The 11 Best Budget & Cheap Gaming Laptops

This post was last updated on: October 1, 2026
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What was that? The best cheap gaming laptop you say? Does such a thing even exist, or is it some ethereal, mythical thing, like Shenmue III? Finding an excellent budget laptop that is fast, fluid, and can still handle playing demanding titles is like the trifecta of gaming.

But getting there takes tons of time and research. There are so many different devices, and it’s easy to get lost in all the options.

That’s why we’ve compiled this awesome list of the best budget gaming laptops below, with a detailed overview of the pros and cons of each. If you’re on a budget, and looking for an affordable gaming laptop, we’ve got you covered!

Although the budget of these laptops varies, only the notebooks with an excellent price-performance ratio were chosen.

Whether you’re looking for a $1000+ device that can handle the latest games at extremely high details or a very fluid frame rate, or if you’re looking for a less costly device that still manages to handle most games – we’ve curated an option for you.

Summary of our top picks for the best budget gaming laptops of 2016 & 2017

1. ASUS ROG GL702VM – Overall best budget gaming laptop of 2016
   • Features: Intel Core i7 6700HQ, NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 17.3″ FHD G-SYNC Display
2. Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series – Our second place pick is an amazing all-rounder cheap gaming laptop
   • Features: Intel Core i5 6300HQ, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4GB GDDR5, 8GB DDR3L 1600MHz, 256GB SSD, 15.6″ IPS Panel
3. Acer Aspire E5-574G 54Y2 – Our third place pick is a great affordable gaming laptop with a price that can’t be beat
   • Features: Intel Core i5-6200U, NVIDIA Geforce 940M 2GB, 8GB 1 DIMM DDR3L 1600M, 1TB 7200 rpm HD, 15.6″ FULL HD LED
4. Lenovo Y700 80NV0026US
5. ASUS ROG Strix GL502VM series
6. ASUS K501UW-AB78
7. Acer Aspire 15.6” 2016 series
8. Lenovo Z50 B01LW0F62Q – Most budget friendly laptop
9. Lenovo Ideapad 700 80RU00FEUS

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1. The perfect all-rounder cheap gaming laptop: Dell Inspiron 15 7559

The Inspiron 15 series by Dell doesn’t really have the looks of a gaming laptop, but as we all know, looks can be deceiving.

The 7559 is an extremely decent mid-range laptop with a great and modern design, speedy performance and a snappy NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M with four gigabytes of GDDR5 video memory.

Most other laptops in this price range with the GTX 960M only offer half that amount of memory, effectively making the Inspiron 15 much more future proof for memory-intensive titles.

The GTX 960M is more than capable of delivering great performance in Full HD resolution and a fluent framerate. The main attraction of the Inspiron 15 7559 is its beautiful and brightly lit display.

The IPS-panel ensures fantastic viewing angles and great color reproduction. The Full HD resolution provides a clear and sharp image on the 15.6-inch screen size. Dell has also equipped the display with an anti-glare layer for better readability in sunlight and less annoying reflections.

The processor used in this laptop is rather mid-range, but that’s totally acceptable given the price tag this device carries. We’re talking about an Intel Core i5 6300HQ based on the Skylake architecture which is more than speedy enough for daily operations and can handle demanding games as well.

The CPU has been paired with 8 gigabytes of low-energy DDR3 RAM memory and there’s an additional memory slot available for upgrades to 16 or even 32 gigabytes. The laptop supports connection via Wi-Fi ac and has three USB 3.0 ports for easy connectivity.

As you might expect with cheap gaming laptops, the battery life isn’t that great under full load, but you’ll still be able to get a pretty decent battery life of 4.5 hours out of this device when you’re not playing games.

In terms of storage, the Inspiron 15 7559 comes with a 256 GB solid state drive installed in the laptop’s M.2 slot. This leaves room for an additional hard drive or SSD to be installed to increase the storage capacity yourself – everything in the Inspiron 15 is easily accessible and easy to replace.

Other eye-catchers are the illuminated keyboard and the number keys. The weight is slightly on the higher side, as the device weighs in at just around six pounds.

The Dell Inspiron 15 series is a perfect mix of performance and price, and is definitely one of the most interesting cheap gaming laptops on the market today. A great display, speedy GPU and plenty of possibilities to upgrade – what’s not to like?

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2. A solid, mid-range good gaming laptop: Lenovo Y700 80NV0026US

The Lenovo Y700 series feature an aggressive look and that also translates into the laptop’s specifications: like most other notebooks in the price range, the Y700 comes equipped with the excellent GeForce GTX 960M, with the maximum 4 GB of video memory.

What’s more remarkable however, is the very speedy Intel Core i7 6700HQ processor operating at a 2.6 GHz. The Skylake-based CPU features hyper-threading for improved performance in a number of gaming situations. This also makes the Y700 more suitable for photo or video editing.

The somewhat extravagant design of the Y700 not only results in better ventilation, but the laptop was also designed with the excellent and immersive JBL speakers in mind, giving you a decent Dolby Home Theater experience. Lenovo uses an IPS-panel for its 15.6-inch display for vivid color reproduction and excellent viewing angles.

As you’d expect, the resolution is Full HD which makes for great and sharp image quality.

You can find the Lenovo Y700 in both a number of variants, but the option with the 1TB hard drive and 8 gigabytes of memory is the best overall choice.

A caveat of this device is the absence of a solid state drive.

Luckily, you can just pop in an M.2 SSD at any time and you’re also able to expand the internal RAM memory.

The motherboard supports Wi-Fi AC and there’s one USB 2.0 and a duo of USB 3.0 ports available. Battery life in a non-intensive scenario is generally four hours. A numeric keypad is available and the keyboard itself is also backlit – great for finding those pesky controls in the night.

In short, the Y700 comes with a very beefy CPU, a more than capable GTX 960M and plenty of upgrade possibilities. That being said, you might want to keep an eye out on an M.2 SSD to go along with the most popular variant of the Y700 for quick boot- and loading times.

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3. The best affordable gaming laptop: Acer Aspire E5-574G 54Y2

When it comes to laptops with a lower price point, it’s hard to find a device that fits all the requirements of playing the occasional video game.

The Acer Aspire E5-574G, however, is one such beast.

It may look like your average mid-range notebook, but the device actually packs quite a punch. Don’t expect to see fantastic performance, or the best possible image quality, but for a mere 500 bucks, the E5-774G is a serious contender.

Let’s start right away with the most important specifications.

Acer has chosen the Core i5 6200U processor based on the Skylake architecture. Keep in mind that this is a U-class processor, which means slightly lower performance in favor of increased battery life.

There’s a generous eight gigabytes of DDR3 memory available and surprisingly this laptop also supports the latest Wi-Fi AC standard.

The GPU of the Aspire E5-574G is a NVIDIA GeForce GT940M. Although we wouldn’t recommend this GPU for intensive gaming with maximum details, the 940M is more than capable for running recent games – albeit with lower graphical settings and/or a lower framerate.

Nonetheless, the GTX 940M packs some of the best budget performance you’ll get, and performs much better than the integrated GPU in the processor.

The 15.6-inch screen offers a sharp Full HD 1080p resolution, something that’s quite rare for a device in this price range.

Understandably, Acer has decided not to include an SSD in this notebook to help with the more affordable price. There is a 1TB hard drive available however, so you’ll have plenty of storage from the get-go. Luckily, you can install an M.2 SSD as an upgrade to get a blazing fast boot time, and much improved loading speeds.

The battery lasts an average of five hours under normal circumstances.

We’re impressed: The Acer Aspire E5-774G offers you a lot of bang for the buck with a sharp display, decent CPU and a graphics card that’s definitely suitable for some entry-level gaming. For people on a budget, this notebook is definitely the way to go.

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4. A high-end portable beast: ASUS ROG Strix GL502VM series

We know what you’re thinking – this laptop doesn’t exactly look affordable, and if you take a quick glance at its price tag, it’s hard to disagree. Luckily though, the new ASUS Republic of Gamers series is absolutely worth its asking price. Let’s take a look why this notebook has an excellent price-performance ratio below.

Let’s talk about the CPU first. Asus has chosen one of the fastest Skylake CPU’s available from Intel, the Core i7 6700HQ. This is a very speedy processor and is commonly used in high-end laptops such as these. The CPU handles intensive applications and demanding games without breaking a sweat.

More importantly however is the graphics card used in the GL502VM. The notebook is powered by the newest GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card by NVIDIA. You’ll also notice that there is no ‘M’ that indicates a slower mobile chip is being used – that’s because the GTX 1060 inside the Strix is the same chip used in its desktop counterparts.

The newest generation of graphics cards from NVIDIA are based on the Pascal architecture and provide a much better performance with an even lower power consumption. The GTX 1060 is more than capable of handling the most demanding games in 1080p Full HD resolution with a very fluid framerate and maximum settings.

Compared to the desktop version, the GPU has slightly lower clock speeds. The difference is very minimal however and is not noticeable in a real-life situation.

In terms of memory, this Asus device comes with 16 gigabytes of DDR4 internal RAM memory. This is a single 16 GB chip that is soldered on the motherboard, but luckily you’re able to just pop in another 16 GB of memory to double it without an issue. The GTX 1060 comes with a whopping 6 gigabytes of video memory, excellent for loading high-resolution textures in the most demanding titles.

As you can see the GL502VM comes packed with a lot of imposing horsepower. Luckily, ASUS has also equipped the laptop with a beautiful 1080p display with wide viewing angles and fantastic color reproduction thanks to the IPS-panel.

What’s more important however is that the display supports NVIDIA G-Sync for a completely stutter-free experiences. G-Sync is an amazing technology that synchronizes the framerate provided by the GPU with the screen’s refresh rate for the most fluent gaming experience.

Republic of Gamers products are built for gamers – the keyboard has been specifically designed with a mechanical-like tactile feeling for the best feedback. And of course, the WASD-keys have been given a special treatment.

You might be wondering why we mentioned that this laptop was portable. Although the Strix is packed with impressive components, the design of the laptop is somewhat subtle with a maximum weight of only 4.8 pounds and a thickness of 0.94 inches.