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best, CHEAPEST, gaming laptop.

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Maximo101

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Short and sweet...

What is the best, best two, or so on, gaming laptops and the price point you see it at.

Looking to move on from Razer...
 
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Maximo101 said:
flexible, under $2000us.
Click to expand...

You can probably get something like with intel ultra 9 series and 5000 series GTX graphic card, If you not in a rush you can probably wait around Black Friday to shop, would save you some money that time.
 
Hayato213 said:
You can probably get something like with intel ultra 9 series and 5000 series GTX graphic card, If you not in a rush you can probably wait around Black Friday to shop, would save you some money that time.
Click to expand...
ever heard of msi? they make a line of gaming laptops that seem low to mid range.
 
Asus (TUF), MSI, Acer (Nitro) all have "budget" gaming laptops with decent specs for a low price. Just go with whichever happens to be the cheapest for the specs you want as they are all similar in terms of price and quality. Within that budget you could probably get a 5070 (maybe Ti) but no higher.
Just avoid HP at all costs.

I could also vouch for Clevo laptops (many OEMs sell rebranded Clevo laptops, check in your area), I had one in active use for 10 years and the only things that were ever wrong with it were due to normal wear and tear (needed to replace a fan once) and user error (spilled liquid in the keyboard and had to replace it) but overall they seem quite durable (maybe more so than budget gaming laptops from more well known brands), and they are easy to repair/upgrade. In the end I only replaced it because it was too slow for modern demands but it still works fine.
 
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Avoid MSI asus and OriginPC(Corsair)

I had $1-2500 laptops from all 3 of them and every single time the laptop would die within a year maybe a year and a half and with no way to repair it even with warrenty

MSI - was a stealth series laptop. Worked great for about 6 months until the fans stopped working properly. They would eithrr never turn on, or turn on at boot at 100% speed and never turn off again

MSI didn’t supply parts for it even when mailing it in, so there wasn’t anything I could do besides be stuck with it

Sound would also rarely work unless I rebooted several times. Device manager wouldn’t even show any speakers or sound cards

Asus - 13 months this one lasted until the GPU suddenly stopped appearing in windows as a whole or when it did it would be stuck in “power saving mode” and be clocked down to a speed slower than the integrated graphics

Reinstalling Windows twice sort of fixed this, the GPU now appears and works as expected. But something is clearly wrong as my laptop is too hot to touch and at 100% fan speed within minutes of boot. The GPU will also randomly crash with artifacts and recover. I assume this is heat related now

Either way, I am also stuck with this laptop since asus does not make this model no more and it happened right after the warranty expired..making a repair cost more than just buying a whole new laptop

OriginPC(Corsair) was the worst. I spent a bit more on this one thinking that would mean higher quality. ($2500) and within 8 months the keyboard stopped working. I mailed it out and they told me that the frame was cracked. Promised a fix and they mailed it back. This took about a month ..so I am almost 10 months in now

I get the laptop back and it’s still broken..meaning I need to mail it back again and wait another 2ish weeks (for shipping to them and for them to process its super slow)

I was told they no longer have the part and because my laptop is now last years model that they don’t stock parts for it…they legit told me to order a second hand part off of eBay to mail it to them for the repair (no reimbursement)

This took over a another month..and they never got the part even though the tracking number said shipped..so now I am at about a year to date of my purchase right about where my warrenty is ending. So a supervisor called me for a “favor” and said that they would just swap my laptop out for an equal model to solve this long crisis…

Guess what they never did? I got the same broken laptop back…

This was a wall of text I know but these companies are scam artists. I am not even that hard on my hardware it sits stagnant on my desk connected to hdmi 99% of the time
 
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TheStonedModder said:
Avoid MSI asus and OriginPC(Corsair)

I had $1-2500 laptops from all 3 of them and every single time the laptop would die within a year maybe a year and a half and with no way to repair it even with warrenty

MSI - was a stealth series laptop. Worked great for about 6 months until the fans stopped working properly. They would eithrr never turn on, or turn on at boot at 100% speed and never turn off again

MSI didn’t supply parts for it even when mailing it in, so there wasn’t anything I could do besides be stuck with it

Sound would also rarely work unless I rebooted several times. Device manager wouldn’t even show any speakers or sound cards

Asus - 13 months this one lasted until the GPU suddenly stopped appearing in windows as a whole or when it did it would be stuck in “power saving mode” and be clocked down to a speed slower than the integrated graphics

Reinstalling Windows twice sort of fixed this, the GPU now appears and works as expected. But something is clearly wrong as my laptop is too hot to touch and at 100% fan speed within minutes of boot. The GPU will also randomly crash with artifacts and recover. I assume this is heat related now

Either way, I am also stuck with this laptop since asus does not make this model no more and it happened right after the warranty expired..making a repair cost more than just buying a whole new laptop

OriginPC(Corsair) was the worst. I spent a bit more on this one thinking that would mean higher quality. ($2500) and within 8 months the keyboard stopped working. I mailed it out and they told me that the frame was cracked. Promised a fix and they mailed it back. This took about a month ..so I am almost 10 months in now

I get the laptop back and it’s still broken..meaning I need to mail it back again and wait another 2ish weeks (for shipping to them and for them to process its super slow)

I was told they no longer have the part and because my laptop is now last years model that they don’t stock parts for it…they legit told me to order a second hand part off of eBay to mail it to them for the repair (no reimbursement)

This took over a another month..and they never got the part even though the tracking number said shipped..so now I am at about a year to date of my purchase right about where my warrenty is ending. So a supervisor called me for a “favor” and said that they would just swap my laptop out for an equal model to solve this long crisis…

Guess what they never did? I got the same broken laptop back…

This was a wall of text I know but these companies are scam artists. I am not even that hard on my hardware it sits stagnant on my desk connected to hdmi 99% of the time
Click to expand...
The common theme among all these companies is no working customer service. And a lack of quality control...
 
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Maximo101 said:
flexible, under $2000us.
Click to expand...
Sager/Clevo, period. And get a chonky model for better cooling and storage expansion. Alternatively, used ones with at least 2070 or newer gfx. Lenovo would be my next and last brand to look at after Sager/Clevo.

My 2016 or so ASsUS story - 15" with a mere 1060, that shipped with an under-powered PSU brick and its thermal design REQUIRING you to keep the lid open or it would thermally shut down after like 20 min of playing something decently demanding....and that POS has a $1400 tag to boot.... So, absolutely agree with @TheStonedModder - avoid all those brands like a plague.

A general rule of thumb either way - if it's a POWERhouse, and it's paper-thin, it ain't gonna work, chief.

Also, GOOD tech does tend to last, so I'd avoid "cheapest" per se, but get as much for your cap as you can so it can last you a good decade or more.

And a personal P.S. - 32gb ram at BARE minimum today. I lived on 16 for way too long and thus got to experience first hand what running out of ram feels like when gaming, but in turn what glory extra ram provides once I upgraded.
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The Real Jdbye said:
I could also vouch for Clevo laptops (many OEMs sell rebranded Clevo laptops, check in your area), I had one in active use for 10 years and the only things that were ever wrong with it were due to normal wear and tear (needed to replace a fan once) and user error (spilled liquid in the keyboard and had to replace it) but overall they seem quite durable (maybe more so than budget gaming laptops from more well known brands), and they are easy to repair/upgrade. In the end I only replaced it because it was too slow for modern demands but it still works fine.
Click to expand...
Haha, current story of my life - still using my Sager as it falls farther out of modern spec, but still chugs away acceptably enough. Keyboard ain't working great anymore, but it's been more of a desktop from day one and I always use a decent wireless keyboard instead so that bit isn't really an issue.
 
Last edited by Skv0ra,
Maximo101 said:
flexible, under $2000us.
Click to expand...
I would also recommend the Framework Laptop 16 but the 5070 config is a little out of your budget. Definitely worth paying extra for the repairability and modularity/upgradability though, and it's a more premium build quality.
 
Last edited by The Real Jdbye,
A bit late but if you're using this laptop solely for gaming then there are plenty of Switch clones to pick from. At your budget the Xbox ROG Ally X looks to be the best option. A gaming laptop works but you'll give yourself a better experience on a device optimised for gaming. If you need a laptop for work you can get a refurbished one at a low price which is just fine for Microsoft Word and a web browser.
 
Ended up with the Asus Rog Strix (9HX Ryzen, 5070 GeForce). Works great, but I do miss the metal case of my Razer Blade Pro laptop...

Funny side story, the Razer laptop stopped working, wouldn't boot up. I removed all the add-ons I installed, like extra memory and second ssd... No change, wouldn't boot up.

Finally I read a couple articles or posts where someone replaced the cmos on the motherboard and that worked. The rechargable cmos is like $25 over a regular watch battery which is like $2. So I got one from Amazon and installed it and bingo! it didn't work.

So I disconnected the main battery inside and put the old laptop away, maybe to sell it for parts or part it out. About a month later when I was about to break it down, I thought WTF, I'll try to start it again and it booted up perfectly. Amazing.

So while the cmos battery didn't work right away (no idea why), it did the trick and now I have TWO gaming laptops.

Must admit though, even though I like the older Razer more, the difference between the 2019 laptop and the 2025 laptop is night and day as specs go...

Anyone have an idea why the cmos replacement didn't work right away when I changed out the old batt for the new one??
 
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Maximo101 said:
Ended up with the Asus Rog Strix (9HX Ryzen, 5070 GeForce). Works great, but I do miss the metal case of my Razer Blade Pro laptop...

Funny side story, the Razer laptop stopped working, wouldn't boot up. I removed all the add-ons I installed, like extra memory and second ssd... No change, wouldn't boot up.

Finally I read a couple articles or posts where someone replaced the cmos on the motherboard and that worked. The rechargable cmos is like $25 over a regular watch battery which is like $2. So I got one from Amazon and installed it and bingo! it didn't work.

So I disconnected the main battery inside and put the old laptop away, maybe to sell it for parts or part it out. About a month later when I was about to break it down, I thought WTF, I'll try to start it again and it booted up perfectly. Amazing.

So while the cmos battery didn't work right away (no idea why), it did the trick and now I have TWO gaming laptops.

Must admit though, even though I like the older Razer more, the difference between the 2019 laptop and the 2025 laptop is night and day as specs go...

Anyone have an idea why the cmos replacement didn't work right away when I changed out the old batt for the new one??
Click to expand...

How long did you give it? Maybe RAM needed initialising (or whatever the term is)? I know that can sometimes take a few minutes.
 
If you can stretch to a Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 or an Acer Nitro 5, both are solid budget picks. The Nitro 5 especially goes on sale frequently. For emulation and retro games basically anything with a decent integrated GPU will handle it. The real question is whether you need it for modern AAA titles or mostly older stuff.
 
tech3475 said:
How long did you give it? Maybe RAM needed initialising (or whatever the term is)? I know that can sometimes take a few minutes.
Click to expand...
I left it about a month, but who knows when during that period something happened. I did try to reboot several times right after changing the battery, but always a frozen start screen... No BIOS, nothing. Frozen Razer logo.
 
Maximo101 said:
I left it about a month, but who knows when during that period something happened. I did try to reboot several times right after changing the battery, but always a frozen start screen... No BIOS, nothing. Frozen Razer logo.
Click to expand...

I meant when you turn it on, it can take a few minutes from when you press the power button.
 

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