You also couldn't play most complex games - GPU- or CPU-intensive ones - on battery power. $1,936 at Origin PC Do you still have to compromise on battery life?Ī compromise you've traditionally had to make has been battery life, which has typically lasted as little as 2 hours of nonstop gaming.

This list is periodically updated so that you can always find the best gaming laptop for you at the best value. But budget gaming can be difficult if you're not shopping carefully and we all know that there's really no such thing as a 'cheap gaming laptop.'Ĭheck out our recommendations for the best gaming laptops below that will give you the best gaming performance for the price for more detailed advice, scroll down below them. So it's not a given that you'll need to bust your budget to pay for a new laptop. Throw in advances in cloud gaming, and you've got the ability to play more games on lower-end hardware than ever before.

The good news is that battery life, at least for 15-inch gaming laptops, has gotten significantly longer and processors, both CPUs and GPUs, are a lot better. Or maybe you don't want to always use an external mechanical keyboard with per-key RGB backlighting, but the system's WASD keys feel like mashed potatoes under your fingers. Those powerful components may overheat at the worst moments, your battery may die or you might experience an instability that impacts your gaming performance. You can pack it with the best graphics card, the fastest, most colorful display around, a gazillion-core processor, tons of fast solid-state storage to hold your games and a rock-solid hard drive for secondary storage, but it can still fall short. There's more to a decent gaming laptop than raw speed. And as any gamer knows, having the right equipment can be just as important as leveling up when it comes to raising your stats. Gaming laptops have evolved to keep pace with the newest titles and most advanced games, and can meet the needs of even the most intense gamers.

A proper gaming rig certainly isn't a cheap investment, but if you're serious about your gaming - and don't mind dropping some serious cash up front - it can absolutely transform your gaming experience.

Best small gaming laptop 2017