There’s no better time than the present to pick up a gaming laptop, especially if you’re heading to school in the fall and need a proper rig for both work and play. Fortunately for you, Intel Gamer Days came crashing down like a falling meteorite, bringing with it a deluge of steep discounts on powerful gaming laptops on Amazon. The sale lasts from August 26th until September 15th, so you still have some time to take advantage of these delectable deals.
Gaming laptops under $1,000
- Acer Chromebook 516 GE Cloud Gaming, Intel Core i5-1240P CPU/Intel Iris Xe graphics/16-inch 1600p display, $516.99 ($83 off)
- Acer Nitro V, Intel Core i5-13420H CPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU/15.6-inch 1080p display, $649.99 ($130 off)
- MSI Thin 15, Intel Core i7-12650H CPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU/15.6-inch 1080p display, $759.99 ($140 off)
Looking to pick up an entry-level gaming laptop for a reasonable price? The Acer Nitro V is a fine pick. It’s powered by an Intel Core i5-13420H CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, so it should be able to run most modern games on the medium to high graphics preset, and it’s rare to find a gaming laptop with discrete graphics going this rock-bottom cheap.
The 15.6-inch 1080p display also has a refresh rate of 144Hz, which means gameplay should be smooth and responsive. This is perfect if you’re into faster paced games like Doom Eternal or Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun. Other neat features include DTS X: Ultra Audio, Thunderbolt 4 support, and access to the NitroSense utility app, which allows you to adjust the fan speeds or personalize lighting effects.
Gaming laptops
- Acer Predator Helios Neo 16, Intel Core i7-13650HX CPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU/16-inch 1200p display, $1,009.99 ($140 off)
- HP Omen 16, Intel Core i7-14700HX CPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU/16-inch 1080p display, $1,049.99 ($225.37 off)
- MSI Katana 17, Intel Core i7-13620H CPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU/17.3-inch 1080p display, $1,079.99 ($319.01 off)
- Asus TUF Gaming F16, Intel Core i7-13650HX CPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU/16-inch 1080p display, $1,099.99 ($200 off)
- MSI Raider GE76, Intel Core i9-12900H CPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU/17.3-inch 1080p display, $1,119.99 ($479.01 off)
- Acer Predator Helios Neo 14, Intel Core 9 185H CPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU/14-inch 3072×1920 display, $1,499.99 ($183.46 off)
- Acer Predator Triton Neo 16, Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU/16-inch 3200×2000 display, $1,599.99 ($300 off)
The MSI Katana 17 is a great option for those who like to game on a big screen. The 1080p display measures a massive 17.3 inches, which is absolutely humongous! It’s the kind of screen I’d play Sid Meier’s Civilization VI on because I like being able to see every little detail.
You’re also getting an Intel Core i7-13620H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. That’s a good amount of power right there! This machine should have no issues running graphically intensive games.
Author: Ashley Biancuzzo, Associate Editor, PCWorld
Ashley Biancuzzo manages all laptop and Chromebook coverage for PCWorld. She's been covering consumer tech since 2016, and her work has appeared on USA Today, Reviewed, Polygon, Kotaku, StarWars.com, and Nerdist. In her spare time, she enjoys playing video games, reading science fiction, and hanging out with her rescue greyhound.