While the DIY market is the best means to build a gaming PC, for the vast majority of people, pre-built gaming laptops are still more viable. Be it for the portability or the ease of buying, they have their fair share of advantages. However, choosing one can be even harder than settling on the parts for a DIY PC. In this post, we’ll be picking the best gaming laptops under $1,000 that ought to be looking at in 2020. We’ll be aiming at 100+ FPS in popular titles like GTA V, PUBG and Six Seige at 1080p ultra.
ASUS TUF Gaming Laptop: FX505DU-MB53
Price: $850 (Link)
| Component | Specification |
|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3550H |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti |
| Display | 15.6″ 1080p 120Hz IPS |
| Storage | 512 GB NVMe SSD |
| Memory | 8 GB DDR4 RAM |
| Connectivity | Gigabit Wave 2 Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) |
The ASUS TUF Gaming FX505DU is hands-down the best gaming laptop in the sub-$1,000 price range. You get 1080p 120Hz display and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti that can actually run games at those frame rates. The Ryzen 5 3550H is the baseline CPU you want for these specs. Don’t worry, it won’t bottleneck the GTX 1660 Ti. It’s good for at least 120 FPS in modern games. While the memory and storage are the bare-minimum you’d want in a gaming laptop, those are upgradable and can be improved at a nominal price.
ASUS TUF Gaming Laptop: FX505DV-NH74
Price: $1,099 (Link)
| Component | Specification |
|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 3750H |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 |
| Display | 15.6″ 1080p 144Hz IPS |
| Storage | 512 GB NVMe SSD |
| Memory | 16 GB DDR4 RAM |
| Connectivity | Gigabit Wave 2 Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) |
The ASUS TUF Gaming FX505DV is the elder sibling of the 505DU. It upgrades the GPU to a GeForce RTX 2060 6GB and the CPU to a Ryzen 7 3750H. Although the 3550H and the 3750H offer roughly the same levels of performance, the higher boost clock in the case of the latter will help fully utilize the processing power of the RTX 2060 and reach 144 FPS in the latest eSports titles. The storage is unchanged, but the memory has been doubled to 16GB.
MSI GL Series GL73
Price: $1,299 (Link)
| Component | Specification |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i7-9750H |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 |
| Display | 17.3″ 1080p 144Hz IPS |
| Storage | 512 GB NVMe SSD |
| Memory | 16 GB DDR4 RAM |
| Connectivity | Intel 9560 Jefferson Peak (2×2 802.11ac) |
If you want the absolute fastest gaming laptop in this range and are willing to pay an additional $200, then the MSI GL93 is what you should be looking at. Packing a hex-core i7-9750H and an RTX 2060, it’ll chew through every task like butter. It features a 17.3″ display with a 144Hz refresh rate, and an Intel WLAN for connectivity. Keep in mind that in gaming workloads, the performance delta between the Ryzen 7 3750H and the Core i7-9750H will be minimal. This is because in most cases, you’ll be held back by the GPU, rather than the CPU. Hence for gaming-centric uses, the ASUS TUF Gaming laptops are easily the better option.
Bonus: MSI GF Series GF63 THIN (Lightweight Gaming Laptop)
Price: $679 (Link)
| Component | Specification |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-9300H |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q |
| Display | 15.6″ 1080p 60Hz IPS |
| Storage | 512 GB NVMe SSD |
| Memory | 8 GB DDR4 RAM |
| Connectivity | Intel 9560 Jefferson Peak (2×2 802.11ac) |
If you want something lighter and cheaper, then the MSI GF63 is our recommendation. It comes with an Intel Core i5-9300H and a GTX 1650 Max-Q. Not the beefiest configuration, but will get the job done. (getzonedup.com) It features an astounding battery life of 8 hours in less intensive workloads and weighs just 4 pounds. It has got an aluminum build and is less than an inch thick.
