Affordable gaming laptop Medion Erazer Crawler E40 with powerful RTX 4050 reviewed

The Medion Erazer Crawler E40, priced at ~US$1100, is equipped with an i5-13500H and an RTX 4050, making it a budget-friendly gaming laptop. In our test, we aimed to uncover where Medion might have cut corners or made sacrifices to achieve this price point, especially when compared to competitors like the Lenovo LOQ 15, MSI Katana 15, or XMG Apex 15.

The cheaper Core i5-13500H is likely a better choice in terms of the price-performance ratio than the otherwise popular, more expensive Core i7-13700H or the Core i7-13620 The manufacturer has not compromised on performance, which is at least as high as that of the peers. When combined with the RTX 4050, the CPU and GPU provide a well-rounded performance package that, in some situations, rivals that of the competitors.

The laptop features good and fast WLAN performance, and it maintains low temperatures. One notable criticism is the overly aggressive and loud cooling system. While you can switch to a lower power mode to mitigate fan noise, the impact on performance is minimal.

One area where savings are evident is the display. Although not subpar with its 350 nits and 144 Hz, it's dated, supporting only Full HD and lacking sRGB coverage.

There's another noticeable cost-cutting measure that might be relevant for many users. To delve deeper into these aspects and to explore the advantages and disadvantages of the Medion Erazer Crawler E40, you can refer to our comprehensive review of this gaming laptop.