Best gaming laptop under $1000

Want the best gaming laptop under $1,000? We have selected the cream of Intel, AMD, and Nvidia powered gaming laptops in 2024

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Searching for the best gaming laptop under $1000 for your specific needs can be a bit difficult, as this lower-mid range price point is where things start to get interesting: with a great number of options available from different brands/manufacturers. The hardware these devices come equipped with should allow you to get decent frames on the latest AAA titles on low-medium settings at 1080p, or play older games on the highest settings. Each one of the five gaming laptops we have selected has different pros and cons that we will discuss, as well as talking through the various specifications of graphics card, CPU, RAM, display, storage, and ergonomic features. Our aim is to maximise your gaming experience within your budget. If your budget isn’t limited to just $1,000 then also consider taking a look at our best gaming laptop page, or other guides in the mega menu above.

We make sure all our guides are as up-to-date as possible with the latest available models, assuming we consider them worthy of inclusion, so you can be confident that you’re getting the very best for your money. We’ve briefly listed our top three picks below if you’re short on time, otherwise read ahead for our individual product reviews, plus a greater array of options at this price point and our ‘things to consider’ section, detailing what you should bear in mind before you buy.

Is the best gaming laptop under $1,000 worth buying?

The $1,000 mark is where we typically recommend people start looking if they want a laptop capable of gaming but are looking for a reasonable price that won’t break the bank. $1,000 is the lower end of the mid-range gaming laptop price range, and anything significantly below this is what we would term a budget gaming laptop. For $1,000 you will be able to play the latest AAA games on the market, even the most demanding ones, on at least the lowest settings. Most moderately demanding games will be playable on medium settings at a solid frame rate, and for older titles you may be able to crank the graphical pre-sets up to the max.

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Best gaming laptop under $1,000 2024: reviews

The best gaming laptop under $1,000 with a bright 16:10 display

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16

CPU

Intel Core i5-13500HX / i7-13700HX

Graphics Card

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 / 4060

RAM

16GB DDR5 RAM

Storage

512GB/1TB SSD

Max Refresh Rate

165Hz

Resolution

1200p / 1600p

How We Review

Hands-on Review

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Pros

• high-performing CPU and GPU for the money
• comes with Advanced Optimus
• 1600p screen with G-Sync
• great peak brightness and good color replication
• good battery life for a gaming laptop
• good selection of ports & sockets

Cons

• build quality flimsy around the bezels
• fans get loud on the maximum preset
• heavy power adapter

We did an in-depth review of the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 and were very impressed with it. The particular unit we tested came with a more powerful RTX 4060 GPU and Intel Core i7-13700HX processor plus 1600p screen, which obviously costs more money, however this RTX 4050, i5-13500HX, 1200p versions is still well worth your time. That being said, we’ve seen renewed 1600p models with RTX 4060 GPUs on sale for $999, which is terrific value if you can find it.

As with the version we tested, the GPU output punches above its weight when compared to other RTX 4050 machines, and the inclusion of Advanced Optimus – a rarity at this price point – helps to squeeze more performance out of the device when gaming. You get a great selection of ports with this machine – the best of any on this page – including a MicroSD card reader, RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet, three USB-A 3.2 and two USB-C 3.2 ports.

The 16:10 aspect ratio of this display gives you additional vertical headroom, making it a great option for a general productivity laptop on the side, as it’s better for viewing web pages and documents. As with the version we reviewed you get an impressive 500 nits of brightness, which is by far the best you’ll get at this price point and is good enough to be used outdoors. sRGB color replication is around 97% and the accuracy isn’t bad either – meaning you could use it for creative work in this color space in a pinch – it certainly looks great to game on. Besides the 165Hz max refresh rate you also get G-Sync – which also isn’t common at this price point and a welcome addition to reduce screen tearing.

A great all-round laptop for the money with an RTX 3060 GPU

HP Omen 16 (144Hz FHD, RTX 3060)

CPU

AMD Ryzen 7 6800H

Graphics

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060

RAM

16GB DDR5 RAM

Storage

1TB SSD

Screen Size

16.1”

Max Refresh Rate

144Hz

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Pros

• Solid performing GPU & CPU for the money
• Great sRGB color replication
• Good brightness
• Good selection of ports

Cons

• Fans can get loud

This HP Omen 16 is one of the best all-round gaming laptops for under $1,000 that’s currently available. This 16-inch screen laptop comes with a 144Hz maximum refresh rate and an impressive 400nits peak brightness – which is above what most gaming laptops at this price point manage. In terms of color replication you also get about 99% sRBG gamut, which is again above the typical average. Although the color accuracy isn’t good enough for use as a creative machine for color-accurate work, it’s still reasonable at around 4.17 average deltaE.

The RTX 3060 graphics card is a great performer from the previous generation of laptops – a solid mid-range graphics card that should be able to run most games on low-medium settings. Similarly the Ryzen 7 6800H is a solid performing CPU. This laptop can get a bit loud under strain, though you can tweak some of the performance settings in the onboard software to mitigate this a bit. The memory is also DDR5, which is nice. Finally you get a nice selection of I/O ports with this device, including 2x USB-A, 2X USB-C, and an ethernet port.

A great all-AMD laptop with 240Hz display and great battery life

MSI Delta (1080p)

CPU

AMD Ryzen 7 5800H

Graphics

AMD Radeon RX 6700M (95-120W)

RAM

16GB

Storage

1TB SSD

Screen Size

15.6”

Max Refresh Rate

240Hz

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Pros

• good gaming performance
• 240Hz refresh rate
• fast response time
• fast RAM
• superb battery life
• good color gamut
• relatively thin & portable

Cons

• poor microphone
• build quality could be better on the trackpad etc.

Although this MSI Delta 15 is a couple of generations old now, it still gives solid in-game FPS performance for the money, and is one of the best all-round gaming laptops on this list. The combination of the AMD Radeon RX 6700M graphics card when combined with the Ryzen 7 5800H CPU performs somewhere between an Nvidia RTX 3060 and a RTX 3070, depending on the game, which is good for the price. Besides this you get an unusually great battery life and very high max refresh rate.

The color gamut of the display is respectable, covering around 97% of sRGB, brightness and contrast are decent, however the 240Hz refresh rate of the screen is great, more than enough for competitive gaming on a laptop with core components of this power level. Similarly, the response time of the screen is also good, at least with overdrive enabled, coming in at around 5ms grey-to-grey, which is as good as you can expect at this price point.

You can expect a battery duration of around 11 hours in non-strenuous, non-gaming general use (web browsing and word processing and the like), which is one of the best results we’ve ever seen in a gaming laptop. The 720p webcam is adequate for a gaming laptop, though the inbuilt mic is certainly less so, and isn’t great at isolating external noise. The keyboard and trackpad won’t set the world on fire, with the keys feeling slightly stiff and the trackpad a touch loose, but both do the job. Speakers are about average for a gaming laptop, which is to say not great, but still about average vs the competition. Still, considering what you do get, this device is well worth your money.

An underpowered RTX 4060, but still an RTX 4060 laptop

MSI Cyborg 15 (144Hz FHD, i7-12650H)

CPU

Intel Core i7-12650H

Graphics Card

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

RAM

16GB/32GB DDR5 RAM

Storage

512GB/1TB SSD

Max Refresh Rate

144Hz

Resolution

FHD

How We Review

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Pros

• An RTX 4060 laptop GPU at a great price
• Lots of RAM & SSD upgrade options for cheap
• Unique translucent design

Cons

• Underpowered RTX 4060 GPU
• Poor color replication
• Fairly dim screen

The MSI Cyborg was a new addition to the MSI gaming laptop roster in 2023. It’s an affordable machine that aims to take on the likes of the Acer Nitro 5 and the ASUS TUF A15 in the budget gaming laptop space. It also comes with blue sci-fi styling on the keyboard and an unusual translucent finish underneath and on the sides of the laptop, with the words ‘MSI True Gaming’ etched in. It might seem a bit of a wasted effort to put such a design where you’re least likely to see it, however if you’re a fan of little details on your products, then this may tickle your fancy.

Ultimately the biggest draw for us, and the reason it’s the top pick on this list, is that it’s the cheapest RTX 4060 laptop (assuming you pick this loadout) that we’ve seen so far, though it must be acknowledged that by the standards of other RTX 4060 laptops it’s underpowered – you’ll probably only get a slightly better output than some of the other top devices listed here. The Intel 12th gen laptop CPU it’s paired with (the Intel Core i7-12650H) is an older gen model but it still performs well. Later models are available, with Intel 13th gen processors, although within this price range these are limited to RTX 4050 GPUs.

One of the main benefits of this device is the high RAM and storage loadouts available, far above what you’d normally expect at this price. At the time of writing you can get 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 1TB of SSD storage, which is very nice indeed.

The colors, brightness and contrast of the display won’t set the world on fire, but they’re good enough for gaming, and the 144Hz max refresh rate is ideal for components of this power. Performance on both the keyboard and trackpad is respectable for the price. You also get a numpad on the keyboard, which could be a bonus or a drawback, depending on your priorities (personally I like the extra functionality it gives when using the machine for work as well as gaming).

Another great affordable option from Acer

Acer Nitro 5 2023

CPU

Core i5-12500H

GPU

RTX 4050

Refresh Rate

144Hz

Laptop weight

2.5kg/5.51lbs

Dimensions

26.9mm x 360.4mm x 271.1 mm (H x W x D)

How We Review

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Pros

• GPU & CPU punch above their weight
• Lots of RAM & SSD upgrade options for cheap
• Dependable keyboard and trackpad
• Solid webcam
• Decent build quality for a budget machine
• Quiet on Default and Quiet profiles

Cons

• Poor battery life
• Poor color replication
• Loud fans when in Performance profile

The Acer Nitro 5 is another great choice that we’ve had the pleasure of benchmarking, and it’s a fantastic budget pick. The RTX 4050 and i5-12500H perform better than you’d expect, and you can actually get good average FPS in newer games on medium-high settings. If you like the look of this device and are willing to spend a bit more money you can also pick up an RTX 4060 version with Intel Core i7-12650H, which will net you performance superior to any other pick on this page. The color replication of the screen isn’t the best, but it’s good enough for gaming, and the overall build quality plus keyboard and trackpad and webcam are of a respectable standard for a budget machine.

You can get the standard 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD you’d’d expect at this price point, but we’d recommend upgrading these to at least a 1TB SSD as to do so is relatively cheap. You could even get 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD plus 2TB HDD for not much more money, if you plan on using your laptop for memory heavy creative uses, like to open a lot of tabs in your web-browser, and want to install a lot of games on your device.

The biggest downside of this device is the battery life, which caps at a maximum of 4 hours of general use, even with all battery saving settings enabled. If you can put up with this though, it’s a solid affordable pick.

Also consider

MSI Thin GF63 (144Hz FHD, i7-12650H)

CPU

Intel Core i7-12650H)

Graphics Card

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050

RAM

16GB DDR4 RAM

Storage

512GB SSD

Max Refresh Rate

144Hz

Resolution

FHD

How We Review

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Pros

• RTX 4050 laptop GPU
• powerful CPU option for the price
• 144Hz screen

Cons

• no Thunderbolt support or SD card reader
• only 512GB SSD
• DDR4 RAM

At the time of writing, this new MSI Thin GF63 model is a bit out of the price range of this guide, though we’re still putting it here to give you the option of a 40-series laptop with 16GB of RAM, in contrast to the two above.

The RTX 4050 laptop GPU in this machine hits significantly harder than the RTX 3050 Ti of the previous generation, around 29% more on average in fact, although this figure isn’t based on the performance of this specific laptop (see our RTX 4050 laptop vs RTX 3050 laptop page for more details on this). Although it doesn’t quite match up to the power of an RTX 3060 laptop, it’s not too far off and this is before you factor in the additional FPS boost that DLSS 3.0 will bring in those games that support it. This upscaling boost could easily mean comparable performance in such titles.

You get the same Intel Core i7-12650H CPU (one of the best performers in this price range) as you do in the MSI Cyborg, the typical 512GB SSD and 144Hz screen.

The design dark metal with a red keyboard and accents, similar to the older MSI Thin GF65 above, which may suit some tastes more than the Cyborg’s coloring. Ultimately the big plus compared to the top two though is that whilst the graphics card might not be as powerful, you don’t have to mess around upgrading the memory on this model if you’re after 16GB. It’s DDR4, rather than DDR5, however currently the performance difference between the two is negligible.

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Things to consider when buying a gaming laptop under $1,000

For an in-depth list of what to consider when looking for a gaming laptop in general, have a quick scan of this section on our best gaming laptops page. Below is a quick summary of what you should bear in mind when shopping to a $1,000 budget specifically.

Realistic expectations of gaming performance

Gaming laptops are expensive on a price-to-performance basis. You pay a very significant mark-up when buying a gaming laptop compared to a desktop PC, purely for the convenience of being able to carry it in your bag: it is after all quite difficult to cram in all those same components and keep them from overheating into a fairly narrow space.

Consequently, when you start looking at gaming laptops under $1,000, you cannot expect to run the latest AAA titles on the highest graphical settings and get great performance. Less demanding titles will run well however and/or newer games on the lower graphical pre-sets. If this is too low for your needs then we would advise you take a look at our best gaming laptops for under $1,500 page, or alternatively consider a desktop PC you can build yourself or a prebuilt computer, for under $1,000.

Resolution & refresh rate

Under $1,000 your choice is usually limited to 1080p/1200p (FHD/FHD+) resolution screens, although some 1440p and 1600p models are becoming increasingly available at this price point. FHD is still the standard resolution for competition gaming anyway, which many people on higher budgets would choose regardless. Furthermore, it is arguably of limited benefit to get a higher resolution display unless you are looking for a laptop with a screen size above 15 inches.

144Hz laptop models are what you’ll usually find for this amount of money and, with the type of CPU & GPU setups you’re going to be working with, this is a sufficiently high refresh rate displays to match the FPS they will be outputting.

Hard drive & RAM

It’s rare to find a gaming laptop in this price range that comes with a hard drive (usually an SSD – i.e. Solid State Drive) above 512GB, although some do exist. Fortunately, most laptops can be upgraded in this area, and a better / additional SSD put in to increase the storage capacity. You should check to make sure that the laptop you want does indeed allow you to do this before you purchase it.

It’s a similar story with memory capacity – most will max out at 16GB RAM, although again this is usually an easily upgradeable component.

Port selection, connectivity & webcam quality

Typically ports and sockets are one of the things which get sacrificed in more budget-priced laptops. It’s rare to find Thunderbolt support or SD card readers for instance in laptops under $1,000, although they do crop up on occasion, and you won’t get many USB-C ports. You may or may not get an HDMI port to attach to an external monitor.

Webcam quality will rarely be good in gaming laptops at this price point, given it’s something even high-end gaming laptops often sacrifice and in some cases you might not even find a webcam included at all.

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Final Word

This has been our guide to the best gaming laptop under $1000 in 2024. We hope you have found it useful in making your choice as to which laptop to buy. If you didn’t find what you want here, we have other laptop guides for different budgets which can be found in the dropdown menu at the top of this page, including the best gaming laptops under $800 and best gaming laptops under $1,500 if you’re looking for something a bit cheaper/more powerful. If you need more power more cheaply than a gaming laptop can provide, have a look at our guides on mid-range gaming desktop builds for under $1,000 and also the best pre-built gaming PC for under $1,000.

Best gaming laptops under $1000 FAQs

How good is a $1000 gaming laptop?

A gaming laptop for 1000 USD can be described as mid-range. For this price you will be able to play the latest games, but only on low-medium graphical settings if they are demanding. For older, less demanding titles you will be able to turn the settings up higher. Otherwise you will have to spend more money on a gaming laptop or consider buying a desktop PC for the same price.

What is the best budget gaming laptop?

Any gaming laptop which costs substantially below $1,000 fits the bill of a budget gaming laptop. Below this threshold, there is a big range in terms of price and quality. Take a look at our pages on the best gaming laptop under $800, $700, $600, and $500 to see which one is right for your needs.

Which brand of laptop lasts the longest?

In terms of physical durability, this usually depends on the build quality of individual models rather than one brand, but Razer, Apple, and Lenovo laptops tend to excel in this area. The efficiency of internal cooling affects the longevity of the internal components of gaming laptops but again this isn’t usually brand-specific – check reviews of the specific model. In terms of the longest-lasting battery life, most gaming laptops do not have a long one, due to power-hungry components, though certain examples like the ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage and ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (With AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS) are exceptions.