Best Laptops for Fortnite in Apr 2024

There’s nothing worse than buying a laptop for gaming, loading up your favourite game only to find it stuttering from the get-go! But worry ye not and read on to get the in-depth low-down on finding a laptop that’s dynamite for Fortnite. If you’re not up for jamming with the jargon, relax … just scroll down and simply browse the best value laptops for turning your Fortnite fantasies into Fortnite reality.

Screen

Although good refresh rates tend to be available in very high laptops. Tech such as G-Sync and Freesync are worth considering for this. G-sync is the tech promoted by Nvidia (one of the biggest players in the gaming graphics market) and is actually more popular than the Free-sync. Worth noting though that laptops with G-sync tend to suffer in their battery-life as the system needs constant power to work well.

Response times are pretty important in order to minimize lag. Typically measured in milli-secs and it does make a difference but only if you’re truly going after competitive levels. If you’re happy to stay on a less-hardcore level then you could compromise on this aspect if the penny in the pocket is a consideration.

IPS is one those screen tech that is quite popular because it offers the laptop a very wide viewing angle so that can see screen colours the same as though you were sitting directly in front of it. It’s not to say they are bad for gaming as it’s nice to maintain the looks of the graphics. However, it matters less compared to the other things mentioned above.

Now, 4k is all the rage these days. The resolution does matter to give an awesome level of fidelity. However, you’ll notice most laptops positioned as gaming machines still have screens that are Full HD (1080p). The reason for this is outputting smooth FPS at that screen rez, requires a high amount of power that portable machines will be unable to achieve. FPS stability matters. Gaming at 25FPS at 4K is not desirable as doing a solid 60FPS on Full HD. A few of them do have the QHD (1440p) screen but be prepared for a machine that may not be as portable and not as cool.

Graphics Card

Stay away from anything that’s got an integrated graphics card (like the Intel HD 620 series)! Those components won’t handle the visual heavy lifting.

A dedicated GPU from either Nvidia or AMD is the way to go. They’ve been engineered to manage the visual side of things at high resolutions. The current generation of graphics cards from Nvidia (like the GTX 1060M, GTX 1050 Ti, or the GTX 1070) are great for a couple of reasons:

• Firstly, if you’d like to have the visual levers tuned to the max (e.g anti-aliasing, mega textures) you’ll need this kind of firepower.
• Secondly, if you’re going to want to play even more demanding games such as Call of Duty WWII and Assassin’s Creed Origins, or indeed the power-hungry titles of Christmas future then these more muscular cards will be a must-have.

However, the current lower range of dedicated GPUs The Nvidia 940MX and 945MX or the newer Nvidia 1030 could suffice for a game such as Fortnite.

However, for Blizzard's Fortnite the lower range of GPUs such as the Nvidia 940MX, 945MX or the newer Nvidia 1030 will actually offer quite decent performance albeit at modest graphics settings. This translates to a lower priced laptop and quite possibly a lighter one...bonus!

Processor

Whilst modern graphics are increasingly taking the strain off CPUs, the processor is still nevertheless a critical part of delivering a quality gaming experience. Don’t sweat on brands and clock-speeds. Here’s what’s important:

• Cores & threads - The higher the better. More cores means your computer can handle multiple threads which means smoother performance. On the downside, this requires a lot more cooling. For Fortnite, you might struggle with an Intel Core i3. Best aim for the i5 and above.
• “Diet” variants - Speaking of cooling, processors tend to have lower calorie versions which run cooler and spare your battery but provide a noticeable lower performance. Intel Core variants with a “-U” in their names is an easy way to spot the semi-skimmed in your midst.
• Families and Generations - Intel just released their 8th generation processor (coffee lake) toward the end of 2017. AMD did likewise with the release of the Ryzen system. Still, the last 2 generations should run Fortnite just fine.

Memory

To enjoy Fortnite, you can get away with 8GB of RAM. If you’d like to game while running something else (e.g. streaming Youtube) then you should consider 12 to 16GB options.

Storage

• SSD - The “sprinter” - This offer the quickest load times for game levels. Laptops sporting this tend to be the lightest and its battery friendly. It’s the priciest of the bunch though and it comes in smaller sizes with the common ones being the 128GB, 256G and 512GB options. Not your best option if you want to store a library of games on your laptop.
• HDD - The “marathon runner” - Whilst it won’t really affect your gameplay you experience slow load times during level transitions. They tend to be included in laptops where weight or battery life aren’t major considerations. It's the cheapest of the bunch and common sizes are 500GB and 1000GB (aka 1TB).
• SSHD - The “inbetweener” - This is almost as fast as an SSD but offers the kind of space and even price points that you would find on on HDDs.

Conclusion

The screen, graphics card, processor, memory and storage are all key to choosing the right laptop. We’ve done the hard work for you, so just scroll down to view the best value machines for your Fortnite fun!