The Asus TUF laptops have been a great go-to for budget gaming for a long time and the new A15 is no exception, despite a slightly higher starting price at the moment.

An AMD Ryzen 7 CPU from the latest 6000 Series combines with powerful Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU to deliver excellent gaming performance. The 15.6in, 1440p display is another highlight, complete with a 165Hz refresh rate.

However, Asus has confirmed that a 300Hz option is on the way, plus configurations using the RTX 3070 and 3070Ti. The latter should make the A15 significantly cheaper than £1,000/$1,000.

You’ll also get a decent keyboard, solid range of ports and even decent battery life when you’re not gaming. If you can live with mediocre build quality and a poor trackpad, the A15 is a great option.

While the MSI Prestige 15 costs over $1,300 in the US, less powerful configurations are available for as little as £699 in the UK. For that price, you’ll struggle to find anything better suited for gaming.

An 12th-gen Intel Core i5 processors and RTX 3050 Ti graphics are nothing special and no longer the latest versions, but they deliver solid performance across the board – including some demanding titles. As expected, that’ll take a slight hit on battery power, but you can get a few hours of gaming (or much longer on other tasks) from a single charge.

Other highlights include a great keyboard, lots of ports and a lightweight design – at 1.69kg, it’s more portable than many gaming laptops. A sleek, minimalist aesthetic also means you might be happy using this as an everyday laptop too.

Provided you don’t mind the unusual keyboard layout and disappointing trackpad, that is. The 15.6in display is decent, but you’ll find much better elsewhere, and it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate.

However, if you can look beyond those drawbacks, this is an impressive, affordable gaming laptop that’s worth considering.

Alienware laptops are too expensive to appear in this list but Dell does have affordable gaming laptops in the rest of its lineup.

The G5 isn’t flawless but makes the most sense for the cheaper models. We tested a Core i7 model with an RTX 2060 but you can get an AMD Ryzen 5 with a Radeon RX 5600M for a very reasonable price.

Like others, the screen is a bit washed out but has a 144Hz refresh rate and other components are solid, too. Plus battery life is decent for a change.

A chunky design is acceptable but we would prefer the keyboard and trackpad to be better.

The Acer Nitro 5 is one of the most affordable gaming laptops around, and it has great components despite that price.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 is a top-notch mainstream graphics card that’ll handle anything at 1080p, and the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H is a great CPU for multi-tasking and work. The keyboard is comfortable and the laptop is cool and quiet.

Of course, the low price does mean compromise elsewhere. The screen, although 144Hz, is washed-out and the battery life is poor. You don’t get many extra features either. But if you want an affordable gaming laptop with good core performance, this is a good choice.

If you’re in the market for a cheap gaming laptop but still crave that large display, the IdeaPad 5 Pro is for you. Its 16in panel comes in at a resolution of 2560×1600 and has a 120Hz refresh rate.

It’s undoubtedly the highlight of this device, but by no means the only reason to buy it. The combination of Ryzen 7 and RTX 3050 delivers solid gaming performance – all but the most demanding games are comfortably playable.

Compared to most gaming laptops, it’s also impressively slim and lightweight. That makes it easy to take anywhere with you, but the device doesn’t feel flimsy. It also doesn’t really look like a gaming device, something many buyers will appreciate. Battery life isn’t sacrificed either.

The keyboard and speakers aren’t the best, but you’ll probably be connecting external accessories while gaming, anyway. If you can look beyond those inconveniences, the IdeaPad 5 Pro is definitely worth considering.

If the main advantage of buying a gaming laptop (rather than a desktop PC) is portability, the latest GF63 Thin is a a great option. MSI has managed to get all the fundamentals of a solid gaming experience into a 15.6in device that’s just 0.5in thick and 1.86kg.

Most lighter laptops are limited to discrete GPUs, but the Nvidia RTX 3050 here means most mid-range games are well within reach – especially when combined with 12th-gen Intel CPUs. However, you will struggle if demanding titles are your thing.

Other highlights include a decent port selection and great keyboard, meaning this Windows 11 machine could easily be used as your main laptop. However, that Full HD IPS display isn’t as impressive as we’d hoped (despite the 144Hz refresh rate), while battery life is mediocre.

Given its affordable price point, it’s certainly worth considering the GF63 Thin. But other options in this chart might be a better pick for you.

The IdeaPad goes gaming and Lenovo’s cheapest model is the best starting with a GTX 1650 for enough graphics grunt and a Core i5 that’s good enough for daily use.

It’s also impressive how nice the 3i looks and it’s also quiet with a decent keyboard, too.

There’s a lot to like including a 120Hz refresh rate but the usual compromises are found here such as a pallid display, single-channel memory and a small SSD.

Generally, these are acceptable downsides so the IdeaPad Gaming 3i is a good choice if you can’t afford anything more expensive.

Just squeezing in under our price limit, the Acer Nitro 5 is a great choice if you want performance and don’t mind so much about portability.

We’ve tested the 17in model here which is something of a desktop replacement, but will fit in a large backpack if you do need to take it somewhere. You can also look out for the 15in A515.

The highlights here are up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 along with a 120Hz refresh rate giving you smooth gaming performance.

Just bear in mind that the screen doesn’t have the best colour performance and there’s only a 256GB SSD to store games.

It’s a tad over our price cap but only just and well worth considering if your budget will stretch.

Apart from its new design, the HP Omen 15 is very powerful with a brilliant AMD Ryzen 7 processor and Nvidia’s GTX 1660 Ti graphics card that not even a cut down Max-Q version.

That’s a lot of performance for your money and, furthermore, you get dual-channel RAM, a huge 1TB SSD and other specs like Wi-Fi 6. 

We’d like a better screen as it’s a little bit washed out but does offer a 144Hz refresh rate so the Omen 15 is still a solid choice at this price point.