If you’re looking for the best gaming laptops on the market, you’re exactly at the right place!
First, you have to know that gaming laptops are expensive, more than most laptops. Why is that? In two words: Performance and Quality.
You see, to build a good gaming laptop you need, at the minimum a decently powerful processor and a dedicated graphics card. Just for those parts, you’ll pay the price of a budget laptop… So to get something decent, you’ll have to purchase at least a mid-range laptop.
How much to spend?
You’ll have to spend around $800 to get a good gaming laptop for casual gamers. If you’re a more serious gamer, between $1000 and $1500 will definitely get you a laptop that’ll play the most recent games at high settings. Spend around $2000 and you’ll definitely get one of the best gaming laptops on the market.
Navigation
Jump directly – on this page – to the Best Gaming Laptops…
- … under $500
- … under $700
- … under $800
- … under $1000
- … under $1500
- … under $2000
What to expect from the Best Gaming Laptops
Of course, the price you pay directly impacts the quality and performance of your laptop. Gaming laptops are by definition more expensive than regular notebooks since they need more powerful components, more storage space, better casing quality, a responsive display, etc.
Performance
To have a decent gaming laptop, you need a powerful CPU and, at least, a decent graphics card. Games are resource-intensive and without those two, you won’t be able to enjoy your games.
Processing Power
Preferably, you want an i7 processor to give you the best performance, but an i5 will also do the trick. Only go with an i3 if you’re really looking to save money.
Graphics Card
This is the most important component for a gaming laptop. Unless you’re looking to run undemanding games or are willing to play at ultra-low-resolution, you absolutely need a dedicated graphics card. The more powerful, the better.
You see, most laptops don’t come with a dedicated GPU, which means that they don’t have a specific component to process graphics. So the graphics processing is all done by the CPU… and it’s pretty bad at doing so…
Usually you’ll want at least a mid-range card. This will allow you to play not-so-recent games at mid-high settings and the latest game at medium settings.
If you’re looking to know where a specific graphics card stands, look at this great article.
Display
Gaming requires a good screen with good brightness and refresh rates. You’ll also want one that has good color reproduction.
Generally, you can expect mid-range gaming laptops to give you a decent display, but nothing exceptional. Laptop manufacturers usually prefer to invest in performance rather than display quality here. Only when you get into high-end gaming laptops that you’ll see a display that is really built for gaming.
Casing & Quality
A real gaming laptop should a quality frame with good ventilation. Running those heavy games is very demanding and creates a lot of heat. That’s why gaming laptops are often bulkier than regular notebooks. Having a slim frame is great for portability, but not for ventilation.
Usually you’ll find that mid-range gaming laptops are more mainstream. They are usually slimmer and don’t have that aggressive gaming look with big air vents to make sure the components are cooled correctly.
Best Gaming Laptops Guides
Best Gaming Laptops under $500
Let me start by saying this: skip this category if you want a real gaming laptop. $500 is not enough for the expensive components a gaming laptop requires.
But if you are on a budget and that’s all you have, we still found some decent laptops that will be able to run not-too-demanding games at low-resolution.
Don’t make it your first choice, but if that’s all you can afford, check them out!
Current Top Gaming Laptops under $500
(links here will get you to the laptop description on the next page)
#2 – Asus Vivobook F510UA – 15.6″ HD
Best Gaming Laptops under $700
Now here we start talking about some interesting gaming laptops. Of course at this price, you won’t get the most powerful gaming laptop, but you’ll end up with a laptop that will run recent games.
Expect a quite decent graphics card and a CPU that will perform with most games. You might have to reduce settings here and there, but for the value you get, there is nothing to complain about here!
Current Top Gaming Laptops under $700
#1 – MSI GF63 – 15.6″ HD
#2 – Asus TUF FX505DT – 15.6″ HD
#3 – Acer Aspire 5 – 15.6″ HD
(links here will get you to the laptop description on the next page)
Best Gaming Laptops under $800
This is an interesting category. Surprisingly, laptop manufacturers nowadays manage to create pretty powerful machines at those prices.
Of course, to equip a gaming laptop with powerful components and keep the price low, they have to sacrifice on something. Sometimes it’s the display that not too bright, sometimes it’s the audio system that a bit weak, and sometimes you’ll get a slower hard-drive. But to get a good gaming laptop at those prices, its sacrifices that are worth it!
Check out the top 3 best gaming laptops under $800, they are pretty powerful!
Current Top Gaming Laptops under $800
(links here will get you to the laptop description on the next page)
#1 – MSI GF63 – 15.6″ HD
#2 – Lenovo Ideapad L340 – 15.6″ HD
#3 – Dell G3 15 3579 – 15.6″ HD
Best Gaming Laptops under $1000
Most of the gaming laptops under $1000 are not high-end gaming laptops per se, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot find some powerful ones that’ll run recent games.
The ventilation system, keyboard, and display might not be on par with the more expensive ones, but the performance will be pretty close.
Current Top Gaming Laptops under $1000
(links here will get you to the laptop description on the next page)
#2 – Lenovo Ideapad L340 – 15.6″ HD
Best Gaming Laptops under $1500
Now here we’re starting to talk about serious gaming power. This is where you start to see gaming manufacturers put their best effort to build a solid, powerful laptop that can play most games.
Expect to get some of the best graphics cards and the most powerful CPU to power the latest titles. It’s still not the best of the best, but we’re getting pretty close.
Current Top Gaming Laptops under $1500
(links here will get you to the laptop description on the next page)
#1 – Asus Zenbook UX534FTC – 15.6″ HD
#3 – Lenovo Legion Y7000 – 15.6″ HD
Best Gaming Laptops under $2000
Now here we’re talking about top-of-the-line gaming. If you’re looking for literally the best gaming laptops on the market, this is it.
When you pay that much for a laptop, you can expect not only top performance but also a display that’ll compliment today’s graphics. Add to that a sound system that’ll be loud & clear, a keyboard that won’t make you miss a kill, and a ventilation system that won’t let you down even with the most demanding games.
Current Top Gaming Laptops under $2000
(links here will get you to the laptop description on the next page)
#1 – Asus ROG Zephyrus GX501 – 15.6″ HD
#2 – Asus Zenbook UX534FTC – 15.6″ HD
#3 – MSI GL75 – 17.3″ HD
Archives
Curious about the past best gaming laptops? Check out these articles:
Erik is the owner and main editor of lptps.com. He has been working in computers and information technology for more than 20 years. He’s a business analyst, developer, and avid traveler.