An AMD Ryzen 3 chipset perhaps isn’t as impressive as the newest-generation Intel CPUs, but one of those is more expensive than this entire laptop.
The slim notebook is not only powerful, but lightweight as well, stowing away almost unnoticeably with a tight form factor, expensive-looking finishes, and a sub-four-pound weight.īoth small and cheap, the Acer Aspire 5 completes the holy trinity with excellent performance. While the Acer Aspire 5 Slim is available at the ultra-inexpensive sub-$400 price point, it does look the part. Why we like it: An inexpensive yet powerful notebook gets the job done incredibly well for all but the most demanding games, although you’ll need something a bit higher-powered for the best graphics and high frame rates. We’ll start with options under $500, before moving on to options under $1000 a bit later on. With these essentials in mind, let’s pick up a gaming laptop that will let you frag your enemies or build your empire to your heart’s content. Many laptops place an SSD alongside a slower HDD to create price-sensitive storage. Larger SSDs increase prices significantly. We’d advise at minimum a 256GB SSD, but you could also use a smaller SSD to save a little money. SSDs have taken over gaming in recent years due to their quick booting and reduced lag.
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A computer with upgradeable memory, especially in the budget category, is worth considering, as it will allow you to expand capacity as games continue to become more demanding and as your budget grows down the line. The newest RAM-intensive games will require 16GB of RAM. MemoryĮvery gaming setup should have at least 4GB of memory, but 8GB is far superior and well worth the upgrade. To run 4k games, you’ll need at least 8GB of VRAM. The more the better, but 4GB is a good minimum to shoot for in 2021. Video Memory, named typically in spec sheets as VRAM is important for running games at high resolutions and frame rates. Typically AMD processors are more suitable for casual games, but in recent years the company has come out with processors competitive with those of industry giant Intel. Seventh and eighth-generation Intel core processors are the norm – even for cheap gaming laptops. A quicker processor will also prevent you from bottlenecking your graphics card. ProcessorĪ powerful processor, also known as a CPU, is necessary to run the latest games. With GTX 1060, you’ll be able to run pretty much everything in 2021, although we’d recommend the 6GB version over the 3GB if you can push for it, as it makes a big difference. These days, you can pick up something with a GTX 1060 in the budget category, but you will be getting close to the $1000 range. That is, if you are only playing the classics, you can make do with GTX 960M, but they do have significantly lower performance than even the slightly-outdated GTX 1050.
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The essence here is to match your needs to your graphics card. You don’t want to limit yourself just because you are on a budget. Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptopįeatures to Look for in a Cheap Gaming Laptop Graphics CardĪ graphics card is incredibly important.