Summer Laptop Buying Guide - Recommended by Micro Center Champions!

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Looking for a new laptop this summer? We asked our Champions to put together some of their favorite laptops for a variety of uses. From everyday browsing to high-end on-the-go gaming, we've got them all recommended. And if you're still not sure what laptop is right for you, stop in at your local Micro Center and talk to our associates. They'll be more than happy to set you up with a laptop perfect for your needs!

Acer Aspire 5 A515-57-760X by @elcurr

The Acer Aspire 5 A515-57-760X is a 15.6” mid-range laptop that’ll fit almost any need. It is equipped with the latest 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor making it a killer multi-tasking laptop. Pair that with the Intel Iris Xe Graphics to handle intensive workloads such as light gaming, image rendering, 3D design, and streaming and you’ve got a machine ready for anything. The Aspire 5 comes with a 1TB SSD along with 16GBs of DDR4 Ram. And if you need even more speed and storage. The Aspire 5 allows for further customization by providing an extra SSD slot, as well as additional slots for even more RAM.

This laptop also incorporates an HDMI, LAN, Thunderbolt 4, and three USB 3.2 ports. The Thunderbolt 4 port plays a vital role in the multitasking aspect of this laptop. It’s fast, simple, and reliable, delivering high-speed data transfer, power to compatible devices, and gives the user the ability to connect multiple monitors for all your multitasking dreams. The Acee Aspire 5 A515-557-760X is ideal for the everyday user, the gamer, and the creator.

 

Acer Aspire 5 A515-57-52YQ by @tbarggs

To echo Elcurr above, Acer has been crushing it with their Aspire 5 series. The Acer Aspire 5 A515-57-52YQ is my go-to rec, and a bit more budget conscious, making it one of the absolute best value laptops when it comes to a nice mid-range machine. This machine comes with an i5 12th gen, 8GB of ram, and 512GB of solid state storage, making it one of the best overall options for a machine that can do it all. The i5 12thgen sports 10 cores which means when it comes to multitasking, its power can't be beat! While this machine is only a 15.6” screen, it does still come equipped with a number pad and has an HDMI port allowing you to connect to a bigger screen. This is also my recommendation for consumers who want to be able to do a little bit of photo editing and some video editing as well. Whether you want to just browse the web, get school work done or watch your favorite streaming service, it does it all!

 

MSI Katana GF66 12UD-015 by @Lesaol

Gaming on the go has never been so easy, especially since MSI has released the GF66 12UD-015 Gaming laptop. Featuring the new Intel Core I7-12700H, this laptop packs quite the punch for content creation, gaming, and even programming. Its amazing performance is partially thanks to MSI’s Cooler Boost 5, a robust cooling system that allows for the Intel Core I7 processor and NVIDIA RTX 3050 Ti graphics card to work under load without any thermal restrictions. The included 16GB of 3200Mhz DDR4 ram is upgradable as well, allowing for this laptop to meet higher workstation loads if needed. It also comes with a 512GB NVME SSD for fast boot times and even quicker load times for games. Important features like NVIDIA DLSS are also enabled to allow the user to achieve higher frame rates in harder-to-run titles, as well as a high-end IPS display with a refresh rate of 144hz for competitive gaming. For anyone who is looking for a high-performance gaming laptop at an affordable price, and needs it to be able to withstand the tests of triple-A titles, we fully recommend the GF66 as the perfect laptop for your needs.

 

ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 15 G533ZW-XS96 by @phil_lost_zephyr_

For a gaming laptop, you want something that can not only run most games but can run them smoothly. Whether they’re the latest AAA or the newest indie darling, The ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 15 G533ZW-XS96 can handle it. This computer has the power to support nearly any endeavor, from playing games to professional work like video editing. The hardware in this fifteen-inch laptop packs a punch, delivering the performance needed to do anything and everything you need to do.

The ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 15 G533ZW-XS96 comes with the newest- and highest-end Intel processor for a laptop, the Intel Fourteen-Core i9 12900H. This processor can Reach speeds of 5GHz with turbo, making it a beast for both high-end gaming and rendering. From doing 3D modeling all the way to finishing up a video render, the speeds and efficiency of this high-end processor is no joke. Pair that up with 32GBs of DDR5 RAM and you’re getting smooth performance from any software that requires a heavy load of processing. The newest DDR5 RAM will future-proof the user as well, preparing them for what’s to come in the next upcoming years. Add onto all that a 1TB of SSD PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 and an NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti graphics card and you’re fully ready for anything at a moment’s notice.

Most of the time, when you are given this kind of hardware in a laptop, there are some tradeoffs, like screen quality. For this laptop, there are no tradeoffs. The screen is a 2560x1440 WQHD with a max refresh rate of 240Hz. It even features a 4-speaker system by DOLBY ATMOS. Ports wise, you’re getting a thunderbolt port, another USB-C port, and some USB-A ports with the standard HDMI, ethernet port, and an audio jack. If there’s anything you can’t do on the ASUS Strix SCAR 15, I haven’t seen it.

More from the Micro Center Community:

Looking for more information about Building a PC? We’ve got PC Build Guides as well as articles on How to Choose Parts for your Custom PC Build, Product Reviews, Part Comparisons, and even The Ultimate Guide to Buying a Gaming Laptop! And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, don’t hesitate to post a new discussion and the Community will be happy to help!

ChaosDTV

i really like this list. im interested in the acer 5 series to help with multitasking

Rye_Bread

I've been loving the revamped Acer Aspire 5 laptops. They were overdue for a visual update, and I'm glad Acer opted to go along with it. Oddly enough, my favorite change has been the keyboard. It's a subtle adjustment, but it's a lot more enjoyable to type on than its predecessor.

Excited to see what they do in the future!

Ian

Nice mix of recommendations here in various price ranges!