Dota 2, also known as Defense of the Ancients, is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). To run it, you need a laptop with a set of powerful specs. In this guide, we have compiled the best laptops Dota 2 gaming to help you have a competitive advantage over other competing teams.
Our Top Laptops for Dota 2 Gaming
If you are looking to outshine your opponents while playing Dota 2, we believe the following laptops will help give a competitive edge.
Best Overall: Acer Predator Helios 300
The Acer Predator Helios 300 is one of the most highly coveted gaming laptops. It comes with a 9th generation Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia’s GTX 1660Ti graphics card, which offers 6 GB of dedicated video memory. It also features a 15.6 inch full HD (1080p), 144Hz IPS display.
This beast of a laptop handles all the A-listed games in the market in recommended settings, without any lag. Suffice to say, Dota 2 will be a piece of cake for it. This machine ships with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD, both of which you can upgrade.
The build quality of the Acer Predator Helios 300 satisfies its up to date specs, giving off a premium feel. You can attribute this laptop’s alluring vibe to its metal-aluminum chassis on top and in the deck.
An added touch of blue accents on the lid, vents, and ports further exude this premium feel. The Predator logo lights up when you power on the laptop as the cherry on top.
Despite containing metal as its primary material, the underside consists of high-quality plastic. This is because plastic is better for thermal regulation and is lighter, making the overall weight of the laptop to be a little over 5 pounds.
This laptop’s full-sized keyboard is comfortable to type on, with well-spaced out keys, having a 1.7 mm travel distance. The trackpad is large, and windows precision drivers work perfectly.
The speakers don’t distort sound even when they are loud, and you can configure them easily using Waves MaxxAudio sound technology for hyper-realistic 3D audio. You will love the immersive audio experience which makes this laptop a great fit for Dota 2.
What We Like:
- Thin bezels with a 720p webcam on top
- Four-zone RGB backlit keyboard
- Great sound quality
- Excellent thermal cooling
- Large trackpad
- A decent number of ports
- Two NVMe slots
What We Don’t Like:
- No Thunderbolt 3 port
- Screen not great for outdoor use (doesn’t get bright enough)
- 9th Generation Intel Core i7-9750H 6-Core Processor (Upto 4. 5 gramHz) with Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Graphics with 6 GB of dedicated GDDR6 VRAM
- 15. 6" Full HD (1920 x 1080) Widescreen LED-backlit IPS display (144Hz Refresh Rate, 3ms Overdrive...
Best for the Money: MSI GS65
The MSI GS65 is all about gaming performance. It packs a 6 core Intel Core i7 processor that can be overclocked to 4.5 GHz and Nvidia’s RTX 2070 graphics card, which offers an astounding 8 GB of dedicated video memory. The GPU is an RTX series that supports ray tracing technology, giving better visuals than alternative GPUs.
While using this laptop, you’ll note a notable difference in graphics when playing the most recent games, and the 2070 GPU deserves all the hype it’s getting. MSI’s GS65 comes with dual-channel 32 GB RAM, and 1 TB NVMe SSD, all of which you can easily upgrade. Not that you’ll have a reason to: at least not in the near future.
Onto the design, the GS65 looks different from most other MSI gaming laptops, having red accents and schemes. This laptop now has mature gold accents on the logo and edges. Nevertheless, it still gives off a gamer’s vibe.
As is the standard with MSI gaming laptops, the GS65 contains a generous amount of ports including an SD card slot and now a thunderbolt 3 port: as if the 8 GB VRAM wasn’t more than enough.
The full HD display has a 240Hz refresh rate which is great for gaming. When stacking up the GS65 against other laptops in its price range, it outshines them in nearly every department. Games like Dota 2 have higher frame rates in ultra settings when playing on this powerful machine.
This laptop includes 3 fans, four exhausts, and 7 heat pipes for cooling. As a result, you’ll hardly encounter thermal throttling when putting the GS65 to the heaviest of workloads. There’s a dedicated cooler boost key on the keyboard, to access MSI’s dragon center. Here, you can make custom profiles for your various needs, be it gaming or any other intensive task.
What We Like:
- Exceptional design and build quality
- RAM upgradeable to 64 GB
- Individual key backlighting
- Consistently higher frame rates
What We Don’t Like:
- Pricy
- Poor battery life
- Display: 15.6" Fhd, Anti-Glare Wide View Angle 240Hz 8ms 1920x1080 16: 9
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX2070 Max-Q 8G GDDR6
- Processor: Intel Core i7-9750h 2.6 - 4.5GHz; Nahimic 3.0 Surround Sound virtualization
Best Cheap: Asus TUF Gaming Laptop 748
As a budget-conscious gamer, then you should seriously consider the Asus TUF gaming laptop. It features the Ryzen 5 3559H, which is a 4 Core, 8 thread processor that can turbo boost to 3.7 GHz and Nvidia’s GTX 1650 graphics card that offers 4 GB of VRAM.
With such specifications, it runs games like Dota 2 in ultra settings without breaking a sweat.
When you think of casual use and gaming performance, Asus did an outstanding job with this machine. It contains the right components, to provide amazing results, at a reasonable price. If you boost the processor with AMD’s Turbo Core Technology, all 4 cores will get the added speed of up to 3.7 GHz.
This is, of course, better than Intel’s turbo boost which overclocks only one or two processors to their max.
To save on battery, this laptop automatically assesses the graphical workload, and assigns the most appropriate GPU for the job, be it gaming or casual use.
The 15.6-inch display is a full HD, 120 Hz, IPS panel. The latter feature means you also get wide viewing angles- great when twisting and turning while playing Dota 2. This beast of a machine also ships with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB PCIe SSD, which are upgradable. If you require more storage, there’s a vacant 2.5-inch bay for your additional drives.
The RGB backlit keyboard feels sturdy enough to handle multiple key presses and the touchpad is pretty nice. This laptop retains polished looks and has premium build quality. Despite the Asus TUF’s intricate cooling system, it still weighs less than 5 pounds.
This machine’s weight to performance ratio is on par with some of the best gaming laptops available. It also includes many IO ports including Ethernet and HDMI.
What We Like:
- Durable military grade keyboard
- Fast charging battery
- A generous number of ports
- Great price to performance ratio
- Upgrades are easy to access
What We Don’t Like:
- Ships with small capacity storage
- Turbo mode causes fans to be loud
- Poor battery life
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 4GB graphics (base: 1395MHz, Boost: 1560MHz, TDP: 50W)
- Quad-core AMD Ryzen 5 r5-3550h processor
- 15.6” 120Hz full HD (1920x1080) IPS-type display
Best Portable: Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop
The Acer Aspire 5 is the best-selling laptop on Amazon, according to their metrics. This is not a surprise considering all the benefits on offer, and you won’t have to break the bank to get it. The laptop runs on an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, backed up with Nvidia’s GeForce MX250 that delivers 2 GB of graphics memory.
With its specifications, you can deduce that the Aspire 5 works admirably no matter what you throw at it, and that includes delivering perfect performance when running Dota 2 in ultra settings. This slim laptop ships with 12 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD storage, which will give you excellent read/write speeds.
The Acer Aspire 5 Slim laptop also sports a full HD, 15.6-inch display. It’s an IPS display that’s vibrant, bright, and crisp. It’s also integrated with light filtering technology to reduce eyestrain. This machine also has a long battery life powering on the laptop for 9.5 hours under basic workloads.
The laptop’s body has a nice premium aluminum finish on top and lightweight durable plastic on other parts. Weighing less than 4 pounds, you’d think the manufacturer compromised on the number of input and output ports. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth, since this machine includes all the standard ports.
On the top bezel, there’s a 720p camera and two built-in microphones, perfect for convening meetings on skype or catching up with your friends on the battlefield. Best of all, this laptop features the latest dual-band Wi-Fi, having Mu MIMO technology.
In essence, your wireless internet connection will be faster and more stable with this laptop than in previous Wi-Fi 802 ac adapters. You wouldn’t want to abandon your comrades alone on the battlefield, and the reliable connection ensures that.
What We Like:
- Excellent full HD screen with built-in light filtering technology
- Wide viewing angles IPS display
- Lightweight since it weighs 3.97 pounds only
- Comes with a generous generous number of ports
- Full-sized backlit keyboard
- Dual Band 2.4 and 5 GHz channel
What We Don’t Like:
- Basic speakers
- Rowdy fans
- 8th Generation Intel Core i7 8565u Processor (Upto 4.6 gram Hz) | 12GB DDR4 Memory | 512GB PCIe NVMe...
- 15.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080) widescreen LED backlit IPS display | NVIDIA GeForce MX250 with 2 GB of...
- 1 USB 3.1 Type C Gen 1 port, 2 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Ports (one with Power off Charging), 1 USB 2.0 Port & 1...
What Makes a Good Laptop for Dota 2
Looking at the official requirements for Dota 2, you will find them to be misleading and outdated. This problem is clear from the high number of complaints from people having a dual-core processor, which is one of the minimum system requirements. Below are factors you need to consider when looking for a laptop for Dota 2, and many other A-listed games.
Design
When buying a gaming laptop, you have to look at it in terms of its features and how they match up to your purpose. For example, there are large displays like 17-inch diagonals. Now, even though the larger panel is great for gaming, the laptop tends to be bulky.
Smaller screens, however light, usually have unsatisfactory cooling performance. Additionally, the small screen real estate is bad for gaming, and you might want to hook up a larger external monitor, which isn’t always accessible.
15-inch panels like the ones featured in laptops on this review are light enough to carry them every day, yet offer lots of performance in a relatively light chassis.
Storage
Dota 2 only needs 8 GB of hard drive space. The laptops in this review have more than enough space to install the game. Furthermore, some have additional slots to add a traditional 2.5-inch mechanical disk drive or varying types of SSDs. If you need to, you won’t have a problem adding more storage.
RAM
Dota 2 requires a minimum of 4 GB RAM. The premium gaming laptops in this review go well beyond that. You can add even more memory (up to 64 GB in some) to efficiently run multiple processes at the same time.
They also come with two memory slots (dual channel), which improves gaming performance.
Heat Management
Even though Dota 2 doesn’t need much processing power, you might experience some thermal throttling on non-gaming PCs.
Heat management is important and that is why the laptops in this list have two or more fans to cool down their processor and GPU. They have fans on opposite ends of heat pipes running across the middle of their motherboard.
Display
Games like Dota 2 are visually demanding, and you have to be ready to see your opponents and targets clearly. It’s not all a matter of size. One of the forefront issues when looking for a gaming laptop is the screen refresh rate. Most of the machines in this list have a 144 Hz panel, good RGB color representation, and peak brightness for outdoor use.
GPU
For a gaming laptop, the most critical component is its graphics processing unit. This factor is even more important than, say, differentiating a core i5 to an i7 processor. Dota 2 needs a minimum of 500 MB VRAM to play on the recommended settings.
Nevertheless, the more the merrier. The laptops in this review deliver 2 GB VRAM or more. Besides, you will be more primed to play even more demanding games with the options laid out.
Input devices
When it comes to playing Dota 2, your mouse and keyboard are what you need to interact with your character. Choose a keyboard that feels good to type one, with key switches to match your rapid motion.
RGB backlit keyboards are great for not only seeing them in the dark, but they also imply that you have a very capable machine. Your mouse should also be large and responsive enough to register your inputs swiftly.
Conclusion
Dota is a constantly improving game, including even more features. Many gamers are waiting for the latest version after Dota 2, with Epic Games constantly pushing the release date forward. When that time comes, be confident in either of the machines in this list to fluidly handle Dota 2 and its incumbent, at ultra settings.
