CES 2024 has been awash with stunning new gaming laptops, with the likes of Acer, Asus, Gigabyte, Lenovo, MSI, Razer, and more showing off new models. Packed with stunning displays, the latest CPUs and GPUs from AMD, Intel, and Nvidia, and a multitude of wild and wonderful gaming extras, we’ve had hands-on time with dozens of them and these are the ones that have stood out to use the most so far.
There’s no guarantee any of these new models from CES will make it onto our best gaming laptops list when it comes to final review time. But, there’s every chance these will be the models to go for when they start hitting shop shelves, and our testing labs, over the next couple of months.
Acer Swift X 14
Among the mass of new Acer gaming laptops at CES, it was the Swift X14 that caught our eye the most. The combination of the compact 14-inch size, the slim build – despite housing an RTX 4070, attractive metal finish and stunning 2.8K resolution OLED screen was really compelling. It inevitably won’t be a gaming monster but if you want a balance of portability, style and power, it looks like it should deliver the goods.
Asus Zephyrus G16 and G14
We couldn’t not include both new variants of Asus’ slim and stylish gaming laptop line, the Zephyrus G16 and G14. The larger 16-inch G16 is an absolute marvel of engineering. It’s incredibly thin and light – ust 1.85kg for a 16-inch gaming laptop is astonishing – yet still houses an RTX 4090. You of course get a lovely 2.5K resolution OLED screen and despite the slimness, the build quality is top-notch with a great-feeling keyboard and trackpad.
As for the G16’s little sibling, the 14-inch G14, it’s also slim and light but is most of all just a fantastic-looking device. The white finish on show at CES looks superb – even if our pictures have slightly done it a disservice. Like the Acer X14, it’ll house up to an RTX 4070 and actually uses an AMD Ryzen 8000 CPU rather than Intel. Both laptops also feature a nicely subtle lighting effect on the laptop lid, with a slash of shiny metal being dotted with lights. It looks great in person.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i
Another example of just how impressively slick-looking gaming laptops can be made these days, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is incredibly slim and with a clean design. Sure, you get an RGB light strip on the front but we quite like the way it gives a relatively subtle desk illumination – even though, yes, we would turn it off immediately to save battery life – and the RGB backlit keyboard is similarly non-garish. There are some chunky-looking side cooling vents but then this thing does still pack in an RTX 4090 with a 175W peak power rating alongside an Intel Core i9-14900HX all powering its 16-inch 2,560 x 1,600, 240Hz display.
MSI Cyborg 14
Among its host of capable and eye-catching gaming laptops, the one that stood out most to us was the Cyborg 14, as this laptop has a translucent chassis. While MSI debuted the idea last year, the updated version has a slightly tweaked design and is still darned cool. The translucency doesn’t really let you see the details of your machine’s insides but it gives a fun glimpse at, in particular, the copper heatpipes and cooling fans. The laptop is otherwise a modest-tier device with its 1,920 x 1,200 @144Hz 14-inch display, Intel 13th-gen processor and only up to an RTX 4060 graphics card. But, that’s why it’s a $1,099 gaming laptop, not a $2K+ one.
Razer Blade 16
Just look at it! That classic sleek black Razer design is put to great use again with its latest 16-inch gaming laptop addition, and this time it comes with a ridiculously lovely 240Hz 2560 x 1600 display. That display is also rated to the latest top-spec VESA ClearMR 11000 standard. As an OLED panel it has inherently fast response time but VESA’s rating means the panel has past their rigourous tests to determined just how good it is. As you’d expect, up to RTX 4090 graphics and Intel 14th gen processors are also inside.
While we wait the month or two that it will take for many of these laptops to be available for purchase, you can check out our current picks for the best gaming laptop.