Best Gaming Laptop for Fortnite – Budget & Expert Picks

Laptop Buying Guide for Gamers

Generally, laptops aren’t ideal for hardcore gamers – that’s a fact. Things like graphics cards and battery life can be a huge hindrance although technology has evened things out in recent years. With that in mind, if you’re making the transition from a desktop rig, you may be in for a rude surprise. With that said Gaming PC’s are not mobile. The freedom to take your work and gaming with you is exactly the solution some gamers are looking for.

There are some significant differences between the builds, and your options are a bit more limited under the hood as well. Have no fear however as our guide covers the key tech specs and we’ve included a handful of laptops that stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Budget

Before you start thinking about home much storage you need or touchscreen displays, consider your budget and brand names. As with most consumer products, you’re going to pay a premium for some brands, so don’t expect to snag an Alienware laptop for $700 bucks. You can find those from brands like MSI however, and other companies that may not be as familiar to the average Joe or Jane.

Once you have a rough idea of how much you want to spend, you can start thinking about those tech specs. We’re just going to focus on a few key areas, but for us, it all starts with the GPU…

The Graphics Card

All the graphics cards on our list are from NVIDIA, so there’s not a lot of variance this time around. You still need to consider the series along with the amount of VRAM on the card, however.  With laptops, you some options are out as you won’t find the NVIDIA Titan or even the RTX 2080 in a portable build just yet. Instead, you’ll want to focus on the GTX series as you can find plenty of machines with powerful cards ranging from the 1050 to the 1080.

Horsepower

We’ll make this simple as it boils down to the CPU and RAM, and one is much easier to replace or upgrade than the other. The “standard” for gaming laptops is around 16GB when it comes to memory although you can definitely make do with 8GB. It comes down to the system requirements of the games you want to play, and if that game is Fortnite, you won’t need much.

You also don’t necessarily need a Core i7 to play most games, but we highly recommend one if you can swing it. There’s a reason 90% of “Gaming” laptops have them, but i5’s are an option as well if a mid-range build is more your speed. If torn between a machine with skewed specs, opt for the better processor as RAM is relatively cheap and one of the easier components to upgrade on a laptop.

The Display

This is where portability comes into play as a 17” machine can be a pain to drag around. It’s also a tricky area for consumers as it’s tempting to go 4K for certain games or media. Well, those large 4K displays will drain your battery life quickly, so keep that in mind if you frequently game on the road. Refresh rates and response times are two areas you won’t want to overlook either.

Touchscreens are another selling point that can trip buyers up. Most of us are used to them from our smartphones, so the transition is natural. The keyword is “smartphones” however as that 4K touchscreen display won’t do you a lot of good if you can only game for 3 hours per charge. Again, in some cases, it comes down to your settings, but touchscreens and big displays always suck up your battery life.

Keyboard & Connectivity Options

If you’re buying a gaming laptop, there’s a strong chance you’ll never use that trackpad. Every gamer knows the importance of a great mouse, but the keyboard can be overlooked. It’s also not something you can swap out, so tread carefully if you’re used to a mechanical keyboard. There are some laptops with Cherry switches, but those are few and far between.

As for the connectivity options, every machine has Wi-Fi and a handful of USB ports. The types of ports are what matters, as you don’t want to get stuck with USB 2.0’s when you need Type-C. Bluetooth is common along with inputs for headphones and mics.

Battery Life

Even the best gaming laptop money can buy is worthless once the battery dies. While there are ways to keep your PC charged away from an outlet, none are ideal for gaming laptops. These beasts need a lot of juice, which makes battery life something to take seriously.

Unfortunately, you have to take a manufacturer’s recommendations lightly in this area, and battery life varies across the board. In most cases, it boils down to what you have running and what settings you use along with the display, but you’re lucky to get more than a few hours from serious gaming laptops with big cards and displays.