Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Best gaming laptop deals: Alienware, Razer, Asus and more

Modern gaming computers are pretty great; they aren’t as bulky as they used to be, and the GPUs inside them are a lot more powerful than you could get even five years ago while not being much more expensive. Granted, even the best gaming laptops suffer from poor battery life, but that’s one of the sacrifices of being able to play the best PC games without having a desktop computer. Of course, gaming laptops are still pricey, especially since some of them can compete with the best gaming desktops.

To help you with picking something great, we’ve found deals from some of the best laptop brands and include Lenovo laptop deals, Acer laptop deals, Dell laptop deals, and HP laptop deals, although if you’re looking for some more general deals, these laptop deals have some good options, too.

MSI THIN 15 — $575, was $700

The MSI GF63 gaming laptop against a white background.
MSI

If you don’t care about playing the latest AAA games and are more interested in something that’s good for casual and indie gaming, then this configuration of the MSI Thin 15 is great. It has an RTX 2050 under the hood, an entry-level card that can handle the Full HD resolution. Interestingly enough, the laptop can also hit a 144Hz refresh rate, which will require you to make some graphical compromises, but also means that you get a pretty versatile gaming laptop. There is also a mid-range Intel Core i5-13420H processor under the hood, as well as a very solid 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD which, at this price point, is actually really good.

Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop — $700, was $950

A man playing on the Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop.
Acer

The Acer Nitro 5 is a good gaming laptop to consider if you’re looking for some value. It has internal hardware that’s hard to find at such a great price, including an AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS processor, 16GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 graphics card, which is an entry-level GPU. These work together to make your gaming experience immersive and smooth, and a 512GB solid-state drive makes for a lot of space to store your favorite PC games. You also get an impressive 15.6-inch screen that runs at FHD and a 144Hz refresh rate, although the RTX 4060 might struggle with that without graphical setting compromises.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 — $1,200, was $1,600

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 playing Cyberpunk 2077.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends / Digital Trends

If you want one of the best bangs for your buck when it comes to gaming laptops, then the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is probably it since it balances all the specs really well. It runs an RTX 4070 mobile, which is an excellent FHD GPU, and a 16-inch FHD monitor, although it doesn’t have the gorgeous OLED panel of higher-end models. The monitor can also hit a 165hz refresh rate, which shouldn’t be too hard to hit with the RTX 4070, even if you have to make a couple of minor graphical compromises.  It also comes with an Intel Core i7 13620H, a middle-to-upper-level CPU, so you could even potentially stream to Twitch or YouTube with this laptop, which is neat.

Acer Predator Helios 18 — $1,360, was $1,700

The Acer Predator Helios Neo gaming laptop on a white background.
Acer

If you want something with a bit of power, this Acer Predator Helios Neo is the perfect match, especially since it runs an RTX 4060 under the hood, which gives you access to DLSS 3.0. You also get a larger 18-inch screen with a whopping 240Hz refresh rate with a 2560 x 1600 resolution. There is also a very solid 16Gb of DDR5 RAM, so you won’t have trouble running lots of tabs and apps, although the 1TB of storage could be a bit bigger in an ideal world.

Dell G16 gaming laptop — $1,550, was $1,950

The Dell G16 gaming laptop with Genshin Impact on the screen.
Dell

From one of the best laptop brands, the Dell G16 gaming laptop is a tempting proposition. It has an Intel Core i9-13900HX processor paired up with 32GB of memory and 1TB of SSD storage. Already onto a good thing with the storage and memory, there’s also an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, which is great for many games from the last few years. Perhaps the biggest highlight is its 16-inch QHD+ screen with 2560 x 1600 resolution and 240Hz refresh rate, ensuring everything looks super sharp. It all fits into a shell that’s the same size as a 16-inch laptop so it’s more portable than you’d expect.

Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 9 gaming laptop — $1,950, was $2,360

Playing a game on the Lenovo Legion Slim 7i gaming laptop.
Arif Bacchus / Digital Trends / Digital Trends

Packing a 13th-generation Intel Core i9-14900HX processor with 16GB of memory and 1 TB of SSD storage is a good start for the Lenovo Legion 7i Gen9. It also has an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card so it’s all up to date. Paired with that is a 16-inch WQXGA screen with HDR 400 support, 100% sRGB, 500 nits of brightness, 240Hz refresh rate, and 2560 x 1600. That means whatever you play will look gorgeous. Other useful extras include a per-key RGB backlit keyboard, a fingerprint reader, and 1080p full HD webcam. It’s sleek and lightweight as you’d expect from the maker of some of the best thin and light gaming laptops. It’s ideal if you have ambitions to stream your gaming time.

Alienware x16 R2 — $2,000, was $2,700

Alienware X16 on a table
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends / Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

While there is a lot of focus on bigger screens, there are a lot of great smaller gaming laptops that pack a punch. For example, the Alienware X16 R2 has a 14-inch display, but it runs a 2560 x 1600 resolution and can hit an impressive 240Hz refresh rate. It also comes with an RTX 4070, which should be powerful enough to do a bit under a hundred frames or so at medium settings at this resolution, although that can be increased if you play a game that runs on DLSS 3.0. You’ll also be happy to know you get a whopping 32GB of DDR5 RAM, an impressive 1TB SSD, and an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, which will easily knock most games and productivity tasks out of the park.

Alienware m18 R2 gaming laptop — $2,400, was $2,500

Someone typing on the Alienware m18 laptop.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

From one of the best gaming laptop brands, the Alienware m18 is a great gaming laptop if you want a desktop replacement. It has an Intel Core i9 14900HX processor paired with 32GB of memory and 1TB of SSD storage. There’s an RTX 4070 graphics card, too, but the true highlight here is the huge 18-inch screen with a 2560 x 1600 resolution, 165Hz refresh rate, and 3ms response time. It means it isn’t the most portable of laptops but it’s perfect if you don’t have the room (or inclination) for a desktop gaming PC. Alienware Cryo-tech advanced cooling gives you plenty of system stability while there’s Dolby Vision support, Dolby Atmos, a great keyboard, and much more.

More gaming laptop deals we love

We’ve only touched the surface when it comes to great gaming laptop deals. While we’ve highlighted the very best options, there are many more. This includes some cheap deals as well as some high-end gaming laptops. Brands include HP Omen, Alienware, Lenovo Legion, Asus, and many others. Take a look below at what’s out there.

  • ASUS TUF 15 —
  • Lenovo Legion Pro 5i —
  • MSI Raider GE78 HX 17 —

How we chose the best gaming laptop deals

There are a lot of great gaming laptop deals out there, and with how the market has changed so massively over the past few years, there’s a lot that can go into any individual deal that we suggest. For example, while RTX 3050 cards were great, pretty much most gaming laptops you’ll see today tend to come with at least an RTX 4050 or an AMD equivalent. That means we try to avoid any deals that still have the older RTX 3050 because it’s just not as powerful as the bare minimum anymore; plus, the 40-series cards give you access to the latest DLSS, so why miss out on it?

Besides that, a lot of stuff tends to come down to preference, especially around screen size and resolution. That said, we try to make sure that any deal we put on this page has balanced specs, which means that you aren’t paying massive amounts of money for the latest i9 CPU, while getting the lowest-end RTX 3050 GPU. Similarly, we try to aim for laptops that have a minimum of 16GBs because that’s really what we’d expect from a modern laptop that’s come out in the past year or so.

Finally, we always do our best to make sure every gaming laptop deal on the list gives you the best bang for your buck.

Albert Bassili
Deals Writer
Albert’s been a tech and gaming writer for over a decade, writing for websites such as CNET, PopSci, and How-To-Geek, and…
Prime Big Deal Days 2024 MacBook Deals: Big Savings on MacBook Air and Pro
Best Prime Day Deals

Update 10/2/24: MacBook deals have been holding strong in the early days of Amazon's event. Both Amazon and Best Buy have several MacBook models on sale with no indication of the deals ending before the official event. But there also is no indication that the deals will get any better, so if 18% off is a good enough discount for you, it might be best if you grab it.

If you've always wanted to grab yourself a MacBook, then the upcoming Prime Big Deal Days sale on October 8 and 9 is the perfect time to do so. In fact, we're already seeing a lot of great deals on MacBooks that you can pick up from today, with some steep discounts that will knock a considerable percentage off. If you're a big fan of Apple, you may want to check out these iPad Prime Day deals, AirPods Prime Day deals, or these Apple Prime Day deals as well for some extra savings on your Apple ecosystem. Alternatively, if you're not that tied to Apple, then these Prime Day laptop deals might be right up your alley.
Apple MacBook Air 13 M3 -- $900 $1,099 18% off

Read more
Best Buy deals: Save on laptops, TVs, appliances, and more
best buy shuts down insignia line smart home products store 2 768x768

Best Buy is one of the biggest retailers out there, along with Amazon and Walmart, and it has a truly massive selection of products for you to pick from. Not only that, but it often offers some of the best deals you'll find out there, which is why we often draw from it for several of our roundups, such as the best TV deals, best laptop deals, and best phone deals. To that end, we've gone out and collected some of our favorite Best Buy deals across several product categories and put them for you below.
Best Buy TV deals

There may be no better place to purchase one of the best TVs than Best Buy. There is almost always some huge savings to find on TVs at Best Buy, and that’s certainly the case right now. You’ll find deals top TV brands like Sony, Samsung, and LG, and more budget-friendly brands like TCL and Hisense are in play, too.

Read more
Best Buy is selling a great Lenovo student laptop for just $330 right now
Lenovo Flex 5i 14 2023 media mode showing display.

One of the better laptop deals on the internet today is this student laptop offer from Best Buy. You can buy the Lenovo Flex 5i 2-in-1 laptop for $330 instead of $550 today. Already a pretty good value given its 2-in-1 capabilities, it’s even better value now that it’s $220 off. One of the best 2-in-1 laptop deals available at the moment, it’s well-suited for browsing online, watching videos, or getting some light work done. Here’s what you need to know before you commit to a purchase.

Why you should buy the Lenovo Flex 5i 2-in-1 laptop
You won’t see the Lenovo Flex 5i 2-in-1 laptop winning any awards for being one of the best laptops, but as Lenovo is one of the best laptop brands for business users in particular, it’s worth paying attention to. The Lenovo Flex 5i 2-in-1 laptop has a 12th-generation Intel Core i3-1215U processor paired up with 8GB of RAM, so it’s pretty basic but just fine for web browsing or typing up documents. There’s also 256GB of SSD storage, which is a little low but just fine for basic work.

Read more