Best gaming laptops for Father's Day

Alienware m17 R4
(Image credit: Future)

Father’s Day is just around the corner! And with everyone scrambling to find the perfect tie or mug or other Hallmark-y Leave It To Beaver nonsense, we seem to have forgotten that dads still love something we thought they dropped into the bottomless coffee mug of parenthood: Fun! Plenty of dads enjoy video games, so what better way is there for the gamer dad in your life to have some fun than getting him a dynamite gaming setup? 

This Father’s Day, get him one of these top gaming laptops so he can relax and take out his stress by slaying a monster or hitting a home run. Here is Laptop Mag’s list of the best gaming laptops for Father’s Day 2021. 

Alienware m17 R4 

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(Image credit: Future)

A great place to start on the quest for fun is the Alienware m17 R4 gaming laptop. It’s got a 17-inch, 1080p display with a 360Hz refresh rate and, at a weight of 4.2 pounds, it’s a work of art. The laptop is a masterful fusion of easy portability with maximized graphics and is an all-around powerful, yet highly efficient gaming rig. Now with its updated Nvidia Ampere graphics architecture, you’ll give your dad the vivid, high-flying experience and sense of immersion you can only get with an Alienware product of this caliber.

Whether your dad is into gaming or has an artistic side that can’t wait to express itself, the Alienware m17 R4 has you covered. Boasting Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) software, as well as its Nvidia Ampere streaming multiprocessors, you have all the ingredients for a superbly fast GPU for gamers and creators alike. The only thing that the R4 doesn’t top the class in is battery life: with about 2 hours and 5 minutes of battery, your dad may not get a lot of playtime out of this one, but he’ll get such a lucid gaming experience that the rest of the day can be spent bonding over how awesome your gift was. Quality time over quantity time, right?

Asus ROG Zephyrus G15

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The next location we’re visiting on the Fun-For-Father’s-Day express is the Zephyrus G15. The Zephyrus G15 costs $2,499, but when it comes to the quality and performance of this machine, you’ll see the truth in the phrase “the good stuff doesn’t come cheap”. It comes with an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS processor, which allows it to run even the most data-dense games. 

Team that up with its 15.6-inch, 2560 x 1440-pixel, 165Hz display, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU with 8GB of VRAM (providing stunning on-the-fly graphics displays), 32GB of RAM, and 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD, and you get high performance plus powerful (albeit slightly muted-- it’s a preference thing) graphics. If you ask me, that’s an equation for a happy dad if I’ve ever seen one!

Razer Blade 15 Advance Model

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The Razer Blade 15 comes in two builds: the Base and Advanced Model. The Advanced Model costs $2,899 and is equipped with all the fixings for a stellar experience: 2.3-GHz Intel Core i7-10875H processor for stark responsiveness, 32GB of RAM for a fast and fluid interactiveness, and a 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD to make sure your data stays where it belongs. Additionally, the graphics setup shows just how bold designers can get, as it has not one, but two graphics GPUs! The Intel UHD Graphics GPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU with 16GB of VRAM! 

These work seamlessly with its 15.6-inch, QHD (2560 x 1440) display (now with 240Hz refresh rate) to make sure that anything your dad throws at this machine will turn on and stay on with the maximum level of beauty and performance. 

HP Omen 15 (2021)

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Like the last laptop, the HP Omen 15 comes in Advanced and Base models. But that’s the only similarity because this machine stands out. The Advanced model costs $1,549.99 and comes with an Intel Core i7-10750H CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super with Max-Q GPU with 8GB of VRAM. What that means is that, any way you slice it, your dad is going to get a smooth experience running his games. The battery generally doesn’t get too hot, so there’s no worry necessary when it comes to playing hard. And with a 15-inch, 4K display, you get one of the best visual experiences that gaming technology is capable of.

The $849 base model comes with a 15-inch, FHD IPS display, Intel Core i5-10300H CPU, 8GB RAM, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU, and a 256GB SSD. It may be a downgrade, but the overall quality of the experience says otherwise. Its only real flaw is the 3 hour and 12-minute battery life. But that just means you need to use it before you lose it!

Dell G5 15 SE

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Once again, you get options! Well, two options: Advanced and Base. The holy-moly $1,299 maxed-out version can field all your questions for you. CPU? AMD Ryzen R7 4800H. GPU? AMD Radeon RX 5600M. RAM: 16GB, Storage? 512GB SSD. If you’re looking for a gaming gift for dad this Father’s Day, then this laptop from the reliable folks at Dell has got you more than covered. Its 15.6-inch, 144Hz display delivers visuals that, while admittedly humble, make it one of the strongest contenders among the more affordable laptops.

Even the $879 base model works wonders! Both come with a heavyweight battery life of around 7 hours and 14 minutes, ensuring your dad gets plenty of mileage from his game of choice. The base may drop you to an AMD Ryzen 5 4600H processor with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a 1080p at 60Hz display. But at a size of 14.4 x 10 x 0.9 inches and weight of 5.5 pounds, what you lose in power you make up for in portability, which makes this model perfect for dads who are always on the move but still have to get their gaming fix in.

Acer Nitro 5 

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Finally, we have the aptly named Acer Nitro. If you’re looking for a Father’s Day gift that is smack dab on the intersection of fun and affordability, then look no further. At $669, the Acer Nitro packs a whole lot of speed and power into a portable, lightweight package. Its AMD Ryzen 5-4600H CPU can handle anything your dad’s game of choice can throw at it. More to that point, the Nitro’s GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card makes sure it not only does this but does so beautifully. 

8GB of RAM makes sure everything on the screen runs smoothly, and with a storage of 256GB SSD, that hard-won progress isn’t going anywhere. I could say more, but the 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080p display, sleek 14.3 x 10 x 0.9-inch size, 5.3-pound design do all the talking for us. And, coming in at a massive 11 hours and 6 minutes of battery life means that it has plenty of time to turn all that talk into a high-end performance that is sure to be the cherry on top of any Father’s Day gaming marathon. Being a dad can be a thankless job! Let’s change that. 

Happy Father’s Day!