The gaming laptop industry is growing every day stronger.
Last year, Nvidia released three graphics cards for the mobile gaming, which provide the desktop-class, top-notch performance.
While the most of those chips are very expensive for the working class, we delivered 10 best gaming laptops under $1000 which, while not boasting the most recent equipment, can run most of the games thrown on those machines.
Keep reading!
Top 10 Best Gaming Laptops under $1,000 in 2018
#1. Lenovo Legion Y520 – Best Gaming Laptops under $1,000 in 2018
If you are restricted on budget, Legion Y520 will be excellent gaming companion to jump into New Year with. Lenovo’s Legion series was named after Ancient Roman army, which was the strongest at that time. Lenovo aimed to craft and engineer a gaming machine with super-power that even a working-class can enjoy.
Let’s take a look at what Legion Y520 has in itself.
Design
Lenovo made Y520’s design subtle and discreet. When you first look at it, you won’t notice stainless steel and brushed aluminum build. More importantly, laptop doesn’t scream “look at me”, unlike its competitors from HP Omen and ASUS ROG series. Instead, as mentioned above, the plastic-built Y520 looks more discreet and cannot be spotted at first, tucked in the rooms of libraries and cafes. True, there are aggressive carved lines at the top of the lid. However, they are not that aggressive.
Despite the plastic coverage, Lenovo Y520 feels new, durable and solid. Apparently, your laptop doesn’t have to be made out of metal to look and feel strong. It is good to know that a notebook is eligible to little abuse and busy bags that get rapidly hit by passengers on the bus without breaking, although not entirely, as laptops are fragile machines.
Inside the lid, there is a 15.6-inch IPS-paneled, 1080p display, closed with thick and strong bezels. Lenovo took its one middle hinge strategy with this laptop too, probably for the better. There is an island-style keyboard with sinister red backlights, something that has become classic with high-end gaming laptops and a somewhat different touchpad that we are used to seeing. Instead of the regular rectangle shape, Y520 introduces a trapezoid-style which interestingly adds new accent to this gaming laptop, although red plastic frame is slightly unnecessary.
Given its dimension of 15 x 10.4 x 1 inches and weight of 5.6 pounds, Lenovo Legion is fairly crafted but portable laptop. Among 15.6-inch machines, it is hard to find a build that suits users outside the house, when they actually have to lug laptops in their bags, especially in public transport. Even so, Legion Y520 is more portable than its competitors such as Dell Inspiron 15 7000 and Asus ROG Strix GL753.
Flipping it down, you will notice the vent grilles on the lower rear. It is not a secret that Lenovo equipped new style for cooling system that we will describe below. Worth mentioning is that aside from USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 port, Lenovo added USB Type-C, another proof that laptop industry is adjusting to new standards.
Display
As mentioned above, Lenovo Legion Y520 is the 15.6-inch laptop, with 1080p screen. Unfortunately, despite how promising the screen is, unless your brightness ratio is on max, there is not much you can see.
When it comes to budget-friendly laptops, details like screen, speakers, and keyboards are not manufacturer’s top priority. That being said, it is expected that the screen will be a little dim. The panel is okay, the finish matte texture will prevent reflections and it is good to see that the bezels aren’t glossy too. Relatively satisfying viewing angles will bless the player with being ahead of opponents in PvP games.
The colors seem vivid and vibrant. Sadly, they are not as accurate as in the competition laptops. The 68% of RGB color gamut are not sufficient even for the lower-end laptops. Even so, screen will do acceptable job and present you with clear and precise image whether you are streaming videos and movies or playing games. The saddening part about Legion Y520’s screen is that it is dark and depressing and carrying your charger with you no matter where you go doesn’t seem like acceptable option.
Keyboard and Touchpad
We tackled the basics regarding keyboard and touchpad when we took a look at Y520’s design. Now we will explore their functionality and see how good they perform, especially in gaming.
Lenovo adds great keyboards, whether we are talking about Yoga, IdeaPad, or gaming laptops in particular. Legion Y520 is not an exception, especially because gamers angrily hump and abuse keyboards whilst intense sessions. One of key trademarks of Lenovo are their keyboards, and here you’ll see what makes Legion Y520 exceptional.
It is pleasure to type on this keyboard. Moreover, the keys have wonderful spacing, they are deep and comfortable to use. What makes it really appealing to us is the beautiful lack of crunchy sound keyboards make whilst typing. The keyboard has 1,8 mm of vertical travel with 77 grams of force. When we were testing typing speeds our results were between 100 and 115 which is great if you need to use this laptop for work aside from gaming too.
The laptop has couple of macro keys. However, the one that stands out the most is macro key that starts recording the screen – mainly gameplay. This will be enjoyable for streamers who want to test luck with gaming laptops, instead of desktops. The keys are backlit in red. The common work is that gaming laptops either feature RGB or red backlights, in the near future, we hope to be able to choose the colors.
Let’s talk about touchpad. From one side, we aren’t sure that many laptop manufacturers thought of the opposite trapezoid before. The missing rectangle shape was filled with sinister red plastic, as we suppose -decoration. The touchpad shape can be a little misleading for those who are used to the older design. Nevertheless, touchpad is respectably comfortable and intuitive to use. The touchpad measures at 4.1 inches long and 3,5 inches on the bottom, while its height measures to 2.2 inches.
Until you get used to the trapezoid shape that Lenovo deployed on one of its flagship gaming laptops, you might find yourself softly hitting the plastic. However, fortunately, it shouldn’t last long for you. It is important that the touchpad easily recognizes the gestures and, of course, is eligible for multi-touch gestures too. If you sweep away the slightly annoying shape, you will get to enjoy both great comfort of the keyboard and responsiveness the touchpad has to offer.
Audio
The speaker of Y520 are located next to the hinges. It is relatively acceptable and sufficiently loud. However, they might not appear as clear as on its more powerful sibling Y720. Nevertheless, when we listened to different genres of music on different volume, we enjoyed but wished the sound was as detailed as it was spacious.
When we tested the speakers in gaming, we experienced something similar, but better whatsoever. The sound was loud, but the bass in the game was almost inexistent. Still, there was more detail inside the games we played, at least sufficiently for you not having to wear headphones.
It doesn’t hurt to mention that Legion Y520 is equipped with Dolby Audio app which features different sound profiles that you can choose from. If you are not well-versed with the technical details inside the app, it is the best to keep music profile at default, which did a great job for us in both audio and gaming context. Another app, called Lenovo’s Nerve Center, allows users to change the settings too.
Temperature
It is no secret that Lenovo put a new thermal system in works when it comes to their gaming laptop line. They wanted to achieve the similar effect as Asus and MSI laptop, where users can enjoy the cool gaming experience and have all hot air from either processor and graphics card channeled through the different air-ways.
When we tested Legion Y520 against streaming different videos, we barely noticed any difference, the bottom of the laptop hit 82 degrees , while the keyboard measured 75 degrees. Those parameters given, Y520 performed more than satisfying. Let’s test it for gaming!
We played the Witcher III and Mass Effect: Andromeda. Laptop comfortably measured 75 degrees on the keyboard. It was only the bottom ventilator that made a “slight” problem at 105 degrees. However, it is still acceptable, given the most important components take their place there.
All in all, Lenovo Legion Y520 provides great performance regarding cooling and makes for the competition with other great brands such as Dell Alienware, Asus, and MSI laptops.
Battery Life
We wish that the battery life was longer. However, it isn’t tragic for Legion Y520.
During heavy browsing and streaming videos we noticed that the notebook dropped significantly in battery. It wasn’t too long until the laptop shut down from the lack of juice. Alltogether, Y520 lasted us about 3 hours and half. This is below the average, and more importantly, the standards measure lower than for other gaming laptops under $1000.
Other laptops lasted between 4 hours at the lowest and 11 hours at the highest when it comes to the battery life. If you are going to a LAN party at your friend’s place, ask them to secure you an additional power socket and you make sure to bring charger with you.
Performance
When it comes to performance, Legion Y520 doesn’t lack any, which is expected given it is a gaming laptop. It boasts a 2,8 GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU. Accompanied with 16GB of RAM (which are extendable to 32 gigs) the laptop is sure to flawlessly operate with multi-tasks. If you don’t need the laptop for gaming, it will definitely come handy for work once you finished playing your favorite games.
The laptop performs greatly with multiple tabs opened in Chrome, more than one video streaming and even Chrome opened while gaming. There was no lag sensed so far and everything seemed to run smoothly and out-perform the competition.
Hard-drive is a little let-down but not in storage. Lenovo Y520 comes with a 2 TB hard drive. Unfortunately, it boasts the speed of 5,400 RPM which is too slow for today’s standards. You will notice your Windows at times taking too long to start, or save and load the game.
Most of today’s laptops, whether those mainstream or those that are top-notch boast either a 7,200-RPM hard-drive or a solid-state drive which is currently the best option. Or both! – Which is even better, especially when it comes to image and video rendering programs and gaming in a combination.4
But how about the gaming performance? Thanks to Nvidia’s budget graphics card, Legion Y520 is the true powerhouse.
It is equipped with Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti with 4 GB of VRAM. It is not the best graphics chipset. However, it is better than the regular GTX 1050 and provides sufficient performance for the most of the games. The vast majority of the games that came out in last 3 years can be run on high or medium at worst, with the framerate sufficient for excellent gaming experience.
It even ran Rise of the Tomb Raider at ultra-settings on 1080p with 50 FPS. That being said, GTX 1050 Ti is the spot on this laptop and provides a gamer with everything that he essentially needs for the true gaming with attitude.
Things that we didn’t like
There aren’t many things to dislike regarding Legion Y520. However, we couldn’t go without mentioning these.
The screen is too dim and requires maximum brightness to see anything in the first place. Furthermore, the colors are not as precise as it would be expected from a laptop of this range. Other issues are just a little bit mirror and shouldn’t make this laptop too bad. Main two issues beside the screen is a not so durable battery life and a slow hard-drive. If you are a little impatient person, you might appear to mind how this laptop works when it’s saving games, uploading, rendering, and even starting the operating system.
We believe that the issues are quite minor compared to the screen performance and brightness ratio. However, usually, the issues are always the same with budget options of laptops.
Reason For Recommending
Finding the right gaming laptop is difficult. Lenovo Legion Y520 is a gaming laptop that can meet the demands of every gamer that is restricted on budget. Gaming keyboard, sturdy design, and excellent gaming performance are all the reasons for this laptop to be recommended among the competition.
Summary
Lenovo Legion Y520 is a courageous warrior which is defiant even towards the most demanding titles on the market. It is relatively a bargain at this performance and its most distinguished highlights are robust design, excellently deep keyboard, advanced cooling system, and configuration to break all the records.
If you can afford to carry charger everywhere with you, this laptop is worth looking at.
#2. Acer Aspire VX 15 Gaming Laptop
The laptop in whole is closed in a black plastic housing. However, the construction and build are undoubtedly sturdy. The lid is opened easily where we can take a look at the large, finely spaced keyboard and a 15.6-inch full HD screen. The keyboard is of great quality, the travel time is good and response is even better. The keys are colored in red backlights, in addition to WASD keys having some additional accent of illumination. Touchpad is sufficiently large too, with red framing to make it look a little more badass. Its response time is good too and it supports multi-touch gestures, although that is not crucially important given that gamers use different equipment than a touchpad.
The screen is, similarly like on our first option slightly disappointing, even though it features an IPS panel and great resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, the Full HD will either have to be maximally bright or have compromised view in the sunny areas. When it comes to performance, Acer Aspire VX is, as mentioned above, equipped with Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor of the 7th generation, measuring up to 3,8 GHz in its turbo mode. Other specifications include 16 GB of DDR4 RAM and a 256 GB SSD. The hard-drive spot is upgradable, although the lack of other physical drive is a bummer. In terms of gaming performance, there is Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4 GB of VRAM.
Depending on the amount of usage, Acer Aspire VX has great battery life, capable of reaching even 6 hours of consistent use. Its speakers provide satisfying output for either gaming, movies, and music either.
Things that we liked
- Sturdy design
- Decent speakers
- Stellar performance
- Good keyboard
- Great battery
Things that we didn’t like
- Dim display
- Lack of a mechanical hard-drive
Reason for recommending
Whether you opt for Lenovo Legion Y520 or Acer Aspire VX, you won’t make a mistake. The laptop is a highly operational machine that can handle more than just a high-end gaming, which makes it one of the best gaming laptops under $1000.
Summary
If you opt for Acer Aspire VX you are opting for stellar and reliable performance, locked inside a sturdy and durable case. Its display is its biggest enemy, as much as for all other gaming laptops under this budget. However, it is a wonderful buy nonetheless.
#3. Dell Inspiron 7000 4K TouchScreen Gaming Laptop
Dell is one of the laptop brands that are loyal to the good gaming performance even in the budget. One of such models is Dell Inspiron 7000 that doesn’t cease to amaze even after so much time of use.
The laptop itself is a 15.6-inches powerhouse in a gray plastic housing. In the middle, two options highlight Dell’s logo in red or gray color. When you open it, there is a nice keyboard with the touchpad and a 15.6 inch FHD screen with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution. Despite the IPS panel, the screen is of slightly bad quality. That being said, it is hard to use it unless the brightness is on the highest setting.
What makes the laptop durable but bad at the same time is that at this price, it still features a very outdated graphics card Nvidia GTX 960M. Despite being an entry level graphics card, it performs really well. Other components include Intel Core i5-6300HQ with 3,2 GHz performance in turbo mode, 16 GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD. The battery life is neither bad or good standing at 4,5 hours of consistent use.
Things that we liked
- Stylish design
- Portable
- Good keyboard
Things that we didn’t like
- Dim display
- Outdated configuration
- Expensive
Reason for Recommending
We recommend this laptop only to the users who are deeply allured with Dell’s performance, or if you are looking for a model that can rather withstand the 9-Maxwell series graphics cards rather than some other. Aside from that, it offers great speakers, comfortable typing experience and is generally portable.
Summary
Dell Inspiron 7000 is an older but a model that shouldn’t be put into retirement. Despite holding a little older components inside itself, it is a great gaming laptop if you can oust its minor drawbacks.
#4. HP Pavilion 15-inch Laptop
That being said, the new model brings a stronger and more durable, but still same ultra-portable, ultra-thin silver chassis with extremely wide and comfortable, responsive keyboard and a 15.6-inch FHD display with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. The display has an IPS panel with excellent viewing angles and is great compared to the other models from this list. The stereo speakers provide clarity and spaciousness as well, which is important because the laptop tends to be loud and get hot in the middle of the keyboard.
Specs-wise, HP Pavilion 15 is a true powerhouse. It boasts quad-core i5-7300HQ processor with tact between 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz in the turbo mode. More importantly, there is 12 GB of RAM, less compared to the competition, but still sufficient. GTX 1050 with 4 GB GDDR5 VRAM does amazing job and can run most of the games on high to mid settings. The SSD didn’t make appearance on this model but a 7200 RPM hard drive does a great job, especially over our first choice’s 5400 RPM mechanical disk.
Things that We liked
- IPS clear and vivid display
- Great performance
- Portable and lightweight
Things that we didn’t like
- The system is loud and it tends to heat, due to its super-portable construction.
Reason for Recommending
Many people choose not to go with laptops that are too chunky, that’s why HP Pavilion 15 combines two extremely useful things, its lightweight construction allows it to be easy to carry and adjust to use and more importantly unites gaming to the ultra-portable build. The specifications of the laptop are great, even though the graphics chipset doesn’t boast the Ti suffix and there is no solid-state drive.
Summary
As far as the budget-restricted gaming machines go, new HP Pavilion 15 is one of the best gaming laptops under $1000. It boasts great quad-core processor of the 7th generation, GTX 1050 with 4 GB of VRAM and has plenty of RAM to put up with demanding applications and games.
Although its thermal isolation is poor and laptop easily gets war, a gaming pad will easily fix that problem.
#5. CYBERPOWERPC Tracer II T15200 15.6″ Gaming Notebook [Top Tier]
Cyberpowerpc is not the brand of the laptops we are used to seeing here and around. However, Tracer II T15200 did nothing less than surprise us. The laptop features elegant, black glossy color with brushed aluminum mimicking, although build is of plastic. Weighing at 6.02 lbs, this laptop is nowhere near lightweight and you might want to avoid taking it with you. Nevertheless, that’s because of what laptop has inside once that you open the lid.
Beneath the 15.6-inches FHD display, you will see a fully-programmable mechanical keyboard with RGB backlights. The overall build looks amazing and mechanical keyboards are not something we are used to seeing aside from the flagship, splurge MSI gaming laptops that cost above $4000. Nevertheless, this is a true gaming keyboard with great response times and convenience that it offers. The 2x 2W stereo speakers come with a subwoofer which makes this laptop quite the powerhouse.
In terms of performance Tracer II works great, it is equipped with the high-end quad-core processor Intel i7-7700HQ with 2,8 GHz – 3,8 GHz (Turbo Mode) performance. The 16 GB of RAM and 250 GB SSD. The GTX 1050 Ti with 4 GB DDR5 VRAM will achieve great framerates with the vast majority of your favorite games. The company promises around 6 hours of battery life which should be enough even for the people who work, although we don’t believe that people will carry this bulky machine outside. Only downfall is that laptop tends to get loud and hot.
Things that we liked
- Mechanical keyboard
- Sturdy build
- Solid performance
Things that we didn’t like
- Heavy
- Gets a little hot
Reason for Recommending
Dedicated laptop gamers would usually have to spend great deal of money to own a gaming laptop with mechanical keyboard, that is considerably better than laptop keyboards with compromising travel speed and responsiveness. The gaming laptop with mechanical keyboard has never been more affordable than now. More importantly, the configuration of this laptop makes it a true bargain.
Summary
Cyberpowerpc Tracer II emerged from the shadow and showed us the best budget-restricted laptop can offer. We are satisfied with the results, but wishing it isn’t as heavy. Aside from vivid and accurate screen, consumers can enjoy using the power of mechanical keyboard and great performance, thanks to the 7th generation Intel processor, 16 GB of RAM and GTX 1050 Ti entry-level 10-series Nvidia’s graphics card.
https://www.amazon.com/CYBERPOWERPC-Tracer-T15200-Notebook-i7-7700HQ/dp/B074F28H28/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1507970646&sr=1-1&keywords=Cyberpowerpc+Tracer+II
#6. MSI GL72M 7RDX-800 17.3″ Performance Gaming Laptop
The laptop has respectable cooling system, similar to the one from Asus laptops, it boasts GTX 1050 2 GB chipset with 8 GB of RAM and Intel Core i-7700HQ . Its storage options are a 128GB SSD and a 1TB drive with 5400 RPM speed. Although this is bad, the solid state drive can make it up for the speed of mechanical hard drive as long as the system is installed. The battery life is durable, however, it will run out of juice within 5 hours of use and 4 hours of consistent web research.
Things that we liked
- Comfortable keyboard
- Decent battery life
- Solid performance
- Good heat and temperature control
Things that we didn’t like
- Screen has a TN panel
- Slow hard drive.
Reason for recommending
Excellent laptop is recommended for its solid build, stellar performance, and excellent cooling system.
Summary
MSI GL72M is a fantastic budget gaming laptop. It is equipped with a convenient gaming keyboard and thermal protection that keeps respectable temperatures even during the most demanding games. If you are a MSI fan and are looking for sturdy build.
#7. Lenovo Y700 Gaming 15.6″ Laptop
Laptop is equipped with Intel Core i7-6700HQ, 8GB of RAM and 1TB 5400 RPM harddrive, which again is a let down, although laptop comes with 256GB SSD too. For gaming, there is GTX 960M with 4GB RAM The battery life is not as impressive, and it won’t be long before the laptop runs out of juice.
Things we liked
- Good display
- Durable
- Solid performance
Things we didn’t like
- Old GPU
- Tends to get hot
- Weak battery
Reason for recommending
In case you couldn’t make it to get Lenovo Y520, this Lenovo’s laptop is an amazing second option, especially for users who would like to boast additional speed with a 256GB solid state drive.
Summary
Lenovo Y700 might be a two years old model, but with performance it provides its users with, it is not yet to be ousted.
#8. MSI GL62M 15.6″ Full HD
MSI GL62M is equipped with Nvidia’s GeForce GTX graphics chipset with 2GB of VRAM, other components include Intel Core i7-770HQ, and 8 GB of RAM, together with 128GB SSD and 1TB SATA drive. Other drawback of the laptop, is unfortunately, poor battery life.
Things that we liked
- Matte display
- Nice cooling and temperature control
- Solid performance
- Comfy keyboard
Cons
- Poor battery
- Dim display
Reason for Recommending
If you are looking for a more portable version than GL72M, its younger sibling GL62M will offer a gamer with everything he essentially needs for great performance.
Summary
MSI laptops feature one of the best temperature and heat systems on gaming laptops, that’s why opting for MSI laptop is always good. The MSI GL62M will meet all gamers’ demands and requirements.
#9. ASUS ROG GL552VW-DH71 15-Inch Gaming Laptop
The laptop boasts Intel Core i7-6700HQ, 16GB of RAM and 1TB 7200RPM storage drive. Unfortunately, laptop features Nvidia’s GTX 960M, a little older, but still powerful entry-level graphics card. Other thing that we minded is the insufficient battery life which doesn’t go above 3.5 hours.
Things that we liked
- Robust design
- Bright, accurate, matte display
- Good cooling
Things we didn’t like
- Old configuration
- Weak battery
Reason for recommending
Playing on Asus feels like something special. Although the configuration of this laptop is slightly older, it will still outperform the most of its competition, display a clear and precise image, and offer convenience while gaming. More importantly, it won’t get hot even during the most intense gameplays.
Summary
Asus GL552VW might be an old laptop. Still, it is a well-worthy rival to the rest of this list and a decent gaming laptop to serve you at least two more years.
#10. Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop [Top Tier]
In terms of specs, Acer Predator Helios boasts Intel Core i7-7700HQ chipset that goes up to 3.8GHz, 16 GB of RAM with 256GB SSD storage option. The laptop uses VR-friendly GTX 1060M with 6GB of dedicated memory. The heating and temperature are in good order as well, allowing this laptop to lack little things to nothing.
Things that we liked
- Robust design
- GTX 1060M
- Vivid, matte display with good viewing angles
- Great battery
Things that we didn’t like
- No second storage option
- Dim display
Reason for recommending
Why spend $900 for an older laptop, when you can spend a little over $1000 for a high-end one, and by high-end one we mean a VR-ready gaming machine. Other functions of this laptop are also far beyond competition, which means that laptop is worth the hustle if you can afford a little above $1000.
Summary
Acer Predator Helios 300 is a mid-ranged laptop, with fantastic gaming capabilities, including the VR-readiness. Although we wish it had a brighter screen and mechanical hard drive, we believe that the laptop is a true bargain.
Wrapping Up
With Acer Predator Helios 300, we finished our Best gaming laptops under $1000 in 2018. Although there is still sometime before the New Year arrives, we wanted to be up to date with all the budget-friendly options.
Do you have a laptop you would like to replace? You won’t regret opting for one of the models we reviewed.