Best cheap gaming laptop deals

This is a pretty appealing price for a capable 16-inch gaming laptop with a modern GPU. Sure, it's an RTX 5050, which needs to be affordable to be worthwhile, but this Acer Nitro V 16 AI is certainly 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

Boo, boo to the 512 GB SSD. Still, it's one of the easiest things to upgrade on any gaming laptop, and this one provides you with a lovely OLED display, which is rare to see on a laptop at this price. The RTX 5060 might be one of Nvidia's lower-stack mobile GPUs, but DLSS and Frame Gen will be the great equaliser here to make the most of that 1600p panel. Lenovo makes some excellent gaming laptops, and this one gives you a fair bit of bang for your buck for the money.

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

Price check: Lenovo $1,314.99

HP Omen laptops have great-looking chassis designs these days, and wrapping up an RTX 5060 in such a lovely frame for this price makes for a compelling deal. Plus, while the 1200p screen is perhaps not the most exciting spec in the world, it does mean the little RTX 5060 shouldn't have to work too hard to make the most of that speedy panel. The TGP of the GPU remains a mystery (thanks, HP), but I'd say there's a decent chance it's a mid-powered variant given the 16-inch chassis, which should balance nicely with the beefy CPU. And it even comes with 32 GB of RAM, which is great to see at this price.

Key specs: RTX 5060 | Ryzen 9 8940HX | 16-inch | 1200p | 144 Hz | 32 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD |

Price check: Newegg $1,599.99

"Ooh, an OLED" I said out loud as I stumbled across this deal. That's because OLED displays are traditionally found on expensive laptops, but we're starting to see them on cheaper machines these days, and that's great to see—especially in 240 Hz form. This model is also a very slim and sleek customer, despite its substantial rear lip. I have been known to pick up the new Acer Predator Helios models at trade shows and coo over their aesthetic design, and this one's no exception. Plus, it's got a 115 W variant of the RTX 5060, which means it's a bit more powerful than other slim machines using the same GPU—although you'll definitely need some DLSS and MFG help to make the most of its 1600p display. Still, it's a very desirable gaming laptop, if you ask me.

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

Price check: Newegg $1,599.99

With a 110 W version of the RTX 4070, with wee Acer has plenty of grunt about it, and that 120 Hz refresh 1600p panel will make a really crisp screen for a 14-inch laptop. You're also getting a full 1 TB SSD alongside your 16 GB of soldered memory (no upgrades happening there) and a decent Meteor Lake CPU at its heart. It's one of Intel's more efficient chips, with six Performance and eight Efficient cores, which ought to help with the battery life of this portable machine.

Key specs: RTX 4070 | Core Ultra 7 155H | 14-inch | 1600p | 120 Hz | 16 GB LPDDR5X | 1 TB SSD |

Gigabyte's budget gaming laptops are creeping into the discount range once more, and it's good to see them back. This one's got a well-weighted set of components for the price, including an 85 W variant of the RTX 5060. That puts it on the lower-powered side of things, but at least it can take advantage of Multi Frame Gen and DLSS 4. Plus, a 1200p screen is a good match for this particular GPU, and its 165 Hz refresh rate is plenty nippy. You'll struggle to find good RTX 5060 laptops for much lower at the moment, and I'd take this over a no-name model any day of the week.

Key specs: RTX 5060 | Core i7 13620H | 16-inch | 1200p | 165 Hz | 32 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD |

I reckon this Gigabyte machine is a fairly handsome beast, and although the price has jumped recently, it's a still a decent deal on an RTX 5070 machine. It might be an 85 W variant, but DLSS 4 and Nvidia's AI doohickies should make up a fair bit of the difference when pushing that 1600p panel. 32 GB of DDR5 is nice to see, and it looks like there's plenty of upgrade potential here too, should you wish to up the RAM or cram in a bigger SSD.

Key specs: RTX 5070 | Ryzen AI 7 350 | 16-inch | 1600p | 165 Hz | 32 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD |

Price check: Best Buy $1,349.99

Well, here's a laptop I'd stump up my own cash for in a heartbeat. For a start, you're getting a 1600p 165 Hz OLED display paired with a 115 W variant of the RTX 5070. That's not the top spec of Nvidia's mid-range mobile GPU, but with a dose of DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation, games are going to look pretty gorgeous spread across that panel. The CPU is a grunty eight Performance core, 12-efficient model, the 1 TB SSD is perfectly decent, and the RAM is... okay, here's where I'd make some modifications of my own. Still, 16 GB is fine to get started with, and SODIMMS are cheap. We've seen it for slightly less than this, but it's still a fabulous deal at this price.

Key specs: RTX 5070 | Core i7 14700HX | 15.1-inch | 1600p | 165 Hz OLED | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD |

Price check: Lenovo $1,684.99

Beyond the 115 W variant of the RTX 5070 sitting at its heart, you're also getting a beefy eight Performance core, 16 Efficient Intel chip, 32 GB of DDR5, and a 2 TB SSD thrown in with this particular machine. Oh, and a speedy 240 Hz screen, making for quite the specs sheet. It's not got a fancy OLED panel, but otherwise this is a very well-rounded package for a fair bit less than many RTX 5070 machines we're finding right now.

Key specs: RTX 5070 | Intel Core Ultra 9 275H | 16-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz | 32 GB RAM | 2 TB SSD |

Price check: Best Buy $2,099.99

Should you wish for an RTX 5070 in a very portable frame, well, normally you'd have to pay a serious sum for it. But this HP machine is a very tempting offer at this sort of price, given the firepower that's been crammed inside the 14-inch chassis. Dollars to donuts its a low-wattage RTX 5070 variant, and the 1800p panel means you'll need to make use of DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation to make the most of the 120 Hz refresh rate, but still—hyper portable laptops come with caveats, and this has relatively few. Plus, an OLED display? Lovely.

Key specs: RTX 5070 | Intel Core Ultra 9 285H | 14-inch | 1800p | 120 Hz OLED | 32 GB RAM | 1 TB SSD |

Price check: HP $2,529.99 (spec in configurator)

Sitting somewhere under the RTX 4080 and well above the RTX 4070 in terms of gaming performance, the RTX 5070 Ti is a great mid-range laptop GPU. Our Dave tested the Vector 16 HX AI for weeks, and came away very impressed with the RTX 5080 version, and the RTX 5070 Ti version promises much of the same. The 1200p IPS screen is a good match for the GPU and CPU, which is of 20-core Intel stock, and while I'd like to see more RAM, it's a very easy upgrade to perform. The price has risen recently, so it might be worth keeping an eye on this one to see if it drops again. Still, it's one of the cheaper RTX 5070 Ti machines you'll find right now, discount or not.

Key specs: RTX 5070 Ti | Core Ultra 7 255HX | 16-inch | 1200p | 144 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD |

Price check: Amazon $2,299.99 (32 GB variant)

Our Dave's absolute favorite Razer gaming laptop is somehow getting cheaper and cheaper, proving that some deals just keep going. In his Blade 14 review he said it's "a huge improvement over last year's model, and there's now no other gaming laptop I'd want to have my digits on or spend my money on." And he stands by that. I've asked him, and everything. It's incredibly portable, gorgeous to behold, and pretty much the most desirable lappy on the planet right now. How's that for a deal?

Key specs: RTX 5070 | Ryzen AI 9 365 | 14-inch | 120 Hz OLED | 1800p | 32 GB LPDDR5X-8000 | 1 TB SSD |

I know, I know, it's a lot of cash. But the truth is, it's difficult to find many RTX 50-series laptops for anything less than silly money right now, and this one's got the big boi RTX 5080 for a just about reasonable sum. Our Dave has been playing with this particular model recently 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 $2,499.99

Our best high-performance gaming laptop pick features a monstrous collection of components, and while it can be found on discount at various retailers right now, this is the cheapest I can find it for in full game-crunching trim. The RTX 5080 is a full-strength 175 W variant, the panel is a 240 Hz OLED stunner, the Intel CPU is mega, and as our Dave found in his review, the gaming performance is simply excellent. It's one of the fastest laptops we've tested to date, yet comes wrapped in a chassis you'd actually want to show off—although it must be said, it's a pretty sizeable machine to lug around if you plan on taking it on your travels.

Key specs: RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX | 16-inch | 240 Hz OLED | 1600p | 32 GB DDR5 | 2 TB SSD |

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 OLED model, so all those Steam Deck compatible games should run well. It's the OG PC gaming handheld, and it still demands respect, although this particular version does have quite a small SSD. Replacing it later with a larger unit is no great hassle, however.

Key specs: 256 GB SSD | SteamOS |

Our new favorite gaming handheld might only have a small discount at the moment, but it's still the best you can get thanks to its magnificent SteamOS integration. That's one of the best things about the Steam Deck, too, but here you're getting much more powerful hardware and a supremely comfortable chassis that makes the Legion Go S SteamOS an absolute delight to game on.

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

It's genuinely remarkable you can buy the OG of PC gaming handhelds for well under £300, but the discounts are back once more. It's still a wicked portable gaming machine, too, most of all because of its custom SteamOS operating system. Sure, it's perhaps feeling a little underpowered these days, but if light gaming on the go is your jam, the Steam Deck is still a superb thing.

Key specs: SteamOS | 256 GB

An RTX 5070 machine for just under a grand? Yep, this beastie is making all those RTX 5060 laptops for more cash look rather silly. It's an 80 W variant of Nvidia's mid-range mobile GPU, so it's a touch on the lighter side when it comes to performance—but it's very difficult to argue with the value proposition here overall. Plus, it's been paired with a speedy 165 Hz 1200p screen, which means the mobile graphics chip can really get to work punching out some frames, particularly with some DLSS and MFG assistance. A genuine bargain, if you ask me.

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

Price check: Amazon £1,499.99

The bad news here is you're getting an 85 W variant of the RTX 5070. The good news is, it's a very slim and svelte machine, and thanks to DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation, this sleek lappy should be able to pump frames (AI-generated or otherwise) at its 1600p 165 Hz display with aplomb. RTX 5070 machines are yet to see substantial discounts in the UK, but this one is definitely worth a look if you want to get on the DLSS 4 train for reasonable cash.

Key specs: RTX 5070 | Ryzen AI 7 350 | 16-inch | 1600p | 165 Hz | 32 GB DDR5-5600 | 1 TB SSD |

Price check: Amazon $1,499

We've been very impressed by the RTX 5080 version of this particular laptop for the value proposition it provides, and the RTX 5070 Ti variant is unlikely to be a slouch, either. While most RTX 50-series lappys are still priced into the stratosphere, this 16-inch machine is downright reasonable for the components you end up receiving, although we have found it for cheaper before. That's apart from the SSD, unfortunately, which is far too small. Still, sticking a 1 TB drive in a laptop is one of the easier hardware tasks you can perform, and the rest of the components are pretty stellar for the cash.

Key specs: RTX 5070 Ti | Core Ultra 7 255HX | 16-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz | 32 GB DDR5 | 512 GB SSD

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 that's still starved of stock and filled with extremely pricey equivalents. A smart buy right now, no doubt, although I'd stick a touch more RAM in it for cheap to really bring it up to mega spec.

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

Price check: Amazon $2,883.90 (2 TB variant)