Best gaming laptop under $1200

If you are a seasoned gamer or want to start your gaming hobby due to quarantine or any other reason such as live streaming video games from home and want to make a purchase of a laptop that comes under the price tag of $1200 then you have come to the right spot. Since it is a long and tiring process of surfing through sites to find a suitable gaming laptop for you to game on, in this article we have handpicked some of the best laptops in the market that would be worth your investment. Let’s take a look at the list of our top 10 best gaming laptops.

1: Omen by HP 2019 15-Inch Gaming Laptop

The HP Omen 2019 is a gaming laptop that offers a high capability of delivering a fairly smooth gaming experience. Simply put it has plenty of customizations to offer and it is very comfortable for everyday use, given that every gaming laptop is bulky. Although this might not be the best of the best in the gaming scene still does the job of quenching your gaming thirst 

Design-wise, it is made sturdy and has an alloy of plastic or metal with a texture of fiber-Esque aluminum carbon finish that gives it a really stylish and glossy look. Considering the hardware packed in the device, it is not a surprise this laptop is thick as compared to other traditional use laptops but still, it competes better with its fashionable attributes.

The gaming laptop is powered by a powerful intel 8th Generation i7-8750H Processor with a 6-Core and a frequency of 2.2GHz up to 4.1GHz for unparalleled gaming performance. The laptop also has a dedicated robust Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 that has 6 GB GDDR5 VRAM. And a 16GB DDR4 memory ram of 2666mhz frequency.

Although you can further upgrade the memory if you don’t find the 16GB sufficient because the Omen HP has two upgradable accessible memory slots. For storage, it features a 128 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD and a SATA HDD of  1 TB with a 7200 RPM.

The device has a 15.6 inches diagonal FHD screen that has beautiful colors to offer at a 1920 x 1080 resolution with micro-edge, Anti-Glare. The screen refresh rate is a 144Hz G-SYNC capable IPS panel that also has WLED backlighting.

The keyboard of this laptop is made really well, with a four-zone RGB backlighting that has snappy and very responsive keys. Not to forget the Omen 2019 has a full number pad, which some keyboard enthusiasts would love. The Four-zone RGB keyboard has a unique metal texture and the touchpad has a matte finish. The power button has the Omen’s Signature color and a red accent.

The HP omen 2019 has a Microphone, Mini DisplayPort, gigabit ethernet port(RJ-45), 1x USB 3.1, a memory reader card slot, Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, Headphone jack port on its sides.

However, battery life isn’t that great either as it can give off only 2 hours and 30 minutes of uptime. Although we can argue gaming laptops tend to have shorter runtime, we believe it could do better. The dimensions specifications are 14.17 inches (W) x 10.35 inches (D) x 1.02 inch (H); and it weighs around 5.56 pounds and comes with windows 10 home edition which you upgrade later on since windows 10 home edition is not an ideal pick for gaming.

Pros

  • Great Four-zone responsive keyboard
  • 144hz G Sync screen with vibrant colors
  • Reasonable price

Cons

  • Shorter battery runtime
  • Poor heat dissipation and ventilation system

Technical details

Standing screen display size15.6 Inches
Max Screen Resolution1920 x 1080 Pixels
Memory Speed2666 MHz
Graphics CoprocessorNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
Chipset BrandNVIDIA
Card DescriptionDedicated
Graphics Card Ram Size4 GB
Wireless Type802.11b, 802.11g

2: Dell G5 Gaming Laptop 15.6″ Full HD 1920 x 1080 LED Display

The G5 Dell is a nice laptop that struggles to be considered in the gaming field. It has plenty of flaws such as being unusually heavy and bulky with its black plastic glossy dell red logo printed in the middle, the G5 doesn’t stay up to the mark in fashion. 

The gaming device comes with a  dull 15.6-inch display that sits at 1920 x 1080 resolution with distorted speakers, the screen doesn’t perform well in brightly lit areas either, with a heavily beveled panel which might also be a disappointment for some.

On the flip side, it has a really comfortable keyboard that has a nice outlay and better response time keys as compared to other alternatives in the market, the cliche red keyboard backlighting might attract some users and the bezel as thick as the laptop itself might put off others, making the heaviest laptop in the market at At 6.1 pounds and 15.3 x 10.8 x 1 inch.

The Dell G5 is powered by an eight Generation Intel Core i7-8750H Processor with 6-Core and 9MB Cache that has a turbo boost up to 3.9GHz and a memory ram of 16GB 2666MHz DDR4 which can be upgraded to 32GB DDR4. The boot times are made lightning-fast with the added 256 GB SSD Boot. and for SATA storage there is 1TB with 5400 RPM. The laptop comes with a Dedicated but moderate power NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB GDDR5 graphics memory which might not be ideal for gaming but does the job if you don’t mind playing your games at medium graphics and 1080 settings. 

It has WiFi 5 MU-MIMO Support 2 x 2802.11AC  and built-in Bluetooth 5.0, on the right side it has HDMI, 1 x Thunderbolt 3 via USB Type-C, 3 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A, 2 x Integrated Speaker/ Microphone. Overall the ports are well-balanced across the laptop.

Although it does have a silver lining, if you don’t mind the thick body of the G5 it can surprise you with its impressive battery life. With Wi-Fi enabled and at 150 nits brightness the laptop battery performed well with a runtime roughly of 6 hours which is quite nice for a gaming laptop with the above-said specifications.

Pros

  • Good keyboard
  • Impressive battery life

Cons

  • Thick and bulky body
  • Dull display

Technical details

Standing screen display size15.6 Inches
Max Screen Resolution1920 x 1080
Memory Speed2666 MHz
Graphics CoprocessorNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Chipset BrandNvidia
Card DescriptionDedicated
Wireless Type802.11ac
Number of USB 2.0 Ports2

3: Asus TUF Gaming Laptop FX504 15.6” 120Hz 3ms Full HD

The Asus TUF is a mid-range gaming laptop that can run almost any game in 2020 at 60fps seamlessly near max resolutions. If you are a streamer that travels a lot, then this laptop is fit for your streaming of games. The laptop also has minimal bloatware with very decent speakers and with the hard specifications, it is definitely a total bang for your buck.

The ASUS TUF gaming laptop comes with a 15.6″ design with a 0.98″ Thin profile with a refresh rate of 120hz and a response delay of only 3ms with a max resolution of 1920 x 1080 Pixels. This laptop has one of the best displays currently on the market with gorgeous output imagery which is perfect for gaming. The saturation is perfect and the bezels are thin and neat.

With all the power you need, the gaming device is packed with an 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8570H with a turbo boost up to 3.9GHz processor combined with a  decent GTX 1060 graphics processor with 6GB DDR5 VRAM that can easily handle plenty of games such as apex legends, Fortnite, and Pubg without any issue. it comes with 16GB DDR4 ram with a 2666mhz frequency and a 256SSD to boost your boot times and a usual 1TB HDD with 5400 RPM.

It has a decent keyboard that feels very durable and the manufacturer claims it to have a lifespan of 20 million key presses which is quite impressive. It has a scissor-switch key that has 0.25mm keycap curves and offers 1.8mm of travel for snappy and responsive keystrokes with red backlighting.

It has a 1x USB 2.0 port, 2x USB 3.0 port, audio and mic jack, and Gigabit Wi-Fi with MU-MIMO, but doesn’t have  Thunderbolt 3 or USB type C.

However, Battery Life is not that great. We got roughly 2 hours from a complete charge, considering the hardware on this laptop it isn’t a surprise, and turning the backlighting of the keyboard didn’t help either.

It weighs only 5.07 lbs and comes with Windows 10 home edition. Overall this is a suitable laptop under the range of $1200.

Pros

  • Great display
  • Decent keyboard
  • Good hardware

Cons

  • Poor battery time
  • Limited ports

4: CUK MSI PS63 Modern Slim Gaming Laptop

The MSI PS63 Modern slim is a great gaming laptop with a reasonable price range that has a fantastic battery runtime and is overall considered an all-rounder. In regards to performance and gaming, it excels and plays any game at a max resolution without any problem. The ventilation system is also decent enough to keep the laptop cool at all times. Also being a gaming laptop it is very lightweight

It is made with creators in mind and is powered by a decent Intel Core i7-8565U Quad-Core Processor with 8MB Cache and a turbo boost up to1.8GHz-4.6GHz at 15W.it has a memory ram of 16GB DDR4 2400MHz which can be upgraded to 32Gb, which makes it a perfect gaming laptop with 32GB. For storage, it has a whopping 512GB SATA Solid State Drive, which is huge for an SSD. The MSI PS63 has a dedicated GTX 1050ti which has 4GB DDR5 VRAM.

It has a beautiful display that has an IPS panel anti-glare with a wide view angle and an extremely thin bezel at a resolution of 1920x 1080 and is 15.6 inches in size. The bezels are super narrow with the MSI branding. The colors are vivid and gorgeous with a sharp image display that doesn’t disappoint.

The keyboard is its plus point, it is surprisingly very comfortable given the travel space and the keys feel very accurate. It has a pretty good response time despite it being flat and shallow outlay. Overall the feedback feels tactile without feeling stiff on the fingers.

The laptop is super slim and lightweight and has a USB 3.1 type A port and USB Type C, which is nice, and an HDMI and mic jack on the left side of the device.

For a gaming laptop, the battery life is decent with a runtime of 7 hours. It is just the laptop you would find suitable for traveling and portability. Despite the aluminum chassis, the device doesn’t overheat either while running HD videos for a straight 15 minutes, overall the results are satisfactory.

Pros

  • Slim and lightweight
  • Good keyboard response

Cons

  • No thunderbolt port

5: New ASUS TUF Gaming Flagship FX705GM 17.3″ FHD IPS Display Laptop

The ASUS TUF FX705GM is a well-priced and strong gaming laptop with a beautiful display to offer and a stylish sleek design. It has an aggressive gaming texture on the lid and an Aluminum chassis that provides a sturdy and solid feel in hands.

The 17.3-inch FHD display has vivid colors and the IPS display sitting at the resolution of 1920x 1080 pixels, it has impressive vibrant colors to offer superb backlighting that can withstand external outdoor lighting very well with a refresh rate of 144HZ

The FX705GM is powered by a GTX 1060 3GB GDDR5 that can handle newer games pretty well combined with the Latest Intel i7-8750H 2.2GHz processor that has 6-Core,twelve-way processing performance with impressive benchmarks. it also has 16GB RAM memory and a massive 512GB PCI-e Solid-state drive and a SATA 2TB HDD which is sufficient to hold all your games and other application.

The keyboard is rich and has a premium feel with decent backlighting that doesn’t sprain eyes in the dark and has a nice  1.7 millimeters of travel. The typing experience is comfortable and the feedback time is very responsive and the spacing is accurate and doesn’t feel too tight.

It has a USB 2.0 port and 2x USB 3.0 ports on the left side of the device. And an Ethernet port and HDMI input on the right, Although it has no Type C ports.

The battery life is average, giving off 4 hours of runtime on WIFI and 150 nits of brightness, and the dissipation of heat is considered okay too. It weighs around 6.1 pounds and its dimension specifications are 16.5 x 11.8 x 1.1 inches.

Pros

  • Good display with 144hz refresh rate
  • Good keyboard travel and responsive time

Cons

  • Poor quality cam

Technical details

Standing screen display size17.3 Inches
Max Screen Resolution1920 x 1080
Memory Speed4.1 GHz
Graphics CoprocessorNVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M
Chipset BrandNvidia
Card DescriptionDedicated
Graphics Card Ram Size3 GB
Wireless TypeBluetooth, 801.11ac
Number of USB 2.0 Ports1
Number of USB 3.0 Ports2

6: Lenovo Legion Y7000 Gaming Laptop

If you are looking for a cool design, powerful and efficient performing laptop with a really good price tag then the LENOVO Legion Y7000 is suitable for you. It has a lot to offer and is considered an allrounder in the field of gaming 

The Lenovo Legion has a robust  2.2-GHz Intel Core i7-8750H processor and a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU that has 6GB GDDR5 VRAM. For memory, it has 16GB of RAM and for storage, it comes with a 256GB SSD and a 1TB with a fast 7,200 RPM.

The design of the Y7000 is unique with an Iron Gray aluminum chassis that has curves with a hinge of vent grills that looks like a sports car. The logo of the Lenovo legion is imprinted which glows beautifully and doesn’t feel cheap. The Lenovo legion has a 15.6 inches beautiful display that is FHD and has very thin bezels and an anti-glare coating. The display offers sharp imagery and is satisfactory.

The keyboard is illuminated with a white LED which gives it a sober look and doesn’t look flashy, the bezels are thin. The webcam is oddly placed below the bezel. Overall the feedback on the keys is solid and acceptable.

The battery life is great and offers roughly 5 hours of runtime on a complete charge while the WIFI is enabled at 150 nits of brightness.

It weighs around 5.17 pounds and comes with windows 10 home preinstalled. It has 1 USB 3.1 port on the left and an audio jack, on the right side, it has another USB 3.1 output. 

Pros

  • Beautiful design
  • Sharp display
  • Good performance

Cons

  • Poor camera quality

Technical details

Standing screen display size15.6 Inches
Screen Resolution1920 x 1080
Max Screen Resolution1920X1080 Pixels
Memory Speed1 GHz
Graphics CoprocessorNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
Chipset BrandNvidia
Card DescriptionDedicated
Graphics Card Ram Size1 GB
Wireless Type802.11ac
Number of USB 3.0 Ports3

7: MSI GP63 Leopard-041 Full HD Performance Gaming Laptop

The MSI GP63 is our next choice for a lightweight, super cool, and elegant design for a gaming laptop, if not having a 120HZ refresh rate doesn’t bother you, you would love this laptop and enjoy every experience it has to offer.

It has a 15.6″ FHD IPS Panel display that has a max resolution of 1920x 1080 Pixel with 45% NTSC quality. The color quality is pretty too and holds up pretty well in well-lit areas. The bezels aren’t too disturbing and overall the laptop feels very solid and has portability due it being lightweight.

It is powered by the latest Core i7-8750H with 6 Cores offering 2.2  and up to 4.1 GHz turbo boost combined with a decent graphic card of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4G GDDR5.it has 16GB DDR4 2400MHz memory ram, 8GB ram sticks each, and can be expanded to 32GB  32GB. For Storage, it has a 128GB M.2 SSD for faster boot times and a traditional SATA  1TB  with 7200RPM.

The keyboard is not that comfortable due to the keys feeling stiff but it has multi-color backlighting and anti-ghost technology to provide accuracy. The battery life has a short runtime of only 3 hours

It comes with a USB 3.1 and USB TYPE C which is nice and has an audio/mic jack on the left side and a GIGABIT Ethernet port. It weighs around 4.80 lbs and its dimension specifications are 16.49 x 11.29 x 1.25 inches. It has a Windows 10 operating system.

Pros

  • Decent display
  • Good performance hardware
  • Lightweight and stylish

Cons

  • Does Not Have a 120HZ refresh rate
  • Shorter battery time

Technical details

Standing screen display size15.6 Inches
Max Screen Resolution1920×1080 Pixels
Memory Speed2400 MHz
Graphics CoprocessorNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Chipset BrandNvidia
Card DescriptionDedicated
Graphics Card Ram Size4 GB
Wireless Type802.11g
Number of USB 3.0 Ports3

8: Dell G7 Series 7588 15.6″ Full HD Gaming Laptop

The Dell G7 is an efficient gaming laptop with promising hardware that wouldn’t disappoint with a really budget-friendly price tag. The design aspect of the laptop is very aesthetic and pleasing to the eye.

The laptop comes with a thick bezel and a 15.6 Full HD display at a max resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. Honestly speaking the colors aren’t that bright and sometimes the images and videos feel dull as compared to other brands’ laptops present in the market.

The hardware of the Dell G7 is armed with a robust Intel Core i7 8th Gen 8750H at 2.20GHz Processor that has 9M Cache and turbo boosts up to 4.10 GHz combined with a dedicated  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5  with Max-Q Design technology. It can smoothly play any of your favorite games without any hassle. The hardware this laptop has to offer feels very reasonable without any disappointment if you don’t mind the display dullness.

The keyboard of the Dell G7 speaks for itself, although at some point it might feel shallow. The response time for keystrokes is very accurate with perfect travel time(0.94mm) and bluish font and pretty cerulean illumination.

The battery life is satisfactory too, with a rough 5 hours 30 mins, considering the hardware in the laptop, this runtime is pretty good and acceptable with wifi enabled and at 150 nits. The weight of the G7 is 5.82 pounds and comes with a Windows 10 operating system.

Pros

  • Stylish design
  • Good battery life

Cons

  • Dull display

Technical details

Standing screen display size15.6 Inches
Screen Resolution1920×1080
Max Screen Resolution1920 x 1080
Memory Speed2666 MHz
Graphics CoprocessorNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
Chipset BrandNVIDIA
Card DescriptionDedicated
Wireless Type802.11ac

9: Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop

The Acer Predator Helios is the best gaming laptop under $1200 you can find in the marketplace, it has a really powerful component with a premium solid look that is right for the price listed. The chassis is pretty solid with a metal lid that gives it a rich texture feel and slick look.

The display is good quality with a pretty bezel, the 15.6 inches screen offers Full HD  at 1920×1080 pixels with a refresh rate of 144hz which is what makes the laptop gaming experience worth the money. The image quality is superb, visually, and doesn’t look bad in brightly lit areas.

The Acer Predator Helios 300 is powered by an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with 6 GB GDDR5 VRAM with memory ram of 16GB DDR4 DRAM and has a 256GB SSD storage 

The keyboard has tactile feedback with balanced travel time and the strokes feel very accurate. The typing experience overall is very comfortable. Although some variants of the Acer helios only have blue backlighting, some variants come with multi-color backlighting at different prices.

It has an average battery life of 4 hours and 30 mins, but with the 144hz refresh rate and powerful components, the battery life can be considered satisfactory.

The laptop has an Ethernet port, 2x USB-A ports, and a headphone jack on the left side. On the right side another USB-A port and a USB-C port, which isn’t thunderbolt 3. The device weighs around 5.95 lbs and comes with the Windows 10 operating system.

Pros

  • Great reasonable price
  • 144hz refresh rate

Cons

  • Restricted hard drive space

Technical details

Standing screen display size15.6 Inches
Max Screen Resolution1920 x 1080 Pixels
Memory Speed3.8 GHz
Graphics CoprocessorNVIDIA GeForce
Chipset BrandNVIDIA
Card DescriptionDedicated
Graphics Card Ram Size6 GB
Wireless Type802.11ac
Number of USB 2.0 Ports2
Number of USB 3.0 Ports2
Average Battery Life (in hours)7 Hours
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