Gaming laptops can put a serious dent in your wallet, with some of the fancier models costing upward of $3,000. Not everyone has $1,600 or more to spend on a high-end gaming laptop. However, for those people, a cheaper gaming laptop that doesn’t cost more than $1,000, is the best option. This is a good fit for anyone who wants to play games but also not empties his/her wallet. A $1,000 laptop won’t perform as well as a top-of-the-line one, as you’d expect. But can still play many AAA games on high settings.
A gaming laptop is constrained by its graphics card, which you can’t upgrade. Many cheap gaming laptops lack either a solid-state drive or a roomy hard drive for storage, so you may have to pay extra to upgrade later.
How to Pick an Affordable Gaming Laptop
- Price:- This is without any doubt, the most important consideration. You want the most powerful gaming laptop possible without spending too much. So the price of any laptop you want to buy must be put into consideration.
- Keyboard:- The keyboard is the most important interface, as it’s used for the majority of game inputs.
- Display:- A 1920×1080 screen might be what you need on a cheap gaming laptop. Lower resolutions look terrible, and higher resolutions aren’t affordable yet. But you can opt for other screen resolution you might like.
- Trackpad:- You’ll probably use a mouse while gaming, but a decent trackpad still matters for Web browsing and everyday tasks.
- Battery Life:- This is also considered as one of the most important features. Battery life is important in getting an affordable gaming laptop.
- Upgradability:- Not everyone will want or need to upgrade the storage or memory in their gaming laptop, but it’s a plus if the drives and memory slots are easy to access for those who do.
- Speakers:- Poor speakers are disappointing but easily remedied with a pair of headphones or external speakers.
- Heat & Noise:- A gaming laptop’s graphics card and processor produce a lot of heat. Without an effective cooling system, the machine will overheat, which can slow gaming performance, shorten the laptop’s lifespan, or even burn you. So this feature can be considered too.
- Performance:- For me, this is to be considered most important after its price. In this category, you would have to look out for a few things before considering the machine as an affordable gaming laptop. The Video memory, Graphics Card, Processor, Memory and the Solid-State drive must be looked into.
If the machine you have in mind meets these criteria listed above, you should be smiling right now.
Best Affordable Gaming Laptops you can buy from Amazon
Without further adieu here are the best affordable gaming laptops from Amazon.
The HP Omen 15
With budget gaming laptops, you get what you pay for. The HP Omen 15t ($849 as tested) is a capable machine that can play the latest games. It has been redesigned with an eye-catching framework, a clicky, responsive keyboard; and an easy-to-remove panel to upgrade the hard-disk drive, solid-state drive and RAM.
- Key Specs
- CPU:- 2.8-GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor
- Display Size/Resolution:- 15.6/1920 x 1080
- RAM/Storage:- 8GB/1TB 7,200-rpm HDD
- GPU:- AMD Radeon RX 550 GPU with 2GB of VRAM
Buy HP Omen 15 on Amazon.
Origin PC Eon 15-S
This 15-inch gaming laptop is fairly portable at 5.2 pounds and packs good overall performance, thanks to its Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics. It’s a great choice for gamers on a tight budget who don’t want to make too many compromises.
- Key Specs:-
- CPU:- 2.5-GHz Intel Core i5-7300 HQ
- Display Size/Resolution:- 15.6-inch/1920 x 1080
- RAM/Storage:- 8GB/256GB M.2 PCIe SSS with a1TB 7,200-rpm hard drive
- GPU:- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB of VRAM
Buy Origin PC Eon 15-S From Amazon.
Dell Inspiron 15 7000
The gaming laptop is known for its impressive battery life. If you’re looking for a gaming laptop that can deliver solid framerates without blasting a hole in your wallet, the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming laptop should at or near the top of your list.
- Key Specs:-
- CPU:- 2.5-GHz Intel Core i5-7300HQ CPU
- Display Size/Resolution:- 15.6-inch/1920 x 1080
- RAM/Storage:- 8GB/256GB SSD
- GPU:- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (Max-Q) 6GB of VRAM
Buy Dell Inspiron 15 7000 on Amazon.
Acer Aspire VX 15
In terms of gaming, the system’s Core i5 CPU and Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU should provide solid performance on both fronts. But where the VX 15 really shines is its audio thanks to its speakers that are well-balanced and surprisingly powerful.
- Key Specs:-
- CPU:- 2.5-GHz Intel Core i5-7300HQ CPU
- Display Size/Resolution:- 15.6/1920 x 1080
- RAM/Storage:-8GB/256GB M.2 SATA SSD
- GPU:- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 with 4GB of VRAM
Buy Acer Aspire VX 15 on Amazon.
Alienware 13
This laptop is more than a pretty piece of tech, packing a 7th-gen Intel Core i5 processor and a Nvidia GeForce 1050 GPU, which should deliver good frame rates on its admittedly low-res 1366 x 768 display.
- Key Specs:-
- CPU:- 2.5-GHz Intel Core i5-7300HQ CPU
- Display Size/Resolution:- 13-inch/1366 x 768
- RAM/Storage:- 8GB/180GB M.2 SATA SSD
- GPU:- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 with 2GB of VRAM
Acer Nitro 5
Acer is giving gamers a happy compromise between pricing and specs with its Nitro 5 notebook. Wrapped in faux carbon fiber, this handsome laptop is sure to turn heads wherever it goes.
- Key Specs:-
- CPU:- Intel Coffee Lake Core i5
- Display Size/Resolution:- 15.6-inch/1920 x 1080
- RAM/Storage:- up to 32GB/1TB hard drive
- GPU:- Nvidia GTX 1050 with 2GB of VRAM
