I'm digging out the best Black Friday gaming laptop deals using my many years of experience and an NFT of a shovel

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HP Victus 15 | RTX 4050 | Ryzen 5 8645HS | 15.6-inch | 1080p | 144 Hz | 8 GB DDR5 | 512 GB SSD | $979 $651 at Walmart (save $328)
Let's be upfront about this—8 GB of RAM is not enough in 2024. But when you're talking about a gaming notebook that costs just $650, but with a decent RTX 40-series GPU inside it, I can swallow it. Especially when you can easily upgrade the RAM with just a wee screwdriver in hand. And 16 GB of fast dual-channel DDR5 is just $50-odd right now. The RTX 4050 is just a 75 W variant, so not the outright fastest, but will still definitely do the job at 1080p. For this sorta money, that's all you can ask.

Price check: Newegg $679.95

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Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 | RTX 4060 | Core i7 13650HX | 16-inch | 1200p | 165 Hz | 16 GB DDR5-4800 | 512 GB SSD | $1,149.99 $999.99 at Amazon (save $150)
Ok, so the SSD is small. Still, it's the easiest thing to upgrade on a laptop, and the rest of the specs are rather nice for the cash. The RTX 4060 handily beats the RTX 4050 by a considerable margin, the screen is a plenty fast 1200p 165 Hz panel, and it's got a nice dose of DDR5. Stick a bigger SSD in it, and it's a nicely balanced machine.

HP Victus 16 | Ryzen 7 8845HS | RTX 4070 | 16 GB DDR5-5600 | 512 GB SSD | $1,399.99 $929.99 at Best Buy (save $470)
This is easily the cheapest RTX 4070 gaming laptop on the list right now, and the cheapest I think I've ever seen one on sale for. The RTX 4070 isn't a super low spec either, and seems to be a 115 W version. The only real concern I have is that the 512 GB SSD will get filled up fast, but there is a second SSD slot easily accessible in the back of the laptop, so is an easy upgrade. The screen isn't super bright, either, but at 300 nits it will be fine unless you're in a bright office or direct sunlight.

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HP Victus 15 | RTX 4050 | Ryzen 5 8645HS | 15.6-inch | 1080p | 144 Hz | 8 GB DDR5 | 512 GB SSD | $979 $651 at Walmart (save $328)
Let's be upfront about this—8 GB of RAM is not enough in 2024. But when you're talking about a gaming notebook that costs just $650, but with a decent RTX 40-series GPU inside it, I can swallow it. Especially when you can easily upgrade the RAM with just a wee screwdriver in hand. And 16 GB of fast dual-channel DDR5 is just $50-odd right now. The RTX 4050 is just a 75 W variant, so not the outright fastest, but will still definitely do the job at 1080p. For this sorta money, that's all you can ask.

Price check: Newegg $679.95

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Asus TUF F15 | RTX 4070 | Core i7 13620H | 15.6-inch | 144 Hz | 1080p | 16 GB DDR5-4800 | 1 TB SSD | $1,399.99 $1,099.99 at Best Buy (save $300)
It may be a bit of a chonker, but this is the cheapest RTX 4070 gaming laptop we've got on the list. It's sporting a proper 140 W version of the GPU, too, so it's no slouch. Probably thanks to it being a chonker. With that you get a mighty capable Core i7 CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB SSD. Seriously, what more could you want?

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MSI Katana 15 | RTX 4070 | Core i7 13620H | 16-inch | 144 Hz | 1200p | 1 TB SSD | 16 GB DDR5 | $1,189 at Amazon
You're only getting a 1080p screen here, which is a bit of a shame as the rest of the components are all excellent. Still, that RTX 4070 will have no problem pushing that 144 Hz panel to its limits in many games at that res, plus the 10-core (six P-core, four E-core) CPU has some decent DDR5 to play with. It's not perfect, but for this money, it's an excellent deal.

Price check: Newegg $1,299

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Alienware m16 R2 | RTX 4070 | Core Ultra 7 155H | 16-inch | 1600p | 1 TB SSD | 16 GB DDR5 5600 | $1,699.99 $1,299.99 at Dell (save $400)
This Alienware gaming laptop not only offers what we'd expect to see in a $1,200 machine in 2024, but it also comes with one somewhat unexpected item. That's the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, a low-power processor from the Meteor Lake generation. With 16 cores total, this chip makes a good pairing with an RTX 4070 for a power-savvy gaming laptop.

Price check: Best Buy $1,899.99 Dell $1,299.99 (with Core Ultra 9/RTX 4060)

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Acer Predator Helios 18 | RTX 4070 | Core i7 13700HX | 18-inch | 165 Hz | 1600p | 1 TB SSD | 16 GB DDR5-4800 | $1,499.99 $1,299.99 at Newegg (save $200)
We tend to like our gaming laptops on the small side, but this desktop-replacing behemoth is truly excellent value for what you get inside. There's a proper RTX 4070 handling the graphics duties, a nicely performant Core i7 13700HX and some decent DDR5 rounding off a powerful, if rather ginormous, gaming beast.

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Asus TUF Gaming F17 | RTX 4070 | Core i7 13620H | 17.3-inch | 240 Hz | 1440p | 1 TB SSD | 16 GB DDR5 | $1,699.99 $1,299.99 at Newegg (save $400)
This is a big chonker of a laptop, with a honking great 17-inch 240 Hz display. Combine that with a proper mobile RTX 4070, 16 GB of DDR5 and a 1 TB SSD, and you've got a big lappy with plenty of horsepower and a super speedy screen for a good price.

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Omen Transcend 14 | RTX 4060 | Core Ultra 7 155H | 14-inch | 2880 x 1800 | OLED | 512 GB SSD | 16 GB RAM | $1,729.99 $1,329.99 at HP (save $400)
This is a very specific type of laptop for a very specific type of person, but if you are that person, there's a good saving to be had. It's a teeny tiny little device with an RTX 4060 and one of Intel's Meteor Lake chips inside it. It has a more sleek chassis than most on this list, though that does come with a higher fee. It's basically RTX 4070 money for an RTX 4060.

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Asus TUF A14 | RTX 4060 | Ryzen AI HX 370 | 14-inch | 16 GB RAM | 1 TB SSD | $1,499 $1,349 at Walmart (save $150)
The TUF A14 was a bit of a surprise package to arrive in the PCG office this year, and I ended up a big fan in my review of it. It's a big upgrade on the previous generation of 14-inch, taking many of the design notes from the premium Zephyrus range, but doing so in a more affordable form. It's still a little pricey for an RTX 4060 laptop if that's all you're after, but for a compact 14-inch version, it's a bit of a bargain.

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Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 | RTX 4070 | Core i9-14900HX | 16-inch | 240 Hz | 1600p | 1 TB SSD | 16 GB DDR5 | $1,699.99 $1,349.99 at Best Buy (save $350)
Acer's Helios line of laptops goes up to some mighty (and mighty pricey) configs, but this one is a bit more affordable. You get that super-fast 240 Hz screen, a proper RTX 4070, and one of Intel's top mobile chips, the Core i9 14900HX. It'll likely run pretty toasty with that beefy Intel chip in the mix, but power-wise it's a pretty mean gaming machine.

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Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 | RTX 4070 | Core i7 14700HX | 18-inch | 165 Hz | 1600p | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD | $1,749.99 $1,429.99 at Amazon (save $320)
If you want to throw portability out the window and go large, how about this Acer? It's got a huge (for a laptop) 18-inch 165 Hz LED backlit IPS display, and a 140 W TGP RTX 4070 to keep all 1600p of it duly fed. It's not something you're likely to want to haul around too often, but if you're the sort of person who likes to keep your lappy at home for multi-room gaming, it's a great shout for the price.

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Lenovo Legion 5i | RTX 4070 | Core i9 14900HX | 16-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz | 32 GB DDR5 5600 | 1 TB SSD | $1,849 $1,449 at B&H Photo (save $400)
Lenovo Legion gaming laptops have been excellent performers for a while now, and this one has specs to impress. The CPU is a 24-core (8 P-cores/16 E-cores) powerhouse, plus you get a proper 32 GB of RAM to play with. Match that with a 140 W RTX 4070 and a 240 Hz screen and this laptop is virtually flawless for the money. 2 TB of storage would be nice if I was being picky, but 1 TB will do you fine.

Price check: Best Buy $1,899.99

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Acer Predator Triton Neo 16 | RTX 4070 | Core Ultra 9 185H | 16-inch | 2000p | 165 Hz | 32 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD | $1,575 $1,499.99 at Amazon (save $75.01)
Let's start with a caveat—the chassis here isn't exactly beautiful. But everything else about this laptop is great for the price, including a 140 W RTX 4070, a 16-core (six Performance, eight Efficient) Meteor Lake chip and a 16-inch 2000p LED-backlit IPS display. That resolution might be a bit much for the RTX 4070 in demanding games, but there's always DLSS 3 to keep the frame rate smooth. 32 GB of DDR5 is great to see, too.

Price check: Newegg $1,827.99

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Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 | RTX 4070 | Core Ultra 9 185H | 16-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz | 1 TB SSD | 16 GB LPDDR5 | $1,999.99 $1,699.99 at Best Buy (save $500)
The ROG Zephyrus G16 is our favorite gaming laptop. Like, literally it's our pick as the best gaming laptop, and we've tried a whole lot this year. Admittedly, we like it most with AMD's Ryzen AI HX 370 inside it, rather than this Intel Core Ultra chip, though it shouldn't make a tremendous difference to the overall experience. The main thing is, it's a sleek laptop with a gorgeous chassis and an RTX 4070.

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MSI Vector 16 HX | RTX 4080 | Core i9 14900HX | 16-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz | 1 TB SSD | 32 GB RAM | $2,099 $1,849 at B&H (save $250)
Of the two MSI Vector machines we've highlighted here, I'd rather this one. It has a newer, more powerful CPU, a better screen resolution and refresh rate for an RTX 4080, and 32 GB of RAM. Altogether, that makes for a pretty sweet package and an upgrade worth the extra $100 over the cheapest RTX 4080 laptop we've found so far.

Price check: Microcenter $1,999.99

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MSI Vector GP68 HX 13V | RTX 4080 | Core i7 13700H | 16-inch | 1200p | 144 Hz | 16 GB RAM | 1 TB SSD | $1,861.55 at Newegg
This isn't quite the cheapest gaming laptop we've found with an RTX 4080 in the center of it, and it's a bit of odd machine, in that the resolution is 1920 x 1200 and only 144 Hz, which means you'll be limited by the screen sometimes with the RTX 4080 at its core. However, you can be sure you'll be hitting that refresh rate often. The CPU is a bit older but it's still a modern architecture and a Core i7.

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Acer Predator Helios 18 | RTX 4080 | Core i9 14900HX | 18-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz | 32 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD | $2,299.99 $1,999.99 at Best Buy (save $500)
As an 18-incher, this isn't the most portable of laptops. Still, if a desktop replacement is your desire the specs here make a whole lot of sense for the cash. You get a 24-core Core i9 CPU, 32 GB of delicious RAM, and an RTX 4080 for serious gaming firepower. The 1 TB SSD is a little stingy at this price, but we'll allow it.

Price check: Newegg $3,397.99

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Lenovo Legion Pro 7i | RTX 4080 | Core i9 14900HX | 16-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz | 32 GB DDR5-5600 | 1 TB SSD | $2,649 $1,999 at B&H Photo (save $650)
Lenovo makes some brilliant gaming laptops, and this Legion Pro 7i is no exception. Featuring the mighty RTX 4080 in combination with Intel's top-spec Core i9 mobile CPU, this high-end model should have no trouble tearing through any game you can throw at it. The screen is plenty speedy too with a 240 Hz refresh rate, and 32 GB of fast DDR5 is not to be sniffed at.

Price check: Newegg (2 TB SSD model) $2,499.99

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Razer Blade 16 | RTX 4080 | Core i9 14900HX | 16-inch | Mercury White | 32 GB RAM | 2 TB SSD | Mini-LED | 2400p/1200p | 120/240 Hz | $3,599 $2,999 at B&H (save $600)
My boss and I are arguing over this one. Not on its deal worthiness (it's a monster of a laptop and the Razer premium is real even if slightly mitigated by this deal), but on whether this Mini-LED model with a 2 TB SSD is worth it over the OLED version below with a 1 TB drive. This one benefits from a beefy resolution that can be tuned to 1200p and 240 Hz if you want more frames, plus it has double the storage. All of which makes it, in my opinion, better than the one below.

Price check: Razer store $3,199.99

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Razer Blade 16 | RTX 4080 | Core i9 14900HX | 16-inch | Black | 32 GB RAM | 1 TB SSD | OLED | 1600p | 240 Hz | $3,599 $2,999.99 at Razer (save $600)
This Razer Blade comes in the classic black look and contains only a 1 TB drive. However, it might make up for that with its well-to-do 1600p OLED screen. This is the OLED screen we crowned the best on a gaming laptop in 2024, and it really is extremely pretty for gaming and more. While the storage is a bit tight, and you can only upgrade with a single-sided SSD, there's definitely a case to be made for choosing this over the Mini-LED model above. That is, if you can stomach the Razer premium altogether.

Price check: B&H discontinued

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Steam Deck (LCD) | 512 GB SSD | SteamOS | $449 $336.75 at Steam (save $112.25)
Okay, the Steam Deck may have had an OLED refresh and there are heaps of more powerful handhelds around, but the original version is still the archetype of what a mobile PC gaming device should be. It's just as powerful as the most recent model so all those Steam Deck compatible games should run well. It's the OG PC gaming handheld, and it still demands respect. At the very least because SteamOS is wicked and it's extremely affordable with this deal (which goes on until December 4 if you want more time to think).

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ROG Ally | Z1 Extreme | 7-inch screen | 16 GB RAM | 512 GB SSD | $589.99 $485 at Amazon (save $104.99)
The original ROG Ally—still a strong performer even next to its improved sibling, the ROG Ally X. That's because they are both powered by the same Z1 Extreme chip from AMD. Considering the money off the original Ally, there's something to be said for choosing this over the X, though the bigger battery life on the X is definitely a huge improvement.

Price check: Best Buy $499.99