Unlike a desktop PC, a gaming laptop isn't something you can easily upgrade over time, aside from the RAM and storage. As such, it's especially important that when you buy a new laptop, you pick the right upgrades to make sure your gaming experience will be the best it can be, and stay that way for the foreseeable future.

With how long specs lists can get, it can be pretty hard to know where your priorities should lie. We're here to help with that, so let's take a look at the upgrades you should focus on when buying a new gaming laptop.

GPU (graphics card)

The heart of the gaming experience

Technically speaking, the CPU (central processing unit) is the most important component in a PC, but if you're gaming and want the best performance, the GPU should be your first concern. The GPU (graphics processing unit) handles most of the heavy lifting when it comes to playing games. It's responsible for rendering all the pixels, polygons, and textures in each frame of gameplay, and the faster it is, the smoother your game will run and the better it can look.

When it comes to GPUs, especially on laptops, Nvidia is probably the option you'll be looking at the most, and as you'd expect, higher numbers are better. Right now, the best laptop GPU is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, but the entire RTX 40 series is quite good. Not only are these very powerful GPUs, but they also include frame generation and DLSS, which can make your games look much better and run more smoothly without needing all that raw horsepower. We definitely recommend getting a 40-series GPU today, with the RTX 4050 being ideal for entry-level gaming, and the RTX 4090 being the most premium option. There are a lot of choices in between so you can get the right bang for your buck.

One big factor to consider in all this is the power rating of the GPU. Because laptops are much more restrained in terms of the power they can use, and they also come in all shapes and sizes, GPUs have started to be made with configurable power levels, usually called TGP. The higher the TGP, the more performance you're likely to get, and the difference can be very significant.

If you're looking at an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 with 80W of power or an RTX 4070 with 115W, you might actually want to go with the RTX 4070 if you want the best performance, since the 80W power draw can be pretty limiting on such powerful hardware. Individual testing is the only way to know for sure which option is better, but just keep in mind that the model number of the GPU isn't all there is to it.

Over on AMD's side, the few laptops that exist do have a somewhat helpful distinction with some cards ending in S and some an M, such as the AMD Radeon RX 7600S and 7600M. These two GPUs are nearly identical, but the RX 7600S only uses up to 75W of power, and the 7600M goes up to 90W, so you more performance out of it. Even then, the GPU power can still be customized by manufacturers, so try to find the exact number for the laptop you're considering.

The GPU is important for gaming, no matter how you slice it, but it's especially so if you plan on gaming at higher resolution and using higher settings in games.

CPU

Still very important

While the GPU is the most relevant part of a gaming laptop, you certainly still want a great CPU to go along with it. Because laptops are all-in-one machines, pairing the right CPU and GPU isn't too difficult, since they're usually already designed to work in tandem. You can't really buy a laptop with an RTX 4090 and a low-end processor, so you shouldn't have a lot to worry about. Still, it's important to make sure you're picking the right processor for your needs.

In gaming laptops, you can find either Intel or AMD processors, and they'll usually come from a couple of lines. Gaming laptops that are thinner and lighter will usually have H-series or HS-series processors from either Intel or AMD. Thicker, more powerful laptops will have HX-series processors from either company.

In this department, either brand is equally good, but what you need to pay attention to is how much power and portability you want. Laptops with H-series processors will likely have less power-hungry GPUs as well, and they're made to be more portable, but not as fast, so you won't get those super-high refresh rates and settings. Meanwhile, HX-series processors are paired with more powerful GPUs and they result in thicker laptops that you're not very likely to carry around often.

You also want to make sure you're not overspending on the processor compared to your GPU, which is a trap many manufacturers drag you into. The laptop below uses an AMD Ryzen 7 processor with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, and I'm a configuration like this, you'll probably be using your GPU to its limit far more often than you'll be making use of that CPU power. An AMD Ryzen 5 might be a better match for this GPU, or you might want to upgrade the GPU to get even better performance in games.

It's worth keeping in mind that how relevant the CPU is also depends on your display. If you choose a Full HD panel with a 480Hz refresh rate, a more powerful CPU is more important. But if you have a Quad HD display or higher, you'll want to prioritize GPU power.

Display

All that power means nothing without a good screen

You can push your laptop's GPU all you want, but your games will still look ugly if you have a bad screen. Displays have been getting a lot better in recent years, and this is one of the key areas you'll want to upgrade when buying a new gaming laptop. There are a few things to pay attention here, but we'll start with the less obvious: colors and brightness.

If you want your games to look the best they can, you have to make sure your display can accurately portray colors, manufacturers use certain designations to help make this clearer. For one thing, there's the color range, and here, we recommend looking for at least 100% coverage of sRGB. sRGB is most used for office scenarios, but it's still a good indicator of color reproduction, and it's a solid place to start, especially if you're on a budget. If you can, though, we recommend going with a display that covers 100% of DCI-P3. OLED displays are starting to become more common, and if you go with one of these, you'll get excellent color reproduction by default.

On that note, if you want the absolute best experience, OLED panels are great for other reasons, too. Because OLED panels have individual light sources for each pixel, you get the deepest blacks and bright whites, making for an amazing HDR experience. That said, OLED panels are still a premium feature, so a good IPS panel is all you need.

Of course, you also have to consider resolution and refresh rate. For a gaming laptop, Full HD and 144Hz is pretty much the minimum you'll get these days, but depending on your budget, you can upgrade from there. A very common option is Quad HD resolution with a 240Hz refresh rate, which is pretty much the sweet spot between sharpness and smoothness. However, you can balance things as you need to. If you're into e-sports, it can be worth it to invest in a 480Hz panel with a lower resolution, but if you want the best visual fidelity, you're better off investing in great color reproduction and or a higher resolution. You can also save some money with a Quad HD 165Hz panel, which is still very good for gaming.

The display isn't as big of a deal as the specs above, though, because you always have the option of being a gaming monitor that works with any PC or console. But if you're buying a laptop, you probably want to give some thought to the kind of display you want it to have.

RAM

Make sure you have enough

Depending on the kind of laptop you're getting RAM may be more or less important. Many higher-end gaming laptops give you the option to upgrade the RAM later on, so maybe you don't need to splurge on a higher-end model right off the bat. But some also have soldered RAM, and in that case, you'll want to make the right choice.

One thing that's safe to say to almost anyone buying a gaming laptop in 2024 is that you'll want at least 16GB of RAM. Some entry-level laptops still come with 8GB, but they'll often come with other low-end hardware, so it makes some sense. However, if you want a decent experience out of the gate, 16GB is the way to go. Plus, it saves you the hassle of finding matching RAM later on.

16GB of RAM probably makes the most sense if you're going up to something like an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, but if you're thinking about getting an RTX 4080 or higher, you should probably consider going for 32GB. 64GB is not something you need for gaming, and it probably won't be for a while. But if you're using your PC for professional workloads like video editing or programming, that extra memory may come in handy.

Storage

Games are huge these days

Storage is a complicated matter when it comes to gaming laptops. With game sizes hitting hundreds of gigabytes, the 256GB SSD many laptops still come with may not even be enough for a single game. If you're planning to play multiple games at any given time, a 1TB SSD is probably the minimum you should aim for. Bigger is better in this case.

The thing is, if you plan on storing a lot of games, at the end of the day, most SSD sizes on laptops may not be enough. Unless you can splurge on the rare laptop with a 4TB SSD, you won't be that comfortable installing the latest AAA releases. In this case, it may just pay off to stick with a 1TB SSD or so and then buy some external storage for your extra games. External SSDs are pretty fast nowadays, and you can move your games between your internal and external drives as needed. Or, if you want mass storage that's a little slower, you can also go for a much larger HDD for the games you play less frequently.

As for speeds, almost any laptop these days will come with a PCIe 4.0 SSD, and that's all the speed you need. Some SSDs are faster than others, but this isn't something you need to think too hard about. The slower PCIe 4.0 SSDs already have speeds close to 5,000MB/s, and you don't need more than that. Just make sure you're getting a PCIe 4.0 SSD and you're good to go.

Make the right choices

Those are the most important areas to think about when buying a new gaming laptop, from the most important to the more trivial. The GPU and CPU are definitely the most important factors to consider because you won't be upgrading those after the fact, so you have to make sure you're getting a nice upgrade right off the bat. The display can be replaced by an external monitor, but if you want a laptop, you probably plan on using its screen, so we definitely recommend choosing a good display, too.

RAM and storage are a bit more dependent on your specific needs and can be worked around later on, so it's up to you what kind of experience you want right now. Either way, this should help you find out the components you should focus on.