The BEST and WORST Ryzen Gaming Laptops

I’ve tested 11 Ryzen gaming laptops this year,  now it’s time to compare them all and separate  the winners from the losers to help you  decide which ones are worth your money. It was only earlier this year when AMD first  announced their Ryzen 4000 series processors  for laptops, which offered a serious step  up over the 3000 series they had previously,  making them much more  competitive in the laptop space. These new processors put 8 cores into  laptops below the $1000 price point for  the first time pretty much ever, as Intel’s  8 core options are all much more expensive. Now while in general Intel is a little ahead  in terms of gaming, the differences were often  comparable with not that big of a practical  difference, and for multicore work on the  other hand, the AMD options were typically the  winners while coming in at a lower price point. The result has been well priced laptops  with a lot of performance on offer,  but the benefit of Ryzen can only take us so  far. At the end of the day it depends on how  companies like ASUS and MSI for instance  are actually designing their machines. 

With that in mind, I’ll start off with  some of the, let’s say less good designs,  before moving onto better options as we  go, and I’ll cover both the good and the  bad of each model along the way. You can  find updated pricing and my full reviews  linked down in the description if you need  more information on any of these models. I’m going to start out with the MSI Bravo 15. This  is one of the rare all AMD designs, where both the  processor and graphics are AMD based. In this  case I’ve got the RX 5500M graphics which sits  somewhere in between the GTX 1650 and 1660 Ti on  the NVidia side. The issues I have with it was  processor performance from the 6 core 4600H was  down a little when compared to other laptops with  the same CPU. This is in part due to some thermal  throttling, as it can run hot. The touchpad also  has an issue where it miskicks, and the keyboard  has low travel and isn’t great to type with.  There’s just nothing that stands out with this  one, but the main issue for me was the price.  Mine was $50 cheaper than the Lenovo Legion 5,  one of the better options, and it came with single  channel memory, so once upgrading to dual channel  the prices are equivalent, and the Legion 5 easily  mops the floor with the Bravo 15, so unless the  Bravo has a good sale it’s not worth considering.  

I’ve heard in some regions like India the  Bravo is one of the better priced options,  so if that’s all you’ve got available to you then  just be aware of the issues noted in my review. Quick mention on the refreshed MSI Alpha  15 unfortunately I only tested the Ryzen  3000 model with 5500M graphics last year, but  it’s been refreshed with Ryzen 4000 and 5600M  recently. I expect performance to be a nice step  up over what was available in the older model,  as I’ve found the 5600M to perform between  the GTX 1660 Ti and RTX 2060 graphics on the  NVidias side. The Alpha 15 I tested had a fast  screen, plastic body but ultimately failed to  impress due to the higher price. The new model is  $200 more but with much better CPU and graphics,  but still compared to some others it looks  a bit pricey, at least in the US market. Next up is the ASUS TUF A15. This one has quite  a few spec options, 3 different Ryzen processors  and four different NVidias graphics options. 

For  the price, the TUF looks attractive, but there  are some well documented issues, namely in terms  of thermals. The bottom panel doesn’t have air  intake vents directly above the fans. ASUS say  that this is to instead force air in over the  other components, .but Hardware Unboxed have gone  as far as to actually cut holes in an A15 to show  that it would have improved performance. Despite  running on the warmer side, the performance was  still decent compared to others. The 144Hz panels  in my units had slow response time of around 20ms  with noticeable ghosting, a far cry from the  6.9ms needed for true 144Hz. All 3 were also a  little dim and under 300 nits, not too surprising  though as the screen is a common area that’s cut  to keep a laptop’s price low. Good things with  the TUF include the speakers and battery life,  you can get it with a large 90Wh battery, but  again like the Bravo, there are better options.

The Dell G5 Special Edition is next. Now if  you thought the TUF ran hot, you haven’t seen  anything yet. Dell are known for running their  gaming laptops hotter, which to be fair generally  does mean performance, but heat is the tradeoff  to pumping in more power for higher performance.  This is another all AMD option, and was the first  gaming laptop to offer the RX 5600M graphics,  which again I’ve found to perform between the  GTX 1660 Ti and RTX 2060. The G5 is available  with 6 or 8 core processor, however due to the way  AMD’s smart shift works, the cheaper 6 core option  actually runs better than the 8 core model in  games because the GPU is able to take more of  the power budget. The 60Hz screen has a slow  response time, the 144Hz one is better but still  not ideal. The gray plastic design of the G5 looks  a bit dated, but for a starting price of $850  USD for 5600M tier performance, again at times  near the RTX 2060, it’s actually pretty decent,  so just depends if you’re comfortable  running in excess of 100 degrees Celsius  under load. Dell apparently are, and to be  fair I haven’t heard of these things dying.

Let’s move onto the Acer Nitro 5 next. Now to be  clear, I think this is an excellent entry level  gaming laptop for $670 USD, the only reason it’s  lower on the list is simply that there are better  options with more features, however those are  more expensive as a result. Simply put, if you’re  on a strict budget, I think the Acer Nitro 5 is  one of the best Ryzen options available today.  It’s got the 6 core Ryzen 5 4600H processor,  and my unit has NVidias GTX 1650 graphics,  so fine for playing most modern games  at 1080p low to medium settings.  Battery life was very impressive from this  machine, though there is a fair bit of flex  to the plastic chassis. 

The 60Hz screen doesn’t  have great color gamut and is a little dim,  but it gets the job done, these are areas that  had to be cut to keep the competitive price. Next up is the Lenovo Idea Pad Gaming 3. This one  is around $70 more expensive than the Nitro 5 just  covered, but the build quality is a little better  despite still being all plastic. Other differences  include a faster screen with Free Sync, however  battery life isn’t quite as good as the cheaper  Nitro. While a little better, these features  probably aren’t worth 10% more money if you’re on  a tight budget over the Nitro, however it’s still  priced competitively for the performance on offer.

I’m still in the middle of reviewing the ASUS  Zephyrus G15, but I’ve seen enough to place it  closer to the lower side of this list. My G15 has  the same specs as the smaller Zephyrus G14, but it  performs worse in games despite being a larger 15  inch model, and this is due to thermal throttling,  as ASUS actually included some nice features to  help with cooling in the G14. For some reason ASUS  have blocked off the vents on the bottom panel  above the fans. The screen in my G15 was better  than the G14, it’s got a 240Hz refresh rate with  6.5ms response time, but at the same time this is  generally overkill for the Max-Q graphics and  HS processor combination unless you’re just  playing esports titles at lower settings. 

 

There’s just one slot for memory upgrades,  as some is soldered to the board. Some positives  include great battery life, fair build quality,  and it’s on the thinner side, though that would be  contributing to the higher temps so depends what  your priority is. There’s just not really anything  too special about it, it was one of the earlier  Ryzen 4000 models available and we’ve since had  better options come out. For an above average  price point I don’t think it’s worth it compared  to alternatives that are yet to come in the video.

The ASUS Zephyrus G14 was the first  laptop I ever had for testing Ryzen 4000,  it’s quite a unique machine at 14 inches, making  it a little more portable than all the other 15  and 17 inch models I’m covering. The smaller size  isn’t without some compromises however. As there  aren’t that many 14 inch gaming laptops, there’s  simply less panel selection, and the 120Hz one  used by the G14 has lower response time compared  to most with ghosting, so not ideal for fast paced  gaming. Less space also means less cooling,  and while ASUS did all sorts of interesting  things to improve thermals, they still had to use  lower wattage parts which means less performance.  

The processors are HS, meaning they’re 10 watts  lower than the regular H versions, and the 2060  Max-Q graphics in the one I tested was limited  to 65 watts, so despite technically being a  2060 chip, cheaper 1660 Ti laptops are able to  outperform it. That said, as mentioned with the  same specs it was still outperforming the larger  15 inch G15 I covered previously. The smaller size  means the keyboard is also missing some keys  which might not go too well for programmers.  Like the G15, there’s one memory slot here too, so  upgrades are limited based on the memory soldered  to the motherboard. Basically you’re paying  a premium to get a slightly smaller machine,  you can often pay less to get a slightly larger  15 inch laptop with better performance and screen,  which I think is a better decision for most  people unless your main priority is portability.

This one is kind of awkward so I’m just going to  stick it here, this is the Clevo chassis that’s  sold as the THICC-15 in the US from Electronics,  Apex 15 from XMG in Europe, or the Prime-Ai from  Met box here in Australia. What makes this one  special is that it uses the AM4 socket, so you  can actually take out the CPU and upgrade it,  meaning you could start with a 6 core 3600 then go  to the 16 core 3950X later, crazy stuff. While not  Ryzen 4000 like the other laptops in this video,  it still uses Zen2 processors. 

Unfortunately  at the time of making the video there’s still  no confirmation as to whether or not it will  offer support for Zen 3, aka Ryzen 5000 desktop  processors, but regardless the Zen 2 chips are  still able to smash down current laptop processors  in multicore work due to the higher power limits  that are possible in a thicker machine like this.  This one is mainly worth considering as  a desktop replacement, as its larger and  heavier than all other machines covered in this  video, but there’s no denying the performance,  which didn’t end up being too much lower when  compared to running the same processors in a  desktop PC. You could argue that this is the best  machine as it’s the most powerful, but I’m not  awarding it that as I don’t think it’s exactly a  gaming laptop for most people, so let’s continue.

I tested the Tong fang chassis known as the RP-15  from Electronics pretty early on, shortly after  the TUF A15, and in comparison it looked amazing.  It’s a decent machine, but the build quality isn’t  as good as the Omen 15 or Legion 5 which I tested  later on, and it also doesn’t have Free Sync like  those others. CPU performance is excellent  though, one of the best tested in that regard  and only slightly behind the Omen and Legion. This  one does have a boosted RTX 2060 with higher 110  watt power limit, but I didn’t find this to offer  too much benefit when actually testing games.  It scored the same as the 80 watt 1660 Ti in the  Legion 5 in Shadow of the Tomb Raider for example,  and in Battlefield 5 it was just a couple of FPS  ahead, not especially impressive at more than $200  more expensive. Oh plus you’ve got nose came down  the bottom, but hey still preferable to not having  one at all like those ASUS Zephyrus laptops. I  also tested the 17” version, the Core 17 from XMG,  which performed a little better overall, seemingly  taking advantage of the larger available space.

The HP Omen 15 is next. I tested this after  the RP-15, and at the time it took the spot  of best Ryzen gaming laptop that I’d tested.  The build quality was better, you get Free Sync,  the battery life is better and both CPU and gaming  performance was similar for a very close price  point, though it did have some sales putting it  cheaper at times. The lid is pretty flexible,  but otherwise alright build quality. HP also  sells the Pavilion 15 with Ryzen processor,  but unfortunately it’s been out of stock and I  can’t get it. The Omen 15 is a great machine,  it just depends on the price, but  there’s one machine that beats it. I’ve saved the best for last, which will  be no surprise if you saw my review,  the Lenovo Legion 5. I bought this for  $1000 USD, but it was recently on sale  for $850 which is crazy stuff for what’s  on offer. 

I’ve got a whole video comparing  this against the Omen 15 just before it if you  want more specifics as to why this is better,  but the summary is that they share many features,  but in the end the Legion is cheaper and performs  better. The Legion lets us disable optimus  which provides a speed boost in games,  the only Ryzen gaming laptop I’ve tested that  does that if I recall correctly. The Legion also  applies an overclock to the GPU out of the box  for a nice extra boost for those that don’t know  about performance tuning. You could of course use  software like MSI Afterburner to overclock say,  the Omen yourself, but fact is most people aren’t  enthusiasts so if the machine just does this  automatically and boosts performance then I see  that as preferable. 

The Legion also offers one of  the best scores in Cinebench I’ve ever recorded,  demonstrating what the 8 core Ryzen 7 4800H is  capable of in a well-designed machine. I was only  able to get an equivalent score with the Omen by  manually boosting it with Ryzen controller, this  image also shows the stock Omen performance which  was a little lower prior to tuning, but with  some simple tweaks you can get similar results. 

 

Again it comes down to better out of box  experience for the majority of people that  aren’t going to use software to boost power limits  and things like that. There’s just not too much  at all that’s actually bad about the Legion.  Battery life is decent, the keyboard is nice,  and the screen is pretty good with Free Sync.  I really can’t recommend the Legion 5  enough out of these options, it’s the best  Ryzen gaming laptop that I’ve tested in 2020. So there we have it, almost every  single  Ryzen gaming laptop compared and roughly  stacked up based on where I think they  sit compared to the other options,  based on my personal experience  of testing all of them. I think for the most part we’ve had a nice  selection of Ryzen 4000 gaming laptops this year,  but we still can’t get high end options  above RTX 2060 graphics at the moment.  

Hopefully this will change next year with Ryzen  5000 laptops, based on how well Zen 2 laptops  have done this year I would expect most companies  to go more in on including Ryzen in more models. Again if you need more information on  any of these laptops or updated prices  check the links in the description below. This video took a long time to make, I could  have just made it much sooner without actually  testing out half of the machines, but I wanted to  do it right and wait for them to become available,  and in most cases I had to buy a lot of them  myself, but I thought this would be the best way  to make an informed choice. You can help support  the channel and my independent testing by becoming  a YouTube member or joining on Patreon. This will  give you access to the Discord community as well  as behind the scenes videos, so take a look if  you’d like to help out the channel, otherwise if  you’re new here then make sure you get subscribed  for future laptop reviews like this one.

The Road Test