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15.6-inch gaming laptops sit in something of a sweet spot today, both portable and powerful enough to run most modern games at 1080p. NVIDIA's Max-Q technology has also helped pave the way for a new breed of slim and light gaming notebooks, redefining conventional expectations of what a gaming laptop is. Finally, you could get a laptop that combined both portability and performance, effectively getting the best of both worlds. Today, there are plenty of gaming laptops that let you comfortably take them out with you, and they are almost the norm now rather than the exception.
To make the cut this year, the laptop must be the flagship 15.6-inch model from their respective brands. But because it wasn't always possible to get the same configuration from every model, some laptops like the HP Omen 15 were reviewed with the GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q instead of the 2070 Max-Q. Others, like the Aorus 15 XA, are also not available with a Max-Q configuration, so we reviewed them with the GeForce RTX 2070 instead.
It's amazing how much has been packed into this laptop without driving up the price. At S$2,799, the Aftershock Vapor 15 Pro makes hardly any sacrifices and is fully capable of competing toe-to-toe with laptops that cost nearly a thousand dollars more. If you liked the Razer Blade 15 but thought it too pricey, the Vapor 15 Pro will make you very, very happy. The two laptops look really similar, and the Vapor 15 Pro even offers additional features like a mechanical keyboard and SD card reader. It also has slightly better port placement with the Thunderbolt 3 and HDMI ports located at the rear. More importantly, it's a lot lighter, weighing just 1.87kg to the Blade's 2.15kg.
In a nutshell, the Vapor 15 Pro is light, has a long-lasting 94Wh battery, and is affordable. It will take any modern game you throw at it, and it'll do so without outputting a ton of heat and noise. As a result, it handily beats the rest of the competition and is quite simply the best gaming notebook you can get today.
| Design | Features | Performance | Value | Mobility | Overall | Price (as tested) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acer Predator Triton 500 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 8.0 | S$3,198 |
| Aftershock Vapor 15 Pro | 8.5 | 9.0 | 8.5 | 9.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | S$2,799 |
| Alienware m15 R2 | 8.5 | 9.0 | 8.0 | 6.0 | 6.5 | 7.5 | S$4,498 |
| Aorus 15 XA | 7.5 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 4.0 | 7.5 | S$2,999 |
| ASUS ROG Zephyrus S GX502 | 8.5 | 9.0 | 7.5 | 6.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | S$3,998 |
| HP Omen 15 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 7.0 | 7.5 | 4.5 | 7.5 | S$3,999 |
| Lenovo Legion Y740 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 8.0 | 7.5 | 4.0 | 7.0 | S$3,599 |
| Razer Blade 15 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 8.5 | 7.0 | 7.5 | 8.5 | S$3,839 |
For more details on how we selected our winners, check out the full reviews and articles listed in the References section below.
