Gaming laptops are known for being very powerful machines, from having dedicated graphics cards to having some of the most rugged builds you can imagine. Many who have read our article on the best laptops for gaming and programming have gotten to that page from searching, “are gaming laptops good for programming”. Hence this article on if gaming laptops are good for programming.
Are Gaming Laptops Good for Programming?
Yes, gaming laptops are good for programming and coding demands of all kinds. If you’re asking this because you want to get a gaming laptop that would double as a work laptop, then, by all means, go for it. One of the things that make a gaming laptop great for programming on the economic side of things is that they are cheaper than some high-end laptops like MacBooks and Microsoft Surface laptops. Even though they aren’t always as expensive, it’s interesting that they have features and build quality that is comparable to what you get on these high-end, programming-type laptops.
The economics aside, I recently adopted a gaming laptop, the Dell Gaming G3 15 3500, and while it’s a little cheaper than the top-of-the-range models in gaming laptops, it packs a healthy amount of punch, enough to handle Java, Android Studio, and a few other programming environments.
Best gaming laptops for programming and coding
Let’s take a look at some specs you will generally find on gaming laptops and see why anyone’s answer to the question, “are gaming laptops good for programming” will be a yes.
CPU: If you are writing code in VIM, you will have anywhere between 3 and 5 docker containers running at the same time, not forgetting the different virtual machines under the VirtualBox that may be running in the background. If you’re someone like me who runs two different browsers at the same time – Chrome for developments and Firefox for communications, great CPU is important. I should add that the number of tabs that are opened on these browsers can be quite the thing, from different tabs on GitHub to different ones on Stackoverflow. If your laptop doesn’t have a healthy CPU, one that’s powerful enough to take this heat, you’d find yourself lacking.
Read also: Best Refurbished Laptops for Gaming
Storage: On the storage side of things, gaming laptops also happen to beat other laptops for the freedom they afford users to make adjustments and inclusions. You’d be getting 1 SATA SSD drive and 2 NVME slots on many gaming laptops, and that is a big boost.
Memory: if you think 8GB RAM is anything to go by, then you’re probably a lightweight programmer and gamer. While many gaming laptops still come with 8GB RAM, many come with support for upgrades to up to 32GB, and that is something you’d rarely find on standard laptops.
Still, you will find gaming laptops with 12GB and 16GB RAM out-of-the-box, and at comparable pricing to the top laptop models on the market. With the RAM that you get on gaming laptops, you will see a comparable improvement in browser load speed, you will be able to take on more Chrome and Firefox tabs, and if you are into mobile development, the extra demand when running the device emulator and IDE wouldn’t have a toll on the machine.
Read also: How to Use Laptop as Monitor for PS4
Dual-book: Do you want to boot your Windows 10 OS and play a couple of games while having Photoshop running? Or you need to play games even when your video-editing tools like Adobe Premiere Pro and Resolve are running in the background? If you want to do any of these without maxing your storage, a gaming laptop is a no-brainer.
Display and Graphics: Nothing beats running a programming environment, or creative apps like Adobe Photoshop and Premiere or Davinci Resolve on a machine with good resolution, amazing HD display, and top color quality. Many of the run-of-the-mill laptops on the market have LCDs that are simply terrific. You would surely love to know what it’s like to see what NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti or an AMD Radeon feels like on a laptop; proper drivers that ensure that the machine doesn’t default to the integrated Intel graphics, giving you not-so-appealing views.
Read also: Best Laptops with Nvidia Graphics Card
Cooling: If you’re someone who passes multi-core support to the laptop build, you’ll be generating a lot of heat on your laptop, and I spend quite a lot of time compiling projects in c/c++ and Java, and you can guess just how much heat that will be generating. Gaming laptops come with a beefed-up cooling system that you don’t find on normal laptops.
Keyboard: a programmer will probably damage his keyboard before most PC users; in fact, in less than a year of buying a new pc, I have seen myself loosing around 15% of the markings on my keyboard. Gamers use their keyboard for controlling games, hence, the more durable integrated keyboard on gaming laptops. Since these are designed for users who spend a lot of time punching the keyboard, it is indirectly designed to be used by programmers.
Build: Another area in which gaming laptops beat their counterparts will be in the quality of the build. Since these laptops are designed to withstand rough handling by gamers and more regular carrying around resulting in dropping and liquid spills, they form the perfect companion for the coder.
Read also: How to Increase FPS on Windows 10 Laptops
So are gaming laptops good for programming? Yes, they have above-the-average builds, improved keyboard quality, great cooling, powerful Storage and memory, and top-notch graphics; all features that are important to the work of programmers and creatives.
Is MSI Laptop Good For Programming?
Yes, MSI laptops are good for programming. They have above-the-average builds, improved keyboard quality, great cooling, powerful storage and memory, and top-notch graphics; all features that are important to the work of programmers and creatives.
What are the disadvantages of gaming laptops?
The biggest disadvantage of gaming laptops is their high power consumption which can reduce battery life. So, they require frequent battery changes.
Another disadvantage is that these computers are huge and bulky. Therefore, if you travel often and need to take them with you, they can be a burden.
In addition, you cannot upgrade them. If you want to have the latest features, you have to sell your old laptop, add some cash, and buy a new one. But it will get old one day when another new version comes. And if every gamer does this (sell their old gaming laptops for new ones), who will buy your old laptop?
Finally, gaming laptops are more expensive than regular laptops. It contains many new and advanced features, and for this reason, the cost of these types of laptops is very high – usually double the price of a regular laptop.
What is the difference between a gaming laptop and a programming laptop?
Gaming laptops are actually the same as programming laptops. Or I’ll say, a gaming laptop is a programming laptop with upgraded features. You won’t find many laptops named and dedicated to programming, but gaming laptops have carved their niche on the market.
However, while a laptop with features suitable for programming is not necessarily ideal for gaming, any good gaming laptop will be ideal for programming.
A gaming computer must be very powerful, with the latest generation and high-end hardware (especially the GPU). It should run Windows because it is the OS that has the most recent games due to its popularity.
On the other hand, a computer for programming (assuming you don’t dedicate yourself to programming latest generation games) doesn’t need to be so powerful. A regular i5 or i7 is fine, and the GPU can be integrated.
It is more important that a programming laptop be light than powerful. And the most important thing at the software level is that it is stable, fast, and has a sound programming environment.
Are MSI gaming laptops good?
Yes, MSI gaming laptops are some of the best on the market as MSI is today the reference brand in the world of computer video games. The brand offers laptops with dedicated graphics cards for running the most demanding games.
It uses the leader in quality graphics cards: NVIDIA (whether in its laptops, towers, or all-in-ones). The cards used are NVIDIA GeForce GTX which are available in several models.
MSI also equips its laptops with a minimum of 8 GB of random-access memory (RAM), necessary for video games requiring a lot of resources. Some models (expensive) even offer up to 16 GB. MSI only uses Intel Core i5 for its entry-level model prices on the processor side, but most of the time, you will have an i7 processor.
How to know if a laptop is good for gaming
1. Visit the System Requirement Slab website tofind out if your system can handle the game you want
2. Under 1), type the first letters of your favorite games, and you will find a drop-down menu from which you can select the appropriate game! If you don’t want to scroll for a long time, you can also type the name into the selection window.
3. Then under 2), click on the blue “Can You Run It” button. On the next page that opens, click on the “Can You Run It” tab in blue again.
4. The system should be able to detect if your PC is ideal for gaming by downloading, installing, and running a detection application on your system.
5. The service will show you whether the computer meets the minimum or even the recommended requirements for the game. It will also go a little further to describe each of your components.
Tip
Search and run tests on the most powerful, highly demanding games like Red Dead Redemption 2 or Forza Horizon 5. If your computer can run them, then it’d be ideal for just any game.
Is HP Pavilion gaming laptop good for programming? A review
Key features
- 15.6″ Micro-EDGE screen
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
- Intel Core i5-9300H CPU
- 8GB SDRAM and 256GB SSD
The HP Pavilion Laptop is one of the best gaming/programming laptops I’ve seen in a long time. What I like best about this model is the high speed and power and the convertible touchscreen that allows it to be turned into a tablet. The HP Pavilion laptop, with its 15.6-inch display and 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution, is ideal for those who need a considerably sizeable no-frills laptop.
This powerful 9th Gen Intel Core i5-9300 quad-core processor is super-fast and comes with Intel’s Turbo Boost for unmatched performance. In addition, it comes with four USB ports, an Ethernet network port, a full-size HDMI, a headphone/mic jack, and more.
Best MSI gaming laptops
MSI is the go-to brand if you want a reliable gaming laptop. So, I’ve selected and reviewed what I think are the two best MSI gaming laptops:
1. MSI Stealth 15M
The MSI Stealth 15M is a thin laptop for gamers. It has a 15.6″ Full HD IPS screen at 144 Hz, features the Intel Core i7-11375H CPU, a dedicated Nvidia GeForce-type RTX 3060 graphics card, and 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD Storage.
The superior performance of the STEALTH 15M offers all gamers a powerful machine and next-level processing capabilities.
Finally, the MSI gaming laptop features the MSI Cooler Boost, a proprietary technology that ensures optimal thermal dissipation and control. State-of-the-art fans and heat pipes are integrated, so you get the ventilation you need to play and work.
2. MSI Pulse GL66 Gaming Laptop
The MSI Pulse GL66 is a gaming laptop with superior Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 graphics. It has a premium chassis designed by Maarten Verhoeven from his vision of the fighters of the future with optimal air vents in the rear.
The MSI gaming laptop features the exclusive Cooler Boost 5 system with two fans and dedicated thermal solutions in the graphics card and processor. The screen is 15.6 inches and has a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution on an IPS panel known for its 100% sRGB color range. This screen offers outstanding image quality for professional video editing or graphic design tasks and video games.
Best gaming laptops brands for programing
Looking for a gaming laptop that’s also good for programming? Narrow down your search to these brands and models of gaming laptops:
Acer: Predator
If it is not necessarily the first brand that comes to mind when looking for a gaming/programming laptop, Acer still offers reliable, powerful, and elegant products that perfectly meet the expectations of gamers and professionals.
Especially since the launch of the Predator range in 2016. Predator incorporates innovative features such as FrostCore technology. This keeps your laptop cool even during heavy use.
MSI
MSI is also specialized in PCs for gamers and has a range of powerful and feature-loaded laptops, some of which I’ve reviewed in this article.
Whether it’s cramming two full-size GTX 980 GPUs into a single chassis or packing a mechanical keyboard into a laptop, the brand doesn’t lack imagination and always manages to conjure up a surprise to the delight of gaming enthusiasts looking for new products.
ASUS: Republic of Gamers (ROG)
I decided to keep the best for the last. Asus is one of the most trusted brands for laptops with various models to suit any use. The brand focuses on portability, design, innovation, and performance in each release.
I think the flagship Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 is the best from the ROG and gaming lines of the brand.
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John follows everything happening in the tech industry, from the latest gadget launches to some of the big-name moves in the industry. He covers opinionated pieces and writes on some of the biggest names in the industry. John is also a freelance writer, so he shares articles on freelancing every now and then. email: john@tekpip.com
Last update on 2023-06-01 We are an Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.in affiliate and earn from qualifying purchases through our links at no extra cost to you.