While there remain regular laptops and gaming laptops, the line that separates them has nearly disappeared. Today, if you have a fast CPU and graphics card, along with perks like a big screen and a good cooling system, you can play a decent number of games on your laptop. Besides, not everyone wants a big, garish gaming rig, nor does everyone want to spend the money required to get one of those. If you’re considering a new laptop for school, there are more options now than ever before that can both get you through your most challenging studies and keep up with your next AAA play through. These are our top picks for the best laptops for gaming and schoolwork — but if you’re looking for a dedicated gaming laptop rather than an all-in-one machine, check out our best gaming laptops list for our recommendations.

Best laptops for gaming and school in 2025

Are gaming laptops good for school?

As we’ve mentioned, gaming laptops are especially helpful if you're doing any demanding work. Their big promise is powerful graphics performance, which isn't just limited to PC gaming. Video editing and 3D rendering programs can also tap into their GPUs to handle laborious tasks. While you can find decent GPUs on some productivity machines, like Dell's XPS 15, you can sometimes find better deals on gaming laptops. My general advice for any new workhorse: Pay attention to the specs; get at least 16GB of RAM and the largest solid state drive you can find (ideally 1TB or more). Those components are both typically hard to upgrade down the line, so it’s worth investing what you can up front to get the most out of your PC gaming experience long term. Also, don’t forget the basics like a webcam, which will likely be necessary for the schoolwork portion of your activities.

The one big downside to choosing a gaming notebook is portability. For the most part, we'd recommend 15-inch models to get the best balance of size and price. Those typically weigh in around 4.5 pounds, which is significantly more than a three-pound ultraportable. Today's gaming notebooks are still far lighter than older models, though, so at least you won't be lugging around a 10-pound brick. If you’re looking for something lighter, there are plenty of 14-inch options these days. And if you're not into LED lights and other gamer-centric bling, keep an eye out for more understated models that still feature essentials like a webcam (or make sure you know how to turn those lights off).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/best-laptops-for-gaming-and-school-132207352.html?src=rss

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© Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

• President Joe Biden expressed support for a stock trading ban in Congress for the first time.
• "Nobody in the Congress should be able to make money in the stock market," he said.
• Lawmakers have been trying to enact a stock trading ban for years.

With just a few weeks left in his tenure, President Joe Biden expressed support for banning members of Congress from trading stocks.

"Nobody in the Congress should be able to make money in the stock market while they're in the Congress," Biden said in a forthcoming interview with More Perfect Union, according to the Associated Press.

It's the first time that Biden has expressed support for the idea, which has been a subject of debate on Capitol Hill for years.

In 2022, then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden "believes that everyone should be held to the highest standard," but that he would defer to Congress on the issue.

"I don't know how you look your constituents in the eye and know, because the job they gave you, gave you an inside track to make more money," Biden said in the More Perfect Union interview. "I think we should be changing the law."

Despite widespread public support for a stock-trading ban, it's unlikely to come to fruition during this Congress. Even so, there's been significant progress over the years, with a bipartisan group of senators passing a compromise stock-trading ban bill out of committee in July.

Upvest might not be a familiar name if you don’t pay close attention to the fintech industry, but chances are you’ve already interacted with the company’s products. Founded by Martin Kassing (pictured above), the Berlin-based startup builds a white-label investment platform that is used by some of the biggest fintech companies in Europe. Upvest clients […]

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