Over the years, gaming laptops have improved immeasurably, shrinking in size while jumping up in power. Battery life remains an issue, and they're never going to be as powerful with all those components packed into a tiny space, but if you spend a lot of time traveling or simply don't have room for a desktop in your life, a gaming laptop is the next best thing. You can augment the experience too with a wide range of accessories to offset the reduced specs of your native hardware, and that's what we're looking at here.
Superior mouse
HyperX makes a range of great gaming accessories, and recently I took their Pulsefire FPS Pro for a spin, and it quickly became my favorite pointer. Complete with robust Windows software and a wide range of features, the 16,000 DPI Pulsefire FPS sports an ergonomic design, complete with a powerful PixArt sensor and six customizable buttons to enhance your game.
Keyboard free
With system-level support on Windows, the Xbox One controller works with most modern titles and can provide a better experience than a mouse and keyboard in genres like fighting games and racers. Available in a wide range of colors and styles, the Xbox One controller supports Bluetooth connectivity for wireless play, USB 2.0 for wired play, and is widely regarded as the gold standard of gamepads.
Great wired headset
We're throwing in another HyperX product for good measure. The incomparable Cloud Pro wired headset is in a league of its own for high-quality audio at an affordable price. With next-level comfort, a subtle but robust design, and sublime 53mm drivers, this is a headset that simply demands attention. For laptop users, it also comes with an awesome carrying case for when you're going fully mobile.
External display
For the price, the incomparable AOC Agon AG27 is currently our pick for the best external gaming monitor, boasting an impressive 144hz display, complete with FreeSync for silky-smooth frames and a speedy 1ms response time. If you're looking to step up above your laptop's internal display, this HDMI panel is a great option.
Battery juice on the move
Although you'll most likely do the lion's share of your gaming while plugged into a wall outlet, if you ever fancy gaming on battery power, you'll probably know that it burns through most laptop batteries like nobody's business. As such, this Anker external battery might be a worthwhile consideration. Boasting a 22000mAh battery, the Anker PowerCore contains enough juice to fully charge most laptops at least a couple of times.
Pack it up
Amazon makes a wide range of products under its "Basics" brand, and quite honestly, a lot of their products go far beyond what I'd describe as basic. This Amazon Basics laptop bag is just $34, sporting high-quality construction and materials, with plenty of storage for all of the accessories in this article and more. It sports space for laptops up to 17 inches.
Essential gaming accessories
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If I had to recommend just one product on this list, as someone who games primarily on a Surface Book 2 laptop, it's always fun to flip the laptop up in tent mode and connect up an Xbox One controller for some casual gaming. The HyperX Cloud Pro headset is also a supreme no-nonsense headset both for work and play, with a detachable microphone too if you fancy just connecting it up to a phone and listening to some music.
