Best gaming laptop from China in 2021 - MSI, Acer or Xiaomi?

When looking at almost all the laptops we are considering, it immediately becomes clear that we have a gaming machine in front of us. It can be seen that the creators focused on the home use of a computer - not everyone wants to regularly carry such a monster somewhere with them. This is not even evidenced by the design, but by the weight of the devices - it varies from 2 to 2.5 kg.

Pleased with thin bezels around the display. Especially with MSI - this laptop turned out to be quite narrow even the area above the screen where the webcam is located. And, perhaps, it is this laptop that deserves the highest rating. However, Acer is not inferior to him too much. What can not be said about Xiaomi. It should be recognized that this is an outsider of our comparison, then you will see this. We can safely say that Xiaomi is most similar to a regular office laptop. It is thinner than the others, and not even as heavy. However, some people might even like it.

The keyboard deserves a separate story.The Xiaomi laptop has an island type and a very low speed. No doubt, it makes typing as comfortable as possible. But in the case of games, complaints begin to arise. In particular - to the arrows, which here do not have free space around. And the device did not receive a digital block. There is a backlight for the keys, but you can't make it shine in different colors. Because of all this, the laptop becomes even more like a conditional MacBook. Another drawback of the keyboard used here is the lack of Cyrillic. Fortunately, laser engraving is now available in every major city. The laptop from Xiaomi also has a tangible advantage in the form of a fingerprint scanner on the touchpad.

Alas, the keys in the Lenovo gaming laptop are also highlighted in blue (only brightness can be adjusted). But the shape of the keys here will suit the gamer much more. Their stroke is 1.5 mm, and the arrows are surrounded by at least a small free space. And it even has a digital block! Even if you do not work as an accountant, you can attach some additional commands to these keys. There are no special claims to the touchpad.

The other two laptops boast superbly implemented RGB keyboard backlighting. This means that the gamer will be able to highlight the arrows and the WASD block in a separate color. Also, a digital block will be available to him. The key travel is a little less than 2 mm. You can only find fault with the aforementioned arrows. They are full-sized, but there is no free zone around them - right above them are Shift, Enter and the number "1".

No modern gaming laptop can boast of a miniature size. It doesn't make any sense. So the Chinese models we have chosen are quite large. As a result, all of them found a place for the display, the diagonal of which is 15.6 inches. And Acer, and Xiaomi, and other companies have relied on the IPS-matrix. This is the best and cheapest way to achieve maximum viewing angles, thanks to which you can enjoy the game in absolutely any position, even lying on the couch. The resolution is the same - 1920x1080 pixels are waiting for you.

Of course, the details of the screens may differ. But it only becomes noticeable in a direct comparison when the laptops are next to each other. With one exception. Even relatively inexpensive Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 and MSI GL65 configurations will please with a 120-Hz refresh rate. Xiaomi does not have such an option at all - you will have to see the standard 60 frames / s. As for Aser, the situation with him is twofold. For little money, he will also offer only the standard frequency.But if you decide to splurge on one of the most expensive configurations, you can get your hands on a computer with a Sharp screen with a response time of 3ms and a frequency of 240Hz! But our comparison included a cheaper model, so it does not deserve the highest rating.

It is a rare case when all four laptops we have chosen were based on completely different processors. The Chinese company Lenovo has relied on a chip from the AMD Ryzen 5 series. As you know, it does not suffer from unstable operation, and the clock speed of its six cores has been increased to 3000 MHz. This will be enough for any game, as well as for most professional programs. The remaining three manufacturers have chosen Intel products, but they are also far from the weakest. In particular, MSI has no problems with power reserve. Worst of all, it shows itself, as you might guess, Xiaomi. There was no place for an advanced cooling system in a thin laptop, so I had to opt for a modest quad-core chip, whose clock speed does not exceed 1600 MHz.

If we talk about RAM, then the largest amount is installed in a laptop from Lenovo. It is important.All other computers from China use 8 GB. At the same time, MSI looks a little better than the rest, since the operating frequency of its bars is slightly higher.

As for the webcam, it is equally bad in all laptops. What can not be said about the speakers. The laptops we have chosen sound better than their office counterparts. But you still should not hope for bass - an ideal speaker system is used only in much more expensive gaming and even heavier laptops.

Since the laptops selected for this comparison are considered gaming, they could not do without a discrete graphics card. And here there is unanimity of the majority of manufacturers. Almost all of them opted for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650. Even the amount of video memory does not differ - in any case, 4 GB are waiting for you. Yes, I would like something fresher. Yes, I also want more memory. But we focus on affordable laptops, and not on models costing over 100 thousand rubles.

Xiaomi, as expected, again shows itself worse than the rest. Its buyer will have to use the GeForce GTX 1050, and even with an older type of video memory. However, this does not mean that the computer will not pull modern games at all. Just with this screen resolution, you will have to count on 30-40 frames / s, or seriously reduce the graphics settings.At this point, you begin to understand that a 144-Hz display would simply not be useful to such a laptop.

As for the three competitors, they allow you to get much more enjoyment from the game. For example, Acer renders over 80 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider with high graphics settings. In Far Cry 5, you can count on 100 fps at all. And only in the demanding Red Dead Redemption II is the bar reduced to 55-56 fps.

The results of the other two laptops in games with similar graphics settings are about the same, or slightly worse. Of course, if you switch to "Ultra", then the frame counter will begin to sag noticeably. But in this case, you can count on 35-65 fps, depending on the selected game.

The best way to play online involves a wired connection to a router. Therefore, laptops from China received a gigabit network card at their disposal. However, it is not necessary to rely on the LAN port. Acer and MSI are ready to connect to the 802.11ax Wi-Fi network, featuring low latency and high data transfer rates. If only the router supported this standard. As for the other two laptops, they only connect to a slower network. If we talk about Bluetooth, then it is expectedly supported by all four computers.

All laptops in this comparison are modern. Therefore, you should not be surprised at the presence of USB 3.1 Type-C and other high-speed connectors in them. Practice shows that the buyer will not have any problems connecting a laptop to a monitor or TV, as well as reading information from an external SSD. In a word, in this regard, everyone deserves praise, especially MSI and, oddly enough, Xiaomi.

Evaluating the battery used in these laptops is extremely difficult. The fact is that operating scenarios can be completely different, and therefore the operating time will also differ. If you decide to play, then in any case you will need to connect the power supply in just an hour - as you know, even a mobile version of a video card consumes 50-60 watts. But in more gentle modes, laptops are noticeably more pleasing. For example, Lenovo is able to play videos in Full HD resolution without activated wireless networks for ten hours. MSI in this regard shows itself a little worse, but its result cannot be called indecently low. Xiaomi owners can count on 5-6 hours of video playback in an online cinema. A similar result is expected from Acer.

Another advantage of a laptop from Lenovo should be noted. It supports fast charging technology. This reduces battery life, so this option must first be activated in the settings.

Considering how much weaker the Xiaomi laptop from China looks, it might seem that it should cost less than the rest. But if you buy it in Russia, then the situation is observed - strictly the opposite. Apparently, they ask for big money because of the minimum thickness and similarity with the MacBook. And also because of the 1000 GB SSD.

We will not argue with the fact that the other three laptops are significantly more difficult to transport. But if you use them only at home, then the price will certainly please you. If you think about it, then assembling a desktop computer with similar components now will come out even a little more expensive (unless the price of video cards has dropped since the writing of the article). But you need to understand that we have chosen younger or close to those configurations, which are not even always available. For more memory and a screen with a higher frame rate, sellers are asking for completely different money.

Which laptop from China is more profitable to buy? It is not easy to answer this question. We honestly tried to identify the winner. But the gap between MSI and Lenovo turned out to be quite miserable, and in terms of the number of nominations won, they are completely equal. However, one cannot but admit that Acer also showed itself well done. Especially in terms of the keyboard.

It should be noted that the three aforementioned laptops are supplied without an operating system - the buyer will have to install Windows on their own. In Xiaomi, they did not save on this. However, the laptop of this company still cannot be called a gaming one. Yes, he has a video card. But its keyboard does not have RGB backlighting, and the power of the components is only enough to run modern games at medium graphics settings.