Picking the right gaming laptop can be a delicate balance. The raw power you typically find in gaming desktops takes a lot of power, and when you put that in a laptop, it can drain the battery fast. Similarly, the superfast refresh rates in gaming monitors can lead to even more power drain. If you plan to keep your laptop plugged in most of the time, you can lean toward more powerful hardware, but if you want to play on the battery more, then balancing power with efficiency should be a priority for you.
Size is also a factor to consider. When you’re gaming at home, you might want the largest, brightest screen you can find, but when you have to carry that screen around, the bulk and weight can be a (quite literal) drag. If you plan to travel with your laptop, you might want to think about how much heft you’re willing to lug around.
No matter what, you should expect to make some sacrifices that aren’t as common with more typical laptops. It’s not unusual for a gaming laptop to last less than two hours when you start playing games on it. And unless you have a lot of (usually expensive) power under the hood, you might not be able to play some modern AAA games at their highest level the way you would on a desktop without spending a little time fiddling with the game’s graphics settings.