The 3 best gaming laptops of 2023 under $1,000

Some of the best gaming laptops of 2023 don’t come cheap, but it’s still possible to get a decent amount of power for under $1,000.

Laptops are a happy medium for many gamers. Portability and utility are important traits that many don’t want to give up, and that’s doubly true for college students or young adults looking to game on the go. While custom builds can cost thousands for the GPU alone, it’s possible to run most major titles without breaking the bank.

Here are the three best gaming laptops available from major manufacturers with a $1,000 budget.

The Asus TUF 17.3″ is a stellar value at $950

If you plan to use your laptop as a portable gaming machine, the Asus TUF 17.3” is a fantastic budget option. The larger size makes it better suited for gaming than some more portable options. Still, the sheer strength of its components gives the most bang for your buck of any gaming laptop under $1,000.

The linked configuration is the best combination of hardware at this price point from a household-name manufacturer. $950 pays for an i5 11260H with It’s a slightly older CPU than some other options, but it’s still more than enough to run popular titles like Call of Duty: Warzone 2 and League of Legends with some optional graphics settings enabled. Players who don’t mind low settings will benefit from the 144-hertz refresh rate, which is a rarity for larger laptops at this price point.

With its components front and center on the store page, the TUF doesn’t hide its identity as a dedicated gaming laptop. It doesn’t have ideal storage, and its 16 gigabytes of RAM limits it in certain extreme applications, but it can easily blend in with less-beefy laptops in a classroom or train. As long as you’re willing to sacrifice some battery life, the TUF 17.3” is pound-for-pound an excellent choice.

The HP Victus 15.6″ is one of the best $1,000 gaming laptops

HP is a computer manufacturer that even your parents probably recognize, and the company’s workplace focus shines through in the Victus. This laptop is a perfect middle ground between a dedicated gaming laptop and a necessary utility. Its specs are great for gamers interested in modern titles as well as video production, physics rendering, and 3D modeling.

The main engine of the Victus is Intel’s i5 12450H processor coupled with an Nvidia GTX 1650 GPU with four gigabytes of VRAM. The 15.6” screen boasts an impressive 144-hertz refresh rate, allowing it to reach that high framerate in many popular titles with lowered graphical settings. It’s configurable in multiple ways, but the $950 version is built for more than just gaming with two terabytes of SSD storage and 32 gigabytes of RAM. It’s not quite as powerful as the first option on this list, but it makes up for it with double the storage and RAM.

Between its creation-oriented specs and bargain pricing, the HP Victus 15.6″ can handle nearly everything a gamer or creator can throw at it. The high refresh rate and solid GPU are great for gamers, while the massive storage and RAM are perfect for more intense computer tasks. At just under $1,000, this is one of the best options for students who need a new laptop for more than just gaming.

The IdeaPad Gaming 3 is a lot of laptop for $670

If $1,000 is just a few hundred bucks more than you’re willing to spend, Lenovo has you covered with the IdeaPad Gaming 3. This $670 laptop packs a recent-generation GPU with everything else needed to run popular free-to-play titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Fortnite. It’s not quite on par with the above options, but that $330 cheaper asking price is difficult to ignore.

The linked IdeaPad Gaming 3 rocks an RTX 3050 with a Ryzen 5 6600H, two chips that are still receiving driver updates from their manufacturers. Eight gigabytes of RAM is plenty for its 1920 x 1080 display which can reach 120 frames per second on casual titles. Its weakest point is its 256 gigabyte SSD, but that’s still enough space for a few games to keep downloaded. Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are nice finishing touches as well.

This option obviously appeals to gamers looking to save a few hundred bucks over the other options. That’s either money to save for a rainy day or spend on accessories like a flashy gaming mouse or premium headset. The IdeaPad Gaming 3 is still in the same league as the above options, making it a great way to upgrade your gaming setup without breaking the bank.