Best Gaming Laptop Under 500 – 10 Budget Laptops

Our guide on how to get the best gaming laptop under 500 can be a bit tricky due to a limited budget. But thanks to our team of experts, the time has finally come. There is a common aspect of using laptops for everyone, whether they are students, families, employees or developers. Does someone dare try it? Well, it is undoubtedly the gaming performance of the laptop that all users aspire about. Not all laptops on the market can be justified as gaming machines, and not everyone can afford an expensive gaming laptop.

That’s why we offer the best budget laptops ideal for gaming along with all other everyday activities.

If you’re on a budget and don’t want to buy a gaming laptop on a $500 budget, finding a laptop that fits your needs and budget can be challenging. It also takes a lot of elf-possession and skill to solve the problem. To help you, below are some of the best gaming laptops under 500 available on the market, handpicked by our team of experts.

Every notebook on the list justifies every penny you will spend on it. So, you can buy a laptop from the list below and enjoy your favourite games.

Now let’s start with the list.

Best Gaming Laptop Under 500 In 2021

1- Lenovo Ideapad 3 14″ Gaming Laptop Under 500

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The 14-inch Lenovo Ideapad is finally available for under 500. It has a solid design, powerful hardware, and some of the best graphics cards you’ll find on a under $500 laptop.

The main reason that makes Lenovo Ideapad 3 the best gaming laptop under 500 is the Radeon Vega 8 GPU. Compared to the Vega 3, another common GPU in the price range, you can see that the Vega 8 has an effective speed of 137% faster. If you look at the Vega 8 gaming benchmark in the middle of this article, you’ll see that tricky games like League of Legends and Fifa 20 run on ultra settings with acceptable frame rates. Somewhat demanding games like The Sims 4, Dota 2, and World of Warcraft run smoothly in medium settings. You can also play modern and demanding games in low settings.

It comes with a 256GB SSD, 8GB DDR4 RAM, and a powerful AMD Ryzen 5 3500U quad-core processor to fit a great GPU. The AMD 5 3500U is a good processor with a CPU score of 7150 (Intel Core i3-8145U is only about half that score).

It boasts a pleasant appearance with a beautiful deep blue colour and brushed look. It is a portable plastic notebook with sturdy construction, and This gaming laptop has almost all the ports you need. 

This laptop has a keyboard with good key movement, and the keys have a nice texture that gives you a great gaming experience. The touchpad is fine and speaker has a nice and clear sound. Also for great gaming sound use Gaming earbuds.

The 14-inch Full HD screen (1920 x 1080) has a modern feel with thin bezels. The brightness of 250 nits is the average for a gaming laptop under 500.

Outline

Lenovo Ideapad 3 is a gaming laptop with great value for money. It has a powerful AMD Ryzen 5 CPU, a sound design, and the best graphics card you can get on a gaming laptop under 500.

Pros

• Superior AMD Ryzen 5 CPU
• Best laptop GPU under 500
• Cool cliff blue

Cons

• Vulnerable to fingerprints
• Less than average battery life (less than 3 hours when gaming)

2-HP 14″ Touchscreen Gaming Laptop

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If you want the best gaming laptop under 500, you’re probably looking for the HP 14, which is fast, portable and can run the most demanding games smoothly.

The HP 14 has an AMD Ryzen 3 3200U processor. It is for thin mid-range laptops and has good performance to run most games and programs without lag.

Another factor that speeds up the Hp 14 is the 256GB SSD. You don’t have to wait for long loading times for games, applications, and Windows itself with an SSD. An SSD’s downside is that it only has 256GB of storage space, so installing a lot of games can fill it up quickly.

The HP 14 comes with Windows 10 S. Windows 10 S is designed to improve performance and be user-friendly, but the big downside of Windows 10 is that you can only install apps from the Windows Store. If that’s not for you, you can quickly exit S-mode by following one of the many guides online.

The HP 14 graphics card is AMD Radeon Vega 3. It’s an integrated graphics card that offers great gaming performance, at least when playing demanding games with low graphics settings. If you look at the gaming benchmarks in this Notebook check article, you can see two things. Some modern games don’t run smoothly on this laptop. If you want to play tricky games, look for one with a better graphics card, such as one of the gaming laptops under $1000.

Another thing that stands out when checking the benchmarks is that demanding games like Fifa, Rocket League, Team Fortress, Dota 2 and Sims 4 run smoothly in medium-level graphics settings.

Outline

If you want an gaming laptop under 500 that can run casual games, the HP 14 is for you. It offers great performance for the price but may require more memory.

Pros

• Excellent price/performance ratio
• Fast SSD and 8GB DDR4 RAM
• You can run demanding games without delay.

Cons

• Small storage capacity
• Not an advertised fingerprint reader
• Some users have encountered a problem with their laptop freezing.

3- Acer 5 Slim Gaming Laptop Under 500

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To save money and buy one of the best gaming laptop under 500, buy the Acer 5 Slim. You can get great value for money at the lowest price on the list. The Acer 5 Slim comes in the same CPU and graphics card combination as the HP above. This one means you can enjoy the latest tricky games without any lag.

Another great thing about the Acer 5 Slim is its display. It is a 15 to 6 inch 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) screen with vivid colors. Make the most of your game with a thin bezel design.

This laptop is currently rated as a winner on our list of top laptops under 500. With the best screens on the list and a powerful graphics card for the price, why isn’t the Acer 5 Slim our winner? Two reasons:

Small Hard Drive: The included SSD is fast and can easily boot the included Windows 10, but with 128GB of storage, it quickly runs out of space.

Only 4GB RAM: For a gaming laptop under 500, 4GB RAM is the lowest. You can upgrade your RAM, but you need to upgrade to DDR4 compatible RAM if you intend.

Even with hard drives and RAM in the lower price range, it’s still a lightweight, affordable, high-quality gaming laptop. Weighing 1.8kg, it is quite light as a 15-inch gaming laptop. The battery life can last up to 7.5 hours, but if you’re playing games, you’d expect a shorter total battery life.

Outline

The Acer 15 Slim is a lightweight gaming laptop with a backlit keyboard. It has the best screens on the list and powerful hardware for the price. However, you don’t have a lot of RAM or storage space, so you may need to upgrade later.

Pros

• Lightweight
• Excellent display
• Powerful AMD Ryzen CPU

Cons

• Little memory (128GB)
• 4GB RAM only

4- Lenovo Ideapad 3 15″ Gaming Laptop

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If you don’t want to spend an entire 500 and are looking for a reliable entry-level laptop that can handle light gaming, then the Lenovo Ideapad 15 is for you.

It’s a sleek design laptop with a brushed blue full plastic body. It looks good, but the outside is fingerprinted. This laptop doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive and doesn’t have a fingerprint reader, but it has 3 USB ports, an SD card reader, a webcam and a microphone. The webcam has a visible screen to protect your privacy.

Thanks to its amazingly superior keyboard, it feels great to type and play games on your Lenovo Ideapad. The keys have good key movement and click feedback. The biggest downside of the keyboard is that it doesn’t have a backlight. Another thing to watch out for is the unconventional placement of the touchpad. Instead of the default Centre position, the touchpad is located under the Alt key on the keyboard.

Another factor that makes the Lenovo Ideapad 3 15″ great is the thin bezel. The screen is a 15.6-inch TN display with 1366 x 768 resolution. With only 200 nits of brightness.

The fan keeps your laptop very cool, and you can adjust the maximum cooling by turning on “Max Mode”. Otherwise, you can turn on battery saver mode to reduce noise and increase battery life. The battery life is good for the price, and you can use about 6 hours of light.

If you have the right expectations, we recommend playing on the Lenovo Ideapad 3. Don’t expect to be able to run the latest games on medium or higher settings. With a Radeon Vega 3 graphics card and an AMD Ryzen 3 3250U processor, you can run demanding games without lag.

Outline

Lenovo Ideapad 15 gaming laptop under 500 is a good budget option. It has decent performance and adjustable fans, but the screen is a bit dark.

Pros

• Cheap price
• Good cooling system
• Play tricky games easily

Cons

• Strange placement of the touchpad
• Dim screen
• Wrong viewing angle

5- Asus Vivobook F510QA Budget Laptop

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The Asus Vivobook F512QA is an affordable laptop that is ideal for office use, but you can occasionally play it lightly.

With the AMD R7 integrated graphics card, you can handle lighter games. However, you will struggle with modern games in medium to high graphics settings, as you can see from these gaming benchmarks.

It lags slightly behind the top options in terms of performance. The AMD quad-core A12-9720P performs slightly less than the i3 processor. The SSD and high-speed DDR4 RAM significantly reduce the loading time when opening a program. It only has 4GB of RAM, which stands out when you do a lot of multitasking.

The screen is a full HD15.6-inch widescreen display with an 80% screen-to-body ratio. The thin bezel looks modern and always looks great with more screen space. With a brightness of 200 nits, Because, it is not suitable for taking it outside. The colors are also inaccurate, but it’s still a gaming screen.

It’s surprisingly sturdy even in a plastic case, weighing just 3.7 pounds, and a fairly light 15.6-inch laptop. There are HDMI ports, USB Type-C, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports. No-CD/DVD drive and no ethernet port to connect internet cable.

The keyboard provides good key movement and quiet keystroke, but it is not suitable for long typing sessions due to the short key movement. The touchpad responds and clicks gently.

One of the things that make the Asus Vivobook F510QA stand out is its upgradeability. Can upgrade the RAM, and if you want to upgrade your storage, you can find both empty SATA slots and empty M.2 slots. As with most gaming laptops, you can’t upgrade your processor or graphics card.

Outline

The Asus Vivobook F510QA gaming laptop under 500 is an affordable laptop that is easy to upgrade and can handle even the most demanding games. Laptops with better graphics cards are on the list, but few can be easily upgraded.

Pros

• Sturdy and lightweight design
• Easy RAM and storage upgrade
• 128GB SSD

Cons

• Bad speaker
• Uncomfortable keyboard for long typing sessions

6- Lenovo Flex 14 Gaming Laptop

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Lenovo Flex 14 laptops are often very convenient and portable but generally lack the specs to run games smoothly. The Lenovo Flex 5 is an excellent 2-in-1 laptop and a gaming laptop under 500 to handle tricky gaming.

The housing of the Lenovo Flex is simple but looks smooth. It is build of dark grey plastic and has an island-style keyboard. The keyboard is comfortable with slightly concave keys. However, there is no backlight, and the key travel distance is short. This laptop weighs 3.5 pounds, which is very light compared to gaming laptops, but quite heavy compared to other 2-in-1 laptops.

Lenovo Flex 5 has an Intel UHD 620 graphics card. If you look at the UHD 620 benchmark, you can see that it can run demanding games above 30 fps at low settings. However, it is not suitable for all requirements.

The screen of Lenovo Flex is a Full HD IPS touch screen display that responds well to gestures. It is recommended to use indoors with a brightness of about 220 nits, but it is slightly dark in sunlight.

Like most laptops on this list, they have an SSD for memory. Also, It is a high-speed PCIe NVMe solid-state drive with 128GB of storage space. It also comes with a stable 8th generation Intel Core i3-8145U processor and 4GB of RAM.

Outline

Lenovo Flex ranks first when it comes to hardware. Its lightweight design combined with 2-in-1 functionality makes it one of the best gaming laptop under 500. But keep in mind that there are gaming laptops with very dark screens and better graphics cards in the price range.

Pros

• Fast SSD drive
• Available as laptop and tablet
• Good looking design

Cons

• Shallow keyboard
• Darken the screen
• Short charging cable (1.8m)

7- Lenovo Ideapad 15 Gaming Laptop Under 500

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The Lenovo Ideapad 15 is another great option for budget gaming. I have Windows 10 in S mode as my operating system, so if you want to use an app that isn’t in the Windows Store, you can get it using one of the many online guides.

It has a sturdy plastic housing in a nice platinum grey color. Good connectivity with three USB-A ports (HDMI) output and SD card reader can read SD, SDHC, SCXC and MMC cards. It’s also quite light at 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs.).

Typing on Lenovo Ideapad, you will find that the keyboard is quiet, but the keystrokes are hard. The touchpad is soft and responsive, but clicking the mouse button makes it quite noisy.

The screen has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) and is a decent colour range. The screen has a maximum brightness of 200 nits, so it cannot use it outdoors.

This laptop has good specs for the price. It has an AMD Ryzen 3 CPU, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD and Vega 3 integrated graphics card. This specification means it can handle some multitasking and run most games in mid-to low-end graphics settings.

The number one reason this laptop is the 9th laptop is because of its substandard battery life. Expect less than 3 hours of battery life before reconnecting.

Outline

The Lenovo 15 has the hardware you would expect from a gaming laptop under 500. Unfortunately, the screen is weak, and the battery life is short.

Pros

• Fine SD card reader
• Good keyboard
• Run quietly

Cons

• Short battery life
• Noisy touchpad

8- Asus Vivobook F512DA Laptop

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The Asus Vivobook F512DA has specifications found on any laptop at the top of the list. However, the hard disk is one of the slowest of the best gaming laptops under $500.

This Windows gaming laptop instantly runs Windows in S mode, but you can easily switch to Windows 10 Pro with just a few clicks.

The exterior of this 15.6-inch laptop is sleek and has a matte plastic texture. It has a compact and sturdy design and weighs 1.8 kg (1.86 lbs).

Thanks to the Ergo Lift hinge, the keyboard’s angle is 2°, giving you a more natural typing position. Asus tried to put everything on the keyboard, including the NumPad. This one will make your keyboard narrower. Some keys, like the arrow keys, are too small and soft.

The Full HD display is a Nano Edge display with a 5.7mm bezel with an 88% screen-to-body ratio. It has a poor viewing angle and only occupies 58% of the RGB color space, so it is not suitable for anything that requires accurate color. Another small complaint about the screen is that good brightness decreases when running on a battery.

Like other top gaming laptop under 500, this laptop has AMD Radeon Vega 3 graphics. These graphics cards run demanding games smoothly and can run even more demanding games at lower settings. The processor is the AMD Ryzen 3 3200U, a stable AMD CPU suitable for playing games and running demanding applications such as 3D editing software.

The storage is 256GB SSD. Even if Asus claims to be an NVMe SSD, it’s an M.2 SATA SSD with a read speed of 560MBps and a write speed of 480MBps. This medium is much slower than other gaming laptops with NVMe SSDs but still faster than standard HDDs.

Outline

The Asus Vivobook F512DA is a gaming laptop suitable for demanding the game, but a faster laptop is on the list.

Pros

• Compact and sturdy design
• A good combination of CPU and GPU
• The light that becomes a gaming laptop

Cons

• Cramped keyboard
• Slow SSD

9- Lenovo Ideapad S340 Gaming Laptop

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The Lenovo Ideapad S340 isn’t the best gaming laptop under 500, but it’s one of the most reliable budget gaming laptops.

It comes with a high-quality keyboard with a 10-digit numeric keypad on the side. Some keys have strange key shapes like small up and down arrows. Like most gaming laptop under 500, the keyboard is turned off.

The screen is faded and a bit blurry due to poor viewing angle. If a fine screen is one of the primary things you are looking for, I would suggest other gaming laptop.

I have an integrated graphics card-Intel UHD Graphics 620. The Intel UHD 620 can run games like Fifa, Fortnite, Sims and Dota at low settings without delay, but that’s all about gaming performance. It slows down or crashes when you play tricky games or try to improve your graphics quality.

Even if the integrated GPU can only handle lighter games, here are a few things that make it one of the best gaming laptop under 500.

Also, The battery life is excellent. Battery viability of about 9 hours is expected in normal use and shortened as usual in games.

Fast: 8GB DDR4 RAM combined with a fast solid-state drive ensures short boot and load times. The SSD only comes with 128GB of storage, and gamers may need additional storage.

Light and durable: It is a 1.8kg thin laptop. This weight is what you would look for on a gaming laptop under 500. Although the exterior of the Ideapad S340 is mostly plastic, it has an aluminum finish on the lid. Carbon fiber threads are woven into the plastic for added durability. Above the 15.6-inch screen is a webcam with a privacy shutter so you can block it when not in use.

Outline

 If you need something you can trust to play tricky games, the Lenovo Ideapad S340 is a good choice. Also, Keep in mind that it doesn’t come with a CD/DVD drive, and a small 128GB SSD may require you to buy more storage space.

Pros

• Long battery life
• fast
• Lightweight and durable

Cons

• Small storage
• Boring screen

10- Dell Inspiron 14 3000 Laptop

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The 2021 Dell 14 3000 offers a 16% more powerful processor and a slightly better graphics card than the 2020 version.

The base is made of plastic and has a beautiful black finish. Also, It has a comfortable palm rest, and the keyboard is fine. The screen is a decent 1366 × 768 panels, accounting for 62% of the sRBG color gamut, making it a good fit for a budget gaming laptop. The screen’s biggest drawback is that it is very dark, so it is not recommended to use it under direct sunlight.

The Dell Inspiron 14 3000 has 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD and Intel i3-1005G1 CPU. That said, it’s enough to handle both work and light games. The graphics card is Intel HD 620. So, This card is one of the weakest graphics cards on the list and makes the laptop suitable for demanding games with low graphics settings.

What makes this budget laptop stand out is its battery. It has a longer battery life than its competitors, which can handle web browsing all day long.

Outline

The Dell Inspiron 14 3000 is a reliable all-around laptop suitable for work and can handle occasional light gaming.

Pros

• Responsibility
• Good cooling
• Excellent battery life

Cons

• Dim screen
• Not suitable for demanding games

 

Is The 2021 Budget Gaming Laptop Worth It?

Yes! In 2021, an inexpensive gaming laptop is well worth it. Now you have more laptops under 500 that can run the latest games than ever before! Since AMD launched its Vega line of integrated GPUs, the price of cheap gaming laptops has gone down, and there are more options to choose from. There are also several products with Intel UHD graphics that allow most games to run in mid-to low-end graphics settings. So, If you are in the gaming laptop market and don’t want to make money, now is a great opportunity to find the best budget gaming laptop. To find the best gaming laptop under 500, you need to know what to look for. Those features are what we will explain next.

What Can You Expect From A Gaming Laptop Under 500?

AMD Ryzen CPU

In the best gaming laptops under 500, the most common processor is the AMD Ryzen 3 CPU. Another common alternative to the AMD Ryzen 3 is the 8th Gen Intel Core i3-8145U. If you compare the two’s performance, you can see that Intel’s effective speed is about 27% faster.

SSD

Today, solid-state drives (SSDs) are the standard storage option on top gaming laptops under 500. Compared to standard hard drives (HDDs), SSDs offer much faster performance. Another advantage of using a solid-state drive instead of a regular hard drive is that it consumes less power, which increases battery life.

Battery life

Most of the best gaming laptop under 500 focus on energy-efficient components like an integrated graphics card, so they generally have better battery life than high-end gaming laptops. More expensive gaming laptops often only have about 2 hours of battery life at high loads. Gaming laptops under 500 can usually run for 5 hours or more before plugging in.

Full HD display

You should expect a full HD display on a gaming laptop under 500. Full HD or 1920 x 1080 resolution makes a big difference when it comes to gaming or productivity. In terms of size, the most common screen size is a 15.6-inch screen. However, laptops with smaller screen sizes are often found in the $500 price range.

Suitable GPU

There’s one thing you can do to make or break your next gaming laptop under 500.

Graphics card. Graphics cards are the difference between enjoying low-level gaming with lag and a smooth gaming experience. Gaming laptops for less than $500 have an integrated GPU. This one means you can’t play the latest games at high frame rates. So, If you want to play tricky games at glorious 60 FPS, a gaming laptop under 500 isn’t enough. For this, a gaming laptop under $1000 is the best choice.

Because, There’s a big difference between low-cost integrated graphics and the GPUs you’ll find on laptops on this list. I specifically chose a laptop that can run the game without problems.

Conclusion

Now on a brand new gaming laptop under 500, if you don’t check the price after checking one of the summaries in a few clicks, click to learn more about the Amazon laptop. Of course, these laptops can’t play the latest AAA games at 60 fps at high settings. But if you want to play less demanding games or play tricky games at a lower level, one of the top gaming laptops under $500 overhead is for you. Enjoy a new best gaming laptop under 500.