The best RTX 3080 laptops you can find right now

For those who want the best in a gaming laptop, ones with RTX 3080 GPUs are a no-brainer. While many are fairly large machines that generate plenty of heat, they’re still perfectly valid mobile gaming machines. Some can even be gaming desktop replacements.

Mobile GPUs come with a catch

Before we dive in, you should know that Nvidia has made laptop GPUs way harder than they used to be. Instead of correlating the make of the GPU (RTX 3080, 3070, 3060, etc.) to performance, they’ve allowed laptop manufacturers to set power limits ranging from 60W to 130W while still marketing it to punch in the same performance class. This means a laptop with a 60W GPU will perform fairly differently than the same GPU at 130W. More wattage will equate to more performance, and naturally more heat, especially in these beastly machines. 

Nvidia does require laptop makers to disclose GPU wattages and clock speeds upfront in product descriptions. You’ll sometimes have to dig to find them, but when in doubt, check manufacturer sites. Ultimately, however, the differences can range up to ~10fps, so if that matters to you, then you should certainly look for a GPU with more power allotted to it. We’ll be listing wattages for each laptop in our lists.

Prices for many RTX 3080 laptops are inflated at the moment due to various global events. That being said, there are still some reasonable prices out there, so don’t be deterred. We’ve found quite a few great RTX 3080 laptops that are pretty reasonably priced as of writing. 

• The MSI GE76 Raider 17 is the best machine overall because of its Core i9 processor and 360Hz display.
• The MSI GE66 Raider is the second most powerful on the list, featuring everything from above with a 15-inch 4K display instead of a 17-inch 1080p panel. 
• The Gigabyte Aorus 15P features rich I/O, a 240Hz display, and 32GB of RAM, and is pretty well-priced as of writing. 
• The Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 has rich RGB elements, just as we’d expect from ROG. It also is the only one on our list with a Ryzen 7 processor.
• The Alienware M15 R6 has those signature big ol’ cooling vents at the back that can move some serious heat, making it the coolest on our list.
• The Razer Blade 15 makes some compromise on power, but it’s also the slimmest RTX 3080 laptop you can buy. 
• The Razer Blade Pro 17 has more power than the smaller sibling, while maintaining a slim figure.
• The Maingear Vector Pro is pretty bog-standard, but the price has stayed consistently the same over a long time, which is valuable on its own.

The Raider 17 has a massive display, and processing power to match. This RTX 3080 laptop tops the rest of this list with a Core i9-11980HK processor, which gives it the most overall power. Just be sure to keep your charger nearby, as i9 processors are known to be power-hungry. Speaking of power-hungry, the RTX 3080 in this beast can technically run up to 155W, but only for short bursts of time. 

Related: The best gaming laptops you can buy

Aside from that, the MSI GE76 Raider 17 offers a 1080p display with a 360Hz refresh rate for incredibly smooth visuals. 1080p may seem low to some, but you likely won’t notice it on a screen this size. It also has 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. Dedicated cooling solutions for both the CPU and GPU help this laptop stay cool too. 

This RTX 3080 laptop is the MSI GE66 Raider, a different take on the formula from above. It offers the GPU and RAM from the laptop above, with twice the storage at 2TB, versus the 1TB from the bigger model. The GPU in this one runs at a maximum of 130W; technically less power on paper than the big brother, but the performance difference is likely minimal.

See also: What is Nvidia DLSS?

This model also features a brilliant 15-inch 4K 120Hz panel up-front for the absolute best graphics possible, and Nvidia’s DLSS tech for even more fidelity. This model is steeply priced, but will offer lasting performance.

Next up, the Aorus 15P from Gigabyte has it all. From the 8-core 11th-generation Core i7 processor to the RTX 3080 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 240Hz display. This one’s GPU runs at a maximum of 130W.

Need a mouse for this one?: The best gaming mice

It also boasts some serious I/O with HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, 3 USB-A ports, a USB-C, Ethernet, and a combo headphone/microphone jack. The webcam sort of points up your nose in use, but it’s still usable. At $2,149 at the time of writing, we think this one is reasonably priced for what it offers.

Asus’ Republic of Gamers lineup is hard not to mention, as it’s one of the most respected brands in PC gaming. Naturally, this is an RTX 3080 laptop, but it’s got some other great things in it, too, like the Ryzen 7 5800H processor for a few extra cores over the competition. This laptop adjusts GPU wattage between 115W-130W on the fly.

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The AMD Ryzen processor will be a delight for fans of Team Red, but the FHD 300Hz display may be the star of the show for competitive gamers. This display also has a 3ms response time. This one is priced on the steeper side as well at the moment, but there isn’t truly anything like a buttery smooth 300Hz display. 

Dell-owned Alienware puts out some stellar machines, and they’ve come down in price over the years too. The Alienware M15 R6 stars a 15-inch QHD 240Hz display, which is the sweet spot for PC gaming. The RTX 3080 GPU will push that display with no issues in heavy games and runs at a maximum of 125W.

Further reading: The best Alienware laptops you can buy

Other specs include G-Sync compatibility, 32GB of RAM, an 11th-gen Core i7 processor, and 1TB of storage for a sizeable game library. Dell also features its “Cryo-tech” cooling system in the machine, with many vents and heat pipes to keep the alien cool during sessions. 

This RTX 3080 laptop has a crazy smooth display with a 360Hz refresh rate. Since the display is only FHD, you won’t have any issues running your games at full speed on high settings with the Razer Blade 15. The 11th-gen Core i7 processor in this one will have no problem churning out frames while staying cool with its vapor chamber cooling system.

The compromise here, though, is the maximum of 105W for the GPU, which is a bit on the weaker end. If you need a thin machine, this is the one, but don’t expect top-tier performance.

Read more: The best Razer laptops

This laptop is built sturdily, too, with an incredibly slim 0.62-inch-thin aluminum chassis. It also features THX spatial audio certified front-facing speakers for the best sound in-game or for watching videos. Other specs include 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

Razer is back again, and this time, bigger. The Razer Blade Pro 17 features all the stuff from the Blade 15 above in a larger package. The 17-inch screen and the chassis holding it will grant you more screen real estate, more airflow for better cooling, and better audio with larger speaker units. Naturally, this RTX 3080 laptop also has an i7 processor in it, just like its little brother. This GPU has more power allowance than its smaller sibling at 130W.

See more: The best cheap gaming laptops

The beautiful CNC aluminum chassis is still present, and it only measures 0.78-inch thin, which is stellar for a laptop with this much juice. That unfathomably smooth 360Hz refresh rate is still here too. Plus, it doesn’t cost that much more than the Blade 15 does. This upgrade is significant for gamers who need a larger screen on the go. 

You may not have heard of Maingear if you’re a laptop gamer, but this company has been assembling some pretty great gaming desktops for a few years now. Continuing that theme, they’ve put together a great machine that seems to be the most reasonably-priced one on this list. The Maingear Vector Pro features a Core i7-11800H, 32GB of RAM, and a fantastic 17-inch QHD 165Hz display. The system’s GPU runs at a maximum of 140W, again, for short bursts of time to maximize efficiency.

Related: The best PC gaming desktops

For $2,500 at the time of writing, this is the machine that’s had the most consistent price on the list. According to Honey, the price has neither gone up nor down in quite a while. Anyway, I/O is no slump on the Vector Pro; having assembled desktops for a long time, the company knows what ports people use a lot. It includes three USB-A ports, separate headphone and mic jacks, USB-C, microSD, Ethernet, and HDMI. In reality, it could serve in place of a gaming desktop if you so choose.

While that isn’t every RTX 3080 laptop, these are some of the best ones you can find in the current market. Be sure to pick up a laptop cooler, too, so you can operate at peak efficiency.