The best 15-inch gaming and work laptops for 2021



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Although many people outside the US prefer 14-inch laptops, US consumers are turning to the 15-inch size as the middle child between 17-inch large-screen and smaller laptops. and less powerful. 13 inch models. The best 15-inch laptops strike a balance between size, performance, and price.

We have selected the contenders for the best 15 inches portable based on performance for a given set of specs (aka, their configuration), design, and features for the price. Specifications and availability change often, so we’ve limited our choices to current models that we’ve actually tested. For example, the LG Gram 15 blew us away with his battery life and lightweight in March 2018, but it’s not listed here because we haven’t done our battery tests on current configurations.

We include high end and budget laptops, and take into account features like battery life, SSD storage, GPU and graphics card, processor, hard drive it has whether or not a 4K display, touchscreen, fingerprint reader or backlit keyboard, etc. . Screen size shouldn’t be the only thing dictating your laptop buying decisions!

If you’re looking for a focus on lower prices or a broader set of options, check out our picks for budget laptops and low budget gaming laptops. And picking a handful out of a sea of ​​hundreds pretty much guarantees you some important devices, especially if you’re looking for a laptop that’s more powerful and suitable for specific needs like video editing, so you should also head over to to see our best gaming laptops, two in one and Chromebooks, as good as best choices for students, our choices of computers and tablets for creations and the best Alternatives to MacBook Pro for the whole Windows. We update this list periodically with new products and information.

Read more: Best gaming laptop to buy for 2021

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It’s hard to find a budget laptop that’s also thin and light, let alone a computer with decent performance and battery life. The Aspire, which starts at around $ 500, achieves all of these goals and more, including a solid assortment of ports (including a USB Type-C port) and easily scalable hard drive storage and memory. It has a budget, but you can’t expect everything for so little money. Read our review of the Acer Aspire 5 (2019).

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Razer’s feature-less panel aesthetic fits seamlessly into almost any environment, making it the best 15-inch laptop for work and play. If you go for one of the high-end configurations and specs – like a great graphics card – the Razer Blade 15 Advanced is a great device for creative work and a stellar gaming laptop. If you’re ready to go for a black Razer Blade and a gutted wallet (it’s one of the more high-end laptops), you can get an Adobe RGB calibrated 4K OLED display and a GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q. for $ 3300. The cheaper base edition starts at $ 1,800 and isn’t too shabby either. Read our Razer Blade 15 Advanced review.


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A middle ground between a smaller 13-inch ultraportable two-in-one and heavier, faster, or more expensive models – it weighs about the same as a 16-inch MacBook Pro, at 4.4. pounds (2 kg) – the Yoga C940 features a six-core Intel Core i7 processor and discrete Nvidia GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics. The result is quite respectable performance for a two-in-one. Plus, you gain design flexibility – kiosk mode (also known as ‘stand mode’) and tent mode (my favorite), which are the best ways to use a laptop with a touchscreen hanging out all over the place. House. Read our Lenovo Yoga C940 (15.6 inch) review.

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If, like me, you’re not a big fan of OLED displays for photo editing – they aren’t optimized for Adobe RGB and aren’t great at the tonal range in shadow – then what you need is a laptop with a good IPS screen. The Dell XPS 15 9500 with the 4K display option offers this, and it’s not as reflective as the OLED displays I’ve seen. It does not qualify as an “RTX Studio” laptop because it exceeds a GTX 1650 Ti, but this GPU is sufficient for most photo editing and you don’t need Nvidia Studio drivers for most photo editing. . Dell PremierColor software isn’t perfect, but it gives you more control over screen settings than most I’ve seen, and it has dual Thunderbolt 3 controllers to keep your external drives happy.

If you’re willing to go a little bigger for a lot more graphics power, the 17-inch XPS 17 9700 doesn’t feel any smaller than it looks. Read our Dell XPS 15 9500 review.


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Dell’s G Series includes some of the best mainstream gaming laptops you can find, with solid performance, a variety of component options, and a more user-friendly and user-friendly design than most. Plus, battery life is much better than a typical gaming laptop, and a solid performance base configuration starts at under $ 1,000.

Note: this 2019 model is no longer available; our testing for the latest model is ongoing, but we don’t expect it to be a weak competitor in this category. However, don’t assume that this will continue to be an editors’ choice. Read our Dell G5 15 5590 review.


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OLED displays have a combination of color gamut (100% P3) and contrast that IPS panels struggle to match, but need some calibration to keep your colors from looking chaotic. The 15-inch Gigabyte is sleek and powerful – it has all the Nvidia Studio specs, just lacks the logo, and you can download the most creative Studio driver yourself. A color profile changing utility makes it more convenient to use and it is a well-designed laptop that performs solidly. Note that the battery life isn’t great, although better than most of the gaming laptops these laptops are based on, and the webcam is in a ridiculous place. Read our Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED review.

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Acer’s Chromebook 715 began life as a top-of-the-line model aimed at a growing business market for Chrome OS devices. Along with its little brother, the Chromebook 714, the 715 features a premium all-aluminum chassis designed to withstand drops of up to 48 inches (122 cm) and downforce up to 132 pounds ( 60 kg). You can also get the Chromebook 715 with a fingerprint reader, backlit keyboard, Intel Core i5 processor, and 16GB of memory for around $ 750. Or, you can get a much more affordable version that brings in the specs and extras while still maintaining the premium build quality, making it a fantastic choice for a home office or student Chromebook. Read our review of the Acer Chromebook 715.

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It might have a 16-inch screen now, but the MacBook Pro remains a 15-inch laptop in size and spirit. I’m not a fan of the Touch Bar, but at least the keyboard is improved, and the combination of MacBook Pro and MacOS hardware extracts maximum performance from the components while delivering top-notch battery life in a way that Windows systems never seem to do. do, and the Retina Display remains formidable. You pay for it, however – the base price of the 16-inch MacBook Pro model is $ 2,399. Read our Apple MacBook Pro (16 inch, 2019) review.

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Considering that there are actually only two dual-screen options available at the moment – the other is the HP Omen X 2S fast gaming laptop – choosing one doesn’t seem so bad. But the ZenBook Pro Duo has a lot to offer, including a color-accurate OLED display and a smaller IPS panel below. The secondary display may only be about an extra half screen, but it is still very useful for video editing and other tasks when you want to fit more videos or photos to the 15 inch primary monitor or work. in a small space. The ZenBook Pro Duo’s main OLED touchscreen offers excellent color accuracy for Adobe RGB and P3, in addition to its high-powered eight-core i9-9980HK processor, making it a portable powerhouse. It’s relatively heavy for its class at 5.5 pounds, however, and the top-end model we loved costs $ 3,000 – don’t expect blazing speed from the cheaper Core i processor and RTX 2060 setup (even if that should be respectable). Also, the battery life is not very good and the keyboard can be uncomfortable without the wrist rest. Read our Asus ZenBook Pro Duo review.

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It’s not for everyone – it’s not a mainstream manufacturer and it’s not an Intel processor – but for sheer speed in something smaller than a 17-inch megalithic, the processor The Eon15-X’s Ryzen 3900 desktop packs in CPU cycles, turning it into a renderer. With its GeForce RTX 2070, that’s not quite a gaming powerhouse. Read our Origin PC Eon15-X (2020) review.

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