AMD Ryzen 6000 series laptop buyer’s guide
Best Ryzen 6000 series laptop models in 2022
The new AMD Ryzen 6000 series laptop CPUs have brought some game-changing features for the world of gaming laptops, workstation machines, and general use office laptops as well. Below we will be telling you everything you need to know about this new range of machines, and which, out of all the brands, are the best 6000 series laptops money can buy within their respective categories. If you’re interested in the new AMD Ryzen PRO 6000 series of APUs for business laptops, which come with additional features, read our Ryzen 6000 Pro series launch piece about this upcoming range.
What can I expect from Ryzen 6000?
Currently, the Ryzen 6000 laptops we have enough information on to recommend here are the gaming laptops with dedicated graphics cards, which will not benefit quite as much from architectural updates as their less powerful cousins, but still represent a step up from the previous generation. As soon as we see more testing and receive more information on the non-gaming machines, we will be adding the best of those to this list as well, so watch this space.
Read our Things to consider before buying an AMD Ryzen 6000 series laptop section below for more information.
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Our Top Picks
The best AMD Ryzen 6000 series laptops 2022
In-depth Review
Lenovo Legion 5 (Ryzen 7 6800H)
Lenovo Legion 5 (Ryzen 7 6800H)
The updated Lenovo Legion 5 comes packing with options for the latest AMD Ryzen 6000 series CPU, up to the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H. When combined with the Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics card, this is one of the best midrange gaming laptops out there.
Whilst the maximum TGP of the RTX 3070 Ti equipped version is respectable at 125W, it doesn’t match up to the most powerful out there in more expensive laptops. The RTX 3060 option however has the highest TGP version of this graphics card that you will find, making the Legion 5 one of the best performing RTX 3060 laptops on the market in FPS terms. The inclusion of a MUX Switch, which can be activated using desktop software, helps to boost performance even further in-game.
The 2021 iterations were hindered slightly in their gaming performance by slow stock RAM, which is an issue that affected many brands releasing gaming laptops in 2021 thanks to global supply issues. Hopefully, the 2022 iteration with swanky new DDR5 RAM will not experience similar bottlenecking.
This year the display has upgraded to an impressive 1440p resolution, whilst still retaining the 165Hz refresh rate. The 2021 1080p iteration had 98% sRGB, 70% Adobe RGB, and 72% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, and a great contrast ratio, so expect at least as good from this version. We’ll have to wait to see if the 7ms average grey-to-grey response time has also been surpassed, but if it hasn’t this is still a respectable result for a machine of this price. The Lenovo Legion 5 Pro is a more expensive alternative that does have improved response time, if this is your priority.
You get a solid array of ports including two USB-C ports (one of which, placed on the rear of the laptop, can be used as a charging port up to 135W) and three USB-A ports. The webcam and microphone aren’t great but are no worse than average for a gaming laptop. The keyboard and trackpad are both to a respectable standard, though we’ve seen better. Build quality is also around average, the chassis being plastic and showing some flex, but being to a reasonable standard.
The previous generation of Legion 5 equipped with Ryzen 5000 series CPUs achieved around 8 hours in non-strenuous usage at half brightness, which was already a fairly impressive result. Whilst we don’t know exactly how the Ryzen 6000 series laptop will perform, we anticipate that it will be at the very least a few hours longer than this, maybe substantially more, which would be very impressive indeed. It will be particularly interesting to see how well the laptop fairs when gaming on battery only.
Everything considered, there’s not much to criticize the Lenovo Legion 5 for. A terrific AMD Ryzen 6000 series laptop for gamers.
Alienware M17 R5 Ryzen Edition
Alienware M17 R5 Ryzen Edition
The Alienware M17 R5 Ryzen Edition is a superb AMD Ryzen 6000 series laptop if you’re looking for something with a larger screen. The cheapest version comes in at around $1,600 but this is with very low specifications, and the loadout we’d recommend is somewhat on the pricey side. Still you can equip this beast with the most powerful Ryzen 6000 CPU available, the Ryzen 9 6980HX, as well as the most powerful GPUs from both AMD and Nvidia.
We don’t yet know how the AMD Radeon RX 6850 XT will compare to the likes of the Nvidia RTX 3080 and 3080 Ti, but features such as AMD SmartShift Max, SmartAccess Memory, and SmartAccess Graphics mean you will enjoy some additional performance benefits for going with both an all AMD setup.
Interestingly there is no 1440p version of this machine that we are currently aware of, instead, customers will choose between a 165Hz 1080p screen with a stated 3ms response time (though real, average response times are always slower), a 360Hz 1080p screen with 1ms stated response time, or a 120Hz 4K display (response time unknown). If you’re only interested in gaming and intend to pick the higher specced GPU & CPU combos, then we’d go with the 360Hz 1080p option if you like to play competitive shooters and can afford it. The 165Hz 1080p option will still do very nicely for a more affordable gaming machine for non-competitive users, and the 4K option is good if you want a dual-use machine you can do creative workstation tasks on.
Expect color replication, contrast, and peak brightness to all be great, as is usually the case with Alienware laptops.
You get a solid number of ports for your money, including three USB-A sockets and two USB-C, although going with the AMD CPU obviously excludesThunderbolt. Battery life will be much improved thanks to the new Zen 3+ technology, but probably the least of all the selections on this page. The speakers, webcam and mic are nothing to write home about, but no worse than most gaming laptops. All told this is a great 17-inch gaming laptop.
ASUS Zephyrus Duo 16 (RTX 3070 Ti/3080 Ti)
ASUS Zephyrus Duo 16 (RTX 3070 Ti/3080 Ti)
ASUS’ high-end workstation laptop is the ASUS Zephyrus Duo 16, which can be equipped with a massively powerful AMD Ryzen 9 6980HX processor, up to 64GB of fast 4800MHz DDR5 RAM, and up to 4TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage, with RAID 0 support to make read and write speeds even quicker. Graphics card options include the latest Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti, the latter of which has a TGP that caps at 150W, not quite the most powerful out there, but definitely a strong performer. ASUS’ new liquid metal cooling keeps both the graphics cards and particularly the CPU, operating at maximum performance with minimal thermal throttling even in prolonged intensive scenarios (such as gaming or rendering), though this is only available to those that go with the highest specced option.
The most distinctive feature of the Asus Zephyrus Duo series is of course the secondary screen, placed between the keyboard and the main display, which lifts upwards. The new Duo 16 has a more seamless connection between the two displays now, with the mini screen lifting up close to the edge of the primary display. Once again this second display has touch screen functionality, and can be used to display alternative media whilst gaming (Discord or YouTube for instance) or different windows of your editing program (the timeline for example, allowing more screen space to watch the footage and to move and manipulate it via touch). Arguably buying a cheaper laptop plus a larger secondary screen separately could be more cash efficient, though this would take up more space to carry, plus would be less useful for the aforementioned editing workflows. Whether or not it will actually be useful though really depends on what you’re planning on doing with the laptop.
The inclusion of the second display does mean that the trackpad (which doubles as a numpad) is off to the side of the keyboard and that the keyboard is positioned closer to the user with no space to rest your hands on it, though there is an optional wrist rest included that you can attach to the front of the machine. This positioning can take a bit of getting used to but the actual quality of the keyboard is decent and it feels responsive. The trackpad is okay but we’d recommend using a mouse instead. Unlike the previous Duo, the Duo 16 now has a webcam included on the top of the display, which has InfraRed technology with Windows Hello support.
Besides the second display, the most unique thing about the ASUS Zephyrus Duo 16 is the new variable resolution and refresh rate option for the main panel that’s been introduced in 2022. If you pick this option you get a 4K 120Hz display that can switch to a 1080p 240Hz display using the onboard software: an ideal setup for those looking for a laptop capable of both graphical and video workflows at higher resolution and fast-paced competitive gaming.
In terms of response time, the previous version came with a 7ms response time with Overdrive enabled, which wasn’t great for a gaming laptop of this size, but not terrible either. We can expect this latest version to be at least as good, though hopefully better; we’ll have to wait for testing to find out. Color replication is around 98% sRGB, 75% Adobe RGB and the same for DCI-P3, meaning it’s suitable for color work in the sRGB space, but not much beyond that. Still, this is a unique workstation/gaming laptop with features you won’t find anywhere else.
Razer Blade 14 (RTX 3080 Ti, 1440p, 165Hz)
Razer Blade 14 (RTX 3080 Ti, 1440p, 165Hz)
The 2022 version of the Razer Blade 14 not only comes with the option for the second most powerful AMD 6000 series CPU, the Ryzen 6900HX CPU, but it’s also the only 14-inch laptop which can be equipped with the latest RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards. These GPUs might not compare with those in larger laptops, as the TGP restrictions imposed by the small size of this machine mean that they’re relatively underpowered, however in this Razer machine they’re still the most powerful options available for laptops below 15-inches, and still both come with the maximum amount of VRAM.
Unlike the Razer Blade 14 from 2021, the new version comes with a MUX Switch, offering a substantial performance boost. You also get improved PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 support for SSDs and of course DDR5 support.
As with most Razer machines, the display is excellent: you’ll get 100% sRGB gamut coverage and ‘up to’ 100% AdobeRGB and DCI-P3 coverage, though how much these latter results hold up will have to wait for further independent testing. Still, if you want to do colorwork in the sRGB space, the Razer Blade 14 would be ideal. Contrast and peak brightness are also both excellent.
Looking at the other features of the screen, the RTX 3080 Ti specced option comes with a 1440p/QHD panel only with a 165Hz refresh and FreeSync Premium. Though we haven’t yet tested the real grey-to-grey response time of this display, if it’s the same as the 2021 version you can expect around 9ms, which will lead to some ghosting in faster titles but for a display this size is still pretty decent.
As with the previous Razer Blade 14s, the build quality of the 2022 model is superb. It’s not incredibly light, though it is impressively thin and very easy to carry around in even a small bag. The ideal high-end portable gaming machine.
Acer Nitro 5 (2022)
Acer Nitro 5 (2022)
The 2022 Acer Nitro 5 comes with a brand new look. The updated chassis is an improvement on the old design, both looking better and feeling fairly sturdy for a plastic budget machine.
The new version comes with the latest CPU options from both Intel and AMD. Although Intel 12th gen laptop versions have better multicore performance this year as well as Thunderbolt support, the AMD version has substantially superior battery life. Unlike the Intel-equipped Nitro 5 which is limited to DDR4, AMD versions have DDR5 RAM support, up to 32GB of 4,800MHz memory, though this does make them slightly more expensive. Still, this is a substantial improvement over the slower RAM that 2021 Nitro 5 models suffered, due to global supply shortages of the good stuff, so no more performance bottlenecking.
In terms of graphics, you can get up to the new Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti (8GB VRAM), though as this is a budget machine we’d probably either opt for the RTX 3060 version or save up the money for a higher TGP RTX 3070 Ti laptop. You won’t get a MUX Switch with this machine sadly, but for a budget gaming laptop that’s to be expected.
The display of the Acer Nitro 5 was the feature most in need of an update, and fingers crossed the 2022 version looks to be a lot better. Acer are claiming a 3ms response time on this latest iteration, and though the actual ‘real’ response time will likely be a good few ms slower than this, we can at least assume it will be a lot better than the dire 17ms of the 2021 version. You get two resolution options 1080p/HD or 1440p/QHD, though we’d only recommend opting for the 1440p model if you’re planning on getting a 17.3” machine. The maximum refresh rate of both resolution options with the 3ms screen is 165Hz, which is perfectly good for a budget gaming laptop. A slower 144Hz 1080p option will be available with a slower response time, but this is best avoided.
We don’t know how the 2022 Acer Nitro 5 will measure up in terms of colors, contrast, and brightness, but if previous iterations are a guide, expect the color gamut to be pretty narrow (this is a budget gaming laptop after all) but to have respectable contrast and brightness.
Considering this is a budget machine you get a good number of ports and I/O features, including a USB-C slot and Kensington lock. The speakers are pretty dire, but that’s fairly typical for a budget gaming laptop. You do, however, still get a full-sized keyboard with numpad, which may be an attractive feature to some.
Taken as a whole, this latest version of the Acer Nitro 5 is a great budget option for those who want an AMD Ryzen 6000 series laptop to game on.
Final Word
This has been our guide to help you find the best AMD Ryzen 6000 series laptop for your needs. We hope that it has answered all your questions and allowed you to reach a conclusion about which one is right for you. If you’ve not found what you’re looking for here and want to read about other laptops outside of this category, do be sure to check out our best gaming laptop page, and our other laptop and gaming laptop guides.