Best cheap gaming laptop deals

Steam Deck (LCD) | 512GB SSD | $449 $381.65 at Steam (save $67.35)
Okay, the Steam Deck may have had an OLED refresh but the original version is still the archetype of what a mobile PC gaming device should be. It's just as powerful as the most recent model so all those Steam Deck compatible games should run well. Until July 11 Valve is selling off its 64 GB and 512 GB models while stocks last, which puts the original top of the line model, with its etched glass anti-glare screen, at less than the price of the 256 GB LCD version. It's the OG PC gaming handheld, and it demands respect.

Dell G15 | RTX 4060 | Ryzen 7 7840HS | 15.6-inch | 1080p | 165 Hz | 16 GB DDR5-4800 | 512 GB SSD | $999.97 $949.99 at Amazon (save $49.98)
Dell's angular chassis definitely feels like it's had some Alienware influence on it, but it is quite a bezel-happy thing. Still, you are getting a decent spec for a decent sub-$1,000 price. That includes an RTX 4060 that will certainly do a job with the 1080p display. But it's a slick 165 Hz panel, and you're getting a full 16GB of dual-channel DDR5, the mighty AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU, though only a  512 GB SSD. Still, this is a lot of laptop for not a huge chunk of cash.

Gigabyte G5 | RTX 4060 | Core i7 12650H | 15.6-inch | 1080p | 144 Hz | 16GB DDR4 | 1TB SSD | $969 at Amazon
The ol' Gigabyte G5 has been a classic when it comes to budget gaming laptops for a long while now, and just when you thought it had disappeared it's back with better specs and a still sub-$1,000 price tag. As we discovered when we reviewed the Core i5 version of the G5, it's a great little gaming laptop, and with the extra storage and slightly better CPU this is a quality machine for the money. If you're happy with just a 512GB SSD (or have a bigger one ready to drop in) you could save a little more cash and go for the 512GB $922 version.

Price check: Newegg $1,124.99

Lenovo Legion Slim 5 | RTX 4060 | Ryzen 5 7640HS | 16-inch | 1200p | 144 Hz | 16GB DDR5 | 512GB SSD | $1,3499.99 $959 at Amazon (save $390.99)
This is an amazing price for a 140W RTX 4060 gaming laptop. Sure the screen is a little large for a relatively small 1200p resolution in terms of pixel pitch, but in game you'll get a great level of performance out of the GPU. The SSD also isn't very large, but these are minor quibbles when the rest of the system is so good. It's a great price for a great laptop.

Price check: Newegg $1,234.99 | Best Buy $1,349.99

MSI Bravo 15 | RTX 4060 | Ryzen 9 7940HS | 15-inch | 1080p | 144 Hz | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | $1,299.99 $979.99 at Newegg (save $320)
It's maybe a wee bit of a chonky beast, but no more so than recent Dell gaming laptops, and it's here with enough of a saving to give me pause. You are getting a 105W RTX 4060, which isn't super fast, but you are getting a decent amount of storage and proper DDR5 memory, too.

HP Victus 16 | RTX 4070 | Core i7 13700H | 16-inch | 1080p | 144 Hz | 16 GB DDR5-5200 | 1 TB SSD | $1,199 at Walmart
The Victus range isn't the HP brand that comes to mind when you think gaming laptop, but it's the affordable side of the business which is still able to pack a decent punch for the price. This RTX 4070-powered machine is the cheapest we've found toting Nvidia's third-tier mobile GPU, but it is a 120 W version, not the full 140 W monty. That will still deliver at the 1080p res of this screen and will work comfortably under this relatively slim 16-inch chassis. The rest of the spec—16 GB DDR5 and 1 TB SSD—are exactly what you'd hope for at this end of the market, too. A really good price for a seriously solid machine.

Asus ROG Zephyrus 14 | Nvidia RTX 4060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | 14-inch | OLED | 1440p | 120 Hz | 16GB LPDDR5X-6400| 1 TB SSD | $1,599.99 $1,299.99 at Best Buy (save $300)
If you don't want a hulking gaming laptop, let me introduce the glorious 2024 version of the Zephyrus 14 (see our review): the best 14-incher and one that can game without busting your bank balance or your shoulder when lugging it around—no-nonsense specs in a delightful package. This is the latest version with the sexy aluminum unibody chassis. It's a very smart package, though obviously not the most affordable RTX 4060 machine by any stretch.

Price check: Newegg $1,789.99

Gigabyte Aorus 15 | RTX 4070 | Core i7 13700H | 16-inch | 1440p | 160 Hz | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | $1,399.99 $1,249.99 at Newegg (save $150)
Last year's Aorus 15 is still a very good mid-range gaming laptop. It's not as overtly gamer-aggressive in styling as previous Aorus machines, and yet it's still got all the gaming goods you would want from a 15-incher. The 165 Hz, 1440p panel comes with an impressively thin bezel and compliments the 140 W RTX 4070 that Gigabyte is packing inside it. The classic 16GB / 1TB memory/storage combo is plenty good enough to support the 14-core Core i7 chip at its heart, too.

Price check: Amazon $1,249.99

Acer Predator 14 | RTX 4070 | Core i7 13700H | 14-inch | 250 Hz | 1600p | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | $1,999.99 $1,351.83 at Amazon (save $648.16)
It's not the prettiest gaming laptop you'll ever see but underneath the cheap-looking exterior is a pile of really nice hardware. That Intel CPU has 14 cores, 20 threads, and the GPU is a 140W RTX 4070. Backing them up are 16GB of DDR5 RAM and, unusually for this price, a full 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD. Even the 2560 x 1600 screen is good, with a 250 Hz refresh rate and mini-LED backlighting. There's very little to dislike here and it'll be down to whether the lightweight nature or 14-inch panel just aren't right for you.

Price check: Newegg $1,596

HP Omen Transcend 14 | RTX 4060 | Core Ultra 7 155H | 14-inch | 120 Hz | 2880 x 1800 | OLED | 512GB SSD | 16GB DDR5-7500 | $1,729.99 $1,379.99 at HP (save $350)
This lovely 14-incher is pretty expensive for an RTX 4060 but it's still the best compact gaming laptop around. You get an excellent OLED panel as standard and a 65W GPU that will still deliver a quality gaming experience. The 512GB SSD is a bit small, but you can configure the machine with a 1TB drive if you're willing to spend a bit more. Shame the battery life isn't so good, but that's small gaming laptops for you

Gigabyte Aorus 17H | RTX 4070 | Core i7 13700H | 17.3-inch | 1440p | 240 Hz | 16GB DDR5-4800 | 1TB SSD | $1,749 $1,549 at Amazon (save $200)
This is a big laptop that, for once, hasn't packed with the most power-hungry components. That Core i7 is easier to keep cool than an i9 and it's a more suitable match for the 140W RTX 4070 alongside. It is $200 more than the Asus TUF above but you're getting a much nicer display.

Gigabyte Aorus 17H | RTX 4080 | Core i7 13700H | 17.3-inch | 1080p | 360 Hz | 16GB DDR5-4800 | 1TB SSD | $1,849 $1,799.99 at Newegg (save $49.01)
$1,800 for a laptop with a 1080p screen? Ignore that for the moment and note that you're getting a decent CPU, a 150W RTX 4080, and a nice amount of storage. Then focus on the fact that the screen is enormous (for a laptop) and super-fast, and what you're looking at is something that's idle for e-sports and competitive shooter fans. Gigabyte's control app isn't the best, though.

Alienware m16 | RTX 4080 | Ryzen 9 7845HX | 16-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz | 32 GB DDR5-5200 | 1 TB SSD | $2,699.99 $1,899.99 at Best Buy (save $800)
My single issue with this machine is the fact that it's such a premium build in every single facet apart from the storage. It's a shame that you just get a 1 TB SSD when you're getting so much else in the package, but the 2 TB version is a silly price. The 32 GB of decent DDR5 here is great to have, the RTX 4080 is a bit of a gaming beast at 1600p, and the 12-core, 24-thread Ryzen 9 CPU is one of the best AMD's ever produced. My only other issue is that I can't tell whether this is the version with a mechanical keyboard or not... I would guess not at this price. A modern Intel-based version with essentially the same spec is some $2,600 at Dell right now.

Price check: Amazon $2,409.99

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i | RTX 4080 | Core i9 13900HX | 16-inch | 1600p | 240 Hz | 32GB DDR5-5600 | 1TB SSD | $2,749 $1,999 at B&H Photo (save $750)
Let's be honest, at this point, this isn't a deal on the best RTX 4080 laptop I've tested, this is just the price that it is. It's effectively been on offer at B&H at this level for a year now, but it's a fantastic notebook, offering performance that can often match and sometimes beat an RTX 4090-based system (see our review). There's a high-performance CPU to back it up, a decent, bright 1600p screen, and a fair amount of storage. All with a discount.

MSI Bravo| RTX 4060 | Ryzen 7 7735HS | 15.6-inch | 1080p | 144 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 512GB SSD | £999.99 £749.99 at Amazon (save £250)
With a 105 W TGP on its RTX 4060 GPU, this surprisingly affordable MSI machine puts it at the top of our list of gaming laptop deals. That's way beyond the awful 45 W Cyborg (which you should absolutely avoid) and speedier than the Gigabyte we love so well. The SSD is a bit sad, and the AMD chip isn't the full Zen 4 deal, so you don't get the battery sipping 780M integrated graphics (just the Zen 3+ 680M), but it's still a lot of laptop for £750.

Gigabyte G5 | RTX 4060 | Core i5 12500H | 15.6-inch | 1080p | 144 Hz | 16GB DDR4-3200 | 512GB SSD | £1,099 £849 at Currys (save £250)
We're big fans of this little budget gaming laptop, and our Jacob loved its great gaming performance (check out our review). With over £250 off the original price and some genuine 1080p gaming chops on offer, we reckon this makes quite a tidy deal. It's a bit more expensive than the above Medion P25 but the RTX 4060 is much better for gaming.

Price check: Amazon £849.97

Asus TUF | RTX 4060 | Ryzen 5 7735HS | 15.6-inch | 1080p | 144 Hz | 16 GB DDR5 | 512 GB SSD | £894.97 £849.60 at Cyberpower (save £45.07)
This isn't the cheapest RTX 4060-powered laptop around, but it's the one that will likely give you the most performance thanks to its 140 W TGP. The Gigabyte above makes do with 75 W, so this is pushing the silicon a whole lot further and that will show in the gaming benchmarks. The TUF laptops are quality budget machines, too. Not as sleek as the Asus ROG notebooks, but they've got it where it counts. Well, except for that miserly 512 GB SSD, that is.

Price check: Amazon £894.97

MSI Katana 15 | RTX 4070 | Core i9 13900H | 15.6-inch | 1080p | 144 Hz | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | £1,699 £1,149 at Amazon (save £550)
Phew, those are some pretty impressive specs at a similarly impressive discount, from a trusted brand no less. Yes, it's only got a 1080p screen, and yes, 32GB of RAM instead of the included 16GB would be nice, but for just £1,149 you get a super-fast Core i9, an RTX 4070 and a 1TB SSD. That's a bit of a magic combo if you ask me, and at a bit of a magic price too. That GPU isn't running at peak performance, however, with just a 105 W TGP, but that still gives it enough juice to cope with that 1080p screen even if it's not the full 140 W deal.

Price check: Currys £1,190

Asus TUF A15 | RTX 4070 | Ryzen 9 8945H | 15.6-inch | 1440p | 165 Hz | 32 GB DDR5 | 1 TB SSD | £1,899.60 £1,599.60 at Cyberpower (save £300)
She may not be the cheapest, or prettiest, but this packed Asus machine has got a lot going for it. That 165 Hz IPS panel is high-res and the RTX 4070 is running at its top 140 W power limits. And that chonky chassis only helps that. You're also getting a ton of DDR5 memory and a decent 1 TB of fast SSD storage, too. 

MSI Vector GP68HX  | RTX 4080 | Core i9-13950HX | 16-inch | 1200p | 144 Hz | 16GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | £1,998.98 £1,899.02 at Ebuyer (save £99.96)
When it comes to the hardware running under the bonnet, this 16-inch MSI Vector certainly has the goods, what with that Intel Core i9 processor and an RTX 4080 making a very tempting package indeed. Bit of a shame about the 1200p display and 16GB of RAM, but at least the screen's a good 'un with a 144Hz refresh rate and nice and bright panel. There's a huge amount of performance here in quite a slim and svelte package, making this machine a lot of power for under the magic £2,000 marker.