
Ranking: Best thin-and-light gaming laptops
September 2025 update.
The allure of thin-and-light gaming laptops lies in their unique combination of slim, lightweight cases and powerful hardware, making them ideal for gaming on the go. Naturally, these products also offer plenty of performance for other demanding tasks, but gaming is the focus here. This regularly updated list includes the best thin and light gaming laptops we've recently tested and rated.Christian Hintze (translated by DeepL) Published 🇩🇪 🇪🇸 ...
"Mobile gaming". What sounded like a bad joke just a few years ago has long since become common practice. Thanks to new manufacturing techniques and architectures, processors and graphics cards are not only becoming smaller, but also more energy-saving and easier to cool, making it possible to design ever thinner housings. Although high-end notebooks are still dominated by high-performance machines, the range of slim gamers is constantly growing.
In this article, we've listed the best gaming laptops tested by Notebookcheck editors over the last 12 months, each weighing no more than 2.2 kilograms and being less than 2.0 centimeters thick and toting at least an RTX 4060 or RTX 5050. You can find the links to the detailed reviews in the table below.
Note: We transitioned to a new rating system in June 2024. In the updated v8 rating, certain criteria were adjusted to reflect current hardware developments, new factors were introduced, and some measurement techniques were modified. As a result, v8 ratings are slightly lower than v7 ratings and are not directly comparable to previous versions. More details on the v8 rating system can be found here.
Best ultra-portable gaming notebooks
Image | Model / Review | Price | Weight | Height | Display |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 GU605CX Intel Core Ultra 9 285H ⎘ Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop ⎘ 64 GB Memory, 2048 GB SSD | Amazon: 1. $5,099.00 HIDevolution [2025] ASUS ROG... 2. $84.99 PowerPortnerLink 240W Charge... 3. JUYOON 240W Laptop Charger C... List Price: 4799€ | 1.9 kg | 17.4 mm | 16.00" 2560x1600 189 PPI OLED | |
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 2025 GA403WW AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 ⎘ Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop ⎘ 64 GB Memory, 2048 GB SSD | Amazon: 1. $1,579.00 HIDevolution [2025] ASUS ROG... 2. JUYOON 240W Laptop Charger C... 3. $84.99 PowerPortnerLink 240W Charge... List Price: 3899€ | 1.6 kg | 18.3 mm | 14.00" 2880x1800 243 PPI OLED | |
Lenovo Legion 5 15AHP G10 AMD Ryzen 7 260 ⎘ Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Laptop ⎘ 32 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | Amazon: 1. $1,538.59 Lenovo Legion 5 15AHP10 RTX ... 2. $1,149.99 Lenovo Legion 5 15.1" OLED W... 3. $1,579.99 Lenovo Legion 5 15AHP10 RTX ... List Price: 1449€ | 1.9 kg | 21.5 mm | 15.10" 2560x1600 200 PPI OLED | |
Razer Blade 14 2025 AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 ⎘ Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop ⎘ 32 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | Amazon: 1. $1,699.99 Razer Blade 14 (2025) Gaming... 2. $38.88 GKLSPL 230W Laptop Charger C... 3. $39.00 PowerPortnerLink 230W 200W P... List Price: 2399€ | 1.6 kg | 16.2 mm | 14.00" 2880x1800 243 PPI OLED | |
Razer Blade 16 2025 RTX 5090 AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 ⎘ Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop ⎘ 32 GB Memory, 2048 GB SSD | Amazon: 1. $6,247.60 Razer Blade 16 Gaming Laptop... 2. $4,699.99 Razer Blade 18 Gaming Laptop... List Price: 4399€ | 2.1 kg | 17.4 mm | 16.00" 2560x1600 189 PPI OLED | |
Gigabyte Aero X16 1WH AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 ⎘ Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop ⎘ 32 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | Amazon: 1. $1,599.99 GIGABYTE AERO X16; Copilot+ ... 2. $1,199.99 GIGABYTE AERO X16; Copilot+ ... 3. $108.00 Notebook Top Cover for Gigab... List Price: 1799€ | 2 kg | 19.9 mm | 16.00" 2560x1600 189 PPI IPS | |
SCHENKER Key 14 (M24) Intel Core Ultra 7 155H ⎘ NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU ⎘ 32 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | Amazon: 1. $72.78 Onerbl AC-DC Adapter for Cha... 2. $68.99 PowerHOOD 20V AC/DC Adapter ... List Price: 1890€ | 1.7 kg | 19.9 mm | 14.00" 2880x1800 243 PPI IPS | |
Acer Predator Triton Neo 16 PTN16-51-978P Intel Core Ultra 9 185H ⎘ NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU ⎘ 32 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | Amazon: 1. $1,998.98 acer Predator Triton Neo 16 ... 2. $1,699.98 acer Predator Triton Neo 16 ... 3. $2,049.98 acer Predator Triton Neo 16 ... List Price: 1900 EUR | 2 kg | 21 mm | 16.00" 3200x2000 236 PPI IPS | |
Gigabyte G5 KF5 2024 Intel Core i7-13620H ⎘ NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU ⎘ 16 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | Amazon: 1. $38.99 HSXIRQA 180W 150W AC Charger... 2. $38.99 180W 150W Gigabyte Charger f... 3. $36.99 180W Laptop Charger for Orig... List Price: 899 Euro | 2 kg | 22.7 mm | 15.60" 1920x1080 141 PPI IPS |
The table above shows an overview of the best thin & light gaming notebooks tested by Notebookcheck in the last 12 months and other relevant models that are still available. If two products have the same Notebookcheck rating, the one that is newer gets to sit above the other one. Prices are updated daily and may change accordingly.
Link: all tested products in this class
Editorial comment
In September 2025, the XMG Core 15 (M24), Predator Helios Neo 14 (2024) and Nitro 14 AN14-41-R3MX leave our list, as they were tested over 12 months ago. With no brand-new thin-and-light gaming laptops to add, we are including some systems tested earlier in the year, namely Schenker's Key 14 and Gigabyte's G5.
Alternatives that just didn't make it:
- Lenovo Yoga Pro 9 16 G10 (expensive multimedia laptop, 08/2025, 89 %)
- Lenovo Legion 7 16 G9 (2.3 kg, 04/2024, 91 %)
- Aorus 16X (2.33 kg, 03/2024, 87 %)
- Razer Blade 16 (2.46 kg, 02/024, 91 %)
- HP Omen Transcend 16 (2.284 kg, 02/2024, 88 %)
Former Top Ten contenders that have dropped out due to age:
- HP Omen Transcend 14 (03/2024, 89 %)
- Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 2024 (02/2024, 93 %)
- Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 2024 (02/2024, 92 %)
- Razer Blade 14 2024 (02/2024, 90 %)
1st place - Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (Ultra 9 285H, RTX 5090)
The 2025 model of the ROG Zephyrus G16 goes one step further with the RTX 5090, Core Ultra 9 285H, Wi-Fi 7 and 64 GB RAM and is a slim high-end all-rounder competing for the crown with the Razer Blade 16.
The 2025 update of the ROG Zephyrus G16 offers several upgrades and overall performance has increased thanks to the Arrow Lake processor and the new GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU, as has the price.
The new ROG Zephyrus G16 can be ordered from online retailers such as Alternate for €4,799 in Germany.
2nd place - Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, RTX 5080)
Asus equips the new 2025 model of the ROG Zephyrus G14 with significantly faster GPU options, eliminating one of the issues of its predecessor, which was only available with the RTX 4070 laptop GPU. The new RTX 5080 offers a significant leap in performance. However, the cooling also had to be adapted, which is why the housing is 2 mm thicker at the rear than before.
Thanks to higher-end GPUs, Asus' ROG Zephyrus G14 offers a significant leap in performance compared to its predecessor and is therefore mostly unrivaled among 14-inch gamers.
Our high-end test configuration has an RRP of 3,899 euros. The less expensive variant with the RTX 5070 Ti (2 TB SSD, 32 GB RAM) costs 3,399 euros and can be ordered from Notebooksbilliger, among other options.
3rd place - Lenovo Legion 5 15 (Ryzen 7 260, RTX 5060)
One of our editors has called it the "best mid-range gamer in 2025". The Lenovo Legion 5 15 gets a GeForce RTX 5060 laptop GPU and a 165 Hz OLED panel that offers outstanding image quality. An AMD Zen 4 chip is used as the processor. The case offers a sufficient connection set, a very comfortable keyboard as well as some very good maintenance/upgrade options. The Legion does not disappoint with its performance, either.
All in all, Lenovo is offering a very convincing product here with an excellent OLED panel and the new GeForce RTX 5060 laptop GPU, the latter in its fastest version.
The Legion 5 15 with an AMD Zen 5 processor is available from Lenovo starting from 1,689 euros. Our special test model is available to students and teachers at Campuspoint for 1,449 euros (with no operating system pre-installed).
4th place - Razer Blade 14 2025 (Ryzen AI 9 365, RTX 5070)
With the new Blade 14, Razer has a high-quality and rather fast 14-inch all-rounder, which is now more compact and relies on an OLED panel displaying content at 120 Hz. Despite the improvements, the new model is more affordable than its predecessor. Like the latest Blade 16, the 2025 Blade 14 got slimmer and lighter but its casing is still extremely high-quality with a perfect finish, and ports are still plentiful, too. There is also a very comfortable keyboard here and an excellent clickpad.
If you are looking for a mobile all-rounder and have little desire to go higher than 1080p, this is a great option.
Our test configuration can be ordered from Razer Deutschland at an RRP of €2,399.
5th place - Razer Blade 16 (Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, RTX 5090)
The latest 16-inch Blade comes with an even flatter housing, despite the RTX 5090 laptop GPU hidden inside. To compensate, some cuts in the CPU department were apparently necessary. The Blade 16 (2025) is a very portable system with a height of just under 17 mm and a weight of around 2 kg, with the case's quality very high despite the smaller size. The notebook's performance is high as well.
Razer's new Blade 16 impresses with high performance despite having thinner casing.
The new Blade is available from Amazon.de or Notebooksbilliger for 4,399 euros, among other options.
6th place - Gigabyte Aero X16 (Ryzen AI 7 350, RTX 5070)
With its Aero X16, Gigabyte was one of the first brands to have made an RTX 5070 laptop GPU-powered slim gaming laptop available. A mighty AMD Ryzen processor completes the offer, making for good efficiency and performance sufficient for mastering many games at QHD 1440p.
The Gigabyte Aero X16 is a slim 16-inch gaming laptop with a GeForce RTX 5070 laptop GPU and AMD CPU. Its matte IPS display operates at 165 Hz and works well for gaming, and RAM can be expanded here.
A somewhat more expensive version of the Aero X16 than the one tested is available for €1,999 from Amazon.de or Notebooksbilliger, among other options.
7th place - Schenker Key 14 (Ultra 7 155H, RTX 4060)
With the Key 14, Schenker has a compact 14-inch system in its laptop range with a color-calibrated 120 Hz display and fast dedicated graphics cards from Nvidia. Important ports and interfaces, such as Thunderbolt 4 as well as Gigabit Ethernet, are all onboard, although Wi-Fi 7 is optional (some SKUs get Wi-Fi 6E instead).
The Key 14 is a fast 14-inch multimedia computer with 100-watt variants of the GeForce RTX 4060 or RTX 4070 laptop GPUs.
The Key 14 (M24) can be configured and ordered from Bestware starting from 1,699 euros.
8th place - Acer Predator Triton Neo 16 (Ultra 9 185H, RTX 4050)
If you are looking for a high-quality, stylish-looking gaming or creator laptop, the Predator Triton Neo 16 might appeal to you. Acer has given the 16-incher a sturdy metal casing with silver-grey surfaces that hardly attract fingerprints. With USB 4 onboard, connectivity is not bad, either. The Neo 16 also scores well in terms of image quality. The 165 Hz IPS-based screen offers impressive brightness along with a high resolution (3,200 x 2,000 pixels), wide color gamut and respectable color accuracy thanks to CalMAN verification.
Acer's Predator Triton Neo 16 is a mid-range gamer with lots of nice features and hardly any weaknesses. Its particular strengths are the metal casing, the connection set and the display.
The Predator Triton Neo 16 PTN16-51-978P is available from various online stores starting from around 1,900 euros in Germany.
9th place - Gigabyte G5 KF5 2024 (i7-13620H, RTX 4060)
Despite its low price, Gigabyte's G5 does some things surprisingly well: The subtle visual design looks neat, the keyboard is more than solid, and the (mostly average) display shines with high color accuracy. Its CPU performance is slightly above average for this particular Intel chip.
A Core i7-13620H, an RTX 4060, plus 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD, all just for 899 euros. You can hardly get an RTX 4060 gamer much cheaper than this at the moment.
The Gigabyte G5 KF5 (2024) is available from various online stores, including Amazon.de, for 899 euros.
Best thin-and-light gaming laptops: Overview
Measurements
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 GU605CX | Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 2025 GA403WW | Lenovo Legion 5 15AHP G10 | Razer Blade 14 2025 | Razer Blade 16 2025 RTX 5090 | Gigabyte Aero X16 1WH | SCHENKER Key 14 (M24) | Acer Predator Triton Neo 16 PTN16-51-978P | Gigabyte G5 KF5 2024 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Display | |||||||||
Display P3 Coverage (%) | 99.9 | 99.6 | 99.9 | 99.5 | 96.1 | 68.7 | 70.3 | 94.2 | 67.9 |
sRGB Coverage (%) | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 99.9 | 96.1 | 97.4 | 99.7 | 98.9 |
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage (%) | 96.9 | 89.9 | 98.3 | 89.2 | 85 | 71.2 | 72.4 | 85.3 | 68.8 |
Response Times | |||||||||
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * (ms) | 0.22 | 0.62 ? | 0.42 ? | 0.59 ? | 0.2 ? | 12 ? | 38.5 ? | 12.3 ? | 13 ? |
Response Time Black / White * (ms) | 0.25 | 0.68 ? | 0.4 ? | 0.63 ? | 0.25 ? | 5.6 ? | 24.6 ? | 5.8 ? | 8.8 ? |
PWM Frequency (Hz) | 960 | 960 ? | 1152 ? | 960 ? | 960 ? | ||||
PWM Amplitude * (%) | 50 | 11 | 26 | 44 | |||||
Screen | |||||||||
Brightness middle (cd/m²) | 416 | 423 | 492 | 361 | 391 | 395 | 325 | 458 | 342 |
Brightness (cd/m²) | 418 | 424 | 495 | 363 | 393 | 398 | 317 | 453 | 308 |
Brightness Distribution (%) | 96 | 98 | 92 | 98 | 98 | 97 | 94 | 90 | 87 |
Black Level * (cd/m²) | 0.01 | 0.32 | 0.12 | 0.42 | 0.29 | ||||
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 1.58 | 2.46 |
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 2.1 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 3.9 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 3.47 | 4.12 |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 2.7 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 3.03 |
Gamma | 2.16 102% | 2.18 101% | 2.16 102% | 2.14 103% | 2.2 100% | 2.2 100% | 2.15 102% | 2.201 100% | 2.51 88% |
CCT | 6331 103% | 6505 100% | 6291 103% | 6571 99% | 6493 100% | 6842 95% | 7017 93% | 6540 99% | 7056 92% |
Contrast (:1) | 42300 | 1234 | 2708 | 1090 | 1179 | ||||
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 1.4 | 1.4 | 0.77 | 0.82 | |||||
Noise | |||||||||
off / environment * (dB) | 23.8 | 23.3 | 25.5 | 23.7 | 24.1 | 23.9 | 25.5 | 24 | 23 |
Idle Minimum * (dB) | 23.8 | 29.1 | 25.5 | 23.7 | 24.1 | 23.9 | 25.5 | 32 | 23 |
Idle Average * (dB) | 27.2 | 29.1 | 25.5 | 23.7 | 30.6 | 23.9 | 26.5 | 34 | 23 |
Idle Maximum * (dB) | 31.3 | 29.1 | 26.9 | 27 | 30.6 | 23.9 | 30.3 | 40 | 27.87 |
Load Average * (dB) | 47.6 | 54.4 | 34.6 | 44.9 | 45.5 | 33.2 | 49.3 | 48 | 54.82 |
Cyberpunk 2077 ultra * (dB) | 51.3 | 54.4 | 50.1 | 54.6 | 48.2 | 50.2 | 57.8 | 50 | 54.82 |
Load Maximum * (dB) | 53.3 | 54.4 | 50.1 | 54.6 | 53.4 | 50.2 | 57.8 | 51 | 54.82 |
Heat | |||||||||
Maximum Upper Side * (°C) | 44 | 51.2 | 42.2 | 47 | 48.3 | 43.3 | 43.1 | 46 | 50 |
Maximum Bottom * (°C) | 44.1 | 50.3 | 51.7 | 49.6 | 53.3 | 50.3 | 51.3 | 48 | 66 |
Idle Upper Side * (°C) | 26.1 | 30.2 | 28.5 | 29.8 | 28.3 | 27 | 33.2 | 27 | 32 |
Idle Bottom * (°C) | 25.5 | 30.9 | 29.2 | 30.7 | 30.3 | 28.3 | 38.3 | 29 | 37 |
Battery Runtime | |||||||||
WiFi v1.3 (h) | 9 | 10.5 | 9.7 | 8.9 | 7.9 | 8.6 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 7.3 |
Load (h) | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 | |||||
Cyberpunk 2077 ultra 150cd (h) | 0.9 | 1.2 | |||||||
Power Consumption | |||||||||
Idle Minimum * (Watt) | 9.4 | 6.7 | 6.9 | 9.3 | 10.9 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 10 | 5.2 |
Idle Average * (Watt) | 13.6 | 8.8 | 10.7 | 11.1 | 13.5 | 10.9 | 10.8 | 15 | 19.6 |
Idle Maximum * (Watt) | 15.8 | 9.3 | 11.3 | 11.2 | 13.7 | 11.2 | 11.1 | 23 | 23 |
Load Average * (Watt) | 115.4 | 121.5 | 69.7 | 91.9 | 120.2 | 91.3 | 87.4 | 80 | 84 |
Cyberpunk 2077 ultra * (Watt) | 164.5 | 157.4 | 162.6 | 171.5 | 178.2 | 123.8 | 175.3 | 122 | 144 |
Cyberpunk 2077 ultra external monitor * (Watt) | 160.4 | 155.5 | 165 | 168.6 | 177.6 | 117.9 | 169.1 | 118.7 | 144 |
Load Maximum * (Watt) | 216.7 | 218.1 | 233.6 | 195 | 246.1 | 155.3 | 183 | 206 | 165 |
* ... smaller is better