Finding a laptop for one's needs is a complex task in 2024. With a plethora of options out there, many of which offer excellent internals, design upgrades, and upgradeability out of the box, one can easily find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer number of current options. To make a choice, it makes sense to break down one's needs and expectations as well as have a general idea of what they are willing to spend.

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This can help users pick the perfect laptop options and overall make an informed choice. After all, in a market with plenty of candidates in every shape and size ranging from ultra-portable powerhouses to complete desktop replacements, users need to sift through all the options competing for attention. The team at Game ZXC has made a tiered guide of laptops that cater to different use cases to help users pick a laptop that better suits their needs with a focus on performance, upgradeability, and value for money.

The Best Laptops To Buy In 2024

For users who want a laptop that suffices for both productivity and gaming alike while offering functionality and a pleasing aesthetic, the ASUS VivoBook 16X seems to be the best option out of many out there. It packs in a beefy 14-core 13th generation Core i9 CPU, a mid-range Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU for gaming and 3D accelerated productivity use cases, and plenty of SSD storage space and 32GB of RAM in tow.

To cap it all off, it throws in a 3.2K OLED display that can do up to 600 nits of brightness while offering next-gen I/O including Wi-Fi 6E, Thunderbolt 4, and Bluetooth 5, even as it remains a relatively slim alternative to most of its peers that opt for either bare-minimum business use cases or go overboard in trying to cater to gamers. It also comes with a free 3-month Adobe Creative Cloud subscription currently, making it a great option for users looking for a well-rounded, well-priced option for a variety of needs in 2024.

The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 is a gaming laptop per se, but it offers advantages that make it an excellent option that caters to productivity users in particular. For starters, it offers a high-end AMD Ryzen 7 CPU that offers 16 threads across its octa-core configuration, coupled with an Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU in a small 14.5-inch form factor that weighs in at just 1.7kg.

With a high-resolution 2K OLED display that can also provide a refresh rate of 120 Hz to keep things fluid, in addition to a large SSD and 16GB of high-speed DDR5 RAM, the Legion Slim 5 has all its angles covered, but can still be upgraded down the line if the need arises. The higher TGP on the RTX 4060 GPU means that it can perform faster than most of its other laptop counterparts when it comes to rendering tasks including 3D modeling or image editing for example, even as its power-efficient CPU allows it to conserve power where possible.

All this makes the Legion Slim 5 a great value-centric purchase, but one that sees competition emerging from a refreshed 2024 ASUS Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop that shares many of the same internals, but offers a better display and a beefier processor, albeit at a higher price.

The ASUS ROG SCAR 17 X3D is a unique offering in a market with multiple RTX 4090-based gaming laptops, largely thanks to its choice of processor. It comes with the 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, which is the fastest mobile CPU for gaming bar none and sets the tone for the SCAR 17 X3D's aim to be one of the fastest gaming laptops in the business in 2024.

The powerful CPU and GPU combination aside, the ROG SCAR 17 X3D keeps things humming in other segments too, offering a high-end 17.3 inch 2K 240Hz display, 32GB of fast DDR5 RAM, and 2TB of PCI-E 4.0 SSD storage. Additionally, the laptop includes an RGB backlit chiclet keyboard for gamers and productivity users alike.

While the SCAR is expensive for what it offers, it can be argued that it represents the middle ground in terms of pricing when it comes to RTX 4090-based laptops, some of which even cross the $4500 threshold with ease. ASUS throws in a dedicated MUX switch under the hood to allow for better performance and 3 months of Xbox Gaming Pass for PC gamers to get things started in 2024.

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For users on a budget needing adequate power under the hood for both gaming and productivity use cases, last year's ASUS TUF Gaming F15 delivers on both fronts with a price tag well below $1000. It does so by offering a balanced set of internals that include a locked 12-core 13th-generation Core i5 CPU, an entry-level RTX 4050 GPU, and enough RAM and SSD storage for users to be able to hit the ground running without needing an upgrade from the get-go.

It also manages to incorporate a full-sized keyboard for users who need it in a 15.6-inch form factor that also packs an FHD 144Hz display and passes the military's MIL-STD-810H reliability tests, making it worthy of the 'TUF' moniker. While gamers would probably appreciate a beefier GPU under the hood and some productivity users might have similar qualms about a CPU upgrade, the TUF delivers in terms of value and makes compromises that do not stretch too far on either side of the spectrum, making it an easy recommendation as a great budget gaming laptop that can do it all in 2024.

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The 2024 iteration of the Razer Blade 18 is a formidable laptop for both gaming and productivity workloads, but its maxed-out specifications could make it one of the best all-rounded options available to end users, albeit at a price tag not all would be willing to pay. For those who can, the Razer Blade 18 offers some of the best internals gamers or power users can expect from a gaming laptop currently.

Its key highlight versus last year's Blade 18 model is an upgraded 300 Hz Mini LED display that offers a 2K resolution in addition to an updated 14th generation Intel Core i9 CPU. Multiple other upgrades under the hood, including Thunderbolt 5, further help retain its crown as one of the most premium gaming laptops on offer in 2024.

With an RTX 4090 with a TGP of 175W, a 6 speaker system, 2TB of PCI-E 4.0 SSD storage, and 32GB of fast DDR5 RAM in play, the Blade 18 comes well-endowed in terms of both internals and output devices well beyond the CPU, GPU and display, making it a viable alternative to most other desktop replacements, workstations, and gaming laptops that it competes with in terms of performance with ease. The Razer Blade 18 is slated for a May 2024 release, but can already be pre-ordered at multiple vendors such as Newegg, Amazon, and Bestbuy.

For users needing a more compact laptop for their productivity use cases, the gaming-centric ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14's OLED-infused 2024 model delivers the goods, much like its predecessor from last year. It upgrades its CPU to the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS, which brings a powerful Radeon 780M iGPU to complement the discrete RTX 4060 on offer from Nvidia.

This could be useful when setting the G14 up with a multi-monitor setup, something it does allow via both the onboard HDMI 2.1 port and the USB-C-based DisplayPort tech under the hood. The upgraded OLED display now offers a sub-3K resolution while retaining a 120Hz refresh rate versus last year's 2k MiniLED option but cutting response times to a low 0.2ms, marking a large improvement versus its predecessor.

The G14 also offers AMD's new Ryzen AI engine, as well as a dedicated MUX switch, but it does not seem to be upgradeable out of the box, limiting users to just 16GB of RAM for this particular SKU. Users can, however, opt for a higher-end RTX 4070-based model due to release on Best Buy that comes with 32GB of RAM instead.

Picking The Right Laptop For Your Needs In 2024

Finding a suitable laptop candidate includes paying attention to the following when picking a laptop for work, play, or casual use in 2024:

  • CPU: The underlying CPU that powers the laptop and is a key indicator of its performance potential.
  • GPU: The discrete and/or integrated GPU that the laptop offers can indicate its 3D performance and make it capable of running games, productivity software and AI tools in the future.
  • RAM: The memory configuration of the laptop that allows it to run more demanding applications and multitask better.
  • Storage: The SSD or HDD space on offer on the laptop that allows it to keep data for more readily available and faster offline access
  • Display: The display type, size, resolution, and refresh rate of the laptop determine what tasks it is best suited for.
  • Battery Life: The battery life on offer with the laptop directly affects its portable use and longevity when on the go.
  • Form Factor: The size of the laptop and its corresponding weight make it, depending on the user's needs, a good or a bad fit for certain tasks.
  • I/O Options: The connectivity options on the laptop, such as newer versions of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and USB ports, that are on offer.
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FAQ

Q: Can A Gaming Laptop Be Used For Productivity?

Gaming Laptops are no longer the bulky behemoths they used to be over a decade ago and many of the best productivity-centric laptops on offer are also marketed as gaming laptops in 2024 in an attempt to cater to a wider audience.