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View Full Version : Good gaming laptop under $550-ish?



The_Forgotten_King
December 30th, 2015, 03:47 AM
I found this one, which I think is my best bet. it has to be a laptop because I need it for school, and needs a good graphics card (discrete). Acer Aspire E5-573G (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B012IBOCRU/ref=twister_B0142KUNNC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1)
If you find a better one for a similar price post here please.
Thanks.

Terone
January 13th, 2016, 06:22 AM
Not to deter you or anything, but just FYI, you might need to do some configurations with the wifi when you install ubuntu. I got the Acer e5-473G and that needed a fix in the wifi, and bluetooth. Other than that, it works amazingly.

Thunder_Beaver
January 15th, 2016, 10:49 AM
What kind of games are you trying to play? I would never recommend any laptop if you intend to play games on it as your primary machine. Unless they're old or have a small footprint, of course. ;)

Shane_Mundee
January 16th, 2016, 12:58 AM
First off, eBay ALWAYS sides with the buyer, so If you have any problems with your purchase, you can easily return it.

I would suggest getting the highest end, top of line PC from 2013-2014, it'll have the best technology of that time, which will be very cheap at this time.

I bought my Dell, for $500, in 2013 it was 1,200.

It runs amazing and i got it for pennies compared to what it used to cost..

Wadim_Korneev
January 20th, 2016, 08:40 AM
$600 is pushing it quite a bit, especially with the gaming requirement (though it depends on what games you're playing). One option to consider would be the HP Envy dv6z with the 1080p display upgrade (768p on a 15.6" is something that's ought to be avoided if you ask me), which is normally $700 but right now HP has a $75 off coupon that should be good for the -z as well as the -t (New HP $75 Off Laptop Coupon, dv6t Quad Edition for $699).

mastablasta
January 20th, 2016, 02:11 PM
I would suggest getting the highest end, top of line PC from 2013-2014, it'll have the best technology of that time, which will be very cheap at this time.

..

indeed. I am also on the lookout for these old beasts. they have awesome used laptop workstations for between 500 and 600 EUR here (surely these kind of PC are cheaper in US). used to be over 2000 EUR. i am talking 8 GB ram, i7 quad core, 2GB NVidia GPU(NVIDIA Quadro 1000M) or NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M, some even come with SSD...

ok maybe the latest games wouldn't run with all settings on super high, but they should run descently.

3 gen Intel and 5th or is it 6gen intel I think the main difference is lower power consumption (and maybe improved intel GPU), not so much the CPU power.

and they sell these with 6m warranty. they are cleaned and checked and all. frame is quality build. you can get a dock and new battery (if needed) for a decent price along with it. so seems to be an ok purchase. just still out of my league for now.

Sandy_Cal
January 26th, 2016, 08:16 AM
Hi, a good gaming laptop should be configured for a gaming performance and must be equipped with one of the best graphic cards. Maybe, I'll recommend an Alienware 17 if you have the big budget for that or if not you may have Dell Inspiron 15.

coldraven
September 5th, 2016, 04:42 PM
Although you sometimes need the latest GPU to play the newest video games, developers are making games for technology that is already out. Many games are made to scale down according to your computer's processing power and graphics card. So although the best long-term play would be to buy the newest graphics card, you can get away just fine with an older one for a few years, at the cost of a little resolution and maybe a couple titles. This top 5 best gaming laptops under 300 (http://crushreviews.com/best-gaming-laptops-under-300/) is a good example of budget gaming laptops that still check most of the necessary boxes for high-end gaming.
Thanks for the nice link but here in Hyperborea the HP 15-AF131DX is unavailable on Amazon, eBay and Google shopping :(

autocrat
September 6th, 2016, 02:00 AM
Although you sometimes need the latest GPU to play the newest video games, developers are making games for technology that is already out. Many games are made to scale down according to your computer's processing power and graphics card. So although the best long-term play would be to buy the newest graphics card, you can get away just fine with an older one for a few years, at the cost of a little resolution and maybe a couple titles. This top 5 best gaming laptops under 300 (http://crushreviews.com/best-gaming-laptops-under-300/) is a good example of budget gaming laptops that still check most of the necessary boxes for high-end gaming.

I did a quick read of the laptops on that list. I really would not recommend them for gaming at all. I think some of them may have a bit of difficulty even with middle of the road games.

@ If it is for school, you could probably an ancient netbook to type notes on, and put the money into a desktop system. You will get a lot more desktop for $500 than laptop.
I am a recent University graduate, I could have definitely gotten by on this type of setup. :)

user1397
September 8th, 2016, 03:03 AM
I don't recommend laptops for gaming period, but if you want to do some light gaming and can only afford one computer (which has to be a laptop for school like you say), then I would just go to newegg.com and amazon.com and apply all the filters you wish and narrow down your search. Acers tend to have some of the best deals, but not always. Deals change from time to time. I've had good luck on newegg in the past, but Amazon has been better lately.

If you have the budget, you could also buy a cheap chromebook for school and have a laptop or desktop at home. Honestly, desktops have become a bit pricier IMO; that is, they don't cost a lot less compared to laptops of similar specs anymore. Laptops as a rule will always be more expensive than desktops though of course.

avery9
September 19th, 2016, 04:24 AM
I've had my eye on a couple of low end gaming laptops like Acer and lenovo