The Best Budget Gaming Notebooks

July 2021 update. These notebooks offer the best bang for the buck: maximum performance at a low price. They are thus ideally suited for beginners. Find your next gaming notebook that will balance your expectations with your budget below.

Christian Hintze 👁 (translated by Finn D. Boerne), 07/22/2021 🇩🇪 🇹🇷 ...

To make this list, a notebook must meet two requirements first and foremost. First, given that this is a list of affordable notebooks its price shall not exceed 1,500 Euros. Keep in mind that the prices listed in the table below are updated daily and can thus differ from day to day. And second, these laptops must be equipped with a mid-range gaming-capable GPU, such as a GTX 1650 or an RX 5500M, capable of running most recent games in FHD (1920 x 1080) in medium to high details smoothly. More powerful GPUs, such as the GTX 1660 Ti or the RX 5600M, should thus be capable of running most current games smoothly in 1080p and maximum settings. Other gaming top lists:

The Best Gaming Notebooks (particularly powerful gaming notebooks)
The Best Thin & Light Gaming Notebooks (lightweight and thin gaming notebooks)

The Best Budget Gaming Laptops

Position	Total Rating	Date	Model	Height	Weight	Size	Resolution	Screen
1	86 %	06/2021 New!	Asus TUF Gaming F15 FX506HM Intel Core i7-11800H NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU 16 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD	24.9 mm	2.3 kg	15.60"	1920x1080	matte
2	85 %	07/2021 New!	Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506QR-AZ061T AMD Ryzen 7 5800H NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU 16 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD	24 mm	2.3 kg	15.60"	1920x1080	matte
3	84 %	10/2020	Aorus 5 KB Intel Core i7-10750H NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile 16 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD	28 mm	2.1 kg	15.60"	1920x1080	matte
4	84 %	06/2020	Dell G5 15 SE 5505 P89F AMD Ryzen 7 4800H AMD Radeon RX 5600M 16 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD	21.6 mm	2.4 kg	15.60"	1920x1080	matte
5	83 %	02/2021	MSI Alpha 17 A4DEK AMD Ryzen 7 4800H AMD Radeon RX 5600M 16 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD	28 mm	2.6 kg	17.30"	1920x1080	matte
6	83 %	07/2020	Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H Intel Core i5-10300H NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile 16 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD	26.1 mm	2.5 kg	15.60"	1920x1080	matte
7	83 %	11/2020	Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-53-77N5 Intel Core i7-10750H NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile 16 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD	22.9 mm	2.5 kg	15.60"	1920x1080	matte
8	83 %	05/2020	Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 AMD Ryzen 7 4800H NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile 16 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD	26 mm	2.6 kg	17.30"	1920x1080	matte
9	83 %	01/2021	HP Omen 15-en0375ng AMD Ryzen 7 4800H NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile 16 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD	23 mm	2.2 kg	15.60"	1920x1080	matte
10	83 %	06/2020	Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506IV-HN172 AMD Ryzen 7 4800H NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile 8 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD	24.9 mm	2.2 kg	15.60"	1920x1080	matte

The table above contains an overview over the best budget gaming laptops for less than 1,500 Euros reviewed by Notebookcheck over the course of the past 12 months as well as still relevant and available older products. In cases of identical score the more recent device is listed first. All prices in above table and price comparisons are updated daily and can thus differ.
Link: all devices in this class reviewed

1st – Asus TUF Gaming F15 FX506HM

The TUF Gaming F15 has almost no bells and whistles but offers a good performance at a low price. Equipped with an Intel Core i7-11800H and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU the TUF FX506HM offers a good price-performance ratio.

High CPU and GPU performance allow the FX506HM to stand out of the mid-range crowd.

The TUF FX506 series is currently not yet available in North America.

Pricecompare

Top 10 Laptops
Multimedia, Budget Multimedia, Gaming, Budget Gaming, Lightweight Gaming, Business, Budget Office, Workstation, Subnotebooks, Ultrabooks, Chromebooks

under 300 USD/Euros, under 500 USD/Euros, 1.000 USD/Euros

Best Displays, for University Students

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2nd – Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506QR

Admittedly the TUF Gaming A15 is slightly too expensive for this list but only marginally so. In return, you get a full-fledged RTX 3070. At a price of 1,529 Euros you get a great and powerful gaming laptop at an affordable price point.

The Asus TUF Gaming A15 offers good gaming performance and long battery life.

The TUF Gaming A15 is currently not yet available in North America.

Pricecompare

4th – Dell G5 15 SE

After years of stagnation AMD is finally back in the mobile gaming segment. One of the best examples is the Dell G5 15 special edition. While its Radeon RX 5600M performs roughly on the same level as a GTX 1660 Ti the Ryzen 7 4800H is faster than almost every single one of its Intel competitors.

Unfortunately, the G5 15 suffers from high temperatures and noise emissions under load, which at least in part can be blamed on its poor cooler. In return, battery life was more than adequate.

Pricecompare

5th - MSI Alpha 17

Just like Dell’s G5 the MSI Alpha 17 comes with an AMD Ryzen 7 4800H paired with an AMD Radeon RX 5600M.

In this configuration, it performed very similarly to Dell’s competitor. Its main strengths are its powerful speakers, a decent battery life of around 7 hours when browsing the web at medium brightness, and its 17-inch 144 Hz panel. With that said we would have wished for a higher color gamut as the FHD display was only capable of covering 59 % of the sRGB color space.

The MSI Alpha 17 performs at a similar level as Dell’s G5 15 and benefits from its powerful AMD CPU and decent battery life.

The three available SKUs listed on Amazon differ in storage space and RAM and are available for $1,350 (16 GB/512 GB), $1,450 (16 GB/1 TB), and $1,800 (32 GB/2 TB).

Pricecompare

6th – Lenovo Legion 5

Thanks to its GeForce RTX 2060 the Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH is one of the most powerful gaming laptops in this budget top 10 list. The rest of its internal hardware is fairly impressive as well. Our review unit, priced at around 1,200 Euros at the time of writing, featured 16 GB of RAM, a 512 GB large PCIe SSD, and a 120 Hz panel. As a bonus, the 15-inch laptop offered decent battery life.

A better rating could have been achieved by improving connectivity (no Thunderbolt, no card reader).

Pricecompare

7th – Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315

At a price of right around 1,500 Euros our Acer Predator Helios 300 review unit almost did not make this budget gaming notebook list.

For your money, you get a powerful gaming combination consisting of a Core i7-10750H paired with a GeForce RTX 2060, 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 512 GB large SSD. In our review, we particularly liked its 144 Hz display, its backlit keyboard, and its fast Wi-Fi. Downsides include the lack of Thunderbolt 3.

Pricecompare

8th – Asus TUF A17

Like many other notebooks in this top 10 list the Asus TUF A17 features an AMD Ryzen 7 4800H. Combined with a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti the laptop has no issues playing modern games smoothly. The 17-inch budget notebook also features a fast 120 Hz display and a large battery.

Downsides include among others the device’s very high noise emissions under 3D load and its poor color space coverage.

Pricecompare

9th - HP Omen 15

The HP Omen 15 has been a hot contender for this top 10 list for many years now. This time around, we would like to welcome the Ryzen 7 4800H and GeForce RTX 2060-equipped SKU. Its battery life was great, its 60 Hz display unfortunately was not. Other AMD-equipped models offer 144 Hz panels instead. In addition to poor color space coverage, it could have also benefited from a higher brightness and higher contrast ratio. We also find some other minor annoyances, such as a slow Wi-Fi modem and a rather wonky display lid.

Nevertheless, we dare say its price-performance ratio is good. We also had the Intel SKU in review, see here.

HP's Omen 15 offers a good battery life and a powerful CPU/GPU combination. However, this particular 60-Hz panel is a major no-go.

The only currently available AMD SKU on Amazon comes with the slower GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU and costs $1,300. Our review unit SKU is available on Newegg for $1,500.

Pricecompare

10th – Asus TUF A15

The smaller 15-inch sibling to the TUF A17 is called – surprise, surprise – TUF A15, and its pros and cons are almost identical. Unlike the A17’s GTX 1660 Ti the A15’s similarly powerful GeForce RTX 2060 comes with support for Raytracing, although that might not be relevant for all gamers.

Similar to the A17 we liked the A15’s high-contrast 144 Hz display and its good battery life, and disliked its poor color space coverage and connectivity (no card reader, no Thunderbolt 3).

Pricecompare

Top 10 in Comparison

Test Results

	Asus TUF Gaming F15 FX506HM	Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506QR-AZ061T	Aorus 5 KB	Dell G5 15 SE 5505 P89F	MSI Alpha 17 A4DEK	Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H	Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-53-77N5	Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76	HP Omen 15-en0375ng	Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506IV-HN172
Display
Display P3 Coverage	41.9		63.4	62.99	39.55	38.8	65.15	40.55	39.12	38.92
sRGB Coverage	62.9		92.85	90.07	59.15	57.76	92.31	59.68	57.62	58.47
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage	43.3		64.77	64.12	40.86	40.09	66.32	41.89	40.42	40.22
Response Times
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% *	28.4 (15.6, 12.8)	12 (6, 6)	14.4 (7.6, 6.8)	20.4 (10.8, 9.6)	40 (19.6, 20.4)	26 (12, 14)	17 (9, 8)	22.4 (11.6, 10.8)	30.4 (16.4, 14)	34 (16, 18)
Response Time Black / White *	21.6 (11.6, 10)	8 (4, 4)	11.2 (6.8, 4.4)	10.8 (6.4, 4.4)	29.2 (15.6, 13.6)	17 (8, 9)	11 (6, 5)	19.2 (9.6, 9.6)	20.8 (11.6, 9.2)	24 (13, 11)
PWM Frequency		1250 (20)		198.4 (99)					200 (99)
Screen
Brightness middle	268.3	297	318	292	254	301	319	264.8	297	280
Brightness	257	268	298	290	254	277	294	253	275	254
Brightness Distribution	84	84	87	77	93	77	83	90	88	88
Black Level *	0.34	0.22	0.3	0.27	0.23	0.26	0.22	0.31	0.33	0.15
Contrast	789	1350	1060	1081	1104	1158	1450	854	900	1867
Colorchecker DeltaE2000 *	5.05	1.36	2.49	3.99	4.12	5.12	4.42	4.73	4.54	5.89
Colorchecker DeltaE2000 max. *	15.43	3.82	5.06	6.11	19.66	8.86	8.54	18.89	18.92	19
Colorchecker DeltaE2000 calibrated *	3.21		1.53	3.02	3.78	4.88		4.64	4.66	4.79
Greyscale DeltaE2000 *	5.5	1.88	1.6	3.3	3.2	3.47	4.84	1.4	2.1	4.08
Gamma	2.35 ^94%	2.48 ^89%	2.211 ^100%	2.25 ^98%	2.179 ^101%	2.37 ^93%	2.39 ^92%	2.16 ^102%	2.066 ^106%	2.33 ^94%
CCT	7392 ^88%	6768 ^96%	6714 ^97%	7047 ^92%	6754 ^96%	7062 ^92%	6850 ^95%	6641 ^98%	6291 ^103%	7303 ^89%
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998)		63	65	58.1	41	37	60	38.4	40	37
Color Space (Percent of sRGB)		99	89	89.7	59	57	92	59.3	58	58
Noise
off / environment *	24.8	26	25	28	25	30.7	25.2	28.7	24	30.2
Idle Minimum *	24.6	26	26	28	31	30.7	25.2	28.7	24	30.2
Idle Average *	24.9	26	30	28	32	30.7	25.2	30.5	25	30.2
Idle Maximum *	24.9	27.4	34	28	33	30.7	25.2	32.5	37	30.2
Load Average *	27.1	46.6	53	28	38	36.6	43.5	42.5	45	40
Witcher 3 ultra *	46.4		51	50.6	46	47	53.1	50.1	48	49
Load Maximum *	49	49.3	56	50.6	54	50.9	56	53.4	51	49
Heat
Maximum Upper Side *	46.4	46.7	50	53	44	46.3	44.1	47.6	42	42.9
Maximum Bottom *	45.4	55.9	49	57.6	43	44.4	48	50.8	54	49.9
Idle Upper Side *	26	37.1	35	27.4	25	28.1	25.2	33	28	27.8
Idle Bottom *	27.4	38.1	31	31	24	29.4	25.7	29	29	27
Battery Runtime
Reader / Idle	660	1043	538	671	629	848	624	543	1200	587
WiFi v1.3	473	685	285	372	438	433	280	512	628	370
Load	119	145	58	87	91	84	108	196	108	116
H.264						554	338			322
Power Consumption
Idle Minimum *	9.5	10.2	8	6.5	9	3.2	2.9	7.4	4	5.4
Idle Average *	12.1	12.8	12	10.6	12	8.3	13.2	10.5	9	10
Idle Maximum *	22.5	15	21	11	18	8.7	19.8	17	22	10.5
Load Average *	99.5	130	128	84.1	76	82	105	103.7	102	135
Witcher 3 ultra *	157	137	138	152.9	136	151	127	128.1	119	144
Load Maximum *	173.5	184	217	180.4	222	195	177	183.2	182	147

* ... smaller is better

Benchmarks

3DMark | 3DMark 11 | The Witcher 3

3DMark - 1920x1080 Fire Strike Score (sort by value)
Asus TUF Gaming F15 FX506HM GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H, SK Hynix HFM001TD3JX013N	19131 Points ∼49%
Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506QR-AZ061T GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, R7 5800H, SK Hynix HFM001TD3JX013N	20237 Points ∼52%
Aorus 5 KB GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-10750H, ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro (ASX8200PNP-512GT)	15034 Points ∼38%
Dell G5 15 SE 5505 P89F Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H, Samsung PM991 MZ9LQ512HALU	16652 Points ∼43%
MSI Alpha 17 A4DEK Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H, Kingston OM8PCP3512F-AB	14806 Points ∼38%
Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i5-10300H, Samsung PM991 MZALQ512HALU	13745 Points ∼35%
Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-53-77N5 GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-10750H, WDC PC SN730 SDBQNTY-512GB	14732 Points ∼38%
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, R7 4800H, Intel SSD 660p 1TB SSDPEKNW010T8	14010 Points ∼36%
HP Omen 15-en0375ng GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, R7 4800H, WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G	14526 Points ∼37%
Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506IV-HN172 GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, R7 4800H, Kingston OM8PCP3512F-AB	14757 Points ∼38%

3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance (sort by value)
Asus TUF Gaming F15 FX506HM GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H, SK Hynix HFM001TD3JX013N	23461 Points ∼55%
Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506QR-AZ061T GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, R7 5800H, SK Hynix HFM001TD3JX013N	23459 Points ∼55%
Aorus 5 KB GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-10750H, ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro (ASX8200PNP-512GT)	18491 Points ∼44%
Dell G5 15 SE 5505 P89F Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H, Samsung PM991 MZ9LQ512HALU	21400 Points ∼50%
MSI Alpha 17 A4DEK Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H, Kingston OM8PCP3512F-AB	19927 Points ∼47%
Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i5-10300H, Samsung PM991 MZALQ512HALU	17255 Points ∼41%
Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-53-77N5 GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-10750H, WDC PC SN730 SDBQNTY-512GB	17684 Points ∼42%
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, R7 4800H, Intel SSD 660p 1TB SSDPEKNW010T8	18607 Points ∼44%
HP Omen 15-en0375ng GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, R7 4800H, WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G	18798 Points ∼44%
Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506IV-HN172 GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, R7 4800H, Kingston OM8PCP3512F-AB	17390 Points ∼41%

The Witcher 3
1920x1080 Ultra Graphics & Postprocessing (HBAO+) (sort by value)
Asus TUF Gaming F15 FX506HM GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H, SK Hynix HFM001TD3JX013N	75.3 (73^min - 79^max) fps ∼43%
Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506QR-AZ061T GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, R7 5800H, SK Hynix HFM001TD3JX013N	78 fps ∼45%
Aorus 5 KB GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-10750H, ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro (ASX8200PNP-512GT)	57 (47^min) fps ∼33%
Dell G5 15 SE 5505 P89F Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H, Samsung PM991 MZ9LQ512HALU	66.1 (62^min - 70^max) fps ∼38%
MSI Alpha 17 A4DEK Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H, Kingston OM8PCP3512F-AB	61 (50^min) fps ∼35%
Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i5-10300H, Samsung PM991 MZALQ512HALU	68.3 fps ∼39%
Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-53-77N5 GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-10750H, WDC PC SN730 SDBQNTY-512GB	64.8 fps ∼37%
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, R7 4800H, Intel SSD 660p 1TB SSDPEKNW010T8	55.6 (53^min - 60^max) fps ∼32%
HP Omen 15-en0375ng GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, R7 4800H, WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G	56.4 fps ∼32%
Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506IV-HN172 GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, R7 4800H, Kingston OM8PCP3512F-AB	60.5 (51^min - 68^max) fps ∼35%
1920x1080 High Graphics & Postprocessing (Nvidia HairWorks Off) (sort by value)
Asus TUF Gaming F15 FX506HM GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H, SK Hynix HFM001TD3JX013N	143.9 (136^min - 155^max) fps ∼42%
Dell G5 15 SE 5505 P89F Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H, Samsung PM991 MZ9LQ512HALU	103.6 (92^min - 110^max) fps ∼31%
Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i5-10300H, Samsung PM991 MZALQ512HALU	124.8 fps ∼37%
Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-53-77N5 GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-10750H, WDC PC SN730 SDBQNTY-512GB	110.7 fps ∼33%
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, R7 4800H, Intel SSD 660p 1TB SSDPEKNW010T8	103 (98^min - 108^max) fps ∼30%
HP Omen 15-en0375ng GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, R7 4800H, WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G	107 fps ∼32%
Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506IV-HN172 GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, R7 4800H, Kingston OM8PCP3512F-AB	105 (90^min - 115^max) fps ∼31%