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The best cheap gaming laptop deals for February 2020

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Whether you prefer MacOS or Windows, it’s abundantly clear that laptops have all but overtaken desktop PCs when it comes to popularity and market share to the point that when you think of a computer today, you probably imagine one of these portable machines. PC hardware has become faster, lighter, and cheaper at an exponential rate, and few products have benefited more from this advancement than gaming laptops, which have grown increasingly affordable relative to their desktop counterparts in recent years. You can easily find a very good cheap gaming laptop (with hardware to rival desktop computers) for less than $1,000 today.

You’ll naturally get the best bang for your buck building a desktop gaming PC, but most people don’t want to bother with that — and let’s face it, it’s hard to beat the sheer convenience of a laptop in today’s mobile digital world. Thankfully, you no longer have to pay an arm and a leg for one of these portable gaming machines; there are plenty of great gaming laptops to be had for less than a grand, and to help you find the right one, we’ve rounded up a handful of the best cheap gaming laptop deals that you can score online right now — including a few super-affordable picks that ring in at around $500 or even less. Read on:

Today’s best cheap gaming laptop deals

  • Motile 14-inch Performance Laptop$249 ($350 off)
  • Asus VivoBook 15 Ultrabook$477 ($70 off)
  • Asus Tuf Gaming Laptop$650 ($50 off)
  • MSI GL65 Gaming Laptop$700 ($200 off)
  • MSI Creator Laptop$849 ($250 off)
  • HP Omen Gaming Laptop with Headset and Mouse$1,000 ($400 off)

Motile 14-inch Performance Laptop — $249 ($350 off)

You’re not likely to find a good gaming laptop with a dedicated GPU for less than $500, and you’re almost certainly not going to find a new one for half that much. AMD has largely bridged this gap between dedicated and integrated graphics, however, with its unique APUs (accelerated processing units, although AMD no longer uses this moniker) which are CPUs that feature built-in graphics processing capabilities. The 14-inch Motile Performance laptop packs one of these processing units, the AMD Ryzen 3 with Vega 3 graphics, combining the convenience of a super-cheap featherweight work laptop with a bit of added gaming power.

You’re not going to be running the latest games at high settings, of course, but if you’re looking for what is easily the cheapest of cheap gaming laptops, the Motile ultrabook might be the one. Its vibrant 14-inch THX-tuned display has a 1080p resolution as well (no corner-cutting 720p nonsense here), and its Ryzen APU is paired with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive. At $249 — down from a retail price of $599 — you’d be hard-pressed to find a cheaper laptop than this that’s still capable of handling some light gaming.

Asus VivoBook 15 Ultrabook — $477 ($70 off)

The Motile laptop is admittedly pretty bare-bones, so if you’re willing to up your budget (but still want something that slides in under $500), the Asus VivoBook 15 is nice upgrade that will give you a bit more juice for gaming. It packs a Ryzen 5 APU with Vega 8 graphics — a tier above the Ryzen 3 — and you get a full 8GB of RAM, which is the minimum amount of memory that we recommend unless you’re going super-cheap.

The VivoBook 15 ultrabook also offers a bigger 256GB solid-state drive, giving you more room for installing those games, and it comes sporting a 15.6-inch 1080p display so you’ve got a bit more screen real estate as well. The Asus VivoBook 15 is already a pretty solid value at its normal $550 price, but a $73 discount means you can score this cheap gaming laptop for $477 from Amazon right now.

Asus Tuf Gaming Laptop — $650 ($50 off)

Every gamer knows you’re going to pay more for a dedicated graphics card — even in a cheap gaming laptop with an entry-level GPU — but if you want to enjoy playing modern games at good settings, the juice is worth the squeeze. The Asus Tuf is one of the cheapest gaming laptops out there with a dedicated GPU: This 15-inch machine pairs an AMD Ryzen 5 R5-3550H CPU with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card, which are pretty solid specs for a budget gaming rig.

The Asus Tuf also features 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 15.6-inch 1080p display, and its attractive design doesn’t scream “gaming laptop” but still offers you a nice RGB backlit keyboard for those late-night play sessions. A $50 discount knocks the Asus Tuf gaming laptop down to $650, making it perhaps the best option out there at the moment for a cheap gaming laptop boasting a discreet GPU.

MSI GL65 Gaming Laptop — $700 ($200 off)

If the Asus Tuf whetted your appetite but you’re willing to shell out a little more for a better CPU and more storage, this MSI GL65 gaming laptop deal is hard to beat. It runs on a ninth-generation Intel Core i5-9300H CPU (which clocks a bit higher than the Asus Tuf’s Ryzen 5) along with a GTX 1650 GPU and 8GB of DDR4 RAM.

For storage, you’ve got a beefy 512GB SSD, which should be plenty for all but the most data-hungry users. Like other MSI laptops, the GL65 also features a nice customizable backlit keyboard, yet features an overall attractive design that’s not as chunky as some MSI machines. The MSI GL65 would normally set you back $900, but a $200 savings cuts it down to $700 — meaning you’ll be paying just $50 more for some worthy upgrades over the Asus Tuf.

MSI Creator Laptop — $849 ($250 off)

One look at the MSI Creator tells you that this is a gaming laptop that’s not a “gaming laptop,” which is to say that it’s a great option if you want capable hardware without the angular LED-covered designs that (understandably) turn many people off. Under the hood, this unassuming-looking PC comes loaded with impressive specs including an Intel i5-9300H CPU and an Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti GPU, which is arguably the best midrange graphics card on the market right now.

Along with that, you’ve got 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 15.6-inch 1080p display, and even though it lacks a garish “gaming laptop” aesthetic, the MSI Creator still features a nice-looking backlit keyboard to complement its great brushed metal finish. Just as attractive is its price: The MSI Creator rings in at just $850 right now ($250 off), which is a great deal on a gaming laptop with a GTX 1660 Ti.

HP Omen Gaming Laptop with Headset and Mouse — $1,000 ($400 off)

If you’re looking for the best gaming laptop that can be had for a grand, you’ve found it: This package not only gets you a beefy HP Omen gaming laptop, but you also score a gaming headset and mouse (a $100 value) as a nice cherry on top. The HP Omen laptop itself boasts excellent specs, too, including an Intel Core i7-9750H CPU, Nvidia GTX 1660Ti GPU, and a boosted 16GB of RAM (which is the ideal amount to run with a dedicated GPU, but can be rare to see on most cheap gaming laptops).

This high-value HP Omen gaming laptop bundle hits our $1,000 budget mark exactly thanks to its $399 discount, a deal made even sweeter by the headset and mouse bundle that gives you everything you need to get your game on right out of the box.

How to choose a cheap gaming laptop

The two main considerations when choosing a good cheap gaming laptop are naturally going to be what you’re willing to spend and which graphics card you want (considering the GPU is what actually makes a laptop a “gaming laptop”), and these two are closely linked as your budget is going to determine what graphical performance tier you can afford. However, don’t overlook some of the smaller things that you might personally want in a gaming laptop – convenience features such as programmable button macros, customizable RGB keyboard backlighting, and so on – so that you don’t jump on that great deal only to end up with something that doesn’t actually meet your needs. For more detailed hardware analysis, read on.

What makes a good cheap gaming laptop?

A good cheap gaming laptop should first and foremost be affordable, but you don’t want to go for the first deal you find that simply happens to meet your budget. You can expect to pay at least $600 (usually closer to $700) for a cheap gaming laptop with a dedicated graphics card, although you can find a few that have AMD APUs with built-in Vega graphics for less than that. Also bear in mind that Nvidia recently released its new line of 16-series GPUs which have completely replaced the older 10-series graphics cards as the entry-level and midrange GeForce GPUs. In 2020, you’re better off avoiding older laptop models with these 10-series cards and sticking with the newer ones, as the price is about the same and they will generally come with more up-to-date CPUs as well.

In the sub-$1,000 price bracket, the most powerful graphics card you’re likely to find in a cheap gaming laptop right now is arguably the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, although you can expect to spend nearly the full $1,000 budget for a laptop with this kind of graphical horsepower. If you’re going cheaper, though, then you’ll see cards like the GTX 1650, GTX 1650 Super, GTX 1660, and RX 500-series, pretty much all of which are still very capable of running modern titles at 1080p/60fps at good to high in-game settings.

For memory, 8GB of RAM should be the bare minimum (unless you’re going really cheap), and 16GB is a better mark to aim for in a modern gaming system. A higher refresh rate of 144Hz on the laptop display will also ensure a smoother experience when playing at higher framerates, but that’s something that you’ll typically find on gaming laptops nearing the $1,000 mark with the nicer midrange GPUs like the GTX 1660 Ti. That’s one of the sacrifices you’ll make with a cheap gaming laptop, but if you know what to expect, you shouldn’t end up disappointed.

Are cheap gaming laptops good for work?

A gaming laptop is still a laptop and can do everything that a laptop computer can do — that includes work. In fact, even a cheap gaming laptop can offer some advantages: Faster processors and increased RAM will make all of your non-gaming software run noticeably faster, and graphical work such as video editing and rendering will go much more quickly with a dedicated graphics card. Even if you mostly use your PC for work first and only light gaming, it might be worth it to shell out a little more cash for a cheap gaming laptop for the better hardware you’ll be getting.

Looking for more great stuff? Find tech discounts and much more on our curated deals page.

We strive to help our readers find the best deals on quality products and services, and we choose what we cover carefully and independently. The prices, details, and availability of the products and deals in this post may be subject to change at anytime. Be sure to check that they are still in effect before making a purchase.Digital Trends may earn commission on products purchased through our links, which supports the work we do for our readers.

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