# Best Gaming laptop under 500?



## TheCowfishy (Jun 17, 2012)

I was just looking into getting my own PC, mainly because I am sick of using my family computer with all of its clutter. I have saved up my money to purchase a laptop. I would really prefer to spend <$500. The laptop would be used primarily for gaming and web browsing. I am not focused on resolution, as much as I am focused on performance. I have a strong internet connection with an excellent router, so internet performance is not an issue, although I would appreciate a laptop that can really get s strong connection speed from WiFi. I play Minecraft, Civilization 5, and some other Steam games. I plan on running Windows Vista, but I don't really like Windows 7. Thanks in advance for any input!


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## A1tecice (Jun 1, 2010)

Hello TheCowfishy and welcome to TSF!

Im sorry to tell you that there aren't any "good" gaming laptops for under <1000$. You would be better off building yourself a desktop as you can build a half decent gaming desktop for around that price. (Im sure someone will be along to help you have a look).

Can i suggest you have a look over our gaming desktop builds?:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/for...evised-2012-and-updated-regularly-448272.html

Another thing to note, You would be far better off using Windows 7 rather than vista as Vista is just......... RUBBISH!. 

Thanks,
Altie


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## GreenLightPC (Jul 14, 2011)

$500 may be too optimistic, however I disagree that nothing can be found for under $1000, especially considering you do not seem to want to play particularly intensive games.


I would look for refurbished laptops - this means that they have either been purchased by somebody beforehand and returned due to their being no issues with it at all (They may have returned it because they didn't like the colour) or they have had a faulty component which has since been replaced with a working one.

All refurbished computers are tested before sale by trained technicians so they should be just as trustworthy as a brand new computer. The reason I say to get these is that they can be far cheaper than their brand new counterparts, this is becuase they cannot be sold as brand new by law and the seller reduces the price to encourage it's sale - if a brand new computer and a refurbished computer was on sale side-by-side at the same price with the same specifications then everybody would buy the brand new one as they see it as better (it has been used less, despite this level of usage on the other being extremely low).

You can get very good deals on these laptops, just like I did with my laptop. It retails brand new at £800 ($1255) but I got mine at around £500 ($784) due to it being refurbished. I have had it 2 years now and it is perfectly fine.


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## RockmasteR (Aug 10, 2007)

there is no laptop for 500$ that can run Civilization V

a Desktop with that price tag can however


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## BPCS (Jun 15, 2012)

I agree with Rock on this one. You might find a refurb gaming laptop for 500$ but it probably won't be that great. iMO laptops and gaming just don't go together, I know they make specific laptops for games and some of them seem to do well, the expensive ones. Again just my opinion laptops aren't good at games, yeah yeah someone will post a gaming laptop that does crysis 2 at 60 fps or something, thats great lol... If you want to game I'd say do it right and get a desktop.


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## Androidrules (Jun 2, 2012)

Ok I have to ask a question here, because I just bought a laptop that is not a gaming laptop, but can play modern games at medium settings. Are you looking for an actual gaming class laptop or a laptop that can play games, but not at high-extreme graphics settings? If you're looking for a gaming class laptop, it's not possible for under at least $900. However, if you're like me and looking for one that can play games, but not gaming class, there I can help you. If you don't plan on playing high demanding games like Battlefield 3 or MW3, then look at this link. The AMD quad cores are slower than the Intel i series, but usually less expensive in a laptop. The graphics card is an entry level, so be prepared to upgrade your laptop in a few years.
Link: HP - 17.3" Pavilion Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Pewter - g7-1328dx
For this laptop, I may get some negative feedback from people reading it, but for low end modern games you should be able to run them on medium graphics settings.

However, if you're willing to spend a little over $500, there is a laptop that is better. This also has an AMD quad core CPU, and a slightly better GPU. It also has a higher RAM capacity.
Link: HP - 15.6" Pavilion Laptop - 6GB Memory - 640GB Hard Drive - Dark Umber - dv6-6c35dx

Keep in mind that neither of these are gaming class laptops, but they can play games due to good processors and discrete-class graphics.


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## RockmasteR (Aug 10, 2007)

both laptops have low end cards they'll play games on the lowest settings and some games won't be playable at good frame rates
If you spend more times on games than on the internet, less than 900$ laptop is waste of money


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## Androidrules (Jun 2, 2012)

Well yes that's why I said they're low end GPUs. If you're lucky like I was, I found a Dell Inspiron 17R with a 2nd gen i5 and an Nvidia GeForce GT 525M, which is a mid-range graphics card. I found this refurbished for $650.


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## bruiser (Jul 30, 2005)

Woot has a HP refurb today. Graphics might be a little weak, but the rest looks decent.


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## Androidrules (Jun 2, 2012)

Honestly if you're still looking for one, I'd say a refurbished one with a good processor (at least dual core, at least 2.4GHz) and a good GPU would be your best bet. Best buy has some good refurbished ones. Also the computer companies' websites usually have some too.


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## -WOLF- (Jan 17, 2009)

Try this one, looks great

HP ProBook 4530s B5N72UT Notebook PC - Intel Core i5-2450M 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR3, 750GB HDD, DVDRW, 1GB AMD Radeon HD 7470M, 15.6 Display, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit at TigerDirect.com


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## Androidrules (Jun 2, 2012)

The one that Wolf posted does look great. The GPU is much better than the ones I said in my first comment. If you could find it refurbished it would probably land around $600.


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## TheCowfishy (Jun 17, 2012)

I was actually just looking at the Alienware M14X online, but then again, a desktop may just end up being the right decision.As far as games go, I am not picky about the graphics necesarily, as much as I am about the gameplay itself.As long as I dont have laggy gameplay or extended loading times, etc. As for the Windows 7, I don't know, I have just always hated how "railroaded" it feels, and Vista is also like that. XP is sincerely my favorite Windows to run, but it is a bit out of date. I was contemplating going Linux, but I have 0 experience with Linux, and dont want to get stuck clueless on how to run my OS...


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## BPCS (Jun 15, 2012)

GAmes that use DX11, you'll want a DX11 card and Windows 7... esp moving to the future. Desktop is much better for gaming IMO.


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## Androidrules (Jun 2, 2012)

Ok Alienware laptops are gaming class laptops, but they're also much more expensive. If you only want a computer for gaming and don't need to take it with you anywhere, get a desktop. But if you're like me and want a computer for gaming and school, get a laptop. The gameplay in a game largely depends on the graphics card. It relies on everything else too, but if you have amazing internal components but a bad GPU, it will affect gameplay. One other thing, Linux is great, but it doesn't play most games, and in my experience, it was hard to install.


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## -WOLF- (Jan 17, 2009)

It mostly depends on whether or not you wish to play the games at the highest settings or don't mind them looking a little rough. A desktop you can upgrade through the years, a laptop you're stuck with for good (you can maybe upgrade the memory, HDD and CPU if you're knowledgeable enough) but in general desktops are going to be the best to get.


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