If you need a gaming laptop but are working with a moderate budget, we’ve rated & reviewed seven of the best gaming laptops under $1,000 to help you find the right option for your needs.
Gaming laptops are always going to be outperformed by custom-built and pre-built gaming desktops on a dollar-for-dollar basis. However, desktops aren’t viable options for gamers who need a more portable option. And, fortunately, there are decent gaming laptops out there in the ~$500-$1,000 price range.
In this guide, we’re going to take a look at seven of the best gaming laptops under $1,000 that are currently available. We’ve rated the seven laptops below based on their gaming performance and the price tags they come in at to give you a good idea of what kind of value they offer. So, if you’ve got a moderate budget and you’re looking for a solid gaming laptop, one of the options listed below should work for you.
1. Lenovo Legion 5 15.6″
The best gaming laptop under $1,000
The Lenovo Legion 5 is our current pick for the best gaming laptop under $1,000. This Lenovo gaming laptop comes with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, an RTX 3050 Ti GPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. It also comes with a larger 15.3″ 1080P 165Hz display.
With the Ryzen 7 CPU, RTX 3050 Ti GPU, and 16GB of RAM, you’ll be able to max out any game you throw at this laptop. Not to mention, the addition of the 165Hz refresh rate display will provide an incredibly smooth in-game experience.
The one down side of this Ryzen 7 gaming laptop, though, is that it technically doesn’t come in at under $1,000. Rather, it comes in at ~$1,050. However, for that extra $50, you get a better processor, a better GPU, more memory (16GB instead of 8GB), and a higher refresh rate than the options listed below.
So, in the end, if you’ve got ~$1,000 to spend on a new laptop and you can bump your budget up just another $50, this laptop is going to give you a much better hardware configuration than any of the other sub-$1,000 gaming laptops out there.
2. ASUS ROG Strix G15 15.6″
Our runner-up pick
While the Lenovo Legion 5 listed above was our pick for the best option under $1,000, the ASUS ROG Strix G15 isn’t that far behind it. It does come in at just under $1,000, too, so if you have a strict budget, this ASUS gaming laptop might be your best bet.
This laptop comes with an AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor, an NVIDIA RTX 3050 GPU, 8GB Of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. It’s display is a 15.6-inch screen that has a 1080P resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate.
In comparion to our top pick, the ASUS ROG Strix G15 has a slightly weaker CPU and GPU, it only has 8GB of RAM (versus 16GB for the Lenovo laptop), and has a slightly slower refresh rate. And, it’s only ~$50 cheaper. That’s why we recommend choosing the Lenovo Legion 5 over it. Not to mention, the Acer Nitro 5 listed below has nearly identical specs and you can grab it for nearly $200 less.
However, if the price were to come down on the ASUS ROG Strix G15, it might be an option worth considering. But, for now, this 144Hz laptop is our Runner-Up pick.
3. Acer Nitro 5 15.6″
The best value gaming laptop under $1,000
Despite being quite a bit cheaper than some of the other options on this list, the Acer Nitro 5 is currently one of the best gaming laptops under $1,000.
The Acer Nitro 5 comes with an Intel Core i5-10300H processor, an RTX 3050 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB NVME SSD. It also has a 15.6″ 1080P display that has a 144Hz refresh rate.
The combination of the i5-10300H and the RTX 3050 GPU are enough to max out pretty much any game on a 1080P display. And, the 144Hz refresh rate will make games run much more smoothly. This is especially true for competitive games that rely on split-second decisions like Rocket League, COD, Fortnite, etc.
The one downside of this Acer gaming laptop, though, is that it doesn’t come with much storage out of the box. The 256GB SSD is fast, but it probably isn’t large enough to accommodate the average PC gamer’s library. You can always grab an additional 2.5″ drive, though, and add to the Helios 300 if you need more storage.
The bottom line, though, is that with the i5-10300H processor and RTX 3050 GPU, the Helios 300 won’t provide as much performance as the Lenovo Legion listed above. However, it does come in at ~$200 cheaper—so, you can save a bit of money without sacrificing too much performance.
4. ASUS TUF F15 15.6″
The best budget gaming laptop
If you don’t have much over $700 to spend, but you need a 1080P laptop that will allow you to play pretty much any game with no problems, then this ASUS gaming laptop is worth checking out.
At just under $715, it is one of the more affordable options on this list. This HP Pavilion comes with an Intel Core i5-10300H processor, a GTX 1650 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. And, it has a 15.6″ 1080P 144Hz display.
That’s not bad for a ~$700 gaming laptop, as it it a powerful enough hardware configuration to where you should expect to be able to max out most games, and, for more demanding titles, play them on medium settings.
So, the bottom line is that, if you’re strapped for cash and you don’t quite have the budget to get the Acer Nitro or the Lenovo Legion listed above, this ASUS laptop is a solid alternative.
5. Lenovo Ideapad L340 15.6″
Honorable mention #1
As mentioned above, the Lenovo Ideapad L340 is one of the cheapest options on this list. It comes in at just under $700 and sports an Intel Core i5-9300H, a GTX 1650 GPU, 8GB of DDR4 memory, and a 512GB SSD. It also comes with a 15.6″ 1080P 60Hz display.
While we did choose the ASUS TUF as our top budget option, the truth is that you could make a strong case for the L340 in its place simply because it is nearly $100 cheaper.
However, we felt the ASUS TUF’s 144Hz refresh rate helped give it the edge over the L340. If you don’t require the higher refresh rate, though, and you’re fine gaming on a 60Hz display, then the L340 would be a solid alternative.
Need A Solid Gaming Laptop Under $1,000?
While we always recommend that gamers build their own gaming computers so that they can get the most performance out of their budgets, we also realize that certain users will need the mobility that a laptop offers. If you are interested in building your own PC, check out our guide on the Best Cheap Gaming PC Builds Under $1,000 to see the difference in hardware you can get. And, if not, and you absolutely need a gaming laptop instead, one of the affordable gaming laptops listed above should work for you
0 Comments