Here's a fully loaded gaming laptop with a GeForce RTX 3080 for $1,870

The rule of thumb when shopping for the best gaming laptop is to opt for the highest end GPU you can afford, because way more often than not, it is a permanent part of the system. That's to say, you can't swap it out like you can the RAM or storage (which also depends on the model). With that in mind, Gigabyte's Aorus 15G YC with a GeForce RTX 3080 can be had for $1,869.99 after rebate right now, and it comes with several extras.

Newegg has this beastly laptop marked down from $2,299.99 to $2,069.99. On top that, there is a $200 mail-in-rebate you can submit, effectively saving you $430 over the full list price. And on top of that, there are a couple of free gifts—six free months of GeForce Now, and a download code for Death Stranding.

If this looks familiar, it's because it is the same base Aorus 15G model we reviewed earlier this year (and which earned our Editor's Pick award), but with beefier specs. Namely, it sports an RTX 3080 instead of an RTX 3070, and a 1TB SSD rather than 512GB.

Otherwise, it features the same Core i7 10870H processor (8C/16T, 2.2GHz to 5GHz, 16MB L3 cache) and 32GB of RAM, all wrapped in a 15.6-inch (IPS) package with a 1920x1080 resolution and very fast 240Hz refresh rate. The displays on this laptop line are individually factory calibrated, too.

Going back to the GPU, not all mobile Ampere parts are created equal, even among the same model. In this case, this is the lower end mobile RTX 3080 variant (105W) with 8GB of GDDR6 memory instead of 16GB and 1,245MHz boost clock. That's a bit of a bummer, but it's still a stout GPU, and the benefit of taming it a bit is better thermals (especially in a relatively thin and light system).

Overall, this is a fast gaming laptop with high-end specs, and it should last you a long time before getting the itch to upgrade again.

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).