AMD gaming laptop buying guide: What you need to know | 91mobiles.com

AMD has been making powerful gaming laptops for years and the brand’s experience in this product segment helps it to deliver exceptional products every passing year. The latest Ryzen 6000 series mobile processors and Radeon 6000 series GPUs are built to deliver great gaming performance on laptops. AMD gaming laptops are known for their great thermal performance, keyboards, displays, and more. However, buying a gaming laptop may seem a bit complicated, considering the wide range of laptops with specs like CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, and more. Check out this guide that will help you in deciding which AMD gaming laptop you should buy:

What you need to consider while buying an AMD gaming laptop

Budget

Gaming laptops are pretty expensive compared to standard everyday use laptops due to their high-end specs. Gaming laptops with the most basic configuration will cost you at least around Rs 50,000 and they can go over Rs 2,00,000 depending on the specs. AMD gaming laptops start at Rs 54,990 on Amazon in India, which is a great starting point if you want to get into gaming. You can also get discounts on AMD gaming laptops during sales on Amazon, Flipkart, Reliance Digital, Croma, and more.

Processor – Core performance is crucial

Since the CPU is the most important component of a laptop, it should be considered before everything else. AMD has a wide range of powerful processors that are great for multitasking and running applications that require a lot of resources. AMD laptop processors come with 4-core, 6-core, and 8-core architecture. AMD Ryzen 5000 and Ryzen 6000 series mobile processors are great for gaming laptops and they are widely available in India. While Ryzen 6000 series processors are much faster that 5000 series, the latter will cost less. Both Ryzen 6000 and 5000 series processors also work as APUs with a graphics chips right on the processor. This will allow you to play some modern games without a dedicated GPU. While most games don’t directly benefit from the CPU, a great processor helps in running tasks and instructions smoothly in the background without affecting gaming performance.

GPU – Technologies that enable uncompromising experiences

AMD gaming laptops come with powerful GPUs from AMD as well as Nvidia. GPUs handle a major chunk of processing required to run games well, so you really need to make an informed decision while picking one. AMD Radeon RX 6000M, 6000S, and 5000 series GPUs are great for playing games at high refresh rate with support for ray tracing. The brand-new AMD Radeon RX 6000M and 6000S series GPUs come with RDNA 2 tech. These GPUs support FidelityFX Super Resolution that boosts frame rates in supported games. Besides these, AMD Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs offer hardware-accelerated ray tracing in games. AMD Radeon GPUs become even more powerful when paired with Ryzen processors. Here’s how pairing AMD GPUs and processors will help your gaming laptop:

AMD Smart Shift MAX Technology

Previously called the AMD SmartShift technology, the new and enhanced version of this tech is optimised to support an even broader range of games. By dynamically shifting laptop power between AMD Ryzen mobile processors and AMD Radeon graphics, SmartShift Max offers a noticeable uplift in gaming performance.

AMD Smart Shift Eco Technology

Smart Shift Eco tech optimises battery performance, especially while playing games. This means that you will be able to get a respectable battery backup, even from gaming laptops.

AMD Smart Access Graphics Technology

AMD’s Smart Access Graphics tech seamlessly switches graphics control to improve performance. The technology delivers 15 percent more gaming performance on average across select titles by allowing the AMD Radeon GPU to control the display directly instead of transferring information through the AMD Ryzen APU to the display.

AMD Smart Access Memory Technology

The Smart Access Memory tech improves data transfer speeds between AMD CPUs and GPUs for select games. This means that you will not have to face any frame drops or stutters while enjoying your favourite games.

Display

AMD gaming laptops come with some fantastic displays that deliver immersive visuals in games. Choosing a great display is absolutely necessary for gaming laptops as it directly affects your experience. Depending on your budget, you need to find the right combination between resolution, size, and refresh rate. You can also choose the display based on what kind of games you like to play. For instance, if you prefer playing competitive shooters like Valorant and Apex Legends, then a high refresh rate display with lower resolution could work for you. On the other hand, if you only play single-player games with beautiful open worlds, you should opt for high resolution over refresh rate. In case you want the best of both worlds, then you can pick a gaming laptop with great resolution as well as high refresh rate, which could be expensive.

Storage and RAM

A great storage and RAM combination on a gaming laptop will help ensure enough storage to download games as well as great performance. For gaming, a laptop needs at least 1TB SSD (or HDD) storage and 16GB RAM. As many gaming laptops let you upgrade RAM and storage, you can get additional storage and RAM later based on your requirements. If you are a hardcore gamer, you can max out the storage and RAM on your next gaming laptop to skip future upgrades.

Keyboard

A great keyboard is definitely essential for playing games on your laptop. You should generally check the key travel and quality of switches on laptops. Some of the high-end gaming laptops also come with a mechanical keyboard, which is great for gaming. Besides these, you can look for Macro Keys, support for anti-ghosting, and n-key rollover.

Thermal performance

Another major aspect to consider while picking a gaming laptop is its thermal performance. There are some gaming laptops that heat up a lot during long gaming sessions. So, you need to look for gaming laptops that have great cooling tech to ensure that the machine doesn’t heat up too much while playing games. Since there isn’t any way to understand the thermal performance of a laptop without trying it yourself, you can check out laptop reviews on retail websites as well as on YouTube.

AMD gaming laptops you can check out

Here are some popular AMD gaming laptops for you to consider:

HP Victus – Rs 54,990 (via Amazon)
ASUS ROG Strix G17 – Rs 89,990 (via Amazon)
Lenovo Legion 5 – Rs 67,990 (via Amazon)
Dell G15 – Rs 1,13,990 (via Amazon)
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo – Rs 4,01,391 (via Amazon)