Gaming laptops have a reputation for being expensive, but they don’t have to be. In fact, the best gaming laptops under $1,000 punch well above their weight, giving much more expensive gaming machines a run for their money. The best gaming laptop under $1,000 is the Lenovo Loq 15, which manages to fit an Nvidia RTX 4060 inside, despite its compact design and affordable price—that’s real gaming power.
The best gaming laptops under $1,000 offer a great display and solid specs that rival their pricier ... More siblings.
Illustration: Forbes / Photos: Retailers
Gaming laptops priced at under $1,000 may come with a few caveats: You might not be able to secure a top-tier processor or your dream graphics card. Outside of those concerns, these gaming laptops have almost everything you could want and can support your next gaming session effortlessly. Want a larger display? The Acer Nitro 16 has one that’s big, bright and fast. Alternately, the MSI Thin gives you a light and lean gaming machine at a fair price. Following are our recommendations for the best gaming laptops under $1,000. And while you’re upgrading your laptop, consider investing in one of the best gaming mice that fits your budget to round out your powerful gaming sessions.
Best Gaming Laptop Under $1,000 Overall: Lenovo Loq 15
Most Affordable Gaming Laptop Under $1,000: MSI Thin 15
The Lenovo Loq 15 is a bit of a marvel in the under $1,000 gaming laptop category, because despite the limitations of our budget, it manages to cram an Nvidia RTX 4060 under the hood. It’s the only laptop we could find with such a powerful GPU at this price, and it doesn’t even scrimp elsewhere to achieve it. Where other laptop manufacturers make do with an RTX 4050 at this price point, Lenovo has fitted a much more capable GPU, delivering stellar performance in any game at 1080p. It’s augmented by the excellent, eight-core, AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS, which has a high boost clock and excellent general performance for productivity work and other tasks, too.
There’s 16GB of fast DDR5 memory, and half a terabyte of snappy SSD storage, too, rounding out the overall package. The display isn’t super bright or vibrant, but it is fast, making it great for high-speed gaming. It’s quite a heavy laptop, too, but gaming laptops usually are. Expect only an hour or two of battery life when gaming, but you can get up to four if you don’t push it too hard.
Overall this laptop gives you fantastic performance for the price, in an attractive package. It has its shortcomings, but they’re worth it for those high frame rates.
Lacks performance of top affordable gaming laptops
The MSI Thin breaks the budget gaming mold with its standard $900 pricing, but can get crazy affordable when it’s on sale. You get a recent-generation Intel CPU with eight cores for strong multitasking, and an Nvidia RTX 4050 graphics chip. It’s not the fastest of its generation, but it has full support for DLSS upscaling and frame generation, helping to boost frame rates in a wide range of supporting games.
Its display isn’t particularly bright and its limited to 1080p, but it is fast, with a high refresh rate and low input lag, making it great for competitive gaming. As with most gaming laptops, battery life isn’t stellar, with only a few hours away from a power socket, but the overall design is quite lightweight and portable for a gaming laptop. It’s well under an inch in height, and at four pounds, is around the weight of a MacBook Pro. That’s light enough to carry around without much of an issue.
The Acer Nitro V 15 gets the same impressive performance as most other models on this list. It combines a great six core CPU from AMD’s recent 7000 series of Ryzen chips, with Nvidia’s RTX 4050, which is plenty for playing esports games at high frame rates, and AAA games at lower detail levels. It also supports DLSS and frame generation, so in compatible games can really give your FPS a boost.
The battery life is limited, as it is with most gaming laptops, but you should still get a couple of hours of play without having to plug the charger in—though performance will also be better when it’s powered by the mains. The display is fast and responsive, so lets you make the most of any high-frame-rate gameplay and improve your reaction times in competitive games.
It’s rare to find a big-screen gaming laptop at under $1,000, and though the Nitro 16 isn’t the biggest laptop we’ve ever seen, it’s the biggest we could find with strong gaming chops at this price. It’s also slightly higher resolution than our other picks, and packs more battery life than any other laptop on this list. The only caveat to that is it comes with less memory in turn, but for casual and esports play, that shouldn’t be an issue. If you want to make yourself more competitive in your favorite games on a budget, this is the laptop for you.
With all that extra screen space, you can enjoy buttery smooth frame rates thanks to its high refresh rate. At 400 nits, this monitor is quite bright and vibrant, too, giving it a much more punchy look than most of its contemporaries. It’s got a strong CPU with AMD Zen 4 cores, too, giving it a leg up over the competition there, too. Just be prepared when you heft this one around, as it weighs six pounds, which is heavy enough to drag you down after a long day of carrying it in your backpack.
Game streaming on a Chromebook is one of the best ways to experience high-end gaming on the go. With the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE, you get a lightweight gaming laptop with great battery life, and snappy performance thanks to its capable Intel Core Ultra 5 CPU. But where big bulky gaming laptops do all the heavy lifting themselves, this laptop stays lean and light thanks to its focus on cloud gaming. Although Google’s shuttered Stadia, its cloud-gaming platform, GeForce Now and similar streaming services offer an excellent gaming experience on any device, this Chromebook included.
It offers a vivid high-resolution display with a 120Hz refresh rate, so if you pay for a high FPS streaming experience, you can take full advantage of it. That also helps mitigate some of the added latency from game streaming. You can also use it to play more casual Android games natively, with the high refresh rate improving motion resolution for a clearer, crisper image even when the action picks up.
This guide and its updates are overseen by tech editor Rebecca Isaacs; she’s spent over five years testing and reviewing the latest in consumer technology and is an expert in smartphones, such as the Apple iPhone 16 Pro.
To ensure our recommendations are accurate and current, we routinely review this guide. This story was most recently updated in November 2024 to add the newest models throughout and expand the FAQs.
How We Chose The Best Gaming Laptops Under $1,000
To find the very best gaming laptops under $1,000, we leaned on our own expertise and consumer reviews while looking at bestselling models from top brands and comparing key features.
We selected models from brands we know and love, such as Acer, MSI and Lenovo, and looked at the latest models to see which would be the best laptops in this price range.
We’ve personally tested and regularly used laptops from several of these brands, so we have confidence in recommending them.
We evaluated features that matter most for new laptop buyers, such as strong battery life, performance, impressive displays and lots of storage space.
They all scored high in positive customer ratings, durability and performance. We only selected highly rated models for our list of recommendations.
What To Look While Shopping For A Gaming Laptop Under $1,000
When you’re buying a gaming laptop for less than $1,000, be especially vigilant in researching the components to make sure you’re getting what you need for the kind of gaming experience you want.
Processor
For the CPU, aim for one from the latest generations. For AMD, that’s the Ryzen 5000 or 6000, and for Intel look for the 12th or 13th generation. Mid-range chips like Core i5 (or Core Ultra 5) and Ryzen 5 models also suit most needs, but if you want to play at frame rates over 100 FPS, it can help to have a Ryzen 7 or Core i7/Core Ultra 7 CPU.
Make sure it’s not a low-power CPU, however. Both AMD and Intel have U-series versions of their mobile processors which are far slower with fewer performance cores. Opt for H-series or P-series CPUs when you can.
Graphics
For graphics, if you're gaming right on the device without streaming it, a dedicated GPU is best. You won't get anything too high-end at this kind of price, but recent generation GPUs like the Nvidia RTX 4050 or RTX 4060 are great, as are AMD RX 6000 and 7000-series graphics chips.
If you’re looking to do game streaming, then you don’t need a dedicated GPU—just be aware that your local gaming performance without one will be severely reduced.
RAM
The baseline RAM for any gaming laptop, regardless of price, should be 8GB—especially if it’s a Windows machine, and arguably, 16GB is better. Most of the options on this list have the latter, though there are some with the former that may be better suited to more casual games.
Storage
All modern laptops come with SSDs fitted as standard, so just look for a capacity that makes sense for you. A minimum of 256GB is a good idea, as that fills up fast once you install apps and games. Ideally, look for 512GB or up to 1TB if you want to store lots of photos and videos.
Weight
Gaming laptops are always heavy, but they don’t have to be super heavy. Anything over 5 pounds is going to feel quite uncomfortable just sitting on your lap, but you can carry it around easily enough. Once you get over 6 pounds, it can start to feel tiring to lug them around all day, so bear that in mind when purchasing.
Battery Life
Battery life in gaming machines is usually poor, and most of the models on this list reflect that, sporting at most around five hours. However, some models can get up to 10 hours. Do note, however, that rated battery life is usually for mixed use. When exclusively gaming, expect to get less than half that figure.
Peripherals
While laptops, by design, typically include a trackpad and keyboard suitable for everyday tasks, you might want to consider any peripherals or accessories you’d like for your gaming rig. For example, if you have your eye on a particular mouse with button programming functionality, it’s worth checking that the devices are compatible beforehand.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do You Need A Dedicated GPU For Gaming?
You can get away with using onboard graphics for the least-demanding casual games, but AAA games and high-frame0-rate esports play really needs a dedicated GPU. You also want the most powerful one you can get for your money, too, since higher frame rates and higher detail settings are only possible with more powerful graphics chips. That said, you don’t need as high-end a GPU if you’re playing more casual games.
For graphics, target AMD RX 6000 or 7000 mobile graphics, and Nvidia RTX 30- and 40-series options. RTX 40-series mobile GPUs, like the RTX 4050, also have support for DLSS 3 frame generation, which can further enhance some games beyond generic upscaling.
Do You Need A Gaming Laptop For Gaming?
Not necessarily. While gaming laptops are better suited for gaming, with higher-performance GPUs and processors, as well as higher-refresh-rate displays, you can play games on any laptop as long as its hardware is up to the job. If your laptop has a recent-generation processor, you can play some casual games well enough, but for AAA games you absolutely need a dedicated GPU.
The best laptops for gaming under $1,000 that we recommend all have dedicated graphics, high-refresh-rate displays, and enough storage to install multiple big games. You can find these features in nongaming laptops, but rarely will they be bundled into the package. Those laptops can be more expensive, too, since they make the sacrifices budget gaming laptops do in order to keep the price down but performance high.
Is $1,000 Enough To Spend On A Gaming Laptop?
Absolutely. You can get a very capable 1080p or even 1440p gaming laptop for even under $1,000. You can get a much more capable machine if you buy at the top end of that budget, but you can still get a great gaming experience for less. Our cheapest gaming laptop is only $550 (on sale) and yet has all the power you need for playing popular esports games at high refresh rates. It can even play some AAA games, especially older ones, if you keep the resolution and refresh rate low.
You will get much better performance and features if you can stretch your budget to even $1,200, but the best gaming laptops tend to come in around the $1,500+ mark, so that’s where you can find the kind of performance you need for ray tracing or 4K gaming.
Can I Buy A Gaming Laptop For Work?
Absolutely. What typically separates gaming laptops and rigs from machines that are not advertised as gamer-ready is a powerful graphics card, decent RAM and an advanced display. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the benefits of such power for productivity purposes.
Keep in mind that a gaming laptop might be overkill if you are only using software and services such as Microsoft Office and Teams. However, if you want a multi-purpose laptop–for example, for working during the day and streaming at night–a gaming laptop could be a wise investment.
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