Best gaming laptops[under $500] updated December 2018

Here are the best gaming laptops that are under $500.

For a hardcore gamer good gaming laptops at this range are hard to come by but certainly possible.

We have compiled a few that we think are the best. The list comprises of devices at whose price you won’t certainly not balk at.

Acer Aspire E5 575G 53VG

Acer is a company based out of Taiwan.

Since the past 4 decades they’ve been supplying the world with world-class gadgets like tablets, phones and laptops.

The Acer Aspire E5-575G-53VG  isn’t a great laptop if you go by specifications alone but the machine is light on the pocket and gets you a great performance for whatever you’re spending.

The laptop despite being low on specifications is apt for gamers. Gamers have voted and found the laptop to be satisfactory at quenching their gaming itch.

The slew of features that gamers are going to love about the laptop include:

• A 6th generation Intel core i5 processor with speeds up to 2.8GHz
• 15.6-inch size laptop screen which means there’s plenty of visual candy. External graphics card from NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
• Enough RAM for gaming with 8GB DDR4 and superfast processing with 256 gb ssd.
• Sports windows 10 with backlit keyboard
• Up to 12-hours Battery Life thanks to its 6-cell Lithium ion battery

6th generation laptops are comparatively slower than the newer 7th or 8th generation laptops. 8th generation laptops are touted to be 92% faster than 7th generation laptops. But that said, many gaming addicts find it surprisingly appealing.

On the design front, the designers have executed a perfect metallic finish to the laptop.

The team has gone for a flat keyboard design with all keys looking flat.

The trackpad offers precise performance despite the fact that most gamers prefer using a gaming mouse.

The processor capabilities are enough for any gamer and though it isn’t as good as laptops in the 1000+ segment it offers great value for the money.

ASUS Vivobook F510UA

ASUS Vivobook is a pretty good laptop under budget for gaming.

One thing I liked about it is it sports the latest 8th generation processor which is said be 92% faster than 7th generation processors.

It’s rare to come by such a laptop at this budget.

• 8th gen core i5 8250U with 1.6HGz processor that can be over clocked to 3.4ghz
• Anti glare 15.6 inch screen.
• 8GB DDR4 ram with 1 tb hdd. Comes with fingerprint sensor.

You can play games on it for 5 to 6 hours without any problem. And with fast charging it can reach full charge in about two hours.

If there were SSD too then the performance would have been much better but they had to sacrifice something and that’s probably the only con I see.

Lenovo Ideapad 320-15 AMD A12-9720P

• AMD A12-9720P 2.7GHz processor that can be overclocked to turbo speeds of up to 3.3GHz.
• 8GB DDR4 SDRAM expandable to 16GB, 1TB 5400 RPM Hard Drive.
• 1 USB Type-C, 2 USB 3.0, 1 HDMI, Webcam, DVD-RW Drive, Bluetooth.
• 1366 x 768 15.6-in HD widescreen LED. Windows 10 64-bit
• Up to 5 hours battery life.

Lenovo Ideapad 320-15 boasts a decent configuration for the price that any gamer can enjoy. The performance is remarkable even when playing highly demanding games.

Let’s look at the features:

It’s powered by AMD Radeon R7 Sports that comes integrated into the system. That’s also a sore thumb for most game lovers who would have preferred dedicated graphics. The  RAM Sports 8GB of DDR3 RAM.

And it comes with the latest Windows 10 OS.

It’s lighter than the Acer Apsire that we saw just before. It has a platinum grey build housed in Aluminium.

The lenovo laptop sacrifices a few things so that the price could fit the other things it has to offer. Most notably, the display is a basic 1366 X 768 TN panel, that can’t be called great. HD gaming is out of the question. The narrow viewing angles can be frustrating and are less than ideal. The screen comes pre-coated with anti-glare coating on the screen that can protect your eyes when you’re gaming big-time. The keypad is sadly non-backlit which could be a deal-breaker for some of us reading this review. Gaming in darkened room builds a new level of excitement which would certainly come amiss. The laptop comes packed with two USB 3.0 ports, one of which is USB type C and another is HDMI port with a SD slot. The SD slot is handy when expanding storage. The laptop does not balk down on DVD drive and sports one along with ethernet and headphone jack.

HP Pavilion 15-cd002ds 15.6″ Touchscreen Notebook PC

HP Pavillion’s 15 cd002ds is a good option for gamers.

List of features

• It has an AMD Radeon Graphics card which can be overclocked up to 2.9 ghz
• 4GB RAm with SATA 1 TB harddrive provides processing prowess along with storage.
• Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-Bit)
• You have a backlit keyboard and sports a numeric keypad for faster gaming.

Dell Inspiron 15.6 inch gaming laptop

Dell Inspiron’s 15.6 inch laptop is part of the Dell 5000 series. It has a 1920 1080p resolution which helps you view games in high resolution.

Under the hood is a seventh generation Intel i3-7130 2.7 GHz Quad Core processor that packs in a 4gb RAM.

What I like about it is it goes to great lengths to customize itself. You can go for 8, 12 or 16 GB RAM and also choose another SSD other than the default 512 MB SSD provided by going for 128, 256 or 1TB SSD disk.

There’s also the i5 version available for much higher price.

Features:

• Backlit keyboard for gaming in the dark
• Impressive audio system
• Most games play well with no lag
• Poor quality touch pad. But most gamers use mouse nonetheless so it isn’t something you need to be particularly worried about if I were you.

Lenovo Z50-75

The Lenovo Z50 is another laptop that can satisfy your gaming urge. The exterior is very pleasing to look at and is designed in charcoal grey. It’s made of polycarbonate instead of a metal body which lends it much needed lightness which is preferred when going to gaming hackathons.

It has a 15.6 inch HD screen that provides full HD gaming experience. The processor can easily clock to a frequency of 3.30 Ghz.

8GB of RAM helps you play most intense games smoothly. With a 1TB harddisk you will not run short of storage space soon. AMD Radeon r7 gpu comes integrated into the system providing a smooth transition in gaming.

What to look for in a gaming laptop?

GPU

The GPU is the heart of your gaming system. Without GPU most 3d games which take a lot of  calculation and extensive graphics won’t play or render well. GPU provides a separate CPU solely dedicated to processing graphics. Thus the CPU is free to do other work and doesn’t hang.

Most GPUs also require a cooling fan and you need to make space for that.

RAM

4GB RAM is okish but doesn’t always cut it. If you are a hard core gamer you should definitely go for 8GB RAM.

CPU

CPU is one of the most important parts of the gaming system. Most modern games also tap into CPU resources in addition to GPU. My advice is to go for the latest 8th generation processors because they are much faster and stable and not to fall for i5 or i7 without knowing the generation. In multiplayer games CPU role is crucial as it keeps track of every player and consumes massive resources.