Best cheap gaming laptop deals

This lappy used to be below $800, but the RAM crisis being what it is, it's now back at full price. Still, it's cheaper than just about any other modern-GPU-equipped machine I'd actually consider buying. Sure, it's an RTX 5050, which needs to be affordable to be worthwhile, but this Acer Nitro V 16 AI is still that. It has a good screen for the money, too: a 180 Hz, 1200p IPS. Oh, and while the storage capacity isn't great, there's space for another drive under the hood.

Key specs: RTX 5050 | Ryzen 5 240 | 16-inch | 1200p | 180 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 512 GB SSD

Price check: Newegg $969

Budget gaming laptops deals are not great right now, indeed finding good RTX 5060 laptops below the $1,000 mark has become virtually impossible. This Lenovo LOQ machine is slightly above, but it does have a decent 115 W GPU, a speedy 1080p screen, and the now miserably familiar memory/storage combo of a 512 GB SSD and 16 GB RAM. The memory side wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the fact it's single channel, but in our review that didn't actually harm gaming performance.

Key specs: Ryzen 7 250 | RTX 5060 | 15-inch | 144 Hz | 512 GB SSD | 16 GB DDR5

While the 115 W RTX 5060 will need some DLSS help to make the most of its 1600p panel, this is still a great selection of components for the cash—although I'd like to see a bigger SSD. Still, at least it's an easy upgrade. Lenovo makes some excellent gaming laptops, and this one delivers serious bang for your buck—although it has jumped in price slightly in recent months.

Key specs: RTX 5060 | Ryzen 7 260 | 15.1-inch | 1600p | 165 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 512 GB SSD

Price check: Lenovo $1,604.99

This is a fair amount to pay for an RTX 5060 gaming laptop, but once you take into account the fact you're getting an honest-to-goodness 240 Hz OLED panel thrown into the bargain, this deal makes a lot more sense. Being a 1600p display, the 115 W RTX 5060 mobile here will need some DLSS and MFG help to make the most of it at native res, but this is still a slim and sleek machine with a very high desirability factor.

Key specs: RTX 5060 | Core Ultra 9 275HX | 16-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz OLED | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD

Price check: Newegg $1,681.24

This is one of Acer's S-line Nitro laptops, which means it's slimmer than you might expect for a budget gaming machine. The Nitro chassis designs have improved a lot in recent years, and this one's a good example of that. It's also pretty much the cheapest RTX 5070 gaming laptop you can find right now, from a major manufacturer with a good supporting specs sheet. It's a shame about the 85 W GPU power limit, but with some DLSS help it should still kick fairly hard against that 1600p screen.

Key specs: RTX 5070 | Ryzen 7 260 | 16-inch | 16-inch | 1600p | 180 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD

This Asus TUF machine has supposedly been tested to meet a "military grade" standard. Forget about all that, though, because it has a well-balanced specs sheet. With a 115 W RTX 5070, a 16-core (eight Performance, eight efficient) Intel chip, and a decently-quick 1200p screen, it's a pretty good deal for the money. Asus has improved the chassis design of its TUF range in recent years, so despite being sturdy, it's not a bad looking lappy either.

Key specs: RTX 5070 | Core i7 14650HX | 16-inch | 16-inch | 1200p | 165 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD

Here's a laptop deal we rated very highly in the before times, when shoving an extra high capacity SSD within its frame was a very cheap proposition. However, while that's now a much more expensive ask, an RTX 5070 Ti laptop for this sort of cash is still worth shouting about. It's got the sort of hardware that makes high frame rates on that 1200p screen very simple to achieve, and is pretty much the cheapest RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop you can grab right now.

Key specs: RTX 5070 Ti | Core Ultra 7 255 HX | 16-inch | 1200p | 144 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 512 GB SSD

This Legion lappy used to be cheaper, but as the memory crisis pushes gaming laptop pricing ever higher, it's jumped considerably recently. Even at this price, though, it's a very well-equipped machine well worth considering, with an extremely powerful Intel chip at its heart, a beautiful OLED panel, and a 1 TB SSD. It's a shame about the 16 GB of RAM—but it's still plenty to get gaming with, and given the state of the memory market at the moment, it's about the best you can hope for at this sort of cash.

Key specs: RTX 5070 | Core i9 14900HX | 15.1-inch | 1600p | 165 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD

Price check: Best Buy $1,799 (Core Ultra 9 275HX)

This lappy has a honking, chonking, AMD Ryzen 9 8940HX CPU throbbing away in its RGB lit chassis. It's a 16-core 32-thread beastie from the previous generation, which, in combination with a 140 W RTX 5070 Ti mobile, should make for some serious gaming performance. The screen is a 165 Hz 1200p model, too, which the graphics chip should have no problem maxing out in most games.

Key specs: RTX 5070 Ti | Ryzen 9 8940HX | 16-inch | 1200p | 165 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD

This 16-inch lappy is relatively slim and sleek, being one of Acer's S-line models, which is all the more surprising given the hardware nestled inside. It's got a 1600p 240 Hz OLED display, which is kept fed by a 24-core Intel chip and a 115 W RTX 5070 Ti. Those are some pretty mega components, and you even get 32 GB of DDR5 in the middle of the RAMpocalypse. It's a shame it isn't as cheap as it once was, but given the specs, it's still well worth considering.

Key specs: RTX 5070 Ti | Core Ultra 9 275HX | 16-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz OLED | 32 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD

This Vector is still one of the cheapest RTX 5080 gaming laptop you can find right now, even if it has jumped in price recently. Our Dave reviewed the Vector 16 HX AI last year and likes the value proposition you get when you take into account that mega GPU, although it is a bit of a hairdryer on full whack. Still, stick it in Balanced mode and the noise is much more reasonable, and it still performs about as well as the other RTX 5080 machines we've tested. Which is to say, very well indeed.

Key specs: RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275 HX | 16-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD

Price check: Best Buy $2,479 | Walmart $2,339

The Legion Go is a whole lot of screen and controller for a handheld, featuring a glorious 144 Hz touchscreen and the ability to take the controllers off like a Nintendo Switch. It's also pretty powerful, too, thanks to its Z1 Extreme processor.

Key specs: Ryzen Z1 Extreme | 9-inch | 1600p | 144 Hz | 16 GB LPDDR5x | 1 TB SSD

Our best gaming handheld pick is a truly excellent machine. The lightweight Steam OS integration in combination with its Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU means it's surprisingly powerful, all while being extremely comfortable to use and remarkably well-equipped. While you can find the Z2 Go version for cheaper, this is the one you want.

Key specs: Ryzen Z1 Extreme | 8-inch screen | 32 GB RAM | 1 TB SSD

Price check: Lenovo $1,099.99

It is a borderline ludicrous amount of cash to drop on a gaming handheld really, but the ROG Xbox Ally X is a truly great device. I thought the design ridiculous until I had my review unit in-hand. It's super comfortable to use, the new library makes Windows usable, and the Z2 Extreme chip is powerful. Could do with a bit of a discount, but this is the cheapest you'll find it today.

Key specs: Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme | 7-inch | 1080p | 120 Hz | 24 GB LPDDR5x-8000 | 1 TB SSD

This little Acer machine packs a decent whack of gaming punch for the price, particularly as good sub-£1,000 RTX 5060 gaming laptops are hard to find right now. The Nvidia GPU has a 95 W power limit, which is pretty good going given than most of the machines I'm finding for the same money are 80 W or less, and it's got an eight-core AMD chip with plenty of go in it. It's a shame about the very small SSD, though.

Key specs: RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 7 260 | 15.6-inch | 1200p | 180 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 512 GB SSD

We reviewed this laptop very recently, and found it to be good—with one primary caveat. The 85 W RTX 5060 at its core isn't the fastest variant you'll find, thanks to the 85 W power limit. However, the A16 has an excellent chassis design, a decently fast screen, and a great smattering of budget components that still make it a desirable thing.

Key specs: RTX 5060 | Core i7 13620H | 15.6-inch | 1200p | 165 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD

Price check: Scan £1099.99

While this Gigabyte lappy has a relatively low-power variant of the RTX 5070 at an 85 W TGP, the fact that it's also been equipped with an easy-on-the-GPU 1200p screen stacks the odds in its favour. We've already reviewed the RTX 5060 version and called it good—if a little underpowered, thanks to that entry-level GPU. This one? Much more like it for the cash.

Key specs: RTX 5070 | Ryzen 7 260 | 1-inch | 1200p | 165 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD

Price check: Amazon £1,499.99 (OOS)

Although the RTX 5070 Ti here has had its wings clipped slightly with a 115 W TGP, it should thrash any RTX 5070-equipped lappy in the gaming benchmarks with very little issue. Plus, it's been combined with an eight-core, 16-thread CPU with plenty of get up and go, a 180 Hz 1600p screen, and a proper 1 TB SSD. I'd like to see some more RAM, but it's darn expensive to buy on its own right now, so bear that in mind if you're thinking of an upgrade.

Key specs: RTX 5070 Ti | Ryzen AI 7 350 | 16-inch | 1600p | 180 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD

Price check: Amazon £1,799.99 (32 GB variant)

RTX 5080 machines are still eye-wateringly expensive for the most part, but we're big fans of this Vector lappy, especially because of the price. It might not have the prettiest chassis, but it's as fast as a very, very fast thing for a fair bit cheaper than most of the competition—with a speedy 240 Hz IPS panel thrown into the bargain, too. That makes it a genuine value proposition in a laptop market filled with extremely pricey equivalents. It's a smart buy, no doubt, although I'd stick a touch more RAM in it—if you can find some for anything less than silly money.

Key specs: RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX | 16-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD

Price check: Overclockers UK $2,699.99