Best gaming laptop for Flight Simulator

What's the best gaming laptop for Flight Simulator 2020? Read our Flight Simulator laptop compatibility guide

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Our to-the-point guide will help you find the best gaming laptop for Flight Simulator that is also within your needs and budget. We will also discuss all the requirements necessary to run the game, while exploring various laptop options for different settings and resolutions favorable towards Flight Simulator 2020.

Cheap gaming laptop for Flight Simulator @ 1080p

Considered one of the most solid, reliable laptops in recent years, the MSI GF65 Thin with the current iteration of RTX 3060 GPU and the older RTX 2060 version are the best devices you can get your hands on. Hence, the GF65 Thin makes our best gaming laptop under $1,000. If possible, we’d advise you to go for the Intel Core i7 CPU, though the i5 is also a good solid choice and also a bit cheaper. The 8GB RAM is a serious drawback for this laptop, but you have the option to upgrade it to 16GB, which is the first thing you should do. The ASUS TUF DASH is our alternative suggestion which does not have the limited RAM problem.

MSI GF65 Thin (15.6″, 144Hz)

CPU

Intel i7-9750H / i7-10750H

Graphics Card

Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 / RTX 3060

RAM

8GB

Max Refresh Rate

144Hz

Resolution

1920 x 1080

Screen Size

15.6”

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Best value gaming laptop for Flight Simulator @ 1440p / 1080p @ high FPS

The ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition is the best value-for-money laptop that you will find in the current market and one which offers gameplay at 1440p on the highest settings. You’d get to play the Flight Simulator as it should. Equipped with both AMD CPU and GPU, the G15 is designed to maximize the co-ordination between both and give you an optimal gaming experience. Despite not having the Ray-Tracing performance on the same level with other Nvidia GPU-powered machines, its FPS performance rivals many RTX 3070 laptops but for a relatively cheaper price. The G15 is not equipped with a webcam, but you can easily buy it from outside. If you are not convinced by the Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition, then you can also look at our best gaming laptop under $1,500 list, though we do recommend the G15 as the best overall performer.

ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition (165Hz 1440p)

CPU

AMD Ryzen 9 5980HX

GPU

AMD Radeon RX 6800M

RAM

16GB

Storage

512GB SSD

Screen Size

15.6″

Max Refresh Rate

165Hz

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Best gaming laptop for Flight Simulator @ 4K

Almost all the 4K laptops are capped at a refresh rate of 60Hz, which is way too low for a gaming laptop, especially when you’re spending a good amount of dough on it. There is no dearth in the current market when it comes to laptops with 120Hz 4K configurations, and our choice among them would be the ASUS Zephyrus S17, but the device will put a dent in your pocket. The specs offered by the S17 are perfect for a gaming experience for a game like Flight Simulator, which requires ultra-high performance in the highest settings and resolution.  

ASUS Zephyrus S17 (4K, 120Hz, RTX 3080)

CPU

Intel Core i9 11900H

Graphics

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 (100-140W)

RAM

32GB

Storage

1TB SSD

Screen Size

17.3”

Max Refresh Rate

120Hz

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Microsoft Flight Simulator laptop deals

Let your dreams take flight with these stupendous gaming laptop deals:

• ASUS ROG Zephyrus (14″) – FHD 144Hz, AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, Radeon RX 6700S, 16GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD – was $1,649.99 now $1,399.99 (Save $250)
• ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition (15.6″) – QHD 165Hz, AMD Ryzen 9 5980HX, Radeon RX 6800M, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD – was $1,699.99 now $1,349.99 (Save $350)
• Legion 5 Gen 7 AMD (15”) – FHD 165Hz, AMD Ryzen 7 6800H, Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti, 16GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD – was $2,199.99 now $1,499.99 (Save $700)

Can you play Flight Simulator on a laptop? Flight Simulator recommended specifications (desktop)

The developers of the Flight Simulator game have released the official system requirements, and those are listed below (for playing the game at 1080p – higher resolutions will require more power). For you to actually enjoy the game we’d always advise aiming for the recommended system requirements rather than the bare minimum requirements, which would run the game at low FPS even on the lowest settings.

Do make it a point to note that the core desktop components i.e. the graphics card and processors, are much more powerful than in laptops, and that is due to laptops having smaller chassis sizes with greater constraints on power and thermal cooling. Our advice would be to move up the ladder from the CPU and GPU suggested below and go up another SKU to get optimal performance for a laptop. Further down this page we have listed below some of our suggested models ranging from different power models, prices, and resolutions. If you want more details on the desktop requirements, then read our Microsoft Flight Simulator system requirements page.

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1500X / Intel Core i5-8400
• RAM: 16 GB
• HDD: 150 GB of storage space
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 590 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 970
• VRAM: 4 GB
• OS: 64-bit Windows 10 Nov 2019 update (1909)
• DirectX: Version 11
• Screen Resolution: 1080p
• Network: Broadband Internet Connection – 20 Mbps bandwidth

Best gaming laptop for Microsoft Flight Simulator : Final Word

We hope this has helped you find the best gaming laptop for Flight Simulator based on your requirements and helped answer the question Can you play Flight Simulator on a laptop? Now take flight my friend; soar everlasting.