When using Unreal Engine 5 a powerful and capable laptop is essential. This applies whether you’re a professional or a hobbyist. Let’s take a look at the best laptops for Unreal Engine 5 and game development in general.
- Unreal Engine 5 System Requirements
- Unreal Engine 5 Laptop Considerations
- Best Overall Laptop For Unreal Engine 5
- Best High-End Laptop For Unreal Engine 5 (Over 1,400)
- Best Mid Range Laptop For Unreal Engine 5 (Under 1,000)
- Best Budget Laptop For Unreal Engine 5 (Under 800)
- Best Laptop For Unreal Engine 5 Summary
- FAQ
Unreal Engine 5 System Requirements
Unreal Engine 5 is used for creating interactive 3D content. This could be for video games, movies and architectural visualizations. Before we look at the best laptops for Unreal Engine 5, we need to understand the system requirements. This will ensure our picks are suitable and up to the task.
| Recommended | |
| Operating System: | Windows 10 64-bit version 1909 revision .1350 or higher, or versions 2004 and 20H2 revision .789 or higher. |
| Processor: | Quad-core Intel or AMD, 2.5 GHz or faster |
| Memory (RAM): | 8 GB |
| Graphics Card: | DirectX 11 or 12 compatible graphics card |
| RHI Version: | DirectX 11: Latest drivers DirectX 12: Latest drivers Vulkan: AMD (21.11.3+) and NVIDIA (496.76+) |
Unreal Engine 5 Laptop Considerations
To run Unreal Engine 5 you’ll require a pretty powerful processor and a decent graphics card will be essential. A large amount of memory is going to help processing, and a large storage drive is essential for all the generated content.
So it’s important that out laptop picks exceed these requirements for smooth performance. We will also explore options at lower price points for those on a tighter budget.
Best Overall Laptop For Unreal Engine 5
Our pick for the best overall laptop for Unreal Engine 5, and game development in general is: MSI GE76 Raider Gaming Laptop. MSI are known for the powerful and reliable laptops, and this is no exception.
So what makes this the best overall laptop for Unreal Engine 5? Well it more than beats the recommended system requirements, should last you at least three years and will pretty much run anything you throw at it.
The laptop contains a high spec 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11800H processor running at to 4.6 GHz. The 32 GB of DDR4 RAM is more than enough for pretty much any game on today’s market and should ensure smooth running of Unreal Engine 5.
Graphics wise it contains a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, which has 6GB dedicated GDDR6 VRAM. The RTX 3060 is powered by award-winning architecture with new Ray Tracing Cores, Tensor Cores, and streaming multiprocessors. It also has DirectX 12 Ultimate support for the ultimate gaming performance.
The screen is a 17.3″ widescreen LED-backlit IPS FHD display with 1920 x 1080 resolution, 144Hz refresh rate.
For storage you will find a 2 TB NVMe SSD. No moving parts means faster start-up times and data access, no noise, and reduced heat production and power draw on the battery.
| Processor: | i7-11800H |
| Memory: | 32 GB RAM |
| Graphics: | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 |
| Screen size: | 17.3 Inches |
| Storage: | 2 TB NVMe SSD |
Best High-End Laptop For Unreal Engine 5 (Over 1,400)
Our pick for best high end laptop for Unreal Engine 5, and the most expensive of our picks, is the HP 2022 OMEN 17.3″ 165Hz Gaming Laptop. HP Omen is a well respected brand of gaming laptops.
The processor is an Intel Core i7-12700H. It is an ultra-low-voltage platform. 14-cores and 20-way processing provides maximum high-efficiency power to go.
Memory wise there is 32 GB of DDR5 RAM. This will provide you with plenty of bandwidth for processing and gaming.
The graphics card is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. GeForce RTX® 3070 Ti graphics cards are powered by Ampere. This is NVIDIA’s 2nd gen RTX architecture. Built with dedicated 2nd gen RT Cores and 3rd gen Tensor Cores, streaming multiprocessors, and high-speed memory, they give you the power you need to power through the most demanding games.
The display is a 17.3 inch QHD 165Hz display. The 2560 x 1440 resolution boasts impressive color and clarity, with an energy-efficient LED backlight. The keyboard is also back lit with RGB.
For storage there is a 2 TB NVMe SSD.
| Processor: | i7-12700H |
| Memory: | 32 GB RAM |
| Graphics: | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti |
| Screen size: | 17.3 Inches |
| Storage: | 2 TB NVMe SSD |
Best Mid Range Laptop For Unreal Engine 5 (Under 1,000)
As we move down the price points, you are going to have to sacrifice some performance. This is to be expected as top tier hardware does cost more. However, that doesn’t mean all options under 1,000 are poor choices!
The best laptop for Unreal Engine 5 Under 1,000 has to be the Lenovo Legion 5 Gaming Laptop. It is an ideal compromise between price and performance.
The processor is the AMD Ryzen 5 5600H which has 8 cores running at 3.2 GHz. Capable of running the latest games and high specification applications.
There is 32 GB of DDR4 RAM. This will provide you with plenty of bandwidth for processing and gaming and matches higher priced models in this list.
The graphics card is a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti. This card is built with graphics performance of the NVIDIA Ampere architecture. It offers dedicated 2nd gen RT Cores and 3rd gen Tensor Cores, streaming multiprocessors, and high-speed G6 memory to tackle the latest games.
The screen is 15.6-inch full HD IPS display. It performs up to 120Hz refresh rate with <3 ms response time and features 100% sRGB color accuracy.
The storage option for this laptop is a very decent 2 TB NVMe SSD drive.
| Processor: | AMD Ryzen 5 5600H |
| Memory: | 32 GB RAM |
| Graphics: | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti |
| Screen size: | 15.6 Inches |
| Storage: | 2 TB NVMe SSD |
Best Budget Laptop For Unreal Engine 5 (Under 800)
Being realistic a laptop under 800 isn’t really going to cut it for professional or prolonged use of Unreal Engine 5. However, we felt it was important to find a laptop that surpasses the basic requirements at the lowest acceptable price point.
It won’t be perfect for Unreal Engine 5, but the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 should at least let you get a taste for it on a limited budget.
The processor is 3.3 GHz AMD Ryzen 6000H, which can hold its own playing many of the latest game titles. The 8 GB of DDR5 RAM inside the case is the minimum of most modern games.
This model contains a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Graphics Card. Again, no slouch in terms of performance and allows for realistic ray-traced graphics and cutting-edge AI features.
The screen is 15.6 inch FHD IPS with 120Hz refresh rate. The major drawback of this model is that it only contains a 256 GB NVMe SSD, so a storage upgrade may be required in the future.
| Processor: | AMD Ryzen 5 6000H |
| Memory: | 8 GB RAM |
| Graphics: | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 |
| Screen size: | 15.6 Inches |
| Storage: | 256 GB NVMe SSD |
Best Laptop For Unreal Engine 5 Summary
Overall you’re going to want to spend some serious cash if you’re purchasing a laptop to use Unreal Engine 5 in a professional capacity. Make sure any laptop you buy surpasses the recommended system requirements to future proof against future versions.
Please check out our gaming laptop buying guide for further information on the topic of purchasing gaming laptops.