People generally believe that expensive laptops are powerful, but this is completely wrong when it comes to buying a gaming laptop. The performance of the gaming laptop depends upon its hardware specifications. Therefore, an ideal gaming laptop is the one with powerful hardware which can output performance equivalent to the gaming desktop, and provide mobility at the same time! If you are ready to spend $1000 for your new gaming laptop, then there are a lot of such powerful and reliable sub-$1000 gaming laptops available in the market right now.
However, arranging a sufficient amount to buy a gaming laptop is an effort seeking task and on the other hand, gathering proper information to buy the right laptop is again an arduous task. We here at Laptop Under Budget, are always making our efforts to reduce your efforts in buying a laptop. We have thus, came up with a full-fledged buying guide to buy mid-range gaming laptops which include our regularly revised and latest list of ‘top 10 best gaming laptops under $1000 price tag’.
We want to let our readers know that all the laptops in the list are the newest models powered by the latest and most powerful CPUs and GPUs available for gaming right now and all of them stand at the apex in certain areas. So, we would advise the readers to go through each and every laptop listed below to get a brief and buy accordingly.
Note: Below listed laptops are the best laptops for “gaming” under 1000 dollars, but if you are looking for an all-purpose laptop, then check out our guide to buy the best all-purpose laptop which includes our top picks of best all-around performing laptops under $1000 price tag. Now without further ado, Let’s proceed with the list of best gaming laptops…
1. Dell G5 Series 15-inch Gaming Laptop
Dell’s G series of gaming laptops are some of the best budget gaming laptops available to buy in the market right now. Accordingly, the Dell G5 is a competent gaming laptop with a perfect gaming-hued design and high-performance hardware.
Speaking about the internals of the laptop, it is powered by a hexa-core coffee lake Intel Core i7 processor paired with an 8GB of DDR4 2666MHz RAM. As far as the graphics on the device are concerned, the laptop is equipped with a 4GB of Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics processor, which remains as one of the flagship graphics processors in $1000 price range.
The device sports a 15.6-inch full HD IPS display to enhance the gaming experience and provide a rich yet eye-friendly views to the games. The keyboard on the laptop is also comfortable to type, and it has backlit keys to enjoy games at night. Storage on the laptop is well-managed by a 1TB of HDD and 256GB of SSD. The laptop comes with higher than a usual number of ports and can be paired with a wide range of gaming accessories from Dell. Dell G5 is among the very few gaming laptops in the $1000 price range that offers the newest 9th gen Intel six-core processor and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU. Moreover, its chassis is finished in black and blue color which differentiates G5 from most other gaming laptops in the market that comes finished in red and black.
| Hardware Specifications of Dell G5 Gaming Laptop | |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-9750H 2.6 GHz (Turbo up to 4.5 GHz) Coffee Lake Processor |
| RAM | 8GB DDR4 2666 MHz RAM (Upgradable up to 32GB) |
| Storage | 1TB 5400 RPM HDD + 256GB SSD |
| Graphics | NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 4GB DDR5 Graphics |
| Display | 15.6 Inch Full HD IPS Anti-Glare display with 1920×1080 Resolution |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home 64-bit OS |
| Battery Life | Up to 5 hours |
| Weight | 5.9 lbs |
2. Lenovo Legion Y540
Lenovo although being famous for providing business classwork and performance-based laptops, this time the brand has come out with a really strong and able set of gaming laptops. The Legion Y540 is their recently refreshed gaming laptop under 1000 dollars which although doesn’t look like a gaming laptop, but it bolsters very powerful internals inside.
The Legion Y540 is one of the most premium looking gaming laptops under $1000 and accordingly comes with a very unique construction. The laptop has just Kensington lock slot on the right-hand side and all other ports and slots are located on the left of the laptop which reduces wire clutter so that you can comfortably game by connecting your gaming mouse. Moreover, the lid of the laptop is constructed from a subtly brushed black aluminum and it has a lighting Legion logo on the side that looks premium.
It sports a 15.6-inch IPS LED display with slim bezels, and it also comes with an anti-glare coating on top of it. Like most of the other gaming laptops in the segment, this also comes with a resolution of Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels. Speaking about the innards of this laptop it is powered by the latest gen 2.4GHz six-core Intel Core i5 processor and has powerful Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU. There are a lot of other specs options available. You can customize it in accordance with your requirements and budget.
The laptop runs Windows 10 out of the box and is, therefore, ideal for both everyday usage and gaming. For multimedia, it is equipped with two speakers powered by Dolby Atmos sound to provide an immersive audio experience. All these are just some of the highlighting features of the Lenovo Legion Y540, and we are sure there’s much more that this laptop can offer to delight gamers. Lenovo Legion Y540 notebook comes jam-packed with all the powerful hardware inside, including powerful quad-core Intel processor and Nvidia’s VR-Ready graphics. Moreover, its design doesn’t make you feel awkward when you carry it to meetings or classrooms if you are a student. So, If you’re looking for a professional-looking ultimate gaming beast for under $1000, then this gaming notebook is the best one you can buy right now.
| Hardware Specifications of Lenovo Legion Y540 – Best Gaming Laptop Under $1000 | |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-9300H (9th Generation) 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Processor (Turbo up to 4.1GHz) |
| RAM | 8GB DDR4 RAM |
| Storage | 1TB 7200 RPM HDD + 256GB SSD |
| Graphics | Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB DDR6 VRAM |
| Display | 15.6 Inch IPS Full HD IPS display with 1920×1080 Resolution |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home 64-bit OS |
| Battery Life | Up to 5 hours |
| Weight | 5.1 lbs |
3. ASUS TUF A15 Gaming Laptop (Best Pick)
ASUS, a well-known computer hardware manufacturing brand also has a very well established portfolio in the gaming laptops sector. One such offering from the company is the ASUS TUF A15, which is one of the most value for money option from the ASUS’s portfolio of budget gaming laptops right now.
The laptop sports a 15.6-inch full HD display with a 144Hz refresh rate which is the best you can get at this price range. The laptop comes with a solid build chassis, which makes every bit of the laptop look and feel premium. As far as the specifications of the laptop are concerned, unlike other gaming laptops, it is powered by the newest AMD Ryzen 7 4800H 8-core processor coupled with 16GB of RAM. For any device to perform operations quickly needs a responsive and potent storage unit, and accordingly, the laptop is provided with 512GB of a solid-state drive for faster read/write operations.
A 6GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card handles the run on the graphics and is well synchronized with the primary processor to deliver uninterrupted gaming performance. Overall, the ASUS TUF A15 is unapologetically an excellent machine for gaming. It doesn’t compromise in performance and offers all the latest and absolute most powerful set of specs you can get for the price. That’s why, it is our top pick of gaming laptops under $1000 right now.
| Hardware Specifications of ASUS TUF A15 Gaming Laptop | |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 4800H 2.9 GHz 8-core Processor with Turbo up to 4.2 GHz |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4 3200MHz RAM |
| Storage | 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Graphics | Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB DDR6 Graphics |
| Display | 15.6 Inch Full HD 144Hz Anti Glare Display |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home 64-bit OS |
| Battery Life | Up to 7 hours |
| Weight | 5.07 lbs |
4. ASUS ROG GL531GU Gaming Laptop
ASUS has uprightly provided excellent gaming laptops and has its footprints set up in the gaming arena. ASUS ROG GL531GU is another laptop in the list, which manages to attract many users across the globe through its gaming performance. Powered by a 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 quad-core processor and backed by the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU, the laptop can run all the new games at decent FPS. It comes with 8GB of fast DDR4 RAM and offers 512GB of SSD for storage. The RAM and storage drives are upgradable on this laptop to make it even more powerful.
The 15.6-inch full HD display on the laptop comes with a 120Hz refresh rate, and it gets reasonably bright and comes protected with a matte finish for the better and strain-less viewing experience. Moreover, the multimedia experience on the laptop is excellent. Its dual speakers can fill the small room with rich and clear audio.
However, there are few misses on the laptop. While there are three USB Type-A ports on the laptop, but it has only one USB Type-C port, and it’s located on the backside of the laptop, which could be problematic if you have many USB Type-C accessories lying around. Moreover, it offers 512GB SSD for storage, which is adequate for most users, but it will fill up fast if you keep multiple games installed. It’s not a huge problem though, considering it has two storage drive bays inside, which can be used to upgrade the storage.
Overall, the ASUS ROG GL531GU is one of the best gaming laptops under $1000 right now. It is a well-designed machine with powerful internals which can run all the new games, and it has dual fans with anti-dust technology which keeps the laptop cool and calm while gaming and ensures all the internals stay dust-free for increased longevity.
| Hardware Specifications of ASUS ROG GL531GU Gaming Laptop | |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-9300H 9th Generation 2.4 GHz quad-core Processor (Turbo up to 4.1 GHz) |
| RAM | 8GB DDR4 RAM |
| Storage | 512GB M.2 Solid State Drive |
| Graphics | Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB DDR5 Graphics |
| Display | 15.6 Inch Full HD 120Hz Anti-Glare display with 1920 x 1080 Resolution |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home 64-bit OS |
| Battery Life | Up to 5 hours |
| Weight | 5.2 lbs |
5. Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop (Best Value for Money)
Acer Predator Helios 300 gaming laptop comes in a matte finished blue-and-black colored outer chassis, and accordingly, has a subtle look for gamers. The laptop comes with a well-engineered chassis design, which not only adds on to the form-factor but also provides excellent thermal efficiency with its huge air dissipating vents on the back.
Under the hood, the laptop is housed with the latest 9th Generation Intel Core i7-9750H processor, which can go to 4.5GHz of clock speed. The laptop comes with a 16GB of RAM, meant to handle multitasking and ensuring the robust gaming performance. On the storage front, it comes with a 256GB of SSD storage, and there’s empty storage bay inside, in case if you want to put in an extra HDD/SSD. Graphics on this gaming machine is bolstered by an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti with 6GB of dedicated GDDR6 VRAM. The laptop with its perfect blend of specifications and features provides an impeccable all-round performance with compelling gaming experience.
Talking about the gaming experience, the laptop comes with a 144Hz refresh-rate 15.6-inch IPS display and houses the company’s proprietary Acer TrueHarmony, and Dolby Audio Premium Sound meant to deliver smooth visuals and immersive audio during gameplay. Apart from that, the laptop also comes with a great thermal management system. It has dual aero-blade cooling fans which allow its CPU and GPU to perform more efficiently. Plus, it has an iron-red backlit keyboard that complements its overall gaming design. All these amazing set of features and such powerful hardware for under $1000 make the Acer Predator Helios 300 one of the best value for a money gaming laptop you can buy right now.
Read our full review of Acer Predator Helios 300 (2019) Gaming Laptop The Acer Predator Helios 300 is among the very few gaming laptops in the sub-$1000 category to come with the 144Hz display. It offers all the latest tech that pro-gamer desires for but couldn’t afford and that makes it one of the most value for money offering in the segment. Moreover, it gives freedom to users to upgrade their machines as they want. Its back panel can be easily opened, and upgradable parts like hard drive and RAM can be easily accessed. Its RAM can be upgraded up to 64GB, and its less storage can also be upgraded by adding another drive.
| Hardware Specifications of Acer Predator Helios 300 (2019) Gaming Laptop | |
| Processor | 9th Generation Intel Core i7-9750H Six Core Coffee Lake Processor (Turbo up to 4.5GHz) |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4 RAM |
| Storage | 256GB SSD (Upgradable) |
| Graphics | NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB Dedicated DDR6 Graphics |
| Display | 15.6 Inch Full HD IPS LED-backlit Screen with 144Hz refresh-rate |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home 64-bit OS |
| Battery Life | Up to 6 hours |
| Weight | 5.0 lbs |
6. Lenovo Ideapad L340 15″ Gaming Laptop (Thin & Light)
Gaming laptops market, which was once ruled by just one or two brands now has a wide portfolio of brands and models, offering top of the line specifications and features. Accordingly, our current contender, the Lenovo Ideapad L340 gaming laptop not just offers a fully specced internals, but also comes with a lightweight chassis, gaining it an advantage over other laptops in the segment.
The laptop comes in a professional looking external chassis, which is well-engineered to provide excellent ergonomics. The laptop sports a 15.6-inch display with full HD resolution. It gets reasonably bright and has a wide viewing angle, which makes gaming and usability easy.
Speaking about the internals of the laptop, it is powered by an Intel Core i7-9750H processor, paired with an 8GB of DDR4 RAM for multitasking. Moreover, the laptop has an excellent thermal management system which helps the processor to turbo-boost its clock frequency up to 4.5 GHz and run calmly for prolonged periods, to provide impeccable performance and user experience. This beautifully crafted gaming laptop is provided with a 4GB of Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 video card to handle gaming and graphics related tasks. On the storage front, the laptop is backed by a 256GB of a solid-state drive, which is less but its upgradable.
The laptop runs on Windows 10 out of the box, which is not just ideal for gaming but is also high on productivity. All that said, the laptop is just perfect for everyone looking for an ideal gaming laptop under 1000 dollars without compromising on features and good looks.
| Hardware Specifications of Lenovo Ideapad L340 15″ Gaming Laptop | |
| Processor | Intel i7-9750H Hexa-Core 2.6 GHz Processor (Turbo up to 4.5 GHz) |
| RAM | 8GB DDR4 RAM |
| Storage | 256GB SSD |
| Graphics | NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 4GB Dedicated Video Memory |
| Display | 15.6-Inch Full HD IPS Anti-Glare Display with up to 250-nits brightness |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home 64-bit OS |
| Battery Life | Up to 5.5 hours |
| Weight | 4.8 lbs |
7. MSI Bravo 17 (Best 17-inch Gaming Laptop)
MSI Bravo 17 is a complete gaming stationed laptop that is meant to provide an uninterrupted gaming experience. For price less than $1000, it offers all the latest sets of specifications which includes the newest gen AMD Ryzen processors.
It is powered by an 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor clocked at 2.9GHz, and the power of the processor is paired with mammoth 16GB of RAM. Gaming on the laptop is backed by a powerful AMD Radeon RX550M graphics card. Having a glance at the specifications overall, it is quite lucid that MSI has packed in a lot for the asking price.
However, there’s nothing surprising about the design of this laptop. It is finished in red and black color just like most of the gaming laptops available in the market, and it has a red-colored MSI logo on the lid with red lines going all-around the laptop which defines the true DNA of this laptop. Talking about the build quality, the laptop is built from plastic, and due to its huge dimensions, its chassis does flex at certain areas, but it’s tough and not going to break easily.
It stays quiet even when pushed to the limits so it’s an efficient work machine, which tops in the benchmarking segment for the asking price. Overall, the MSI Bravo 17-inch laptop has so-so build quality, but if you will be using your laptop mostly from one place, then undoubtedly it is a power-packed gaming laptop.
| Hardware Specifications of MSI Bravo 17 A4DDR-009 Best Gaming Laptop Under $1000 | |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7-4800H 2.9 GHz 8-Core Processor (Turbo up to 4.2 GHz) |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM (Upgradable up to 32GB) |
| Storage | 1TB 7200RPM HDD + 512GB SSD |
| Graphics | AMD Radeon RX550M 4GB DDR6 Graphics |
| Display | 17.3 Inch Full HD IPS-level Anti-Glare 120Hz display with 1920 x 1080 Resolution |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home 64-bit OS |
| Battery Life | Up to 5 hours |
| Weight | 5.0 lbs |
8. HP Pavilion Power 15 (Gaming Laptop)
HP is one of the most trusted brands in laptops and is globally well-renowned for providing handsome laptops at affordable prices. Moreover, the laptops from HP ought to be tough in terms of performance and handling. The brand has its Omen series of laptops especially meant for gaming, but they are on a little higher price bracket. To meet the growing craze for gaming laptops, the company has now launched a series of gaming laptops in its Pavilion series at affordable prices.
Our current gaming laptop comes with a 15.6-inch IPS Full HD display with the 60Hz refresh rate. Under the hood, the laptop runs on the latest 9th Generation Intel Core i7-9750H quad-core processor with 12MB of cache memory and a clock speed of up to 4.5 GHz. Graphics on this laptop are handled by a 6GB of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU which is currently one of the most reputed gaming processors in this price range. The laptop comes in a variety of RAM and storage combinations, and our current contender boasts an 8GB of DDR4 RAM paired with a speedy 256GB of SSD.
It comes in two color options green and white, both meant to complement gaming enthusiasts. The battery backup on this gaming laptop is also quite good because in our tests it ran up to 5 continuous hours, which is rather good for a laptop specced so heavily.
So, you are getting a pretty good value with this laptop, especially when you consider its price, which is under $1000.
| Hardware Specifications of HP Pavilion 15 Gaming Laptop | |
| Processor | Intel i7-9750H 9th Generation 2.6 GHz Hexa-Core Processor (Turbo up to 4.5 GHz) |
| RAM | 8GB DDR4 RAM (Upgradable) |
| Storage | 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD (Upgradable) |
| Graphics | Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB DDR6 Graphics |
| Display | 15.6 inch Full HD IPS anti-glare WLED-backlit Display with 1920×1080 Resolution |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
| Battery Life | Up to 5 hours |
| Weight | 4.9 lbs |
9. HP Omen 15 (Newest Model)
HP, as mentioned earlier, is an exclusive gaming laptop manufacturer, who designed their portfolio of laptops with utmost care. Their Omen series of gaming laptops are leading among pro-gamers; however, our current contender the Omen 15 is a mid-range gaming laptop that packs newest and powerful hardware inside to support gamers on the budget.
It is powered by the most recent 10th Gen Intel Core i7 Comet Lake processor and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti GPU. Multitasking on the laptop is managed by the 8GB onboard memory which can be upgraded up to whopping 32GB with the extra RAM slots provided. As far as storage is concerned, the laptop comes with a spacious and fast 512GB of PCIe based NVMe M.2 SSD.
The laptop outputs enough performance to play almost all the latest games at medium to high settings, and thanks to its intelligent cooling system which keeps laptops always at comfortable temperatures to enjoy games for more extended periods. It also comes with an anti-ghosting keyboard with deep traveling keys which makes typing and gaming both pleasure on the machine.
The HP Omen 15 is among the very few gaming laptops that come with the newest 10th Gen Intel processors, so if you are after the laptop with most recent specs, then HP Omen 15 is the one you should get.
| Hardware Specifications of HP Omen 15t-dh100 Gaming Notebook | |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-10750H 2.6 GHz 10th Generation Processor (Turbo up to 5.0 GHz) |
| RAM | 8GB DDR4 RAM |
| Storage | 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Graphics | NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 Ti 4GB DDR6 Graphics |
| Display | 15.6 inch IPS Full HD anti-glare Display with 1920 x 1080 Resolution |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home 64-bit OS |
| Battery Life | Up to 6 hours |
| Weight | 5.2 lbs |
10. MSI GF63 9SC-066 15-inch (Gaming Laptop)
MSI is one of the global pioneers in the segment of gaming laptops. The laptops from MSI don’t just offer fully loaded specifications and features but also packs in exciting aspects that complement gaming by all the possible means. The brand is also well-known to implement Cooler Boost technology in laptops, which is a dedicated thermal solution for both the CPU and GPU with a total of 7 heat exhaust pipes to ensure a never throttling performance even under heavy gaming. This was just one among several such flagship graded specs of this laptop.
Speaking about the innards of the laptop, it is powered by the Intel Core i7 processor paired with 16GB of RAM. The laptop sports a 15.6-inch full HD display which delivers higher color range, better contrast, and excellent viewing angles. Coming to the primary niche of the laptop; gaming on this beast is bolstered by a 4GB of DDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphic card. As far as storage on this laptop is considered it comes with a 512GB of SSD for faster and better file transfers. Apart from all the aforementioned interesting set of specifications, the RAM of this laptop is further expandable up to 32GB.
It comes with a chiclet red-backlit keyboard and customizable dedicated gaming keys and much more. So all that said, if you’re a fan of MSI laptops and need a perfect machine to satisfy your gaming hunger, then we bet it’s the best buy for you under $1000 currently.
| Hardware Specifications of MSI GF63 9SC-066 Gaming Laptop | |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-9750H 2.6 GHz Hexa Core Processor (Turbo up to 4.5 GHz) |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM (Expandable up to 32GB RAM) |
| Storage | 512GB SSD |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 4GB DDR5 Graphics |
| Display | 15.6 Inch Full HD IPS-level Display with 1920 x 1080 Resolution |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home 64-bit OS |
| Battery Life | Up to 6 hours |
| Weight | 4.8 lbs |
If you’re on a budget, then MSI GF63 is also available with the 9th Gen Intel Core i5-9300H processor and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU. The laptop comes with 8GB of RAM and can support up to 32GB. Moreover, it comes with speedy 256GB of SSD to load games faster. It is one of our top choices for gaming laptops in an $800 price range currently, so if you can’t afford the above-mentioned MSI laptop, then you can get this MSI GF63 which is a lot cheaper and still a very capable laptop for gaming. That’s all from us!
We would like to inform our readers that all the aforementioned gaming laptops have been passed through a pipeline of tests and checks to creep on this list, so they are the best options available out in the market and are a complete value for money buyings right now.
Go through the review of each laptop and buy the one which suits your gaming style. We hope that this gaming laptop buying guide helps you in buying the best gaming laptop under 1000 dollars for yourself.
Thanks for stopping by. Happy Shopping!