This is the standout Black Friday RTX 3070 gaming laptop deal this year
Gaming laptops have at least two major advantages over building your own desktop PC: portability, and graphics cards in ready supply. Thankfully the last year's graphics card shortages haven't hit laptops too hard, so plenty of good systems have been consistently available, and we've seen plenty of Black Friday gaming laptop deals, too. Follow the link if you want to shop around for a specific gaming laptop configuration you already have in mind. But if you just know you want to snag a really good deal before Black Friday sales end, I have a snazzy recommendation for you.
This is the gaming laptop deal you should jump on this year: the Microsoft Store's $800 discount on the Razer Blade 15 Advanced with an RTX 3070.
Razer Blade 15 Advanced | Nvidia RTX 3070 | Intel Core i7 10875H | 360Hz 1080p | 16GB RAM | 1TB SSD | $2,599.99 $1,799.99 at Microsoft (save $800)
That's a colossal saving on a prime slice of gaming real estate, packing quality hardware from Intel and Nvidia to make sure it demolishes your games. The RTX 3070 is a great option for this thin and light chassis, as it'll knock out killer frame rates and make the most of the 360Hz display for a buttery-smooth experience too. A great saving on a great laptop.
This is a great deal. For some extra context, Razer is also selling the system discounted on its own store—but at only $100 off, for a final price of $2,499.99. That's an extra $700! Ouch. I don't think I'd recommend an RTX 3070 laptop at that price, but it's a really good buy at this price.
As the specs above show, this is a great package for a gaming laptop with an RTX 3070 GPU at its heart. There's no real weak link here. It has a high refresh rate display, enough RAM, a 1TB SSD for storage, and plenty of ports. Razer also pays a lot of attention to its industrial design, so at 4.4 pounds, this is a lot slimmer and lighter than many gaming laptops with similar specs. The cheaper version of the Blade 15 is our favorite gaming laptop for a reason.
If I were buying a gaming laptop this year, this would definitely be the one I'd pick after looking at a lot of alternatives.
Two options if you want more power or to pay half as much
Okay, let me cheat a little bit and also suggest two other options. The Razer Blade Advanced might be the best all-around laptop, and what some would call best deal this year, but if you want the most RAW POWER for the same amount of money, there is one deal to contest it: the MSI GP 66 Leopard, which includes a newer CPU and an RTX 3080.
MSI GP66 Leopard | Nvidia RTX 3080 | Intel Core i7 11800H | 16GB RAM | 1TB SSD | $2,299 $1,799 after rebate at Newegg (save $500)
For a laptop with an RTX 3080 and 11th Gen Intel CPU, this is a pretty good get. Not only do you get a smashing 240Hz screen to cater for the sky-high framerates it'll be pumping out, you also get a good amount of storage, too.
You don't get the same sleek chassis, but at the same price as the Razer Blade you're getting a faster GPU and CPU here, along with the same amount of RAM and just as much SSD storage. If you want maximum gaming performance over style, this should deliver that over the Razer.
It's hard to say exactly how much faster it is overall, since power and heat management on laptops means different models can perform a bit better or worse with the same hardware. But the MSI system's RTX 3080 should win in any situation, and it's also a much thicker, heavier laptop at 5.25 pounds. That's ultimately the reason I'd still recommend the Razer for most people: the MSI GP66 is just not going to be nearly as portable, or have as nice of a trackpad. If you plan to just plant this system on a desk and never ever move it, go for the extra power.
Finally, here's one other option if you really want a gaming laptop this year but can't pay Razer's asking price. Affordable gaming laptops tend to offer both weaker specs and poorer build quality, so you shouldn't expect as nice a screen or trackpad or as slim a design as you'd get with a Razer Blade 15. But even cheap gaming laptops are far more capable than they were five years ago, so you can now get a current-gen gaming GPU, the RTX 3060, for $1,000.
Gigabyte G5 KC | 15.6-inch | Intel Core i5 10500H| Nvidia RTX 3060 | 1080p | 144Hz | 16GB RAM | 512GB SSD | $1,199 $999 after rebate at Newegg (save $200)
We love an RTX 3060 gaming laptop with a discount, and for under $1,000, this is about as good as it gets. That GPU and CPU combo will make for great 1080p, high-refresh gaming, and while there's not a huge amount of storage, those can be easily upgraded.
This is a gaming laptop without any major compromises. You're still getting 16GB of RAM, an okay 512GB SSD, and a high refresh rate screen. The most important component, though, is that RTX 3060—most laptops around this price only offer an RTX 3050 Ti, and if you spend just a bit less, say $800 or $900, you'll likely only get an RTX 3050 with much weaker performance. It's also designed with easily accessible and expandable storage, so you can slap an extra SSD in there when you need it.
There are a few cheaper laptop deals out there this year, but the Gigabyte G5 has everything I'd look for in a good budget laptop deal: specs that wouldn't detract from my day-to-day work and gaming experience, at close to half the price of a high-end pick. That's a good buy.