The Best 14 Inch Laptops for Gaming in 2024

14-inch laptops are compact but provide sharper details. These may not be as popular as 15-inch or 17-inch gaming laptops in the gaming community, but they have their own fanbase who like vivid visuals and want something that can fit their smaller backpacks for easy portability. Except for the smaller screen size, there are hardly any drawbacks to 14-inch gaming laptops compared to 15 or 17-inch gaming laptops.

Whether users want the fastest gaming processor with superb single-core performance or a high core count CPU that excels in both gaming and productivity, there are laptops for every need. From entry-level RTX 3050 GPUs to the latest high-end ADA cards, users can choose from the best 14-inch gaming laptops Game Rant recommends to its readers.

Things to Consider When Buying a 14-inch Gaming Laptop

Buyers should consider several different factors before taking the plunge on a new gaming laptop. These include:

Resolution: Typically, 14-inch gaming laptops come with full HD resolution as the screen is smaller and 1080p feels sharp enough. However, QHD resolutions are also available on some higher-end models that provide higher PPI (Pixels per inch) for sharper visual quality.

Configuration: Depending on the budget, users can opt for somewhat older hardware, but it’s recommended not to settle with anything that is two to three generations older. The latest generation of CPUs and GPUs provide the best bang for the buck and are going to last for several years. A CPU with at least four cores with hyperthreading or higher is recommended for those who are on a budget. However, if budget isn’t a big problem, users should feel free to go with eight-core processors, at least 16GB of RAM, and a powerful mid-range or high-end GPU.

Display: Displays are available with different panels. The most popular, currently, is IPS, which offers great viewing angles and accurate colors. Users should also look for the response time and refresh rate if they want a smoother gaming experience. A high refresh rate display that is also quick in transitioning to the next frame will feel smoother and more responsive.

Connectivity: Connectivity options on laptops are generally fewer than what is found on desktops. Still, a good gaming laptop should come with a Wi-Fi 6 adapter, a fast LAN port, a couple of high-bandwidth USB ports, and Bluetooth. Having a fast-charging USB-C port or a Thunderbolt port is also recommended for various purposes.

Battery Life: Gaming laptops generally consume a lot more power compared to non-gaming ones as they come with dedicated graphics cards and faster displays that are power-hungry. A laptop with a good battery backup should allow gaming for around three hours on a single charge.

Game Rant’s Picks for the Best 14-inch Gaming Laptops

The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 stands as the best 14-inch gaming laptop overall because of the price-to-performance ratio it offers. It has a beautiful and crisp OLED display that not many manufacturers offer at this price point. It is a 16:10 aspect ratio screen which is better for productivity and refreshes at 120 Hz with support for VRR, making gaming a smooth and responsive experience. Powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS processor, the Legion Slim 5 brings powerful performance in a compact form factor.

The graphics are handled by the Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU with 8GB VRAM with a 105W TDP, which means gamers can run most modern titles at high settings and a high refresh rate. All this is backed by a 73.6Whr battery that is not the biggest but is sufficient for casual gaming. For the best performance, it is recommended to plug in the laptop with the AC fast charging adapter that’s included.

The Legion Slim 5 uses USB-C ports for charging and is capable of up to 140W power delivery (PD). It comes with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1. There is no LAN port, but that problem can be easily solved with a high-speed dongle. In terms of aesthetics, the Legion Slim 5 brings the fantastic Legion keyboard that offers a comfortable typing experience that is compounded by a large smooth trackpad.

One of the reasons why the Predator Triton 14 laptop is a great investment is because of the Raptor Lake CPU and the high-end RTX 4070 GPU that can handle any game on Steam. The laptop can easily last for several years before it starts to feel slow as a result of more intensive games. Even then, its balanced configuration will make it ideal for productivity as the i7 13700H provides a high core count to distribute the load on the appropriate cores. Both CPU and GPU aren’t constrained by power consumption, which helps the laptop run like a beast when actively charging. However, this also depletes its battery pretty quickly when not plugged into the outlet.

The laptop is pretty compact and thin, weighing only 3.75 pounds and measuring less than an inch in thickness. So, portability and ease of use are simply unmatched. Moreover, the display quality is unparalleled with its IPS Mini-LED display that boasts a wide color gamut of 100% DCI-P3 for accurate and richer visuals. On top of that, users get an insanely high refresh rate of 250Hz, which will make gameplay buttery smooth. Certainly, it isn’t just any gaming laptop, but a luxury for those who can afford it.

Boasting a sparkly silver exterior, the Predator Triton 14-inch gaming laptop is back again, but now with a different configuration for users on a budget. For $900, this laptop delivers a capable Core i7 processor with 14 cores and 20 threads. So, there shouldn’t be any doubt about its gaming or productivity capability, as Raptor Lake CPUs have already proven themselves to be marvelous for all-around purposes. Combined with the RTX 4050 laptop GPU, it is capable of playing games at 60 frames per second on high to ultra settings.

It’s a lightweight and thin notebook for easy portability and also brings a beautifully RGB-lit keyboard and the Predator logo under it. The screen measures 14 inches and brings a high refresh rate IPS panel for great fluidity. This makes it stand out, as there are only a handful of laptops that come with a 165Hz refresh rate for under $1000. Additionally, the laptop also brings Nvidia-Gsync support to eliminate any screen tearing as a result of the difference between the refresh rate and the framerates.

The Razer Blade 14 has been on the market for a while now and gets upgraded every year with the latest specifications. There are many reasons why enthusiasts prefer going with this model, as it provides a bigger touchpad, a lightweight build, great battery life, and an excellent cooling solution. While Razer advertises that it can last up to 10 hours, in reality, it can last up to 7 hours, which is still far better than the average. This allows users to multitask for longer than other gaming laptops and even on 100% gaming load, it can last around 5 hours on a single charge.

The build quality is remarkable, making it sturdy while keeping it lightweight and thin. Despite featuring high-end hardware, the laptop measures just 0.71 inches in thickness and weighs only 4 pounds. The screen features a high refresh rate of 240Hz with great color accuracy and a QHD resolution for sharper images. While it’s difficult to reach 240 fps, the RTX 4070 is capable of providing over 100 fps in most modern titles, and reaching 200+ frames per second is no big task when it comes to esports games such as CS2, Valorant, Apex Legends, and others.

At its core lies the latest Phoenix Ryzen 9 7940HS APU that brings 8 cores and 16 threads to the table with major IPC uplifts, thanks to the Zen 4 architecture. This, however, doesn’t stop here as the CPU also comes with a Radeon 780M iGPU which has shown remarkable gaming performance in various tests. But as the RTX 4070 is far superior in gaming, users won’t have to compromise on the intensive graphical settings anymore.

Finally, those who are looking for an affordable option that can game well should opt for the Acer Swift X laptop that provides acceptable hardware specs and a good quality build. It’s pretty lightweight and thin, weighing only 3 pounds and measuring 0.7mm in thickness, which makes it one of the thinnest and lightest gaming laptops in 2024. Not only is it portable, but it is very power efficient too. Thanks to the Ryzen 5 5600U CPU, which consumes a max power of only 15W while offering 6 cores/12 threads with a clock speed crossing the 4.0GHz mark in turbo mode.

For gaming, the RTX 3050 is onboard, which is just fine for high settings at 1080p resolution, but users shouldn’t expect a lot from it. With 4GB VRAM, older games and esports titles will run pretty well, but newer titles can also work just fine on medium settings. The battery life is highly impressive and can last up to 12 hours, as per the company’s claim. So, it’s safe to say that the laptop can last up to 7 hours on gaming loads, which is a result of highly power-efficient components. Game Rant, however, recommends upgrading the storage and system RAM to have adequate space for storing games/files and eliminating bottlenecks from the memory side.

Not many gaming laptops feature more than 16 or 32GB of system RAM. Even if they do, they cost much more than their counterparts with the rest of the specs being identical. The Zephyrus 14, however, comes with a whopping 40GB of system RAM that won’t kneel in front of the Google Chrome browser. The laptop is fairly priced for its configuration and comes with satisfactory specifications to run games at 1080p ultra settings. While it isn’t meant for maxing out every modern title, it can do so with a lot of games, thanks to the RTX 3060 laptop GPU that gets sufficient power to maintain its performance for a long period.

It would have been better if the 3060 had 8GB VRAM, but compromising on a setting or two shouldn’t be a big deal. The CPU, on the other hand, is also an excellent choice that brings both the CPU and iGPU on the same chip. While the iGPU won’t be as good as the RTX 3060, the 8-core and 16-thread CPU will make sure users get all that horsepower to execute intensive applications. So, it’s kinda fantastic for both gaming and work and provides a decent IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate for fluidity.

The laptop has got hundreds of positive reviews for these reasons, and it comes in different variants for those who want a different RAM and storage configuration. Nonetheless, its short battery life makes it difficult to game for longer than 2 hours without being plugged into the outlet.

Featuring a premium compact and thin build, the Rog Zephyrus 14-inch laptop boasts a fully white exterior and weighs less than 4 pounds. Despite being lightweight and thin, the configuration is impressive and sufficient for gaming and work. The laptop is powered by the Ryzen 9 6900HS, which is one of the best-performing Rembrandt APUs that also comes with an integrated GPU. It features 8 cores and 16 threads that can go as high as 4.9GHz with the turbo mode, resulting in a dramatic increase in performance.

On the other hand, the Radeon RX 6800S – despite being less popular – performs well at both 1080p and 1440p resolutions. It is around 10-15% slower than the RTX 3070 laptop GPU but comes with 8GB VRAM and can provide satisfactory performance on the QHD display. The panel used is an IPS one and provides excellent color gamut coverage for good color reproduction. Moreover, the 120Hz refresh rate prepares it for smooth gameplay, which could have been even better, as some $1500 gaming laptops boast displays with a 144Hz refresh rate or higher.

When it comes to aesthetics, no one does it better than Alienware. The Alienware x14 R2 comes with a full-metal chassis with its popular Lunar Silver color that makes it stand out in the sea of black gaming laptops. Powered by the 13th-Gen Intel Core i7-13620H CPU and RTX 4060 8GB GPU, it is no slouch when it comes to raw gaming performance. The QHD+ (2560 x 1600) display refreshes at 165 Hz and has a response time of 3ms.

The large 80Wh battery can deliver up to 6.5 hours of battery life under typical use. Of course, gaming will deplete the battery a lot quicker. The keyboard supports RGB lighting and the glass trackpad offers a precise and smooth navigation experience. The sides of the Alienware x14 R2 are clean with only exhaust vents on either side and the ports lined at the back. The light-up Alienware logo on the lid and the ‘X’ branding add to the aesthetic appeal, making it the best-looking 14-inch gaming laptop.

Finding the Best 14-inch Gaming Laptop

Resolution

Because of the compact 14-inch screen size, gaming laptops don’t need to push a lot of pixels, as even 1080p looks good. Because of the relatively lower resolution requirement, manufacturers can push higher frame rates and response times for a smooth and responsive gaming experience. However, those looking for some more pixels per inch can find 14-inch gaming laptops with QHD displays, such as the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 and the ROG Zephyrus G14 WQXGA. Therefore, remember that it will take a lot more power to push 2K or 4K resolutions at high refresh rates which will add to the cost of a gaming laptop.

Configuration

As mentioned earlier, the latest generation of CPUs and GPUs will provide the best performance numbers and will last for several years. However, older hardware from the previous generation is still very capable and can meet the demands of most users. Depending on the types of games one wishes to play, there may not be a need for the latest and greatest generation of CPU and GPU, but those who wish to stay at the pinnacle of technology can find gaming laptops with up to an RTX 4090 GPU.

Display

Most displays for 14-inch gaming laptops come with IPS panels which offer great viewing angles and color accuracy, but those who are looking for OLED options can look into gaming laptops from Asus and Lenovo. Gaming is an activity that benefits from a high refresh rate and low response times. The higher the refresh rate, the better the gaming experience. Of course, the refresh rate will depend on the configuration of the laptop as well as the type of game. Those looking to play fast-paced FPS games should look at laptops that offer a 120 Hz refresh rate or more, while those sticking to the more casual side of gaming can opt for a 60 Hz or 90 Hz display.

Connectivity

Modern-day laptops are chasing the slim and light form factor because of which they often compromise on the connectivity options. Finding the right balance between size and ports is essential, and the ideal gaming laptop should feature fast USB ports, a fast LAN port, the latest Wi-Fi standard, and Bluetooth connectivity. A Thunderbolt port is a great add-on, but it will require gamers to stick with the Intel CPU platform. Similarly, some type of card reader should also be present among the ports on the best 14-inch gaming laptop.

Battery Life

Gaming loads quickly deplete the battery, which is the most common problem faced by gaming laptops. While it is well known and accepted that to get the maximum performance out of a laptop, especially when gaming, it should be plugged in with the AC adapter. That being said, the purpose of a laptop is defeated if users have to be tethered to the wall at all times. It is difficult to get several continuous hours of gaming without being plugged in, but a gaming laptop with good battery life should be able to last about 3 hours on a single charge.

FAQ

Q: Are 14-inch laptops good for gaming?

14-inch laptops offer great value when it comes to gaming. Because of the screen size, even 1080p resolution looks sufficient. Since there are not a lot of pixels to push, a lower or mid-tier CPU and GPU will suffice, bringing the cost down without a significant loss in performance. In the current market, there are options as low as $700 and as premium as over $3000.

Q: What is the best screen size for a gaming laptop?

The best screen size depends on how the gaming laptop will be used. If gamers intend to set it on a table and have an external mouse and keyboard, a bigger screen than 15 inches would be ideal. However, if the user is sitting up close to the screen, a 14 to 15-inch laptop would do the job just fine.

Q: How powerful should a gaming laptop be?

Ideally, a gaming laptop should come with 8 GB of RAM or more, at least 512 GB of fast SSD storage, a quad-core or more CPU from not too many generations ago, and a GPU with at least 6 GB VRAM. The performance of a gaming laptop depends on the types of games that will be running on it. Casual games will work on low to mid-tier hardware, while heavy AAA titles would typically require more expensive hardware.