The Best Gaming Laptop Under $1000

If you want to get a gaming laptop that can actually perform to the expectations of modern games, you’re going to need to spend significantly more than you would for a regular casual or work laptop. There is no magically budget priced rig that has the specs to keep up with the demands of modern developers and publishers. But that doesn’t mean that you have to dig into your savings. There are a number of great gaming laptops that can be picked up for less than a grand.

But parsing all the information behind a laptop in search of one that will suit your needs can be difficult. That’s why we’ve put together review for 12 of the best gaming laptops for gaming under 1000 dollars available in 2020.

Gaming Laptops Under $1000 Buying Guide

There’s not a lot of overhead for computer components, nor are there a lot of manufacturers, so budget gaming laptops tend to make use of comparable internal specs within their associated price points. The most important of these are the GPU, the CPU, and the RAM, and the need to make sure that all these components are working as efficiently as possible means that they’re usually well balanced in any decent laptop.

So, if you’re asking yourself “what is a good gaming laptop under $1000” Our detailed buying guide provides information on shopping for laptops and what the specs mean, but due to the fairly limited range of options in the budget range, we’ve decided to focus on the looser variables to look at for this guide.

i3, i5, or i7?

Practically any gaming laptop on the market today makes use of an Intel Core chip for its central processor. Intel has cornered the field almost entirely due to the quality of their latest generation, and that simplifies the process of shopping based off of a CPU. Fortunately, the CPU is the most important component of a gaming machine, so you don’t have to sweat too much about the details.

An i5 is generally considered the standard for gaming machines, and computers with i5s built in naturally dominate our list. These processors are strong enough to run most modern AAA games, and that will likely continue to be the case for some time to come. That said, don’t expect to run the latest and greatest games at the highest graphical settings without dealing with some choppy results.

If you want to avoid that, you’ll want to invest in an i7. Unfortunately, these chips are usually reserved for higher end gaming rigs. Only one of the great gaming laptops under 1000 dollars we feature comes with an i7, and that’s the Predator Helios 300.

Many in the gaming community wouldn’t even regard laptops with i3 processors as gaming machines, but we’ve included some here to accommodate the needs of more budget oriented and casual gamers. i3 processors make use of integrated rather than discrete GPUs, and they aren’t going to be capable of running newer titles, but they’re perfectly capable for casual gaming, vintage titles, and many indie offerings.

In most instances, you’ll want to make sure to get a laptop that uses the latest eighth generation Intel Core chip. They constitute a pretty major boost in gaming performance without a comparable increase in cost.

SSD or HDD

You can get a good gaming laptop for under $1000, but getting one that suits your needs typically means determining what you’re willing to sacrifice to get what you need. Case in point is what hard drive to choose. SSDs are the best choice for gamers because they offer incredibly fast loading speeds and the lack of moving parts means that they’re incredibly resistant to damage. They’re quickly becoming the standard for gamers.

That said, traditional hard drives aren’t obsolete yet, and you can usually get a hard drive with about four times the storage capacity for the same price as a comparable SSD. Just bear in mind that it could affect your gaming performance especially when considering loading times.

If you want the best of both worlds, we’ve featured a few models that include both an SSD and an HDD. That’s a pretty intimidating combo that’s usually reserved for more expensive rigs. Just keep in mind that might mean sacrificing on other specs.

Access to Components

Gaming laptops aren’t nearly as customizable as gaming towers, but that doesn’t mean that you’re just “stuck with what you get”. Chances are you won’t be swapping out the motherboard, CPU, or GPU on your new gaming laptop, but stacking in additional RAM (or even trading out an old HDD for a top of the line SSD) isn’t out of the question at all. You should ask yourself whether the computer you’re looking to buy will meet your needs in the future or if you intend it to be an upgradable project.

If it’s the latter, you should look at prioritizing those components you can’t swap out (namely the central and graphical processors) even if it comes at the expense of storage capacity or RAM. Those are fairly simple, and they can quickly add a lot of value to a machine that would otherwise be static in terms of performance.

If you’re uncomfortable taking a computer apart, you’ll always want to look at models that contain accessible compartments. These allow you to plug in the additional components to the appropriate ports without needing any advanced technical knowledge.

Final Thoughts

Gaming on a laptop has never been easy, and these best gaming laptops under 1000 dollars are living proof. There isn’t a bad choice on the list, and you can generally count on any of them to offer comparable quality to the other listed models in their price window. Whether you’re a casual gamer or an aspiring esports pro, there’s something here that should be best suited to your needs.