The best gaming laptops of 2024 no matter your budget

There aren't many gaming laptops under $1,000 that are actually worth buying, but the Acer Nitro 5 is our favorite budget pick.

But that low price wouldn't mean anything if it wasn't also a rock solid performer, which it totally is. In fact, it has a lot of the same inner components as a few of the more expensive options in this roundup. Perhaps the most impressive selling point of this laptop (other than the price) is its battery life, which will keep you gaming for up to nine hours. Most gaming laptops at this price will last seven hours on the high end, for comparison. 

The price does come with some downsides, though. Most notably, the graphical performance in conjunction with the Intel 11th Generation Core i5 processor isn't as great as our other picks (that's not to say it looks bad, though). But hey, you can't have it all, and that low price point is hard to beat. 

Planning on traveling with your PC? The MSI GF63 Thin gaming laptop is going to be your best bet. Mashable recently named this the best gaming laptop under $1,000, and we stand by that decision.

We love this laptop not only for its compact, thin-bezel design that's great for storing in a backpack, but also for its other components. At this price, you're getting a really solid setup — an Intel Core i5-9300H processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card, 256GB SSD, and a 1080p full HD display. Despite its small size, you'll still have over 15 inches of screen size. There's really only one drawback. The screen is a bit dim compared to our other picks, which takes away from its graphical power.

Overall, this gaming laptop is fast, packs stellar visuals, and is all tied together in an ultra-portable package.

The MSI Cyborg 15 is a great gaming laptop for those who fall in the middle of the road when it comes to budget. Meaning, you don't want to get the cheapest laptop possible, but you don't necessarily want to shell out for the priciest one, either.

Mashable Tech Editor Kimberly Gedeon reviewed the MSI Cyborg 15, scoring it a 4.2 out of 5. Highlights from her hands-on review include the device's surprising performance for the price, variety of ports, cooling ability, and halfway decent keyboard. While most gaming laptops at this price point will struggle with ultra-demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2, the Cyborg 15 had little issue. "I’ve seen machines buckle under the great stress Cyberpunk 2077 puts them through," wrote Gedeon in her review of the machine. But after running a few benchmark tests, she came to the conclusion that the MSI Cyborg 15 can "handle some complex graphics rendering, particularly if you toggle on the right settings." That's great news for those who want to run processor-heavy games without having to stream via cloud, and also don't want to spend over $2,000.

Gedeon encountered two snags in the review process: The laptop's display and speakers. The display's max brightness was simply too low, which is a bummer for those who want to see their games in full, vivid color. The speakers' max volume was also a bit too low, but if you're playing with a gaming headset, you shouldn't have any issues there.

Ultimately, if you're OK with not shopping from the top shelf, the MSI Cyborg 15 is a more than solid choice. As Gedeon put it, "If you’re a practical gamer who wants bare bones specs – acceptable frame rates, a 1080p display, and a comfortable keyboard – the MSI Cyborg 15 is ideal. Plus, you get it all for a great price."

The budget Acer Chromebook 516 GE promises its users a fantastic cloud-based PC gaming experience, and in our testing, it definitely delivers.

At this price point, great gaming laptops are hard to come by, but the Chromebook 516 GE breaks that mold by offering top-notch performance during gaming and general use, a beautiful display, killer perks, and more for just $649 (we've already seen them go on sale for only $499).

If you're not familiar with cloud gaming yet, it's the equivalent of watching content through an app like Netflix: You'll be streaming games rather than downloading them or owning a physical copy. That means no load times to start playing, no downloads, and no updates. Sometimes, this can result in poor game quality and super choppy performance, but this laptop doesn't have those problems. We used Xbox Game Pass as our cloud platform of choice during testing, and we had an overall great experience (we also used an Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, which connected easily).

We played single-player games like Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Rollerdrome, and Cyberpunk 2077, as well as online multiplayer games like Sea of Thieves, Mortal Kombat 11, and Fortnite — all of which require fast and responsive performance to play as intended. We're happy to report that every game we booted up ran swimmingly, save for a slight loss in fidelity (which is extremely common with cloud gaming). We experienced zero input lag or stuttering, an impressive feat.

Luckily, you won't be beholden to Game Pass. Along with your purchase, you can redeem three free months of NVIDIA GeForce Now at the Priority level, which grants you access to NVIDIA's high-end cloud servers with enhanced resolution and frame rate. You get other perks, too, including three months of YouTube Premium, a year's worth of Google One cloud storage, and a month of access to Boosteroid. Like we said, the value for your money here is stellar.

Aside from the gaming-centric features, the Acer Chromebook 516GE is also a really solid laptop in general. The build quality feels durable and sturdy like a gaming laptop should, and it features a nice RGB keyboard with anti-ghosting tech that's incredible to type on. You'll also get a bevy of ports, including USB-C, HDMI, and Ethernet. The real showstopper is the laptop's display — the 16-inch, 1600p screen looks fantastic and boasts clear, bright, and vibrant colors. It also supports a 120Hz refresh rate, which is amazing for a budget gaming laptop. The only knock we have against the device is the battery life. It clocked in at around six hours of heavy gaming for us, so you'll probably want to plug it in during marathon gaming sessions.

]If you want to ride that AMD processor train even further, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is one of the best AMD-powered gaming laptops you're going to find, period. 

This ASUS rig strikes a healthy balance between style and substance. From the outside, the ROG Zephyrus G14 sports a minimalist aesthetic in a compact 14-inch body. While small computers normally signal less power to shoppers, this laptop actually boasts incredible performance all around thanks to its AMD 3rd Generation Ryzen 9 processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q graphics card. Also included is a hefty 1TB SSD and a beautifully vibrant display that'll keep your games looking top-notch (even on such a small screen). 

The only downside to the ROG Zephyrus G14 is that its fans tend to run pretty loud, but that's to be expected in an ultra-compact laptop that packs such a huge punch. If you're looking for something small yet mighty, you've found it. However, if you're looking for the best cheap gaming laptops, consider one of the MSI or Acer laptops we featured previously.

If money is no object and you’ll only settle for the very best gaming laptop of the year, then look no further than the Zephyrus M16. A bewilderingly powerful laptop, it will be able to cleanly run anything you throw at it and serve as an enviable, top-of-the-line system for years to come. 

With the best model of the Zephyrus M16 packing an Nvidia RTX 4090 (which many gamers consider the best overall graphics card in the world right now), an Intel Core i9 13900H, and 32GB RAM, you’d struggle to find any way of improving the laptop on a spec level. Its killer performance, though, is only rounded off by an equally impressive screen: a crisp, mini LED display that offers fantastic color tones and contrasts, making the most photo-realistic sing and stylistic visuals gleam.

It’s surprisingly sleek given the horsepower packed inside, though be prepared for some very loud fans – this is a gaming laptop you’ll want to use with a pair of headphones. Of course, it’s eye-wateringly pricey, too. But if you have the cash to burn, the Zephyrus M16 really is the greatest high-end laptop money can buy.