Between chip shortages and the crypto mining craze, buying a pre-built gaming laptop is the fastest way to get your hands on a new GPU, especially if you want the latest options from vendors including Nvidia.
Gaming laptops tend to be pricey because they demand top graphics cards — often containing one or two — high-end processors, strong connectivity features, and quality displays. Together, the cost of these components packaged up in a laptop’s chassis means that consumers often feel the sting.
However, you don’t need to pay the typical retail price for a portable gaming rig. If you know where to look, you can uncover hidden gems worth purchasing.
Fortunately, we’ve combed the internet to find the best bundles and deepest discounts on top brands like Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte. We tell you how much you can save and what to expect from each model, so you can find the right gaming laptop for your play style. We’ve also compiled a list of the best laptop deals to help you search for even more deals and savings.
- Current Price: $1479
- Original Price: $1849
This high-powered gaming laptop is built with an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS processor, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU. The 15.6″ screen gives you 1440p resolution and is capable of producing up to 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut for ultra lifelike images.
The six integrated speakers work with Dolby Atmos for 3D surround sound without a headset, and the fingerprint reader protects your games and laptop from unauthorized access and logins. On a full charge, you’ll get around eight hours of use out of your laptop, which is perfect for intense raids that take all night.
- Current price: $1599
- Original price: $2899
The MSI GS66 Stealth is one of the brand’s flagship gaming laptops, and now at B&H Photo, you can save $1300 on one. It’s built with an 11th generation Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card. This ensures that the GS66 Stealth will have plenty of power to run the latest triple-a and indie gaming titles effortlessly. The laptop boasts a 15.6-inch, 1440p display with a max refresh rate of 240Hz for buttery smooth motion. And if you need to update in the future, the GS66 Stealth supports up to 64GB of RAM and has 2 SSD slots so you can expand your storage and memory as your needs change.
- Current price: $1329
- Original price: $2449
The Gigabyte Aero 16 XE5 is a powerhouse of a gaming laptop, and Newegg will let you snap one up for almost $1200 off. The laptop has a 16-inch AMOLED display with a max refresh rate of 60Hz and 4K resolution for smoother motion as well as incredible detailing, contrast, and color. It’s built with an Intel Core i7-12700H CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and Nvidia Geforce RTX 3070 Ti graphics card. The laptop also supports both Wi-Fi 6 for blazing fast wireless internet speeds and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity for setting up wireless peripherals like mice and headsets. It even supports Thunderbolt connectivity for device charging, fast file transfers, and setting up a second display for when you need more screen space.
- Current price: $1400
- Original price: $2250
Newegg keeps the deals coming with an $850 discount on the MSI GE76 Raider gaming laptop. It’s built with an 11th gen Intel Core i7 processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU. The 17.3-inch display gives you up to 1080p resolution and a max refresh rate of 360Hz. The laptop also supports Thunderbolt, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity to keep you on the cutting edge of PC gaming. It also has plenty of USB ports for connecting peripherals like mice, headsets, and microphones.
When researching the best gaming laptop deals, we considered various factors, including tech specs and price points. While every gamer would no doubt love to have the newest and most powerful machines, chip shortages can impact availability. Plus, affordability can be a deciding factor — especially with the uncertainty of the global economy.
Gaming laptops are designed to run power-hungry applications. These include gaming services, dedicated platforms like Steam, and individual games loaded onto a PC.
The specifications in a gaming laptop focus on several things: a high-power display with a decent refresh rate and resolution, dedicated graphics cards, quality processors, and a fair amount of storage. They may also have keyboards and other peripherals included that are designed with gaming functionality in mind, whether by the way of backlighting or programmable keys.
The first consideration is whether or not a laptop has the right specs to run your software. Many games will come with a recommended specifications list on PCs, and out of these, the processor, RAM (memory), and graphics card capabilities are the most important.
You might want to consider purchasing a gaming mouse, as it can be programmed to perform specific actions based on your clicks. Plus, they can make gaming a more enjoyable experience — or, as is the case for speedruns, make those important actions as fast as possible.
You may also want to investigate comfortable gaming headsets for a more immersive experience.
Laptops suitable for gaming come out every year, ranging from those geared toward professional gamers to safe options for children. Deals on gaming laptops are constantly changing, and so aside from our top picks above, you should consider checking out our other finds below:
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