Gaming laptops are a great way to enjoy your favourite games without the hassle of building a PC or having it occupy permanent space on a desk. The only trouble with most gaming laptops is that they are not exactly the most portable of machines. They generally tend to be quite chunky when closed and many aren’t exactly lightweight. This is a problem if you wish to travel with your gaming laptop, as the size and weight can be uncomfortable to lug around in a backpack or on a plane. There are some exceptions though, which are slim and lightweight without compromising on performance.
To narrow down the best gaming laptops for travel, we’ve set a threshold for the weight and thickness for what laptop qualifies in this list. We’ve not limited the display size since smaller screens don’t exactly offer the most immersive gaming experience. As long as the laptop is around 20mm slim when closed and the weight is around 2kg (or less), such models are good to travel with. There are plenty of options in India, but here are some of my favourites that I’ve picked based on personal experience and value for money.
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MSI Stealth A16 AI+
The MSI Stealth A16 AI+ is a new addition to the company’s Stealth series and should be going on sale in India soon. The reason for picking this is the excellent combination of high-end components and a portable design. Despite having a 16-inch display, the Stealth A16 AI+ weighs just 2.1kg and is only 19.9mm slim, making it easily portable. I also love the understated look with the all-matte black finish with no RGB lighting anywhere, except for the keyboard.
This laptop is also future-ready as come November, it will be officially getting Copilot+ features in Windows 11. The Stealth A16 AI+ is powered by AMD’s top-end Ryzen AI 9 HX370 CPU which has a built-in NPU with 50 TOPS on its own. There’s up to 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD (with a second M.2 slot), and a choice between an Nvidia RTX 4060 or RTX 4070 GPU. Gaming on the go should actually be possible thanks to the large 99WHr battery. Other premium features include a magnesium-alloy chassis, Wi-Fi 7, per-key RGB backlighting, 16-inch QHD+ IPS display with 240Hz refresh rate, HDMI 2.1 port, and a Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port. MSI backs this up with a two-year warranty.
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Asus Zephyrus G14 (2024)
The Asus Zephyrus G14 (GA403) is our best compact AMD option. It’s roughly Rs. 1,85,000, but you get plenty of premium features which makes it a worthy investment. One of the main reasons it makes it to this list is because of the small footprint it occupies, so you don’t need a large backpack to carry this one around. It’s also incredibly light at just 1.5kg, and slim too at just 16.3mm in thickness. Despite this, Asus has managed to cram in a AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS CPU with eight cores and 16 threads, along with an NPU capable of 16 TOPS. Even though it doesn’t qualify as a Copilot+ PC, I’m sure that NPU will eventually be useful for on-device AI processing or AI upscaling in games. The GPU is an Nvidia RTX 4060 with 8GB of dedicated RAM.
Despite the compact size, the Zephyrus G14 has plenty of ports which include a total of four USB (two Type-C) ports, HDMI 2.1, and even a miroSD card reader. The design is striking, but what’s more impressive is the display. It’s a 14-inch OLED with a 3K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and Delta E <1 rating for high-level colour accuracy. It also supports VESA’s DisplayHDR 500 and Dolby Vision playback, making it great for professional editing work. Lastly, there’s Nvidia’s G-SYNC too for smoother gameplay.
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HP OMEN Transcend 14
The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is our favourite compact Intel option with features very similar to the Zephyrus G14, but with a more attractive price of roughly Rs. 1,50,000. It’s equally slim and light too, weighing 1.63kg and a thickness of up to 17.9mm at its broadest point. The OMEN Transcend 14 comes in white or black, with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU, 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and an Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU. It also has a gorgeous 14-inch display with a 2.8K OLED panel with the IMAX Enhanced certification and a variable 120Hz refresh rate. The OMEN Transcend 14 features a 71WHr battery, Wi-Fi 6E support, four-zone RGB backlit keyboard. There’s no full-sized HDMI port here, but you do get Thunderbolt 4 for display-out.
Acer Nitro V 14
The Acer Nitro V 14 AI gaming laptop is yet another recent entry and should be going on sale in India soon. It’s a power-packed laptop in a compact form factor that weighs just about 2kg and has a thickness of roughly 22.8mm. This 14.5-inch laptop might not be as slim or light as the Asus or HP, but it packs quite the punch with an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS CPU and up to an Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU. This is one of the few 14-inch laptops that has a slightly larger display size in a compact form factor. The display has a decent 2,560×1,600 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Acer offers a very good selection of ports on the Nitro V 14 like two USB-C ports, HDMI, USB-A, and a microSD card reader.
Asus Zenbook S16 or S14
You’re probably thinking what a Zenbook is doing on a list of best gaming laptops, but these aren’t just any Zenbook models. These are some of the thinnest laptops in the market that offer above-average gaming performance thanks to the latest AMD and Intel processors. Despite not having a dedicated GPU, the Ryzen AI processor in the Zenbook S16 and the Core Ultra (Series 2) in the Zenbook S14 can easily drive even the latest, demanding games fairly well. Both these models are also Copilot+ laptops, which means you’ll be able to enjoy all the AI features via an update in November. The Radeon 890M in the Ryzen AI 9 HX370 CPU and the Intel Arc Graphics 140V in the Core Ultra 7 256V CPU deliver comparable performance in most games, according to some of the early reviews on the web. The Zenbook S14 is one of the few (probably only) Lunar Lake laptops available to buy right away, but you can expect many more to follow.
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