Skip to main content

Finally, high refresh rates aren’t only for gaming laptops anymore

High refresh rates are a gaming feature through and through. Refresh rates higher than 60Hz have become standard on gaming laptops and monitors, and I get it. By far, it makes the biggest difference in games.

But there’s no reason it needs to be a feature exclusive to gaming. It’s become a high-end feature on smartphones, but I’ve been waiting for it to finally break into the world of normal laptops.

Recommended Videos

Today is that day. At CES 2021, Lenovo has finally announced a pair of non-gaming laptops that have a refresh rate that breaches 60Hz. The IdeaPad 5i Pro comes in two size variants, 14-inch and 16-inch, but both come with refresh rates over 60Hz. The 14-inch model comes with a 90Hz panel, while the 16-inch comes with a 120Hz panel. Of the dozens and dozens of non-gaming laptops that launched at CES, they were the only ones to include the feature.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Both of these laptops do come with a discrete GPU, so gaming will obviously benefit from the refresh rate as well. But honestly, I’d like to see these higher refresh panels come to laptops of all kinds. Why? Well, a higher refresh makes all animations and graphics smoother. Even moving the cursor around, scrolling down on a webpage, or inking with a stylus on the screen — they all benefit from a panel that can refresh its frames at a faster rate.

The way forward is clearly outlined in the way it has been rolled out on mobile devices. The 120Hz screen first came to the iPad Pro in 2017, and it has been rumored to eventually hit the iPhone for years now. Meanwhile, it’s been an advanced feature of Android phones from companies like Samsung and OnePlus. I’d expect the same thing to happen on laptops, first appearing in high-end machines and eventually trickling down.

There’s some bad news though. So far, these are the only non-gaming laptops to have higher refresh rate panels to have been announced. Secondly, neither will be coming to North America, according to Lenovo.

Still, there’s hope. As is true with many tech features, they need to be experienced by users to eventually become a priority in future releases. The same is true here. If Lenovo starts small and then gradually expands, other companies will follow. Until then, gaming laptops are still the only real way to get a high refresh screen today. Hopefully a couple of years from now, that’s not still true.

Luke Larsen
Luke Larsen is the Senior Editor of Computing, managing all content covering laptops, monitors, PC hardware, Macs, and more.
Gaming laptops are being left behind
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 with the updated AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX CPU with key highlights at Computex 2024.

On the whole, Computex 2024 certainly did not disappoint. We've seen new processors from both Intel and AMD, Nvidia's AI gaming companion and small form factor GeForce guidelines, and handhelds like the ROG Ally X. But do you know the one thing we haven't seen much of at all? Gaming laptops made purely for gamers.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as fascinated by AI as much as any tech maniac, but I can't help but feel that laptop gamers have been overlooked this year. The worst part? It may be many, many months until that situation is remedied.
Gaming laptops? What gaming laptops?

Read more
An unexpected phone brand is about to make its gaming laptop debut
Redmagic showing two laptops.

When you think of RedMagic, you usually think of gaming smartphones like the RedMagic 8 Pro. But this time, as spotted in Geekbench, RedMagic is debuting in the gaming laptop arena. The RedMagic GN001J gaming laptop is confirmed to launch in June, but no specific date is available.

We do know, however, that this gaming laptop will pack an Intel Core i9-13950HX mobile processor, part of the last-gen Raptor Lake series, which would provide you with 24 cores and 32 threads at your disposal. This is an older chip, unfortunately, which hints that the device may land on the cheaper end of the spectrum.

Read more
Asus made the best-looking budget gaming laptop I’ve ever seen
The Asus TUF A14 on a table at a press event.

Asus' TUF Gaming line has always been among the cheap gaming laptops you can buy, but they've always been a bit ugly and thick. But at Computex 2024, Asus has unveiled its completely redesigned TUF A14, a follow-up to the TUF A15. Asus has cleaned up the look quite a bit, reducing it from around a full inch in thickness to just 0.78 inches. They've also been reduced from 5 pounds to just 3.2 pounds.

In fact, the new TUF A14 (and A16) look more like Asus' celebrated ROG Zephyrus G14 than the company's previous budget laptops.

Read more