Due to growing demand, in recent years, more and more laptops are becoming competitive gaming machines. If you need a buyer’s guide, here are some helpful tips and in-depth reviews for gaming laptops on a budget.
What truly defines a gaming laptop? Many will put forth the argument that a laptop isn’t made for gaming unless it’s bundled with a dedicated chip for graphics. This is in comparison to others that use integrated graphics as part of the computer’s main processor.
The reality is that many of the recent notebooks seen on the market can function as gaming laptops. CPUs like the Generation Core i5 and Core i7 are passable if you lower the graphical detail and screen resolution back enough.
What’s more, the more modern Tiger Lake CPUs have sufficient integrated graphics that can run games on decent settings. Other future brands will become even more accessible.
Are budget gaming laptops worth it?
If you have a Steam account, a respectable library, and a desire to play the latest AAA titles at the best frame rates, you need to ensure that the laptop you buy has dedicated graphics. It is the most critical feature that makes the ultimate difference in your gaming experience.
No matter the case, running games natively on your laptop with at least 1920×1080 resolution is going to command quite a few bucks.
This is especially true if you want to use the machine for more than just a few years. Even the best portable gaming PCs don’t remain viable past 3 or 4 years with good care.
Can a normal laptop be used for gaming?
Playing Natively
Normal laptops can sometimes work for casual gamers and tend to offer decent performance.
However, if you plan to play the latest titles natively on your machine (e.g., you download them digitally and run the software using your hardware), you’ll more than likely have to dial back several settings. Demanding games require quality PC hardware.
Low settings mean reduced framerates, draw distance, vertical sync, and general graphical fidelity in order to play.
Online Streaming
The good news is if you have a reliable internet connection, there are more alternatives than ever before to buying expensive hardware.
Despite the fact that streaming technology has existed for much longer than most think, more and more of these programs are becoming affordable. Apps like NVIDIA GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, and Google Stadia allow you to offload the processing and simply stream the experience for instant access.
Companies like NVIDIA have massive server farms with computers whose power far exceeds anything available on the consumer market. With their streaming technology, the heavy processing requirements of high-quality games are offloaded to their machines and simply streamed to the customer’s computer.
With this, the customer requires no sophisticated or expensive hardware on their end because they aren’t running the game natively on their machine.
The only drawbacks to this strategy are that these streaming programs require paid monthly subscriptions to access and demand extremely fast internet speeds. Yet, it’s still less costly than purchasing your own hardware.
What to look for in budget gaming laptops
If gaming is your main focus and your budget is limited to no greater than $1,000, simply ensure that the GPU included in your machine is the best possible for the money. This includes doing so at the expense of other specs, like an i5 processor vs. an i7 processor or reduced storage.
You also need to always keep in mind that the majority of notebooks cannot be upgraded aside from their RAM and maybe storage. Your initial investment will keep you stuck with the current processor, graphics chip, and screen. Consider this for your outlook on the total lifespan of the device before you go buy a new one.
With that out of the way, here are the most important parts to consider when investing in a gaming laptop.
Processor (CPU)
A number of modern titles, particularly those in the real-time strategy (RTS) and MMORPG categories, demand a strong, reliable CPU in a gaming laptop. Dual-core processors just don’t cut it anymore. In fact, many AAA games include quad-core CPUs in their minimum system requirements.
At the same time, investing in a hefty Core i7 or Core i9 CPU is overkill for gaming in comparison to other tasks like production work on media files and video editing. You’ll get plenty out of those Core i5 processors, and they are much less expensive.
System Memory (RAM)
Don’t settle for anything less than 8GB in this budget range. Many machines priced below $1,000 refuse to go higher in memory capacity, but some manage to squeeze in an extra stick for a total of 16GB.
For most games and general computing tasks, you’ll find that 8GB of RAM is enough to carry you through. What’s more, you’re often able to upgrade the memory later on. Just get what is absolutely necessary upfront.
Internal Storage
Even at modest budgets, the tech industry has essentially made the Solid-State Drive (SSD) the laymen for internal storage. It comes as no surprise due to its superior speed and reliability.
Depending on which model you purchase, you’ll find that the default capacity hovers anywhere between 256GB and 512GB. Opt for the higher end if you can, but stay low if it cuts into your budget too much.
Display
There are four specs you need to pay attention to with regard to the display of a gaming laptop. They include screen size (dimensions), refresh rate, native resolution, and the type of panel it’s made of.
- Size: The general rule of thumb is 15.6 inches for gaming laptops priced at or close to $1,000. This is a solid compromise for weight if you sacrifice some portability.
- Resolution: 1080p, also referred to by the dimensions of 1980×1080, is the norm for mainstream gaming laptops. The greater the pixel density, the more graphical power is required. Full HD is the minimum you should expect out of any modern machine.
- Refresh rate: Anything higher than the baseline of 60Hz is outstanding for a sub $1,000 machine as this allows framerates beyond 60 per second. This is very beneficial for more fast-paced games like Overwatch 2, CS:GO, DOTA 2.
- Panel type: If possible, try going for one with in-plane switching (IPS) as this offers the best colors and off-center angles for viewing.
Graphics
Graphics are the core foundation of any gaming computer. Even with budget gaming laptops, the GTX/RTX line by NVIDIA dominates the market. It ensures you’ll have performance on medium to high settings without any drops in quality.
With the aid of ray tracing (RTX) and deep learning super sampling (DLSS), games are becoming more realistic than ever, even for low-end machines.