Game DevelopmentElectronicsLaptops

What are the best game development laptops for UE4?

4

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Jun 15, 2018

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Here’s the Deal

The Best 1 of 4 OptionsWhy?

4 Options Considered	Price	RAM	CPU
90 Dell XPS 15	$1499	8 / 16 / 32GB DDR4 at 2400MHz	Intel Core i3-7100H / Intel Core i5-7300HQ / Intel Core i7-7700HQ
86 Razer Blade Pro	$3999	32GB	Intel Core i7-6700HQ
-- MSI VR Ready GT62VR Dominator Pro-240	$1,598.00	16GB	Intel Core i7-7700HQ
-- Microsoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)	$2394	–	–

Dell XPS 15

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Top Con

Awkward webcam location

The webcam is located under the screen instead of on top. It means that your face will be shown from a lower angle which can seem a bit weird. It also means that your fingers can partially obstruct the webcam while you’re typing. See More

Top Pro

Solid keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard and trackpad are reliable and solid all-around. The keyboard is responsive but is not super “clicky”, rather a bit soft. It has a white backlight on black keys that illuminates them at night. The touchpad is rather large while having no buttons. Despite this, the XPS 15 can reliably distinguish between the left and right clicks which are done on the trackpad itself. See More

Top Con

Some ghosting in games

The display is not intended for gaming purposes so it can produce an effect called “ghosting”. Ghosting is when the pixels are not able to change their colors fast enough, so the color of the preceding frame can still be slightly seen on the next frame. This causes a blurring effect. Note that it only happens on high framerates coupled with fast objects. See More

Top Pro

Optional password-free-sign-in via a fingerprint reader

For an additional $25 it’s possible to enjoy a password-free-sign-in by having a fingerprint reader. It will keep your laptop safe while still providing convenient access to it. See More

Top Con

Noisy fans

The laptop is very quiet during idle and light usage but when there is some workload, the fans get quite loud and distracting. See More

Top Pro

Operates well on a Linux system

All essential things, like network connectivity, ports and sound, work right “out-of-the-box” with a Linux operating system. There is a compatibility issue on the new 9560 model with its graphics card but the laptop is still very usable with its integrated Intel graphics card. See More

Top Con

Palmrest collects sweat

The palm rest is made from carbon fiber which attracts fingerprints and sweat. After some time it gets kind of unpleasant to touch and needs to be cleaned. See More

Top Pro

Can run most modern games

Being an excellent all-rounder, it can be used as a gaming laptop for games that are not exceptionally demanding, like Overwatch or Dota 2. Unless you’re using the cheapest model, you can expect a reasonable 60 frames per second for almost all modern games, provided that you’re willing to lower the game’s settings. See More

Top Con

Audible coil whine

Coil whine can be heard when it’s generally quiet and the fans are not running. Audible when the laptop is connected to the power supply. The manufacturers have acknowledged it as a problem and, if possible, will push out an update which should eliminate it. Until then, it’s still a gripe. See More

Top Pro

Slick design

The whole design is quite stylish. The aluminium chassis provides a very clean look while the black carbon fiber palm rest with an almost borderless display cements it as a visually modern laptop. All of this is made with a premium build quality. See More

Top Con

9560 model's GPU has compatibility issues on Linux

The new 9560 model has some trouble accepting its GTX 1050 Ti video card while running a Linux operating system. Fortunately, the integrated Intel graphics card is capable enough to substitute it. The manufacturers are probably aware of the issue and will, most likely, release an update for it. See More

Top Pro

Very well-rounded laptop

The cheapest configuration is a great choice for general non-intensive use - things like internet browsing, watching movies and similar tasks. Whereas the more expensive configurations are gradually more capable of intensive tasks, like video editing or gaming. It’s not as good as a specialized computer built for a specific purpose, like a video editing laptop with an enormous RAM size or a gaming laptop with a superior graphics card, but it’s a very well-rounded, reliable laptop. See More

Top Con

Battery doesn’t hold long with the Ultra HD screen

If you’re choosing the configuration with an Ultra HD screen, expect a very short battery life of around 6 hours for general usage. With more intensive tasks it's even less than that. See More

Top Pro

Amazing display

Two display choices are available for the XPS 15, an Ultra HD touchscreen or a Full HD non-touch screen. Both screens have a very wide array of colors as they cover approximately 100% of sRGB color space. The viewing angle is around 170 degrees. However, at 45 degrees, slight color change can be noticed. With around 350 nit output for brightness, it’s a viable choice for outdoor usage. All of this makes it an amazing display. See More

Top Pro

Good battery life if you pick the 1080p display

Models with the 1080p screen last about 10 hours with general usage. Naturally, if more intensive tasks are involved, the battery will be drained faster. See More

Specs

RAM:8 / 16 / 32GB DDR4 at 2400MHz

CPU:Intel Core i3-7100H / Intel Core i5-7300HQ / Intel Core i7-7700HQ

Storage:500GB HDD + 32GB Flash / 1TB HDD + 32GB Flash / 256/512GB/1TB PCIe SSD

GPU:Intel HD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GTX 1050 with 4GB GDDR5

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3 Other Options Considered

Razer Blade Pro

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Top Pro

Great build quality

The chassis is made from aluminium and is very solid, giving the feel of an expensive laptop. See More

Top Con

May need some time to getting used to the position of the touchpad

The touchpad is located on the right side of the keyboard, and will take some time to get used to. See More

Top Pro

Great gaming performance

While from the outside Blade Pro looks like an ordinary 17 inch laptop, it packs serious gaming laptop performance. It is because Razer has equipped this laptop with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 and one of the fastest mobile processors you can buy today. It can run almost any modern game in 4K resolution in high or maximum settings at upwards of 30 FPS. See More

Top Con

No 802.11ac support

The wireless network card does not support 802.11ac, a wireless standard with significant improvements over the previous 802.11n standard. See More

Top Pro

Built to be portable

This is the thinnest laptop that has the NVIDIA GeForce 1080. Measuring only 22mm it is also one of the thinnest gaming laptops available so you will not need a bulky case. See More

Top Pro

Customizable RGB keyboard backlight

The keyboard’s RGB backlight can display 16.8 million colors on each key and the touchpad border. The included Synapse software lets you program the lights with different patterns and color profiles and is shareable to other Razer devices. See More

Top Pro

One of the best displays on the market

The Razer Blade Pro easily one of the best touchscreen displays that can be found in any laptop. The colors look accurate and vivid, as it covers 185% of the sRGB color gamut. Brightness goes beyond the industry average and can provide a very bright picture. The screen also supports NVIDIA G-Sync that helps eliminate screen tearing and smooths out movement. See More

Top Pro

Uses an actual mechanical keyboard

Razer uses ultra-low profile mechanical switches in the Blade Pro, which replicates full-sized mechanical keyboards. While it certainly makes the familiar, though noisy, clicking noise and is stiffer than a Chiclet keyboard, the travel is still too shallow compared to an actual mechanical keyboard. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel Core i7-6700HQ

Storage:Up to 2TB SSD

GPU:NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080

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MSI VR Ready GT62VR Dominator Pro-240

Top Pro

Perfect cooling

Even under heavy use, the GT62 Dominator is cool enough to be kept safely and comfortably on your lap. See More

Top Con

Rather heavy

At around 6.4 pounds, it falls on the heavy camp for laptops. Even for gaming ones. See More

Top Pro

Lots of storage space

Comes with 1 TB HDD and 256GB SSD. See More

Top Con

The audio is not very loud

The speakers found in the GT62 Dominator Pro produce clear sound that's lacking in volume. See More

Top Pro

Excellent keyboard

This laptop's keyboard is the closest thing to a mechanical without it actually being a mechanical keyboard. Keys have a travel distance of 1.9mm and 66 grams of actuation force. It also goes without saying that the keyboard has a backlight that can be turned on and off. See More

Top Pro

Excellent display

This laptop's display is beautiful. It reproduces 105.8% of the sRGB color gamut, beating the average of 91% for laptops at this price. The display is also extremely bright, averaging 301 nits, which means that you can easily take it and play outside during the day and the sun will not give you any trouble. The laptop also comes with a special software from MSI which lets users adjust their screen colour temperature. See More

Top Pro

Great build quality

Most of the laptop is made of brushed black aluminium with some chrome highlights. Overall, this is a very sturdy and durable laptop. See More

Specs

CPU:Intel Core i7-7700HQ

Storage:256GB SSD + 1TB HDD

GPU:NVidia GeForce GTX 1070

See All Specs >

Microsoft Surface Book 2 (15-inch)

Top Pro

The battery easily lasts a full work day on a single charge

The Surface Book 2 lasts on average 12 hours on a single charge. This should be more than enough to get anyone to the end of their workday on a single charge. See More

Top Con

Disappointing audio performance

The audio that comes out of the speakers is quite average. It's enough to fill a small room but that's it. See More

Top Pro

Gaming performance on-par with gaming laptops

The 15-inch version of the Surface Book 2 comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU. This is a powerful, VR-ready card that handles intensive gaming tasks. As for real-world performance, Hitman (1920 x 1080, ultra) runs at 71.9 frames per second, Grand Theft Auto V runs at 45 fps. It should also be mentioned that you need to be using the dock in order to do graphic-intensive tasks since that's where the GPU is located; using the laptop in tablet-mode will yield poor results in this regard. See More

Top Con

The pen must be bought separately

If you want to use the Surface Book for drawing then you will probably have to buy the Surface Pen which unfortunately does not come bundled with the laptop (it costs an additional $99). See More

Top Pro

One of the best performances found on a 15-inch laptop

Equiped with an Intel Core i7-8650U CPU, 8GB (or 16GB) of RAM and an SSD that goes up to 1TB, the Surface Book 2 certainly packs a punch. It handles multitasking perfectly; you can open dozens of Chrome tags, stream video, and draw using the built-in software without experiencing any lag even once. As far as benchmarks go, on the Geekbench 4 overall performance benchmark, the Surface Book 2 got a score of 12,505, better than the 15-inch laptop average (11,004) coming third after the Dell XPS 15 (13,911) and the MacBook Pro (15,170). See More

Top Con

No Thunderbolt port

For a laptop aimed at creative professionals, the missing Thunderbolt 3 port is surprising considering the fact that Thunderbolt 3 is used to connect a laptop to peripherals such as external GPUs or power-dual 4K displays. See More

Top Pro

Great tying experience

Even though the keyboard is rather shallow (just 1.2mm of travel), the typing experience is excellent. Keys have a great amount of feedback when clicking and you rarely (if ever) bottom out when typing. See More

Top Pro

Great display for creative professionals

This laptop's display is bright and vivid, making it perfect for people who do a lot of drawing, design, or video editing work. The display offers an excellent coverage of 131% of the sRGB colour gamut (the average for this price range is 101%). The colour coverage and the bright display which measures an average of 417 nits really makes colours truly pop out and offers lifelike pictures. See More

Top Pro

The hinge is quite stable as far as 2-in-1 laptops go

The new fulcrum hinge that Microsoft used for the Surface Book 2 is much more stable than the one found on the previous Surface Book or even other 2-in-1 laptops for that matter. See More

MSI VR Ready GE62VR

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