Cheap gaming laptop deals

Asus ROG X13 Flow | RTX 3050 Ti | Ryzen 9 6800HS | 13.4-inch | 1200p | 120Hz | 16GB | 1TB NVMe SSD | $1,499.99 $899.99 at Best Buy (save $700)
This isn't a pure gaming laptop. Instead, it's a very high-quality compact 13.4-inch portable with a fabulous 120Hz 16:10 display, a powerful eight-core AMD CPU, great build quality, and decent entry-level gaming chops. And it's nearly half its original price. Get in.

MSI Katana 15 | 15-inch | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 12450H | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | $1,199 $999 at Newegg (save $200)
This is the RTX 4060 laptop to buy right now. For a little over $1,000, you can score a brand new RTX 4060 in a laptop that's not massively underpowered in some other way. Usually, we'd see manufacturers skimp on the SSD or RAM to get the cost down to this level, but here you're looking at a healthy 16GB of DDR5 and a 1TB NVMe drive. Lovely.

Price check:  Amazon $1,289.99

Gigabyte G5 KF | Nvidia RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 12500H | 15.6-inch | 1080p | 144Hz | 8GB DDR4 | 512GB SSD | $1,099 $949 at Newegg (save $150)
The Gigabyte G5 (see our review) is our favorite affordable gaming laptop, packing the RTX 4060 GPU for some serious 1080p gaming performance in a budget package. It's a smart spec that essentially uses an otherwise older specification with the simple addition of just the new Nvidia RTX 40-series graphics chip. The 512GB SSD is a bit miserly, but that is upgradeable. The 8GB of DDR4 memory is also upgradeable, and you'll want to bump it to 16GB, so this is a bit of a project buy.

Price check: Best Buy $949.99 | Walmart $949

Asus ROG Zephyrus 14 | Nvidia RTX 3060 | AMD Ryzen 7 5800HS | 14-inch | 1080p | 144Hz | 16GB RAM | 512GB SSD | $1,599.99 $1,019.99 (save $350) at Best Buy
If you don't want a hulking gaming laptop, let me introduce the Zephyrus 14 (see our review): a 14-incher that can game without busting your bank balance or your shoulder when lugging it around—no-nonsense specs in a delightful package. While a bit older now versus the RTX 40-series GPUs, this is a very smart package for a low fee.

MSI Katana 15 | RTX 4070 | Intel Core i7 12650H | 15.6-inch | 144Hz | 1080p | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | $1,499 $1,159 Newegg (save $340)
Proof that Nvidia's new RTX 40-series graphics tech doesn't always come at an unreasonable price. This RTX 4070 laptop is relatively affordable and comes ready to roll with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. The 15.6-inch screen rocks IPS tech and 144Hz, too. OK, it runs last-gen Intel CPU tech, but with six Performance-cores, it has all the processing power you need for gaming.

Price check: Amazon $1,476 | Best Buy: $1,299.99

MSI Crosshair 15 | RTX 4070 | Intel Core i7 13620H | 16-inch | 144Hz | 1200p | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | $1,699.99 $1,399.99 Best Buy (save $300)
We were surprised to see a new 16-inch RTX 4070-powered laptop for only $1,400. This Crosshair has a current-gen Intel CPU, so it's great for working and gaming. Also, the display has a 16:10 aspect ratio, so you get more field of view which is super useful in first-person shooters. 

Asus TUF A17 | Nvidia RTX 4070 | AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS | 17.3-inch | 144Hz | 1080p | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | $1,799.99 $1,399.99 at Newegg (save $400)
If you're after a large-screen laptop for school, with a little Triple-A gaming on the side, the TUF A17 will certainly deliver. It is only a 1080p panel, however, which is a bit of a shame, but its RTX 4070 will run pretty much everything at that resolution. It also comes with an 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen CPU that also sports the 780M integrated graphics. That's the same as in all the latest handhelds, so can give decent gaming performance on the go, and should offer more gaming battery life than running on the RTX 4070 when away from a plug socket.

MSI Pulse 15 | RTX 4070 | Intel Core i9 13900H | 32GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | 1440p | 165Hz | $1,899 $1,799 at Newegg (save $100)
This laptop offers a higher-spec CPU and more RAM than most you'll find cheaper with an RTX 4070. If you're after a laptop that can deliver for work, creative pursuits, and gaming, this will be a better fit for it.

Price check: Walmart $1,799

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i | Nvidia RTX 4070 | Intel Core i9 13900HX | 16-inch | 1600p | 240Hz | 16GB DDR5-5600 | 1TB NVMe SSD | $2,299.99 $1,949.99 at Lenovo (save $350)
This Legion Pro 7i at $1,999 might be one of the better deals on what could be the best of this generation of 16-inch RTX 40-series laptops. Not only are you getting a lot of gaming performance, but you're also getting it on a well-designed laptop with a great screen.

Gigabyte Aorus 17H | Nvidia RTX 4080 | Intel Core i9 13900H | 17-inch | 1080p | 360Hz | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | $1,954.99 at Amazon
This is just about the most affordable RTX 4080 gaming laptop we've found, though it is worth noting it's of the less popular, somewhat vast 17.3-inch screen size. That does make it a good desktop replacement, though not necessarily a great portable system. Still, that Nvidia GPU will fly at the native resolution of this 1080p screen and could get close to those 360Hz figures on your favorite esports games.

Price check: Newegg $2,546.99 | Best Buy $2,199.99 | Walmart $2,199

HP Omen 17 | Nvidia RTX 4080 | Intel Core i9 13900HX | 17-inch | 1440p | 165Hz | 16GB DDR5 | 512GB SSD | $2,599.99 $2,199.99 (save $400) at HP
A little pricey considering the smaller storage though you're still looking for a lot of powerful 1440p performance on a large 17-inch display with a speedy 165Hz refresh rate.

MSI GF63 Thin | Nvidia RTX 4050 | Intel Core i5 12450H | 15.6-inch | 144Hz | 1080p | 8GB RAM | 512GB SSD | £1,199 £799 at Very (save £400)
Not the most up-to-date spec here, though that CPU is only a last-gen offering. It's backed up nicely with a 40-series GPU. It might struggle to do too much at once with only 8GB of RAM, but you should be able to hit framerates that'll make the most of that 144Hz panel at its native 1080p resolution.

Gigabyte G5 | Intel Core i5 12500H | Nvidia RTX 4060 | 15.6-inch | 1080p | 144Hz | 16GB DDR4-3200 | 512GB SSD | £1,198.97 £897.97 at Laptops Direct (save £215)
We're big fans of this little budget gaming laptop, and our Jacob loved its "great gaming performance" (check out our review). With over £200 off the original price, this powerful notebook is a great deal today.