Our favorite budget gaming laptop is the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16. Of the laptops with RTX 4050 graphics that we've tested, it's the fastest. It also supplies a big and bright 16-inch, 16:10 display and adds a bit of aluminum to what is typically an all-plastic design at its price.

The best laptops we've tried further include several hybrid devices. Our 2-in-1 frontrunner is the Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 (Gen 9), a solid performer with a gorgeous 2.8K OLED display,