How To Buy The Best Budget Gaming Laptop
Recently I did research on what should a person take into consideration when he/she wants to buy a Gaming Laptop because I want to buy one myself and I wanted to ensure every purchase decision is made after a thorough investigation.
So, here are some important things you must look at when buying yourself or someone else a new Gaming Laptop:
Size of the Screen
This is one thing that came up in almost all forum discussions. Actually, it's not the size of the screen that matters but its resolution and aspect ratio. The bigger your laptop's screen is - the more powerful your graphics card should be so you can play games at a decent frame rate. And since most laptops don't support a high-end graphics card, choosing a lower screen size is a good way to ensure awesome battery life and still get awesome visuals/resolution on your laptop. When I did my research before buying my current laptop (Dell XPS13) I found out that 13" laptops are popular for this reason (and they're usually more portable than 17" ones). Most power users on Reddit's r/Notebooks and other forums suggest that 14-15.6" laptops are ideal for gaming, but it all depends on your needs, so feel free to buy a laptop with a bigger screen if you'd like.
Graphics Card and Battery Life
Good Battery life and good display and many times any graphics card you want (GPUs like Nvidia GTX 1080 or AMD Radeon RX 480 can easily fit inside these machines). Also, most budget gaming laptops offer better battery life than their more expensive counterparts so keep this in mind as well. Usually, they're not as thin as Ultrabook though (which is why they offer such great GPUs) - which might be a problem if portability is what you're looking for.
Processor Speed
The processor in your laptop is responsible for all the calculations that are made in games. So, when you see people saying they can achieve xxx FPS at Ultra Settings with their GeForce GTX 1080 laptop - it means their laptop has a really good processor. Usually, when speaking about processors people refer to 2 types of them: The Intel i5 and i7 processors.
Now there are some other manufacturers out there that make CPUs as well, like AMD or even Razer but they're not found that often on laptops under 1000 dollars (and I'm not going to mention them here because most power users opt for more mainstream brands).
There's also a new type of CPU named the "hybrid" or "e-GPU". This is basically a CPU and a high-end graphics card in one package. It can offer better FPS than both Intel i5 and i7 processors, but only when you don't overclock it (which shouldn't be much of an issue if you're buying a laptop with such CPU).
Most power gamers on the internet who responded to my survey suggested that The Intel Core i7 Processor is what they need when playing games at max settings. Also, laptops with this type of processor are available in almost every laptop under 1000 dollars price range so consider it carefully before making your final decision. As for The Intel Core i5 Processor, it's also a good choice and will provide The Best Value for Your Money. But if we really want to be picky here - it's not as good as The Intel Core i7 Processor.
The Bad: if you want to buy a laptop for gaming under $500 - now this is the most important thing you need to know. All laptops with an Intel Core i5 processor are pretty much outdated. So, don't buy one unless it has something else special about it (like really high storage or RAM amount). Also, avoid buying anything with AMD processors because they're even worse than Intel Core I5 Processors.
Amount of RAM Memory
This number tells you how much "processing power" your laptop will have when playing games. Usually, 8GB is what many gamers would recommend but some claim that 16GB is also fine (as long as it's DDR3). I personally use 12GB and I can play games on high settings with no issues but then again - the reason behind that is my laptop also has an Nvidia GTX 960M (which you will read about later in this article). If your laptop doesn't have such a graphics card, don't expect to run many modern games.
The Good: 16GB of RAM memory for those who want to future-proof their laptops.
Storage Space The amount of storage space (in GB) your laptop offers affects how many games you'll be able to store on it and the speed at which it will open/launch them. Usually, 1TB is what most gamers would recommend but some could find that too much or too little so I would recommend going for something in between - like 750GB. The Good: 1TB of storage space because it provides the best value for your money.
The Bad: Avoid anything less than 750GB because you might not have enough space to store all your games on it without buying an external HDD or SSD (which can be a bit costly, don't forget that). 5) Screen Size and Resolution
Not a fan of laptops? Find your best gaming pc under 600
Conclusion
The best budget gaming laptop should have a good enough screen size and resolution for comfortable gaming (anything larger than 15.6" and with Full-HD or higher). If your budget is tight I would recommend going with 1366 x 768 screens because they're often found on laptops under $200 and they still look pretty darn good ( but only if the laptop has an SSD like this one ).
