VR is growing amongst people Very rapidly and this brings developers an opportunity to make some VR software for the people, So if you’re wondering which is the Best Laptop for VR Development in 2021 then This article is solely for you.
Based on your targeted audience and headset you may need a different laptop for developing the VR software. if you’re targeting to build software for Quest 2, HTV Vive or Rift then you’ll need to have good gaming laptop with decent GPU.
Also VR-ready laptops have come in to fill the gap. These have an HDMI port to support an external monitor, a sufficiently potent graphics processing unit (GPU), and various other bells and whistles that have been designed in keeping with the needs of digital content creators and gamers out there.
If you are into VR Development or even for playing games that are based on virtual reality (VR), you would love to use portable VR laptops that can generate detailed graphics, can support the fast frame rates that are required for producing life-like VR universe and have compatibility with complex VR headsets like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift or Quest 2.
Products | Specifications | Value for Money | Buy Now |
Acer i5 Laptop  |
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Lenovo 82B1000AUS  |
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Razer Blade Base  |
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MSI GL65 Leopard  |
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ASUS i7 ScreenPad  |
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Razer Stealth Ultrabook  |
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MAINGEAR Vector  |
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Acer Predator i7 laptop  |
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Alienware i7 Laptop  |
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Contents
What is the Requirement for VR Development?
Before Diving into the Best Laptop for VR development, let’s first understand what you’ll need for a VR software creation?
VR development is very much similar to creating 3D games or App. So one thing is clear you’ll need to work a lot on graphics things.
Any VR game will have 3 axes i,e X, Y and Z-axis. Then you’ll have to use some 3D game engines (Like Unity or Unreal engine).
1- Game Engine “Unity”– Unity is a 3D modeling platform for creating your VR software, It provides you most of the feature that is needed for any VR app like teleporting the character, Creating Virtual object, tracking the movement, adding audio files etc.
This software requires a significant amount of GPU to run on your computer.
2- Graphics Card- So the central requirement for any VR development laptop is having a dedicated graphics card.
Although Unity can run on laptops that have only integrated graphics, however, the experience will not be pleasant. thus I would advise you to have at least 2GB of dedicated graphics in your laptop.
3- CPU- CPU is also a major component to consider. it processes all your commands and inputs and brings back the output. so having a good CPU is also necessary.
Though there is no specific CPU recommended by Unity or other engines, you should have at least core i3 and ryzen 3 and above CPU.
VR gaming is much more entertaining, with gloves, headsets and various other accessories that can add more interest and excitement to regular PC gaming.
Virtual reality gaming has become so entertaining due to the very stunning audio-visual experience that it offers. That also means that the technical demands are much higher in this case..
It is critical to have the type and number of USB ports, processors, graphics cards, etc matching your favorite VR-compatible headset. That is why you have to pay more attention to the VR gaming PC system requirements issued by every manufacturer of VR headsets.
When it comes to bringing virtual reality successfully into your home, the biggest difficulty lies in getting robust hardware to operate the software and headsets.
Although gaming desktops also happen to be a practical option for powering your PC games and VR headset, few people actually have the kind of space that can accommodate the same. It is exactly due to that reason that you need a VR-ready laptop.
List of the Best Laptop for VR development
Here are some of the best VR laptops out there that you might like to choose from. These come from different brands and can handle VR requirements quite easily, satisfying the needs of gamers out there and fulfilling the kind of expectations that they have.
1. Acer i5 Gaming Laptop 10th Gen
Acer is a Prominent laptop brand out there in the market. this particular laptop is the latest 10th generation core i5 laptop, so you can expect some good performance in CPU.
As You’re looking for a good VR development laptop then this laptop also stands out on the Graphics card. It has NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 with 4GB of dedicated GDDR6 VRAM. It can smoothly run Unity or Unreal engine.
This is a 144hz-display laptop with 8GB DDR4 RAM. At the price, the laptop offers a very satisfying performance to many. When you play games, the fans may buzz loudly but that is an issue (as the laptop has to cool its system) with most VR laptops out there, and you can ignore the noise with a headset.
2. Lenovo Windows 82B1000AUS
Having a Full HD screen laptop gives an extra user experience over a normal screen. this laptop offers a 1920×1080 resolution and 144Hz screen with a 15.6-inch display. It will give you an immersive experience while Designing 3D objects, programming your VR app, and doing other graphics tasks.
When it comes to performance this laptop is equipped with the AMD Ryzen 7 CPU, so if you’re from those who give priority to performance this laptop is for you.
This particular CPU has 8 core and 16 threads so you can expect outstanding performance. you’ll easily be able to play VR games smoothly and run multiple programs simultaneously as it has 16 THREAD which means it will handle multi-tasking very efficiently
It is also powered by an NVIDIA GTX 1660Ti Graphics card with 6GB VRAM so it can easily co-process all the graphics-intensive tasks and commands. Rendering is a very important task in any graphics work thus this laptop will also do this job quite effectively.
If you casually install games and apps and few times you use those apps but you notice it’s taking so much space in your PC and you’re forced to uninstall the App then now you won’t face that problem. This PC has 512 GB of SSD storage so you can install your casual apps also.
3. Razer Blade Base Gaming Laptop
The next Laptop on our list for Best laptop for VR development is Razer Blade’s gaming laptop. This laptop also justifies your investment for your need.
This laptop also offers an Intel Core i7 CPU which is good enough to do multitasking and gaming or even rendering all the work you do in VR. It can easily increase your productivity with 6 core and 12 threads you can expect good performance even while multitasking.
Compact, sleek, and well constructed, this is a wonderful laptop that can attract you with a beautiful screen. It can run heavy games, although it gets slightly hotter while running them(You can consider using a laptop stand while using heavy games).
The screen of the laptop attracts with its small edge, even though laptop size is quite smaller but still, you get a 15.6 inch screen because of the small edge around the screen. It has 120 HZ with a 1990 x 1080 resolution screen which makes it even better.
again the GPU of this laptop is powered by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and you get 16 GB of RAM so you’re free to do whatever work you want to do on VR. even rendering will be much smoother now thanks to powerful GPU.
You also get all the important ports required for connecting your VR with the laptop so you will not need to purchase any external cable or etc.
4. MSI GL65 Leopard 10SFK-062 15.6″ FHD
| PROCESSOR | Core i7 10th generation |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 512 GB SSD NVMe |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 |
| Video RAM | 8GB DDR6 |
| OS | Win 10 |
It possibly gives the best value for money. This is a solid machine and the CPU, as well as RTX 2070, offers impeccable performance. sometimes running 3D modeling software occupy lots of CPU and GPU, so this laptop will easily handle those threads.
It offers great performance. No matter what you throw at it, the laptop can survive almost all. It has a robust keyboard. The responsive keys make the gaming performance much better and easier.
The company also guarantee real-time ray tracing in the game while you’re playing because of its powerful GPU with 8 GB of VRAM and this Graphics card is also equipped with AI-enhanced graphics
It also has a 144GZ 15.6 inch full HD display to give a more immersive experience while gaming or even developing VR apps. This laptop is also for those people who would do any live streaming through their laptop as it provides a 720p webcam in from of the screen.
One more interesting thing you get with this laptop is the RGB keyboard which enhances the overall look and feel of the laptop. One can easily operate the laptop in the dark with the help of RGB light.
You also get fast SSD storage of 512GB which is more than enough for gaming and VR development purpose. for connecting various port while developing your VR apps, it has all the different types of Port options.
5. ASUS i7 ScreenPad Plus Laptop
| Processor | Core i7 10th gen |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 1TB SSD |
| Graphics | GeForce RTX 2060 |
| Screen | 15.6 inch 4K touch screen + ScreenPad: 14 inch |
| Other | ASUS active pen included |
This laptop goes one step ahead in providing new features in a compact laptop. It has an extended screen till the keyboard. as well as touchpad cum numerical pad. (Meaning the numerical pad is also a touchpad for your laptop)
The screen is a touch screen so you can use the laptop without using the touchpad, however, you do get a touchpad at the bottom right corner.
This laptop has utilized each inch very carefully to make it compact and at the same time provide maximum features.
The CPU is powered by intel core i7 which is enough powerful for the Best laptop for VR development, also you get a GeForce RTX 2060 GPU which again more than enough for any VR development.
With a nice build quality and great performance, this ASUS laptop is ideal for the VR experience. It is not that expensive, unlike many of the competitors on the market, but the quality of VR gaming can be solid. For professional laptops, it sets a new standard.
For busy professionals who are short on time and need to multitask, this can be one of the best options worth picking up.
6. Razer Stealth Ultrabook Gaming Laptop
| Processor | Intel Core i7 11th gen |
| RAM | 16GB RAM |
| Storage | 512 GB SSD |
| Graphics | GeForce GTX 1650 Ti |
| Screen | 13.3 inches |
This laptop can add more excitement to your gaming sessions. Unlike many of the competitors on the market, it is very sharp in performance – considering the presence of a 13″ 1080p 120Hz screen provides a smooth picture quality either while playing games or developing different 3d objects.
With having the size of only 13 inches it is one of the compact laptops in the market so it also solves the portability issue that generally a gaming laptop has. so you can easily carry it in your backpack and it will fit in almost all the backpacks out there in the market.
With core i7 it provides sufficient computing power to run different VR development software whether for 3d modeling or ray tracing. and again to handle the graphics math calculation it has NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q graphics card which is enough to smoothly run the programs.
One more advantage of this laptop worth mentioning is its durability and build quality. It is made of a unibody aluminum frame and what this unibody aluminum means is that its frame is made of one single piece of aluminum.
A relative disadvantage with VR laptops is that there is a need to fit all components into a frame that is significantly smaller than that of a desktop PC. There is less space for cooling features, such as fans.
Such a laptop rarely has support for the hottest running and fastest GPUs and processors. That said, this one comes with the assurance of a superior level of cooling, boasts of a fantastic performance, and also comes with a very portable design.
7. MAINGEAR Vector Gaming Laptop i7 10750H
| Processor | Intel Core i7 10th gen |
| RAM | 16GB |
| Graphics | GeForce RTX2060 |
| Storage | 1TB NVMe SSD |
| Screen | 15.6″ FHD 144Hz Refresh rate |
If you have been looking for a laptop that can handle demanding computation sessions well enough, this is one option that you would not like to miss for anything. With RGB Backlit keyboard, GeForce RTX2060 Max-P 6GB GPU, 1TB NVMe SSD, 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10750H CPU, and 16GB RAM, this is a laptop that means business.
This one assures you a kind of performance that can match that of any other pricey laptop out there, at least most of them, and comes with impressive features and build.
The gaming experience is unmatched and the graphics and audio are rendered at blazing fast speeds. It is possible to run games here at significantly higher frame rates, and even at optimal settings.
You can also boost its speed up to 4.7 GHz with 6 core it becomes really really fast. the laptop is well optimized for gaming, content creation or even streaming. So this laptop not only fits for the Best laptop for VR development but also for content creation or even streaming.
It has also an attractive backlit keyboard with a compact and portable design to easily carry it in your backpack. If you would like to play games while on the move, this can be your device for the task. With fairly decent battery life, it has in it to keep you engaged for a few hours.
Its 15.6″ FHD 144Hz display is a great screen to render intense graphics. At the core of this laptop is speed, and the screen takes charge. If you are in search of AI-enhanced, most realistic, and one of the fastest gaming experiences, you can count on this.
8. Acer Predator i7 laptop
| Processor | Intel Core i7 10th gen |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 512GB NVMe SSD |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 |
| VRAM | 6GB |
| Screen | 15.6″ Full HD IPS display with 144Hz Refresh Rate |
Manufacturers such as Acer makes many varied models of VR laptops – which come with different types of technical specifications. These include many systems that are able to support even technologically advanced VR environments.
This is a VR-ready laptop that offers impeccable performance and can be your primary gaming rig if you want, given that it can deal with anything that you want it to run.
This laptop offers one of its kind keyboard in RGB design. You’ll see the spectrum of colors throughout the keyboard. The touchpad is big enough and very comfortably placed to easily operate the laptop and give the hand resting space.
For a VR development if you’re concerned with a good screen to experience all the graphics design and motion you create. Then this laptop is helpful in that, It has Full HD 15.6 inch with 144 Hz refresh rate IPS display.
This laptop is packed with a powerful processor of intel core i7 so you can easily do high-intensity work and use games with extreme graphics.
To further support the processor in performance it has 16 GB of RAM and a powerful GeForce RTX 2060 GPU. so it has both Beauty and Performance.
9. Alienware i7 VR development laptop
| Processor | Intel Core i7 10th gen |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 1TB SSD |
| Graphics | Nvidia Geforce RTX 2070 Super |
| VRAM | 8GB GDDR6 |
| Screen | Full HD Screen with 300Hz Refresh Rate |
| OS | Win 10 |
Alienware i7 laptop is blazingly fast for doing all the VR-related tasks whether for creating heavy graphics, Motion tracking, sound mixing, or for any other editing purpose.
to further support the performance while doing multitasking it’s equipped with 16GB DDR4 RAM and it has a powerful GPU RTX 2070 with 8 GB of GDDR6 RAM to even run the best VR development Apps like Unity or unreal engines.
If you’re from those guys who need to have a good storage to keep maximum files in your computer then this laptop has 1 TB of SSD storage, so you’re getting both Speed and storage capacity in this laptop.
It is a lightweight laptop only weighing 4.65lb even from being a gaming laptop which is a good thing. so you can also easily put this in your laptop and it’s great for portability.
One of the highlighting feature this laptop has is it’s screen with a refresh rate of 300Hz and having resolution of 1920 x 1080 (FHD). So you can expect a very very smooth and eye relaxing experience while doing your VR development.
Because of its powerful GPU, you also get real-time ray tracing while you’re playing your game, so the rendering of the game will be much smoother than any other laptop out there.
Conclusion for the best laptop for VR development
While trying to choose the best laptop for VR development for you, you mainly need to think about the types of specs that it comprises of and whether your pocket allows your for higher specs.
In case you are mainly fixated on the VR aspect, anything else than performance and Graphics card is insignificant. However, you need to be aware of the laptop size, keyboard, and display, as you would like to use it for general gaming purposes also. You will need to consider what you would want in a VR-ready laptop and look for one that comes within your budget.
Only the best VR laptops can help you to make the most of the virtual reality experience, and get the best from the virtual reality world. At the moment, virtual reality is at the initial stages but with so many VR-ready gaming laptops rolling out and coming with the promise of portability, in just a few months the technology is likely to be more affordable for buyers.
And if you’re also curious to develop an app for a VR platform then these laptops would be very effective in continuing your journey.
VR-ready gadgets and laptops will become better, more easily accessible, and more economical to buy. Until that time, however, the ones mentioned above can be worthwhile for you to choose from and experience the best virtual reality technology that is available at the moment.