responsive to the touch while not being too sensitive.

On performance, having a 16GB RAM laptop means this laptop will handle all your daily tasks like a boss. We tested it with programs like Android Studio, Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, and AutoCAD, and it performed smoothly.

Streaming videos, browsing, using the Microsoft Office software suite, and having a couple of tabs open in Chrome didn’t seem too heavy for this laptop.

We used this laptop for playing games like PUBG, Age of Empires, and Tomb Raider, and they all performed well, although, as we mentioned earlier, this laptop isn’t the best for hardcore gaming, so you might not get the very best in terms of graphics.

On the battery front, the Spectre X360 ran for around 10 hours for normal work demands on a single charge, while we got around 4 hours of battery life on more intensive tasks like gaming.

Overall, the Spectre X360 comes as one of the best laptops for gaming and programming, with enough power to run multiple programs and handle your productivity demands.

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