Steam, Epic, and Green Man Gaming are reportedly canceling and refunding preorders of the PC port of Ghost of Tsushima for buyers who live in over 170 countries without PlayStation Network access, reports Eurogamer. That’s despite the fact that arguably the most important part of the game is still playable without PlayStation Network account linking. The news comes after Valve abruptly delisted the game in those countries yesterday.

Ghost of Tsushima only requires PSN account linking for its Legends multiplayer mode, a requirement the single player campaign is exempt from, the game’s developer went out of its way to say in a recent post. Steam, Green Man Gaming, and Epic Games Store each had disclaimers noting the same thing. In theory, that would mean if you don’t care about multiplayer modes, you could still play — but in practice, the platforms are now delisting the game.

The Steam team is sending this message out to players who are being refunded:

You are receiving a refund for a game you pre-purchased - Ghost of Tsushima. The publisher of this game is now requiring a secondary account to play portions of this game - and this account cannot be created from your country.

Here’s an example with Green Man Gaming:

Frustrating as it is, the situation with Tsushima feels cut-and-dry compared to that of Helldivers 2. Earlier this month, Sony announced it would add mandatory PSN account linking to Helldivers 2, which had already been available to buy in non-PSN countries for almost three months. Steam quickly restricted where the game could be sold to only countries where PSN was available. Players weren’t happy.

Following a review-bombing campaign that slid the game’s Steam rating from “overwhelmingly positive” to “overwhelmingly negative” in a matter of days, Sony walked back the change. But despite that, Steam didn’t remove the sale restrictions.

Then yesterday, three more countries— Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — were added to Steam’s list of sale-restricted countries. The CEO of Arrowhead, Johan Pilestedt, said on Discord he wasn’t told about the newly-added regions, only finding out about them through the game’s Discord community.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

He later said this came down to Valve noticing an administrative error, and that the countries were supposed to be there from the start.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Pilestedt has said he is trying to get both PlayStation and Valve to undo the sale restrictions. That this decision was made by Sony seems plausible, given the situation with Ghost of Tsushima on multiple game store platforms. However, Since neither Sony nor Valve have responded to The Verge’s request for comment on this situation, it’s impossible to say for sure whether that’s true, or if the stores are delisting Sony’s games on their own.

OpenAI has been showing some of its customers a new multimodal AI model that can both talk to you and recognize objects, according to a new report from The Information. Citing unnamed sources who’ve seen it, the outlet says this could be part of what the company plans to show on Monday.

The new model reportedly offers faster, more accurate interpretation of images and audio than what its existing separate transcription and text-to-speech models can do. It would apparently be able to help customer service agents “better understand the intonation of callers’ voices or whether they’re being sarcastic,” and “theoretically,” the model can help students with math or translate real-world signs, writes The Information.

The outlet’s sources say the model can outdo GPT-4 Turbo at “answering some types of questions,” but is still susceptible to confidently getting things wrong.

It’s possible OpenAI is also readying a new built-in ChatGPT ability to make phone calls, according to Developer Ananay Arora, who posted the above screenshot of call-related code. Arora also spotted evidence that OpenAI had provisioned servers intended for real-time audio and video communication.

None of this would be GPT-5, if it’s being unveiled next week. CEO Sam Altman has explicitly denied that its upcoming announcement has anything to do with the model that’s supposed to be “materially better” than GPT-4. The Information writes GPT-5 may be publicly released by the end of the year.

Altman also said the company isn’t announcing a new AI-powered search engine. But if what The Information reports is what’s revealed, it could still take some wind out of Google’s I/O developer conference sails. Google has been testing using AI to make phone calls. And one of its rumored projects is a multimodal Google Assistant replacement called “Pixie” that can look at objects through a device’s camera and do things like give directions to places to buy them or offer instructions on how to use them.

Whatever OpenAI plans to unveil, it plans to do so via livestream on its site on Monday at 10AM PT / 1PM ET.

We found a collection of unique gift ideas that go beyond the flowers and chocolates that typically rule the day.

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The right-to-repair movement has logged some serious wins over the past several years, with states like California, New York, and Minnesota having recently passed laws that make it easier for consumers to repair their own devices. But being able to obtain parts and manuals is only part of the process — you also need the tools. Luckily, iFixit’s Pro Tech Toolkit is on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and iFixit for $59.96 ($15 off), matching the lowest price we’ve seen on the versatile tool set.

Chances are you know iFixit for its in-depth teardowns of various gadgets and gizmos, including iPhone 15 Pro Max, headsets like the Apple Vision Pro, and the confounding mess that is the Humane AI Pin (sorry not sorry). That said, the company also makes some truly excellent screwdriver sets that come with a lifetime warranty and all kinds of exotic bits for opening up modern tech, which is precisely why they’ve become a tried-and-true staple among Verge staffers who like to tinker with small electronics.

The heart of the Pro Tech Toolkit is its 64-bit driver kit, though, you also get spudgers, tweezers, several case-opening picks, a SIM removal tool, and a magnetic case that doubles as a sorting tray. The kit itself includes an extremely well-curated selection of bits, too, including pentalobe bits for opening devices like iPhones, tri-wing bits for cracking into consoles like the Nintendo Switch, and even Torx bits for working with vintage Apple computers and some PCs. It also comes with basic Phillips and flatheads, so you can tune up your bike or tackle whatever small household chores you’ve been putting off.

More deals to shop this weekend

• If you’ve been on the fence about foldables, the OnePlus Open is available from Amazon and OnePlus for $1399.99 ($300 off), which is a new low for the premium flagship. The price tag is still steep when compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Google Pixel Fold — especially since it lacks full water resistance and wireless charging — but it’s a handsome phone with great multitasking support, respectable specs, and four years of OS upgrades. Plus, it almost feels like a normal phone when you close it, which isn’t necessarily the case with some of its beefier rivals. Read our review.
• There’s no reason to settle for your average, run-of-mill charger when Sharge’s Macintosh-inspired Retro 67 is on sale at Amazon for $44.99 ($5 off) with an on-page coupon. The three-port USB-C PD and PPS charger is a great option for tablets and smaller laptops given it can put out up to 67W via a single port, and it comes with a handy dot-matrix display that shows your total power output at any given moment. It’s no wonder my colleague Sean Hollister recently took to The Verge to highlight the little charging gizmo.
• Last week, we launched our 2024 graduation gift guide, which pulls together a selection of Verge-approved ideas for graduates of all ages. Not everything in there is a deal per se, though you can pick up the Cotopaxi Allpa 35L Travel Pack at Backcountry for $160 ($40 off) at checkout if you have a free Backcountry Expedition Perks membership. It’s a great carry-on backpack made of 1680-denier ballistic nylon, one that’s loaded with organizational pockets for stowing clothes, cables, and whatever tech you travel with.

Google is preparing to hold its annual Google I/O developer conference next week, and naturally, it will be all about AI. The company has made no secret of that. Since last year’s I/O, it has debuted Gemini, its new, more powerful model meant to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and has been deep in testing new features for Search, Google Maps, and Android. Expect to hear a lot about that stuff this year.

When Google I/O will happen and where you can watch

Google I/O kicks off on Tuesday, May 14th at 10AM PT / 1PM ET with a keynote talk. You can catch that on Google’s site or its YouTube channel, via the livestream link that’s also embedded at the top of this page. (There’s also a version with an American Sign Language interpreter.) Set a good amount of time aside for that; I/O tends to go on for a couple of hours.

AI at I/O

Google has been clear: I/O this year will be all about AI. Gemini has been out in the world — not without some controversy — for a few months now, as has the company’s smaller Gemma model. A lot of the keynote will probably cover how Google is fusing Search and generative AI. The company has been testing new search features like AI conversation practice for English language learners, as well as image generation for shopping and virtual try-on.

Google will probably also focus on ways it plans to turn your smartphone into more of an AI gadget. That means more generative AI features for Google’s apps. It’s been working on AI features that help with dining and shopping or finding EV chargers in Google Maps, for instance. Google is also testing a feature that uses AI to call a business and wait on hold for you until there’s actually a human being available to talk to.

The Pixel as an AI gadget

I/O could also see the debut of a new, more personal version of its digital assistant, rumored to be called “Pixie.” The Gemini-powered assistant is expected to integrate multimodal features like the ability to take pictures of objects to learn how to use them or get directions to a place to buy them.

That kind of thing could be bad news for devices like the Rabbit R1 and the Human Ai Pin, which each recently launched and struggled to justify their existence. At the moment, the only advantage they maybe sort of have is that it’s kind of hard (though not impossible) to pull off using a smartphone as an AI wearable.

Image: OnLeaks / 91Mobiles

Will there be Hardware at I/O?

It seems unlikely that Google will focus much on new hardware this year, given that the Pixel 8A is already available for preorder and you can now buy a relaunched, cheaper Pixel Tablet, unchanged apart from the fact that the magnetic speaker dock is now a separate purchase. The company could still tease new products like the Pixel 9 — which, in typical Google fashion, is already leaking all over the place — and the Pixel Tablet 2, of course.

The search giant could also talk about its follow-up to the Pixel Fold, which is rumored to get a mouthful of a rebrand to the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

Even as modern horror games become unnervingly immersive, there’s still a place for the particular mood of old-school survival horror. Through a combo of grimy visuals, cryptic puzzles, slow pacing, and clunky controls, PlayStation-era games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill were able to create a distinct kind of tension and terror. Crow Country is what would happen if that kind of game never went out of style. It has the look and feel of the classics but with just the right amount of modern flourish. It’s a perfect bite of classic horror.

Crow Country comes from indie studio SFB Games — led by brothers Tom and Adam Vian — which has so far managed to create quite the eclectic library of releases. There was the playful Switch launch title Snipperclips, the point-and-click murder mystery Tangle Tower, and now a dark survival horror game. Crow Country doesn’t just evoke the ’90s — it’s set during the period as well. The entire game takes place in an abandoned Atlanta amusement park in 1990, as a woman named Mara sets out in search of the park’s elusive owner who mysteriously disappeared. Of course, the place is teeming with monsters and mystery.

The first thing you’ll notice is just how much this looks like a 32-bit game. The attention to detail is immaculate, from the blocky characters to the fuzzy textures to the crunchy, distorted sounds. Even the menus are period-appropriate. This extends to how the game plays and how it’s structured. Initially, Mara only has access to a small section of the park, but slowly, you’ll open up more by collecting obscure items, specific-colored keys, and solving very strange puzzles. The park itself is both scary and comical, like if the original Resident Evil mansion was crossed with Five Nights at Freddy’s.

You move around like, well, a tank: movement is slow, you have to stop to shoot zombie-like enemies, and the aiming is intentionally frustrating to amp up the tension. Similarly, you have to deal with limited resources, with relatively scant ammo and medicine to keep you going. All of this infuses even small encounters with danger. You do not want to waste bullets. It helps that the monster designs are truly unsettling, with fast-running toddlers, spindly-legged monstrosities, and shifting blobs with faces.

What’s most remarkable about Crow Country, though, is how it builds on those old-school sensibilities with some very welcome quality-of-life tweaks. Perhaps the biggest: the camera is actually 3D, so you can move it around to get a better look at your surroundings. But there’s also a more modern control option for better shooting, a limited hint system for when you miss one of those small clues, a very helpful map, and safe rooms that actually feel safe, so you can catch your breath and plan your next move. There’s even a mode that removes enemies entirely if you just want to explore.

The impressive thing is that these updates don’t take away from that classic tension. They simply remove some (but not all) of the frustration inherent in ’90s-era survival horror, creating perhaps the most accessible example of the genre while maintaining the look, feel, and personality. Crow Country does all of this while telling an excellent mystery that dramatically builds in scope over five hours or so of playtime. It doesn’t quite surpass its inspirations, but it’ll remind you why you loved them so much in the first place.

Crow Country is available now on the PS5, Steam, and Xbox Series X / S.

The past few months have made one thing crystal clear: phones remain undefeated.

The AI gadgets that were supposed to save us from our phones have arrived woefully underbaked — whatever illusions we might have held that the Humane AI pin or the Rabbit R1 were going to offer any kind of salve for the constant rug burn of dealing with our personal tech is gone. Hot Gadget Spring is over and developer season is upon us, starting with Google I/O this coming Tuesday.

It also happens to be a pivotal time for Android. I/O comes on the heels of a major re-org that put the Android team together with Google’s hardware team for the first time. The directive is clear: to run full speed ahead and put more AI in more things. Not preferring Google’s own products was a foundational principle of Android, though that model started shifting years ago as hardware and software teams collaborated more closely. Now, the wall is gone and the AI era is here. And if the past 12 months have been any indication, it’s going to be a little messy.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

So far, despite Samsung and Google’s best efforts, AI on smartphones has really only amounted to a handful of party tricks. You can turn a picture of a lamp into a different lamp, summarize meeting notes with varying degrees of success, and circle something on your screen to search for it. Handy, sure, but far from a cohesive vision of our AI future. But Android has the key to one important door that could bring more of these features together: Gemini.

Gemini launched as an AI-fueled alternative to the standard Google Assistant a little over three months ago, and it didn’t feel quite ready yet. On day one, it couldn’t access your calendar or set a reminder — not super helpful. Google has added those functions since then, but it still doesn’t support third-party media apps like Spotify. Google Assistant has supported Spotify for most of the last decade.

But the more I come back to Gemini, the more I can see how it’s going to change how I use my phone. It can memorize a dinner recipe and talk me through the steps as I’m cooking. It can understand when I’m asking the wrong question and give me the answer to the one I’m looking for instead (figs are the fruit that have dead wasp parts in them; not dates, as I learned). It can tell me which Paw Patrol toy I’m holding, for Pete’s sake.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Again, though — party tricks. Gemini’s real utility will arrive when it can integrate more easily across the Android ecosystem; when it’s built into your earbuds, your watch, and into the very operating system itself.

Android’s success in the AI era rides on those integrations. ChatGPT can’t read your emails or your calendars as readily as Gemini; it doesn’t have easy access to a history of every place you’ve visited in the past decade. Those are real advantages, and Google needs every advantage right now. We’ve seen plenty of signals that Apple plans to unveil a much smarter Siri at WWDC this year. Microsoft and OpenAI aren’t sitting still either. Google needs to lean into its advantages to deliver AI that’s more than a party trick — even if it’s a little un-Android-like.

Its limitations made it fall short in daily life but ended up being a plus while trying to disconnect from the world.

On my last day of vacation, I sat on a pristine beach, sipping on a piña colada while staring at a turquoise Caribbean Sea. In four days, I’d charged my Apple Watch Ultra 2 three times, and I was down to about 30 percent. On the other wrist, I had the more modest $249.99 Garmin Lily 2 Sport. It was at about 15 percent, but I hadn’t charged it once. Actually, I’d left the cable hundreds of miles away at home. While pondering this, the Ultra 2 started buzzing. My phone may have been buried under towels and sunscreen bottles at the bottom of a beach bag, but Peloton was having a bad earnings day. The way that watch is set up, there was no way it would let me forget. The Lily 2 also buzzed every now and then. The difference was reading notifications on it was too bothersome and, therefore, easily ignored.

That tiny slice in time sums up everything that makes the Lily 2 great — and perhaps not so great.

My 10 days with the Lily 2 were split into two dramatically different weeks. The first was a chaotic hell spent zipping here and there to get 10,000 things done before vacation. The second, I did my very best to be an untroubled beach potato. That first week, I found the Lily 2 to be cute and comfortable but lacking for my particular needs. On vacation, its limitations meant it was exactly the kind of wearable I needed.

I wasn’t surprised by that. The Lily 2 is not meant to be a mini wrist computer that can occasionally sub in for your phone. It’s meant to look chic, tell you the time, and hey, here’s some basic notifications and fitness tracking. That’s ideal for casual users — the kind of folks who loved fitness bands and Fitbits before Google started mucking around with the formula.

The main thing with the Lily 2 is you have to accept that it’s going to look nice on your wrist but be a little finicky to actually use. The original Lily’s display didn’t register swipes or taps that well. It’s improved a smidge with the Lily 2, but just a smidge. Reading notifications, navigating through menus, and just doing most things on the watch itself I found to be nowhere near as convenient as a more full-fledged touchscreen smartwatch. This extra friction is a big reason why the Lily 2 just didn’t fit my needs in daily life.

As a fitness tracker, the Lily 2 is middling. The main additions this time around are better sleep tracking and a few more activity types, like HIIT, indoor rowing and walking, and meditation. There are also new dance fitness profiles with various subgenres, like Zumba, afrobeat, jazz, line dancing, etc. That said, the Lily 2 isn’t great for monitoring your data mid-workout. Again, fiddly swipes and a small screen add too much friction for that.

I also wouldn’t recommend trying to train for a marathon with the Lily 2. Since it uses your phone’s GPS, my results with outdoor runs were a mixed bag. One four-mile run was recorded as 4.01 miles. Great! Another two-mile run was logged as 2.4 miles. Less great. It’s a tracker best suited to an active life, but not one where the details really matter. Case in point, it was great for tracking my general activity splashing around and floating in the ocean — but it’s not really the tracker I’d reach for if I were trying to track laps in the pool.

At 35mm, it’s a skosh bigger than the original Lily but much smaller than just about every other smartwatch on the market. It’s lighter than most at 24.4g, too. That makes this a supremely comfortable lil watch. Most days, I forgot I was wearing it.

While I’m no fashionista, I didn’t feel like my lilac review unit was hard to slot into my daily wardrobe. But if playful colors aren’t your thing, the Classic version is $30-50 more and has a more elegant feel, a more muted color palette, and nylon / leather straps. (It also adds contactless payments.)

As a woman with a small wrist, the 35mm size is a plus. But while I personally don’t think the Lily 2 has to be a women’s watch, it is undeniably dainty. If you want something with a more neutral vibe or a slightly bigger size, Garmin has the Vivomove Trend or Vivomove Sport. Withings’ ScanWatch 2 or ScanWatch Light are also compelling options.

Ultimately, the Lily 2 is great for folks who want to be more active while trying to cut down on notifications. It’s also a great alternative if you miss the old Misfits, Jawbones, or Fitbit Alta HR. Deep down, I wish that were me, but the reality is I have too much gadget FOMO and care way too much about my running data. That said, the next time I go on vacation — or feel the urge to disconnect — I think I’ll reach for the Lily 2 and try to leave the rest of my life at home.

Want a look at Dell’s new notebook lineup that’s apparently powered by Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon X Elite processors? Courtesy of Windows Report, these leaked images come ahead of Microsoft’s May 20th event where new Surfaces (and other laptops) are expected to sport the same chips.

They unsurprisingly look like laptops — albeit with overall slimmer profiles.

The most interesting model is Dell’s new XPS 13 9345, which seems to be a sleeker rebirth of the XPS 13 Plus from 2022. It’s got the same touchy touch-bar on the top row and comes with only two USB-C ports for I/O.

There’s also a leaked new Inspiron 14 7441 Plus that’s reportedly equipped with a 16-core Snapdragon X Elite and has 16GB of base RAM. Inspirons are considered Dell’s everyman PC that isn’t as sleek as the XPS lineup, although this one looks like it has thinned, and seems to come with two USB-C ports, one USB-A, and a microSD card slot.

Dell had revealed a new XPS lineup in January which introduced keyboards that bear Microsoft’s new Copilot key on the bottom row — and it looks like these leaked ones have them, too. Dell, HP, and Lenovo have all partnered with Microsoft to release notebooks supporting Windows 11 AI features. And these leaked Dell laptops apparently have Microsoft’s upcoming “AI Explorer” features out of the box.

They’re among the first Snapdragon X laptops we’ve seen leak out — the other is this Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 that leaker WalkingCat unearthed,

A Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge is expected as well, and Asus seems to have a Qualcomm laptop coming too.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series are due to appear in laptops this summer, and it’s the chipmaker’s big bet to challenge Apple Silicon, Intel, and AMD on performance.

From midsized and midrange stars to big, beefy monsters, these are the best technically portable gaming rigs you can get.

The early gaming laptops were largely desktop replacements: clunky chassis, multiple power bricks, and RGB lighting galore. But the top contenders now are different. Manufacturers are finally putting powerful specs into thin gaming machines: sleeker, more portable, and more professional builds. They have excellent, fast refreshing screens that are necessary for a great gaming experience. These laptops aren’t just great for gaming but for everyday work as well.

The best gaming laptop is the 2024 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. It can handle the most demanding games on the market today, it’s portable, and it also makes a great daily driver. Other good options are the Razer Blade 16 and the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro.

One more thing to keep in mind is the power you can expect. Not all chips with the same name are created equal — the RTX 4070 in one laptop may not deliver the same frame rates as the RTX 4070 in another laptop due to its wattage (as well as other factors like the processor and cooling). Nvidia now requires companies to disclose clock speeds and graphics power on each model’s product page, but plenty of manufacturers haven’t done that yet.

Out of the many gaming laptops we test each year, here are the ones that make the list. If you’re looking for a more multipurpose device, check out our best laptop page. If you’re an Android gamer, we’ve also got a list of the best Chromebooks you can buy.

The best gaming laptop

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 8945 HS / GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, RTX 4070 / RAM: 16GB, 32GB / Storage: 1TB / Display: 14-inch OLED, 2880 x 1800, 120Hz, 400 nits / Dimensions: 12.24 x 8.66 x 0.63 inches / Weight: 3.31 pounds

There is no better-balanced gaming laptop than the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. It’s our new favorite for all the same reasons we loved the 2023 model: it’s a thin and lightweight 14-inch gaming laptop with reasonable compromises to power and price. It’s powerful enough to reach 60 frames per second on ultra graphics at its native resolution (with or without DLSS) in most games, but not so powerful that its chassis traps too much heat. Its max battery life is also reasonable — about 6.5 hours with a 73 Whr battery.

Asus gave the 2024 Zephyrus some quality-of-life touch-ups: the processor is now a current-gen Ryzen 9 8000-series chip; its display has been upgraded from an IPS to a higher-res OLED; you can configure it with 32GB of memory; and every configuration comes with a 1TB SSD. Asus even put lighting back on the lid — not a dot matrix, but a diagonal strip of LEDs.

If you want to save some money, the RTX 4060 Zephyrus G14 is up to $500 cheaper. It has the same great screen and build, though only half the RAM, and its frame rates are only about 10 percent lower than the 4070 Zephyrus at 1080p/ultra. The Razer Blade 14 is a little more powerful with a 240Hz screen, and you can upgrade the RAM — but its battery life barely hits four hours in general use, its IPS display doesn’t support G-Sync or HDR, and it is up to $700 more expensive. The RTX 4070 Zephyrus G14 nails the price-to-everything ratio — there’s nothing sweeter.

The most powerful gaming laptop

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D / GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 4090 / RAM: 32GB / Storage: 1TB / Display: 17-inch IPS QHD, 240Hz display, 3ms, 300 nits, 100 percent DCI-P3 / Dimensions: 15.55 x 11.1 x 1.11 inches / Weight: 6.51 pounds

The ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D is big, it’s loud, it’s garish, and it’s flat-out the fastest gaming laptop we’ve tested. Thanks to its AMD Ryzen 9 79045HX3D processor, it leaves models with the same top-tier RTX 4090 graphics card and Intel’s fastest CPUs in the dust. It can run many of today’s AAA titles at 1440p with triple-digit frame rates.

The Scar 17 X3D has a 17-inch 2560 x 1440 240Hz screen with G-Sync, oodles of ports, a pleasant keyboard, and RGB galore. At over six and a half pounds and 17 inches on the diagonal, it’s your classic high-performance, barely portable gaming laptop.

Its webcam is potato, battery life is exactly as bad as you’d expect from everything we just listed, and it’s expensive, but for now this is the high-water mark for gaming laptops.

For more down-to-earth performance and price, you can also get the ROG Strix Scar 17 with an RTX 4070 for about $1,800 or with an RTX 4080 for about $2,900.

Read our Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D review.

Read our review of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D.

The best budget gaming laptop

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600H, Ryzen 7 5800H, Intel Core i5-13500H, Core i7-13700H, Core i7-12700H / GPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600H, Ryzen 7 5800H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, RTX 3050 Ti, RTX 4050 / RAM: 8GB, 16GB / Storage: 512GB, 1TB / Display: 15.6-inch IPS, 1920 x 1080, 60Hz / 144Hz, no touch option / Dimensions: 14.09 x 10.04 x 0.93 / Weight: 5.05 pounds

If you’ve got a tighter shopping budget, the HP Victus 15 is worth considering. The model we tested has a 144Hz screen, which is hard to find below the $800 mark. We found the touchpad a bit stiff, but that was our only real issue with the chassis in our testing.

While the Victus 15 doesn’t have the powerful gaming chops to match some of the other devices in this category, it can certainly run a number of games at their maximum settings, particularly lighter titles. If you don’t want to compromise on more modern AAA titles, we recommend going for the RTX 3050 model.

Read our HP Victus 15 review.

A great, affordable 16-inch gaming laptop

CPU: Intel Core i5-13500HX, Core i7-13700HX / GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 4050, 4060, 4070 / RAM: 16GB / Storage: 512GB, 1TB / Display: 16-inch, 2560 x 1600 IPS, 165Hz / 240Hz, no touch option / Dimensions: 14.3 x 10.25 x 1.05 inches / Weight: 5.51 pounds

The Legion 5i Pro is a fast, well-built gaming laptop from Lenovo. For well under $2,000, you can get exceptional performance from Nvidia 40-series GPUs and Intel’s 13th Gen processors in an attractive 16-inch chassis. It delivered respectable results on every game we tried, even at its native 2560 x 1600 resolution. And with the 240Hz display, you’ll be able to fully take advantage of the Legion 5i Pro’s power.

Performance aside, the highlight of the Legion 5 Pro is its 16:10 screen. A screen this tall is hard to find on the gaming laptop market these days, and it allows you more room for multitasking if you want to use the Legion 5 Pro as a daily driver. The keyboard is also a delight to use, with four-zone programmable backlighting.

The Legion’s main downside is its battery life. We only got about five hours of continuous use in our testing. While that’s not the worst we’ve ever gotten from a gaming laptop, it’s nowhere near what you’ll see from Asus’ Zephyrus G14. However, it does charge very, very fast with the included 300W power brick. Overall, though, the G14 will be a better option for folks who often work on the go. But the Legion is still a solid choice — and we have to give Lenovo props for the 16:10 screen.

Read our Lenovo Legion 5i Pro review.

A sleek 16-inch gaming laptop

CPU: Intel Core i9-13980HX, Core i9-13950HX / GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 4060, RTX 4070, RTX 4080, RTX 4090 / RAM: 16GB, 32GB / Storage: 1TB, 2TB / Display: 16-inch Mini-LED, Dual UHD / FHD+, 120Hz / 240Hz / Dimensions: 13.98 x 9.61 x 0.87 inches / Weight: 5.4 pounds

If you want your games to look as gorgeous as they possibly can, the Razer Blade 16 is worth considering. The Blade comes with an optional Mini LED screen that can swap between native UDH Plus / 120Hz and FHD Plus / 240Hz modes with one click.

Inside, the Blade is equipped with top-end chips from Nvidia and Intel and can run most of today’s demanding games at their highest settings with all the effects you want. If the dual-mode display isn’t a priority for you, you can go for more affordable (but still pricey) models. The Blade 16 does run hot, as is traditional with the Razer Blade laptops, especially with an RTX 4090. Stepping down to the RTX 4080 saves about $700 bucks, doesn’t lose you much performance, and might save your fingers.

Read our Razer Blade 16 review.

The best big-screen gaming laptop

CPU: Intel Core i9-13980HX, Core i9-13950HX / GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 4060, RTX 4070, RTX 4080, RTX 4090 / RAM: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB / Storage: 1TB, 2TB / Display: 18-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz / Dimensions: 15.74 x 10.84 x 0.86 inches / Weight: 6.8 pounds

The Blade 18 delivers some of the best gaming performance you can find in a laptop — but that’s not even its superpower. What makes Razer’s flagship so impressive is its massive 18-inch screen that delivers a fully immersive gaming experience. And at 0.86 inches, it’s impressively thin for such a powerful device — thin enough to carry in a briefcase or backpack.

This year’s model comes with a QHD Plus 240Hz display. It also has a customizable per-key RGB keyboard, which adds a touch of color without being too intense for the office. It runs cooler than the Blade 16, not that that’s saying much. The Blade 18 certainly isn’t cheap, but it’s the laptop to buy if you want a really big screen in a relatively slim frame.

Read our Razer Blade 18 review.

The best convertible gaming laptop

CPU: Intel Core i9-13900H / GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 4060 / RAM: 16GB / Storage: 1TB SSD / Display: 13.4-inch IPS, 2560 x 1600, 165Hz, touch option / Dimensions: 11.89 x 8.11 x 0.51 inches / Weight: 2.6 pounds

If you’re looking for a super-portable gaming laptop that doubles as a tablet, the Flow Z13 is one of your only options. The model we tested is the Acronym Edition, which has a funky and unique design done in collaboration with the apparel brand Acronym. You don’t have to buy this particular model (and the plain one will certainly be more affordable, so that’s what’s linked here), but it’s covered in logos and typography, with a multicolored keyboard that looks like it belongs at a fashion show. We recommend going for the non-Acronym model if you’re looking for the best value.

Design aside, the Flow Z13 has the chops to run all kinds of demanding titles at its native QHD resolution. What’s more, it’s compatible with Asus’ XG Mobile external GPU. That means you can plug the Z13 in for heavy-duty performance while you’re at your desk at home. That setup should give you a better gaming experience than you can expect from most gaming laptops on their own.

Read our Asus ROG Flow Z13 review.

Update, May 10th, 2024: Updated best gaming laptop from the 2023 Rog Zephyrus G14 to the 2024 Rog Zephyrus G14.