Our picks run the gamut of many different brands, though we do often see the same names rate highly in our lists. Some of these are gaming specialists, and others are not. At any given time, you should expect to see some systems from the biggest manufacturers, which always sell multiple models and configurations at various price points. These primarily include Acer, Asus, Dell, and Lenovo. The last, in particular, has been serving up impressive value in the gaming category recently.

Some of the more specialist brands that consistently produce great gaming rigs are Alienware (a Dell subsidiary), Gigabyte, MSI, and Razer. Some of these, particularly Razer machines, come with hefty price premiums but emphasize superior build quality.

Feeling more prepared now to buy than before? We hope so. Our detailed spec breakout of all the top-pick machines we have laid out should help you settle on the best gaming laptop that fits your budget and your gaming aspirations. Game on!

Cutting-edge ports like USB Type-C and Thunderbolt 4 are beneficial now and will only be more so down the road, but look for at least two ordinary-shaped (aka, "Type-A") USB 3.0 ports so you can plug in an external mouse and a hard drive for your saved media files. There's also a load of extras like RGB key and chassis lighting, software performance modes, and Ethernet ports for wired downloads or online gaming.

If you want to attach a wired VR headset to your rig, look for the right loadout of ports to accommodate it. You'll need a well-placed HDMI or DisplayPort video out (it depends on the headset, which one you'll need) and enough USB ports for a possible hydra-head of cabling. Other video ports, like DisplayPort or mini-DisplayPort (sometimes implemented over a USB-C port), will be helpful if you want to play games on an external display, but they aren't necessary if your laptop's screen is large enough.