5 best Gaming Laptops under $400 in 2024

Laptops have become essential in our daily life. Recent innovations and technological advancements now allow us to have high performance computers but the options are also becoming more confusing. The laptops allow you to study, work and play from anywhere. Faced with the giants of the sectors which display prices at hundreds, even thousands of dollars, finding a cheap laptop PC that combines practicality and performance is not easy. To help you make the right choice, here is our selection of the best and recent laptops under 500 dollars.

1. HP 14 Gaming Laptop 14-fq1025nr

Pros

• Great price/performance ratio
• Nice and Simple Design
• Fast Processor
• Integrated Graphics can run many games
• Upgradable

Cons

• Low Battery life when gaming (3 hours)
• Low storage 

Specs

• Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 5 5500U
• Processor Speed: Up to 4.0 GHz max boost clock, 8 MB L3 cache, 6 cores, 12 threads
• Chipset: AMD Integrated SoC
• Memory, standard: 8 GB DDR4-3200 MHz RAM (1 x 8 GB)
• Video graphics: AMD Radeon™ Graphics
• Hard drive: 256 GB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD
• Display: 14″ diagonal, FHD (1920 x 1080), IPS
• Screen Specs: micro-edge, anti-glare, 250 nits, 45% NTSC
• Wireless connectivity: Realtek Wi-Fi 6 (1×2) and Bluetooth® 5.2
• Weight: 1.46 kg
• Power supply type: 45 W Smart AC power adapter
• Battery type: 3-cell, 41 Wh Li-ion
• Battery life mixed usage: Up to 9 hours and 25 minutes

Current Best Price on Amazon: $401.00

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2. Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R3UB

Pros

• Portability and performance
• Backlit keyboard
• Quality of your screen
• Light weight
• Aluminum construction
• Expandable

Cons

• cooling
• less storage but expandable

Specs

• Processor: Quad-Core AMD Ryzen 3 3350U (2.10 GHz – 3.50 GHz)
• Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon™ Vega 6
• RAM: 4GB DDR4 (Expandable)
• Screen: 15.6″ Anti-glare IPS Full-HD Display (1920 x 1080) 100% sRGB, 300nits
• Storage: 128GB SSD (Expandable)
• Ports & Connectivity: 1x HDMI, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port,
• Webcam, 2x Stereo speakers, built-in Microphone,
• Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, Alexa,
• Fingerprint reader, Backlit Keyboard

Current Best Price on Amazon: $352.00

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3. Dell Inspiron 3505 15.6-inch Full HD Touch Screen

Pros

• Good build quality
• Fast CPU
• Good for average gaming
• FHD display 1080P
• Webcam 

Cons

• Heating

Specs

• Processor: Ryzen 5 3450U Quad-Core
• Processor Speed: 2.1 GHz (3.5 GHz Max Boost)
• Chipset: AMD Integrated SoC
• Memory, standard: 8 GB DDR4-3200 MHz RAM (1 x 8 GB)
• Video graphics: AMD Radeon Vega 8
• Hard drive: 256 GB SSD
• Display: ‎15.6″, FHD (1920 x 1080), IPS
• Stereo Speakers / Precision touchpad
• Wireless-AC and Bluetooth / Full-size keyboard with 10-key numeric keypad
• Webcam: HD 720P Webcam with Digital Microphone
• Power supply type: 45 W Smart AC power adapter
• Battery type: 3-Cell 3684 milliampere hours battery
• Battery life mixed usage: Up to 6 hours and 15 minutes

Current Best Price on Amazon: $418.00

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4. HP 15-dy2024nr – Intel Core i5 Iris Xe

Pros

• Good price/performance ratio
• Great CPU power
• Nice size
• Easy to handle
• Decent Design
• light weight
• Good battery life

Cons

• Screen brightness

Specs

• Processor: Intel Core i5-1135G7 4 x 2.4 – 4.2 GHz, Tiger Lake UP3
• Graphics adapter: Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs
• Memory: 8 GB  – DDR4-2666Mhz
• Display: 15.60 inch 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixel 141 PPI, IPS, glossy: no
• Storage: 256 GB NVMe
• Connections: 2 x USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, 1 x HDMI, Audio Connections: 3.5mm, Card Reader: SD, USB-C
• Networking: MediaTek MT7921 (a/b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/ac = Wi-Fi 5/ax = Wi-Fi 6), Bluetooth 5.2
• Size: height x width x depth (in mm): 17.9 x 358.5 x 242 ( = 0.7 x 14.11 x 9.53 in)
• Battery: 41 Wh Lithium-Ion, 3-cell
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home
• Camera: Webcam: HD 720p
• Speakers: Stereo, Keyboard: Chiclet
• Weight: 1.69 kg or 3.73 pounds

Current Best Price on Amazon: $430.00

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5. Asus VivoBook 14″ FHD 1080p Intel i3-1115G4

Pros

• Upgradable with 2.5″ SSD or HDD
• Backlit keyboard
• M.2 SSD
• Webcam
• Good fingerprint reader

Cons

• Heating problems
• Screen is low-end
• not good gaming performance

Specs

• Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-1115G4 Processor 3.0 GHz (6M Cache, up to 4.1 GHz, 2 cores)
• Graphics: Intel UHD
• Display: 35.56cm(14.0-inch), FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9, LED Backlit,
• Screen Refresh: 60Hz refresh rate, NTSC: 45% for non-OLED
• Anti-glare display, Screen-to-body ratio: 84 ％
• 2 x USB 2.0 Ports, 1 x USB 3.2 Port, 1 x USB 3.2 Type C, 1 x Headphone/Microphone Combo

Current Best Price on Amazon: $395.00

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Conclusion

When it comes to gaming, the hardware you need to have should be more expensive compared to those office or work laptops. Between 300 and 400 dollars, you can hope to find quite easily a versatile computer, allowing you to surf, watch videos on YouTube or Netflix, work on a spreadsheet or do word processing, or even run some low-consumption games such as CS: GO or Fortnite.

With a budget of less than $400, your choice will mainly consist of 14″ and 15″ laptops, as well as some 13″ and 17″ from time to time. Aim for at least a Core i3 or Ryzen 3 type processor, if possible during promotions, a Core i5 or Ryzen 5 and avoid Pentiums, Celerons and other A6s and A9s.

These are acceptable on laptops under 300 dollars or possibly $400, not beyond. We also advise against opting for less than 8 GB of RAM, even if some laptops can offer 4 GB.

On the storage side, a 256 GB SSD is the norm for this price but if you find 512 GB, do not hesitate.

Ban classic mechanical hard disks (HDD) in main storage, you would have an unbalanced PC. Some configurations include a Radeon Vega graphics card, allowing you to play light games (CS: GO, Fortnite, Fifa, etc.).

What Specs to Check before buying a Gaming Laptop?

Buying a gaming laptop with low budget is actully harder than it seems. Below 400 dollars, for the entry-level to several thousand dollars for the most efficient. The models are not all equal and the price is not always a good indicator of quality. With the recent AMD integrated GPUs, the new laptops with AMD’s Vega Graphics allow you to play games on low end laptops. But you should also check other specs as well.

To choose a laptop, you must take into account:

• the power and type of processor,
• graphics card,
• RAM
• Screen refresh rate
• storage capacity (Prefer SSD)
• connectors,
• the weight of the device,
• Battery Life