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
HP Pavilion | 15.6" 60Hz IPS | Core i5-8300H | GTX 1050Ti 4GB | $691
This low-end gaming laptop from HP is about the cheapest you can go and still get a decent gaming experience. It unfortunately uses a spinning hard drive instead of a faster SSD, but the 16GB Intel Optane cache helps a bit. There's still a real IPS screen, which is rare at this price point. (Posted: 9/18)View Deal
Lenovo Ideapad L340 | 15.6" IPS | Core i5-9300H | GTX 1650 4GB | $711.92 ($88 off)
This is a great gaming laptop for the price, with a newer GTX 1650 graphics card and a newer CPU compared to the above HP Pavilion. There's also a 512GB SSD as the boot drive, in addition to a 1TB hard drive. (Posted: 9/18)View Deal
ASUS FX705DT | 17.3" 60Hz | Ryzen 7 3750H | GTX 1650 | $719.99 ($280 off)
This is a similar laptop to the above Lenovo Ideapad, except you get a larger 17.3-inch screen. However, the Ryzen CPU in this one isn't as good for gaming as the Core i5 in the above Lenovo laptop. (Posted: 9/19)View Deal
MSI GL63 | 15.6" 60Hz | Core i7-8750H | GTX 1650 | $799.00 ($100 off)
It's not every day you see a laptop with both an Intel Core i7 processor and a newer Nvidia GPU for under $1,000. (Posted: 9/19)View Deal
Legion by Lenovo Y540 | 15.6" 60Hz | Core i5-9300H | GTX 1660 Ti 6GB | $949.99 ($250 off)
This is another great value buy, as it's one of the cheapest laptops we've seen with a GTX 1660 Ti in the past few weeks. The 16GB RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD, and 1TB hard drive are nice too. (Posted: 9/19)
$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 IPS | 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
Lenovo Legion Y540 | 15.6" 144Hz IPS | Core i7-9750H | RTX 2060 | $1,229 ($370 off)
The Legion Y540 has better hardware than most other gaming laptops in this price range, including a large 1TB SSD for storage, and an RTX 2060 graphics card for gaming. (Posted: 8/30)
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MSI P65 Prestige Edition | 15.6" 144Hz | Core i7-8750H | GTX 1070 | $1,399.00 ($400 off)
Considering the GTX 1070 graphics card is about equal to the RTX 2060, and laptops with the 2060 can be found for $100-200 less, this is only a good option if you really want a white-and-gold gaming laptop. (Posted: 9/4)
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$1500+
Razer Blade 15 (2019) | 15.6" 144Hz | Core i7-8750H | RTX 2070 Max-Q | $2,400 ($200 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—though it's still pricey. 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.