There’s a major appeal to gaming laptops: they give you the portability and power to play games wherever it is that you go. But if you’re on a tight budget, it might be hard to find one that really fits the bill. The simple fact is, for $500, it’s unlikely you’re going to find a good gaming laptop with discrete graphics unless you get lucky with someone selling a second-hand system (something you should absolutely pursue if you have a friend or relative who updates often).
That said, you’re not going to be left out in the cold entirely. Let’s get into what you can expect for $500, and what options you have to still access games on the go.
Further reading: The best gaming laptops under $1000 and the best laptops under $500
What $500 gets you
It certainly feels like you should be able to get a competent gaming laptop for $500. After all, the latest Xbox and PlayStation systems generally sit at around $500, and they’re powerful gaming machines. Alas, they’re dedicated hardware for gaming, get to omit a lot of the elements that go into a good laptop, and aren’t portable in the least.
When you turn toward what $500 can get you in the PC gaming space, you’ll be looking largely at gaming handhelds. The Steam Deck starts at under $400, though upgrades can push it right over that level. The Asus ROG Ally was originally over $600 for the model with a Ryzen Z1 processor (the Z1 Extreme model is even pricier), but has since settled down to $500. The catch with these handhelds is that they run integrated graphics and target lower resolutions that they can get away with because of their small displays.
These systems can actually play a great many games, particularly less demanding indies and slightly older AAA games, but when it comes to the latest games, they can struggle. For instance, the Steam Deck was altogether unable to play Dragon’s Dogma 2 even with settings at the lowest levels.
From a laptop, $500 will likely only get you a fairly simple machine — think plastic chassis, basic display, and a low-to-mid-tier CPU with integrated graphics. There’s still a lot to enjoy from integrated graphics, and we’ve seen just that gaming on recent mainstream laptops, with 2D games often playable and some 3D games manageable if you dial settings down to a minimum and can settle for 30fps, but you’ll still be missing out on bigger games like Cyberpunk 2077 with their more extreme graphical demands.
![vampire survivors](https://b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/iGPU-gaming-1.jpg?quality=50&strip=all&w=1200)
Ryan Whitwam/IDG
Ryan Whitwam/IDG
Ryan Whitwam/IDG
It’s also worth noting that this iGPU performance is linked to the processor it’s built into, so the best performance will still come from more expensive machines. And even then, it won’t be much. Recent testing of the $1,399 Dell XPS 13 with Intel Arc Graphics in an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H saw its graphics performance in 3DMark’s Time Spy sitting at just 3,172 points, which falls short of even very dated systems running a GTX 1650 GPU, like the 2019 Acer Nitro 7.
Discrete graphics are within reach
While it will be hard to find a system with a dedicated GPU inside that isn’t severely outdated for under $500, you can find them for under $1,000. And it can be downright remarkable the difference these systems can make. We’ve seen the MSI Cyborg on sale for $750, and it checks all the boxes. The system on sale had an Intel Core i7-12650H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, which make for a potent pairing that should vastly outperform systems you’d likely find for $500.
Modest systems like the $850 Acer Nitro V 15 with an RTX 4050 are available, though could still leave something to be desired if you’re after max graphical settings in games. Ultimately, getting a gaming laptop on a tight budget is a game of concession. Fortunately, we haven’t reached the end of the line yet.
Getting around the hardware requirements
![Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook](https://b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/lenovo-chromebook-16-6.jpg?quality=50&strip=all&w=1200)
Lenovo’s gaming Chromebook.
Lenovo’s gaming Chromebook.
IDG / Matthew Smith
<div class="lightbox-image-container foundry-lightbox"><div class="extendedBlock-wrapper block-coreImage undefined"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large enlarged-image"><img decoding="async" data-wp-bind--src="selectors.core.image.enlargedImgSrc" data-wp-style--object-fit="selectors.core.image.lightboxObjectFit" src="" alt="Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook" class="wp-image-1677627" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><p>Lenovo’s gaming Chromebook.</p></figcaption></figure><p class="imageCredit">IDG / Matthew Smith</p></div>
</div></figure><p class="imageCredit">IDG / Matthew Smith</p></div>
If stretching your budget on hardware isn’t an option, there’s still an avenue to take. There are good laptops under $500 they may not be ready for gaming as is, but they have means. For one, you can still play whatever games their integrated graphics might support. But when a game is too much for them, you can always turn to the cloud.
Cloud gaming services like Amazon’s Luna, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Nvidia’s GeForce Now, and even Steam Link (if you have a potent desktop PC somewhere), can let you tap into remote hardware that makes up for what your own system lacks. As long as you’ve got a stable wireless connec
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