Every laptop we have figures for

Frame rates measured by Notebookcheck.

What it asks of a laptop

Alan Wake Remastered is not especially difficult for the eight gaming laptops represented in Notebookcheck’s figures, at least at 1,920 x 1,080 using the High preset with upscaling off. Every machine recorded more than 60fps, including the slowest result, so the measured sample suggests that a properly configured gaming laptop does not need top-end hardware merely to deliver a console-style 60fps experience.

That conclusion needs a qualification: this is a sample of eight laptops, not a comprehensive test of every laptop GPU and power configuration. The figures describe these specific machines, rather than guaranteeing that every laptop carrying the same GPU will perform identically.

The spread is nevertheless useful. Results range from 79fps on the Schenker XMG Apex 17 M21 with an RTX 3070 to 155fps on the MSI GE76 Raider with an RTX 3080 Ti running at 175W. That is a 76fps gap between the slowest and fastest systems, while the median result is 131fps. The game is therefore forgiving at the 60fps level in this group, but substantially faster hardware can still matter if the aim is a high-refresh-rate frame rate.

The GPU labels do not form a neat performance ladder in these numbers. For example, the RTX 4060-equipped MSI Katana 17 reached 145fps, ahead of both RTX 3070 Ti systems, while the listed RTX 3070 result was 79fps. The RTX 4050-equipped Schenker XMG Apex 15 also managed 132fps. That makes laptop implementation important when reading the figures: the RTX 4050 result comes from a 140W machine, while the RTX 3080 Ti result comes from a 175W machine and one RTX 3070 Ti is specified at 130W. Buyers should not treat the GPU name alone as a precise performance promise.

What runs it

For 60fps at the tested 1080p High setting, all eight measured laptops clear the target. The lowest result is still 79fps from the Schenker XMG Apex 17 M21 with RTX 3070 graphics. Above that sit the Lenovo Legion S7 15ACH6 with RTX 3060 at 100W, at 82fps, and the HP Victus 16-e0145ng with RTX 3050 Ti at 75W, at 95fps. Based on these particular results, even the lower-scoring machines have headroom above 60fps.

The 100fps line is more selective. Five of the eight laptops reach it:

• MSI GE76 Raider, RTX 3080 Ti at 175W: 155fps.
• MSI Stealth GS66, RTX 3070 Ti: 146fps.
• MSI Katana 17, RTX 4060: 145fps.
• Schenker XMG Apex 15 (Late 23), RTX 4050 at 140W: 132fps.
• Aorus 17 XE4, RTX 3070 Ti at 130W: 130fps.

The remaining three systems stay below 100fps, but not by a huge margin in the case of the Victus: its 95fps result is only 5fps short. The RTX 3060 Legion and RTX 3070 Apex 17 are further away at 82fps and 79fps respectively.

For 144fps, only three measured machines qualify. The GE76 Raider leads at 155fps, followed by the Stealth GS66 at 146fps and Katana 17 at 145fps. These are close results, with just 10fps separating the latter two from the leader. The Aorus 17 XE4 at 130fps and Schenker XMG Apex 15 at 132fps are not far behind, but neither reaches the measured 144fps threshold.

Looking only at the supplied GPU-tier means reinforces the need for caution. The one-laptop RTX 3080 Ti average is 155fps, the one-laptop RTX 4060 average is 145fps, the two RTX 3070 Ti laptops average 138fps, and the single RTX 4050 result is 132fps. Those are useful reference points for the tested models, but several tiers have only one result, so they are not broad GPU-family verdicts.

The cheapest laptop that handles it

The fact sheet supplies a price for only one machine: the MSI Stealth GS66 with RTX 3070 Ti, listed at £2,688. It achieved 146fps at the tested 1080p High setting, making it one of the three laptops in this sample to exceed 144fps.

However, it would be inaccurate to call the Stealth GS66 the cheapest laptop that handles the game. No prices are provided for the other seven machines, including models that also exceed 60fps, 100fps or 144fps. The measured data confirms that the GS66 runs the game very well, but it does not provide enough pricing information to identify the lowest-cost option.

What this means if you’re buying

If 60fps at 1,920 x 1,080 on High without upscaling is the goal, this sample is encouraging: all eight laptops achieve it, from the 75W RTX 3050 Ti Victus at 95fps to the RTX 3080 Ti GE76 Raider at 155fps. There is no evidence here that Alan Wake Remastered requires an expensive flagship laptop for acceptable performance at these settings.

If the target is consistently above 100fps, the measured results point towards the five faster specific machines: the RTX 4050 Apex 15, RTX 4060 Katana 17, both RTX 3070 Ti laptops, and RTX 3080 Ti GE76 Raider. For a 144fps target, the evidence narrows further to the GE76 Raider, Stealth GS66 and Katana 17.

Most importantly, compare complete laptop configurations rather than buying solely on GPU badge. The 79fps RTX 3070 result and 145fps RTX 4060 result show how widely these measured machines can separate. For this game, the data supports buying according to the frame-rate target you actually need, while treating these eight results as model-specific evidence rather than universal rules for every RTX 3050 Ti, RTX 3060, RTX 3070, RTX 4050, RTX 4060, RTX 3070 Ti or RTX 3080 Ti laptop.