Every laptop we have figures for

Frame rates measured by Notebookcheck.

What it asks of a laptop

Sons of the Forest is reasonably demanding at 1,920 x 1,080 on the High preset with upscaling off, but the measured results suggest that it is more interested in delivering a stable 60fps-class experience than exceptionally high frame rates. Across the 11 laptops in Notebookcheck's figures, performance ranges from 34fps to 94fps, with a median of 80fps.

That is a broad 60fps spread between the fastest and slowest machines, although most of the tested gaming laptops sit within a much narrower band. Ten of the 11 laptops reached at least 60fps, while none reached 100fps and none reached 144fps. In practical terms, a reasonably modern dedicated gaming GPU appears sufficient for a good 1080p High experience in these results, but buying a far more expensive GPU does not guarantee a proportionately higher frame rate.

The separation between GPU tiers is relatively compressed among the faster systems. The two RTX 4090 laptops averaged 91fps, while the four RTX 4070 laptops averaged 82fps. The two RTX 4060 systems averaged 76fps. That means the measured gap from the RTX 4060 average to the RTX 4090 average is 15fps, rather than the kind of scaling that would turn an already-fast 76fps result into a 144fps result.

There are also some important laptop-specific results here. The RTX 4080-equipped HP Omen 17-ck2097ng recorded 75fps, below every measured RTX 4070 result except none: the RTX 4070 group ran between 72fps and 88fps, and the Omen's result sits towards the lower end of that overall cluster. Meanwhile, the RTX 4050 Lenovo Legion Pro 5 reached 76fps, matching the RTX 4060 average from the two measured machines. These figures should not be treated as a universal GPU hierarchy; laptop power limits and the rest of each machine clearly matter, and some tiers are represented by only one laptop.

The clear outlier is the Acer Aspire 5 with an RTX 2050 at 35W, which achieved 34fps. It is the only measured laptop below 60fps and demonstrates that this game has a meaningful baseline GPU requirement at High settings without upscaling. A lower-power entry-level GPU is a much less comfortable fit than the dedicated gaming hardware in the rest of the sample.

What runs it

For the tested laptops, 60fps at 1080p High was achievable on every GPU tier from RTX 4050 upwards, plus the measured RTX 4060, RTX 4070, RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 machines. It was not achieved by the 35W RTX 2050 system.

• RTX 4090: The Schenker Key 17 Pro recorded 94fps and the Medion Erazer Beast X40 recorded 88fps, for a 91fps mean across two laptops. Both comfortably cleared 60fps, but neither reached 100fps.
• RTX 4070: Four 140W RTX 4070 laptops produced 88fps, 86fps, 83fps and 72fps. All four cleared 60fps. The 82fps mean is strong for the test settings, although it still leaves no measured RTX 4070 laptop at 100fps.
• RTX 4060: The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 reached 80fps and the MSI Katana 17 reached 73fps. Both are above 60fps, with a 76fps average across the pair.
• RTX 4050: The Lenovo Legion Pro 5 16ARX8 recorded 76fps. This is only one result, so it is evidence for that specific laptop rather than a blanket recommendation for all RTX 4050 models.
• RTX 4080: The HP Omen 17-ck2097ng managed 75fps. That is above 60fps but, on this one measured laptop, not ahead of the RTX 4060 and RTX 4050 results listed above.
• RTX 2050: The Acer Aspire 5 recorded 34fps. At these settings, that specific 35W RTX 2050 laptop does not provide a 60fps experience.

No measured laptop cleared 100fps, including the 175W RTX 4090 Schenker Key 17 Pro at 94fps. Equally, no system came close to a measured 144fps result. A high-refresh-rate panel may still be useful outside this particular test, but these figures do not support buying for 100fps or 144fps High-preset performance in Sons of the Forest.

The cheapest laptop that handles it

No laptop prices are included in the fact sheet, so it is not possible to identify the cheapest model that handles the game or make a valid GBP value comparison.

Looking only at the measured performance, the lowest named GPU tier to exceed 60fps was the RTX 4050 in the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 16ARX8, which recorded 76fps. The MSI Katana 17 with RTX 4060 also cleared the target at 73fps, while the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 with RTX 4060 reached 80fps. These are candidates to compare on price when shopping, but the performance data alone cannot establish which is cheapest.

The Acer Aspire 5 is the obvious machine to avoid if the aim is 60fps at the tested settings: its 35W RTX 2050 result was 34fps.

What this means if you're buying

For a laptop bought specifically to run Sons of the Forest at 1080p High without upscaling, the measured data points towards a modern RTX 4050-, RTX 4060- or RTX 4070-equipped gaming laptop as the sensible starting point. The available results show 72fps to 88fps from the four RTX 4070 machines, 73fps and 80fps from the two RTX 4060 machines, and 76fps from the single RTX 4050 Legion Pro 5.

There is little evidence here that an RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 laptop is necessary solely for this game at these settings. The RTX 4090 systems were fastest at 88fps and 94fps, but neither crossed 100fps, while the single measured RTX 4080 system returned 75fps. Pay attention to the exact laptop rather than assuming the GPU label alone decides the outcome.

If 60fps is the priority, the measured figures are encouraging for most dedicated gaming laptops in this sample: 10 of 11 achieved it. If the priority is consistently exceeding 100fps or making full use of a 144Hz display at High settings with upscaling off, the current figures offer no confirmed laptop option.