A 14-inch gaming laptop offers the perfect balance between portability and performance. While the screen size may seem smaller for gaming, these compact machines are designed to fit comfortably in your bag or luggage, making them ideal for gaming on the go. Despite their smaller size, modern 14-inch gaming laptops are equipped with powerful hardware that more than compensates for the screen size, ensuring a spectacular gaming experience wherever you are.
In this blog post, we are looking at some of the best 14-inch gaming laptops available on the market today:
Related: What is the Best Screen Refresh Rate for Gaming?
Best 14-inch Gaming Laptop All-Around: ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14
Gamers love this model, and for good reason. Zephyrus G14 historically performs well, offers great battery life, and is affordable. Even though earlier (GA401) models did not have a built-in camera, G14’s powerful hardware and portability made up for it.
In 2024, Asus delighted gamers with an updated release of the G14. The ROG Zephyrus G14 GA403 series is powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor and GeForce RTX 4060/4070 graphics, ensuring top-notch performance. It features a new OLED Pantone-validated 120Hz display, delivering stunning visuals. The laptop maintains its sleek design and offers plenty of I/O ports for connectivity. The latest model is even lighter (3.31 lbs) and more compact, further enhancing its portability.
Asus also added a new feature called Slash Lighting array. It is a customizable LED panel running diagonally across the top lid. And while the feature serves aesthetic purposes only, it does allow users to add some individuality to their gaming laptop, making it look unique and futuristic.
Price-wise, the RTX 4060 with 16GB RAM configuration costs $1599.99 at Best Buy, while the 32GB RTX 4070 costs $1999.99. Thus, the G14 series is pretty affordable for what it offers.
Pros:
- Consistent performance
- Fairly priced
- The addition of an OLED display
Cons:
- No option for upgrades
Best Versatile 14-inch Gaming Laptop: Razer Blade 14
The Razer Blade 14 looks sleek, minimal, and thoughtfully designed, making it a perfect work laptop. It may be overkill for students, but why not if you like to play games between studies and can afford them, why not?
The latest Blade 14 is Razer’s most portable laptop lineup in 2024. It weighs 4.05 lbs (slightly heavier than the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14) and is 0.71 inches thin. As always, the black (or silver) aluminum chassis looks stylish and expensive. However, despite the company’s promise of a finger-resistant coating, it still does stain quite a bit, and fingerprints are noticeable, requiring clean-up maintenance.
But in terms of gaming power, the Razer Blade 14 is a beast. The model is powered by the latest AMD Ryzen 9 chip and RTX 40-series graphics and offers a variety of screen options, ranging from FHD to QHD+. Nevertheless, compared to the Zephyrus G14, it lacks a card reader port and is more expensive (starting at $2199.99). Its battery life is almost as good as a G14 (still an upgrade for Razer).
Pros:
- Design
- Vibrant display image
- Performance
Cons:
- Price
- No card reader
Best Budget Alternative: Legion Slim 5 Gen 8 14.5″ AMD Gaming Laptop
A quality portable (3.85 lbs) gaming laptop with an OLED display? What’s not to love? The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 offers a no-frills, clean design that many adult gamers can appreciate. It also performs on par with a gaming desktop, thanks to RTX 40-series graphics and AMD Ryzen processors.
We also like the TrueStrike keyboard for its stroke precision. The 1.5mm key travel distance is responsive and accurate, which is equally important for work and play. Unfortunately, it does not have the RGB feature.
The model features Lenovo Legion Coldfront 5.0 technology to prevent overheating during power-intensive tasks and AAA gaming. Still, the laptop tends to heat up, especially under the keyboard, and gamers should expect some fan noise, even in a Balanced mode.
The Legion Slim 5 14-inch may not be as popular as the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, yet gamers highly regard it for being well-made and efficient. And you can’t beat the price: Right now, gamers can purchase the Ryzen 7 7840HS version with RTX 4060 GPU (!) for as little as $1049.99 at Best Buy.
Pros:
- Clean design
- Excellent OLED screen
- Fairly priced
Cons:
- No USB4 / Thunderbolt support
- Poor customer support
Best Intel-Based 14-inch Gaming Laptop: Acer Predator Triton 14
Intel Core i-family processor fans will appreciate the supercharged performance of the hybrid architecture the Predator Triton 14 has to offer.
The laptop is a bit chunkier, but at 3.8 lbs, it is still considered lightweight.
The latest 2023 model is powered by the Intel Core i7-13700H processor and offers a standard 16GB RAM option (no variations). Gamers can also configure their laptops with either 512GB or 1TB SSD storage and GeForce RTX 4050 or 4070 graphics at the time of the purchase.
Unlike the Legion 5 Slim, the Acer Predator Triton 14 has the per-key RGB keyboard backlit feature and offers the same accurate (if not superior) key travel. What we did not particularly like is an awkwardly small trackpad.
Even though 16GB of RAM is slightly disappointing, the Triton 14 is a beast in a small frame in terms of overall gaming performance, backed by a 3-year warranty. Gamers can also get up to 6 hours of battery life in Eco mode.
Price-wise, the 512GB RTX 4050 version goes for $1499.99. And the 1TB RTX 4070 costs $1999.99.
Pros:
- Quality HDR display
- Good battery life
- Solid performance
Cons:
- Only 16GB of RAM
- Small trackpad
- Thick profile
14-inch Gaming Laptops in Terms of Resale Value
14-inch models don’t retain their value as well as larger versions, but they still age better than an average personal computer. In other words, if you want to resell your notebook in the future (and you should), any of the four models above will make a good investment.
You can easily sell a used gaming laptop online if trading it in with the store is not an option. Just to give our readers an idea of how much your computer could go for, here are a few examples of older 14-inch gaming laptops we buy for cash:
- The 2021 Razer Blade version with an AMD Ryzen 9 processor and RTX 3060 graphics yields a $349 offer on Gadget Salvation.*
- An Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 GA401, with similar specs and also from 2021, goes for up to $319 with us.*
Summary
If you want a portable gaming computer that can also be a work or school notebook, consider purchasing an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, Acer Predator Triton 14, Lenovo Legion 5 Slim, or Razer Blade 14 model. These are among the best 14-inch gaming laptops available today. All four models pack ultra-powerful hardware, making them on par with gaming desktops. Unfortunately, most 14-inch gaming laptops are not upgradable and usually have only one SSD slot. Nevertheless, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD should be plenty for playing AAA games and keeping important files on hand. Not to mention that gaming laptops hold superior resale value compared to home-use ones if you decide to upgrade and resell your older model for some cash.
*Priced on 04/24/2024. Subject to change.
