Setting yourself for an awesome gaming laptop doesn't mean it should cost you an arm and a leg. We've checked out on a ton of different retailers and found the best deals for the best machines at different price points that should help fit into your budget. If you care more about performance than price, check our best gaming laptop list.
So, what do you need to know when searching for a cheap gaming laptop? First off, you shouldn't have to sacrifice quality for price. Many popular gaming laptops are often on sale, especially when the manufacturer is replacing last year's model for something new. Even now, when RTX cards being the new hotness, you can find a lot of GTX-powered machines at great prices.
Cheap gaming laptop deals
$500-$1000
MSI GL63 | 15.6" 60Hz | Core i7-8750H | GTX 1650 | $799.99 ($99 off)
This is a decent option if your budget has a hard limit of $800. The CPU is a bit old at this point, and the GTX 1650 is a good entry-level graphics card with minimal power usage. (Posted: 10/14)View Deal
Omen by HP | 15.6" 60Hz IPS | Core i7-9750H | GTX 1660 Ti 6GB | $983 ($17 off)
This laptop has a 9th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, a mid-range GTX 1660 Ti graphics card, a 256GB NVMe SSD, and 8GB of RAM. It has dropped $17 from its previous price. (Posted: 10/14)View Deal
$1000-$1500
Lenovo Legion Y545 | 15.6" 144Hz IPS | Core i7-9750H | RTX 2060 6GB | $1,199.00 ($400 off)
At $1,199.00, you're getting better hardware than most gaming laptops at this price with an RTX 2060 for solid performance at 1080p. (Posted: 9/16)View Deal
HP Omen | 15.6" 144Hz PIS | Core i7-9750H | GTX 1660 Ti 6GB | $1,099.99 ($300 off)
This laptop from HP will handle any modern game just fine, and the 144Hz screen means that lighter titles like Overwatch and Fortnite will run buttery-smooth. (Posted: 8/19)View Deal
Gigabyte AERO Classic | 15.6" 144Hz IPS | Core i7-9750H | GTX 1660 Ti | $1,469.00 ($10 off)
If you want the best screen possible on a gaming laptop, the Gigabyte Aero 15 is probably the model to get. It's $10 off the previous price, and it has a high-quality IPS 144Hz display that is color-calibrated out of the box. (Posted: 10/14)View Deal
Dell G7 17 | 17.3" 144Hz IPS | Core i7-9750H | RTX 2070 | $1,499.99
Coming in at a penny under $1,500, this high-end laptop has a large 144Hz screen paired with a 9th-gen Intel Core i7 CPU and Nvidia's RTX 2070 ray-tracing graphics card. (Posted: 9/23)View Deal
$1500+
Alienware M15 (2019) | 15.6" 144Hz | Core i7-9750H | RTX 2060 6GB | $1,748.00 ($102 off)
This is a bit pricey for a laptop with an RTX 2060, but if you're an Alienware fan, this is a nice discount from the regular price. (Posted: 10/14)View Deal
Razer Blade 15 (2019) | 15.6" 144Hz | Core i7-8750H | RTX 2070 Max-Q | $2,300 ($100 off)
If you want a thin 15-inch laptop that has plenty of power for both workstation productivity and games, the latest 2019 Razer Blade 15 isn't a bad choice, and it just dropped another $100. The RTX 2070 graphics card is enough for even the most demanding games. (Posted: 9/18)View Deal
Our favorite cheap gaming laptops
MSI GS65 Stealth deal
1. MSI GS65 Stealth
Powerful and elegantly designed
CPU: Intel Core i7-9750H | GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti | RAM: 16GB DDR4-2666MHz | Screen: 15.6-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080) wide-view 144Hz | Storage: 512GB M.2 SSD | Battery: 82 Whr | Dimensions: 15.08 x 10.24 x 0.69 inches | Weight: 4.19 lbs
If you're looking for a gaming laptop that combines elegant design, power, and portability, then the newly redesigned MSI GS65 Stealth is an absolute winner. It's thin and light enough to be used as both a working notebook and a relatively powerful gaming PC, and thanks to some smart design, it's actually slightly smaller than most 15" laptops, while offering the same amount of screen real-estate. The redesign improves upon an excellent foundation with a hardware refresh (including a 9th Gen processor and Nvidia's Pascal-architecture-in-a-GTX 1660 Ti) and an improved touchpad.
That performance isn't wasted. The Stealth packs a 144Hz display, a great panel to pair with the new CPU and GPU. It's also got a speedy and relatively capacious (by solid state standards) SSD drive, which helps speed up boot times and shave a few seconds off in-game loads. There's also the now industry standard 16GB helping of DDR4 at 2666Mhz, plenty of RAM for the current bumper crop of triple-A extravaganzas.
The battery life is very impressive too at 87Whr, and there are some lovely flourishes, like an RGB-capable Steelseries keyboard, a powerful webcam, and the aforementioned silky smooth glass touchpad. It's a perfect hybrid machine for gaming or work, and one of the most elegant looking laptops we've gotten our hands on.
2. Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model
A new look for a powerful gaming laptop
CPU: Intel Core i7-8750H | GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q | RAM: 16GB DDR4-2666MHz | Screen: 15.6-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS 144Hz | Storage: 512GB SSD | Battery: 80 Whr | Dimensions: 9.25 x 13.98 x 0.68 inches | Weight: 4.63 lbs
With Razer you know what you're getting: a quality product, made with gamers in mind above all else. The new refresh of the Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model is the epitome of this thinking, with everything tailored specifically for gaming use. At the top of the heap of impressive stats is the 2080 Max-Q GPU, the slim version of Nvidia's ray tracing powerhouse. In terms of raw power, this iteration of the Blade 15 is extremely well specced, though the price you pay for that performance nudges it just slightly out of the final tier of our roundup above.
That said, this machine justifies its price tag. It's a lovely, finely-crafted laptop, built around a CNC-milled aluminum chassis and available in either the standard matte black or Razer's lovely new Mercury White, a silvery, almost fae finish. Don't let its looks deceive you, though - if you're looking to actually take your gaming on the road, and you expect a little roughness along the way, the Razer 15 remains one of the most durable options in an increasingly crowded market. People often bandy around the phrase 'Razer tax' when they want to knock the company's output, but in this case at least what you're actually paying for is attention to detail, and fit and finish.
3. Gigabyte Aero 15 Classic
Best in class battery life and great specs
CPU: Intel Core i7-9750H | GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti | RAM: 16GB DDR4-2666MHz | Screen: 15.6-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS 144Hz | Storage: 512GB SSD | Battery: 94.24 Whr | Dimensions: 14 x 9.8 x 0.74 inches | Weight: 8.18 lbs
If you're looking for a gaming laptop that will last the journey on longer trips, and give you more performance per charge, then the Gigabyte Aero 15 leads the pack here. With a whopping 94.24Whr battery, you can get upwards of six hours of heavy use from it, before needing to plug in. Given that the Aero's base specs are comparable to the other laptops in this list, that extra juice suddenly becomes very important.
What you get here is a 1660 Ti GPU, the same i7-9750H processor as the MSI, alongside 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 512GB Intel 760P SSD. In terms of performance, then, it's very much on a par with the best. It's also one of the first laptops to utilize Microsoft's Azure cloud AI platform to optimize in-game performance, which ultimately means a handful more frames per second to kick out to the 144Hz panel.