Today I’m going to show you the best gaming laptops under $1000. As of autumn of 2020, LaptopBlogger has analyzed nearly every available gaming laptop under 1000 dollars on the market.

In this guide, you will find affordable gaming laptops that offer impressive graphics, smooth frame rates, and excellent audio.

The best part? All that without worrying about lag or heating problems.

So without further ado, here are the best gaming laptops under $1000:

Note: A gaming laptop under 1000 will give you good gaming performance. But if you want the latest in gaming laptops such as 144hz displays and 60+ fps on any game, the laptops in this list below are simply not enough. Then you might need to consider a gaming laptop under 1500. If you, on the other hand, just want to play non-demanding games, a gaming laptop under 500 will be plenty enough for you. And if you are unsure what to look for in a gaming laptop under $1000, check out the buying guide at the end of this article.

#1 Best gaming laptop under $1000: MSI GF 65



The MSI GF65 has the Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics card, a GPU found in many of the best gaming laptops under $1500. It also has the hardware to match the powerful graphics card and a 120Hz thin bezel display.

Let’s start with the most important question. How good is the RTX 2060? If you compare it to the GTX 1650, another common graphics card in this price range, you’ll see that the RTX 2060 has 68% higher effective speed. If you look at the frame rates you can expect with the RTX 2060, you’ll notice that it will run almost all games at 60+ fps on ultra graphics settings. Have a look yourself at the benchmarks for different games on this Notebookcheck article.

When you look at the MSI GF65, you know it’s a gaming laptop. It has a red illuminated keyboard that feels great for both typing and gaming. On the back, there’s the red MSI dragon logo and rear exhausts to keep the laptop cool. The dedicated thermal solution does keep the temperatures down, even during long gaming sessions, but be prepared for a rather loud fan noise.

The screen is a 15.6-inch IPS display with 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) resolution. It has a refresh rate of 120hz. This means you can run games with 120fps, perfect for competitive games where fast reactions matter. The biggest downside of the screen is inaccurate colors. It covers only 56% of the sRBG color spectrum, so it’s not suitable for work that demands accurate colors.

As with most powerful gaming laptops, the battery life is considerably lower than ordinary multimedia laptops. If you are going to be playing for a longer time, you better have it plugged in.

Summary: The MSI GF 65 has amazing specs for the price. It’s an excellent choice if you are looking for a gaming laptop under $1000 and can handle some fan noise.

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Pros Cons Best graphics card you can get for under $1000 Loud fans on high load Fast SSD Narrow color coverage 120Hz display

#2 The Contender: Asus G531

Asus is a brand that has commonly topped the list of the best gaming laptops under $1000, and the Asus G531 is no exception. With solid build quality, a powerful graphics card, and excellent cooling, it’s easy to see why this laptop is one of the best options this autumn.

The build quality of the Asus G531 is excellent. It’s a sturdy laptop made to last. With a weight of 5.3 lbs, it’s on the heavier side for being a 15.6-inch gaming laptop. The backlit keyboard feels great to use, but some customers had issues with it bugging out. If you get a laggy keyboard, you can always send it back to customer service and get it replaced.

On the left of the laptop, you find most of the ports. It has most of the ports you might need, but a few things are missing. There’s no Thunderbolt port, and it does not come with a CD/DVD drive, webcam, or SD card reader.

It’s a fast laptop that can handle any program you throw at it. The included 9th Gen Intel Core i7-9750H is a powerful processor with an impressive 11496 CPU Mark. Loading apps and games are near-instant with the fast 512GB SSD and 8GB of the latest generation of RAM, DDR4.

The most common complaint about the Asus G531 is the poor speakers. For good sound quality with this laptop, you need a pair of headphones or a headset.

The graphics card inside the Asus G531 is the Nvidia GTX 1650. If you look at the benchmarks, you’ll notice it can handle 60fps on most games, but some demanding games dip down to around 30 fps on ultra graphics settings.

Summary: With one of the best graphics card you can get for less than $1000, a 512GB SSD and a sturdy design, the Asus G531 makes a solid contender for the best gaming laptop under $1000.

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Pros Cons Excellent build quality A few customers had issues with the keyboard 9th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU Poor speakers Good gaming performance No thunderbolt port or SD card reader

#3 Run the latest games with ease: Asus TUF FX504



The Asus TUF FX504 has the latest hardware that will run AAA titles on ultra settings with ease.

It has the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card. This graphics card with 6GB VRAM runs the latest AAA titles on high – ultra graphics settings with reasonable frame rates. Have a look at the frame rates you’ll get at the end of this article over at Notebookcheck.

It also comes with a fast SSD, an 8th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, and 8GB DDR4 RAM. These specs might seem on the lower end of this price range, but the laptop’s affordable price makes up for it.

The build quality of the Asus TUF FX504 is good, but it does lack some ports. It doesn’t come with a thunderbolt or a USB 3.1 Gen 2 port. Another minor issue to be aware of is that the sound quality of the speakers is average at best. The speakers lack bass and are unimpressive when watching movies. Luckily this is often a non-issue since most of the time, you have a headset anyway.

As with most gaming laptops with hardware as powerful as the one in this laptop, expect to mostly use it plugged in. The battery life is pretty good for being a gaming laptop, but you should still only expect around 2 hours of gaming before you need to charge.

This laptop comes in two versions. If you want a Full HD screen with a refresh rate of 120Hz, there’s a version of this laptop that comes with the Intel Core i7-8750 processor, an additional 1TB HDD a 120HZ display. The i7 version of the Asus TUF FX504 costs over $1000 and is not as affordable as the i5 option, but it might be worth it if you want more storage, a better processor, and the ability to enjoy 120 fps gaming.

Summary: The Asus TUF FX504 comes with an Nvidia 1060 graphics card that will run almost any game on ultra. Even if this isn’t the most powerful GTX 1060 laptop on the market, it’s definitely the most affordable!

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Pros Cons Nvidia GeForce 1060 grapics for under $1000 No Thunderbolt and USB 3.1 Gen2 port Fast 256GB Solid State Drive Poor speakers Affordable price

#4 Best bang for the buck : Asus TUF FX505DT



You don’t need to spend much to get great gaming performance. The Asus Tuf FX505DT is the proof of that!

This is a budget laptop with a 120hz Full HD IPS display. The 15.6-inch screen has thin bezels for a modern look. It has excellent viewing angles and good brightness. The biggest downside of the screen is the colors. Compared to higher-end laptops, it has washed out colors. It covers only 59 percent of the sRBG color space. Many gamers feel it’s good enough for gaming, but the screen is not suitable for photo or video editing.

With a 120hz screen, you need some solid hardware, and the Asus TUF FX505DT did not disappoint in that area. It has a 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, and an AMD Ryzen 5 processor. The graphics card is the Nvidia RTX 1650. You won’t have any issues playing competitive games such as Overwatch, Fortnite, Dota 2, and Apex legends. Sure, 256GB of storage is on the lower end, and you might want to upgrade the RAM to 16GB down the line. Luckily, it’s easy to upgrade the RAM and SSD.

Another advantage of the Asus TUF FX505DT is its sturdy design. It has a MIL-STD-810 standard construction making it extremely durable but also a bit heavier than most 15-inch laptops. A disadvantage of the design is that all the ports are on the laptop’s left side. It has most ports you’ll need, but there’s no SD card reader and no CD/DVD drive.

The keyboard has a Numpad and is backlit. You can only have a single color at the time, so it’s not fully RBG. It’s a satisfying keyboard with moderate key travel and a clear click. Thanks to the dual fans with anti-dust technology, it stays cool, and the battery is alright for being a gaming laptop.

Summary: If you’re looking for the best price/performance ratio, go for the Asus FX505DT. The laptops above have better overall performance, but none provide as much for the buck as the Asus Tuf FX505DT.

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Pros Cons Amazing price/performance ratio Small storage Durable Washed out colors 120Hz IPS Screen Fans are loud when gaming

#5 Excellent Gaming Performance: Dell i7577-5241BLK-PUS

If you are looking for an alternative to our winner, then the Dell i7577-5241BLK-PUS is an ideal choice. And here is why:

The design is sturdy with a professional look. The weight is 6 pounds (~2,7 kg), so it is on the heavier side, but the build quality is excellent.

But what really makes the Dell i7577 stand out is the hardware.

Inside you’ll find the most powerful graphics card you can get in any gaming laptop for less than $1000, the Nvidia GTX 1060. This is a graphics card with 6GB VRAM that runs the latest AAA titles on high – ultra graphics settings with good frame rates. Have a look at the frame rates you’ll get at the end of this article over at Notebookcheck.

The CPU is the Intel Core i5-7300HQ, a fast CPU that will give you some excellent gaming performance. And you’ll also get both a 1TB HDD and a 128GB SSD.

This means you can be sure even the most demanding programs will run smoothly.

But this is not a perfect gaming laptop.

The RAM is only 8GB. It’s enough for gaming, but the standard in this price range is 16GB RAM. And as with most gaming laptops, you’ll only be able to play for 2-3 hours before you need to plug it in.

Summary: The Dell i7577-5241BLK has all the hardware you need for the best possible gaming experience for under a grand. It only got 8GB RAM. But with the best graphics card in the price range, you can overlook it.

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Pros Cons Excellent gaming performance Only 8GB RAM Best graphics card for under $1000 On the heavier side (6 pounds) 128GB solid state drive

#6 Minimalistic and powerful : Lenovo Ideapad L340

If you’re looking for something affordable for work and gaming that’s easy to bring with you, then the Lenovo Ideapad L340 might be what you’re looking for.

This sleek 4.6 pound (2.1) notebook isn’t a top of the line laptop, but it’s more than capable of gaming. It has a stylish case, mostly made of plastic. With a minimalistic design with blue accents, it looks great and isn’t so flashy that it would look out of place in an office. The surface looks like brushed metal and feels smooth, but it’s prone to fingerprints.

The Lenovo Ideapad L340 has a full-size keyboard with single-color backlighting. The keys are quite shallow and not very clicky, but it’s still acceptable for gaming. The touchpad is one of the weaker points of the laptop. It can handle basic gestures, but it isn’t the smoothest and can sometimes feel a bit off.

When it comes to the hardware, the Lenovo Ideapad L340 has everything you need to look for in a gaming laptop under $1000. It has a fast 512GB NVMe SSD, 8GB DDR4 RAM, and a powerful 9th Generation Intel Core i5-9300H processor. It can handle demanding tasks such as video editing, but you might want to upgrade the ram to 16GB for even better performance. Gaming performance on the Lenovo Ideapad L340 is excellent considering the price. It can run most modern games smoothly on medium-high settings.

One of the things that makes gaming great on this laptop is the 15.6-inch IPS display. The screen has good brightness and excellent contrast. Since it’s a matte IPS screen, it has great viewing angles and has low lens glare so you can use it outside. The colors are accurate enough for gaming but not accurate enough if your working with anything that demands true-to-life colors.

Lenovo has added the option of the “Lenovo Vantage eye care mode”, a setting that will decrease eye strain.

Another great feature of the laptop is the ease of changing fan speed. You can easily toggle between quiet mode when you want less fan noise and turn on quick mode for gaming with max cooling.

Summary: The Lenovo Ideapad L340 is an affordable, high-performance laptop with a simplistic design, making it suitable in any setting.

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Pros Cons Good gaming performance Exterior prone to fingerprints Sleek and easy to bring with you Poor touchpad Fast NVMe SSD Screen has inaccurate colors

#7 Fast and sturdy: HP Omen 15



The HP Omen has a metal chassis with excellent build quality. The keyboard has a nice layout that feels good for both typing and gaming. It has almost as good writing experince as one of the best laptops for writers. The color combination of black keys with red letters makes it a bit harder to read compared to more traditional colors. It’s easy to open it up and upgrade the RAM or the SSD.

The screen is full HD IPS Display. It’s a good screen but nothing above the average IPS display. The biggest drawback of the screen is the low brightness.

Inside the HP Omen 15, you’ll find an Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics card, a 128GB SSD, a 1TB HDD, and a 9th generation Intel Core i5-9300H. It only comes with 12GB RAM (compared to the standard of 16GB RAM), but it is fast 2666Mhz RAM.

With a 52 Wh battery, don’t expect a very long battery life. Usually, it drains from 100 to 0 in under 2 hours of gaming.

Summary: The HP Omen 15 is an overall good gaming laptop with a pleasing design and powerful hardware. The screen, however, is not on par with the laptops above. That’s why it’s our #5 on the list of the best gaming laptops for less than 1000.

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Pros Cons Excellent build quality Dim display Fast DDR4 RAM Short battery life Easy to upgrade

#8 Professional Looking Gaming Laptop: Acer Aspire 7



If you are looking for a gaming laptop with a bit more professional and discreet look than the ordinary flashy gaming beasts, have a look at the Acer Aspire 7. This laptop has a design that can fool you to think it’s just another business laptop, but it has powerful hardware that allows you to enjoy the latest games.



It’s a rather lightweight laptop with a weight of just above 5 pounds. The build quality is solid, and it comes with a backlit keyboard. Some people might have a hard time adjusting to the Acer Aspire 7’s keyboard. With a really low key travel, it can feel mushy to people that prefer a less shallow and clear click.

The outer chassis is made of plastic with a brushed aluminum finish. The downside with this design is that the aluminum on the back is a fingerprint magnet.

The Acer Aspire 7 has 8GB DDR4 RAM, a 128GB SSD and a 1TB HDD. These specs, combined with the latest gen (gen 8) Intel Core i7-8750H processor, makes for some excellent performance. It’s a blazing fast laptop that can handle demanding programs with ease.

The screen is a Full HD IPS display. It’s an overall decent screen, but it has lower brightness than the average. Compared to the standard fo 250+ nits, it comes short with a screen brightness of only 200 nits.

You can play almost any game smoothly on this laptop, thanks to the Nvidia GeForce 1050Ti graphics card. The battery life is short due to the small 48Wh battery, so for longer gaming sessions, you better have it plugged in.

Summary: The Acer Aspire 7 has a clean, professional look but have the hardware to run the latest games smoothly.

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Pros Cons Appealing professional-looking design Dim screen 8th gen i7 CPU Short key travel Sturdy build quality Back of the laptop is prone to fingerprints

#9 The All-arounder: MSI GF63



MSI’s latest budget gaming laptop comes with a nice, classic MSI look, powerful hardware, and an affordable price. But with a price well below $1000, MSI had to make some savings.

The look of this is what you have come to expect from MSI. On the back, you have a brushed aluminum design with the red MSI dragon logo in the middle. Most MSI gaming laptops have a red illuminated keyboard; however, this budget model has no backlight.

With 8GB DDR4 RAM and a super-fast NVMe SSD, it will boot and load programs almost instantly. The biggest downside of memory is that the 256GB SSD is all the memory you get. 8GB of ram is on the lower end for a gaming laptop under $1000, and the 256GB storage will run out quickly if you save large games, but with the lowest price on the list, those are things you’ll have to accept.

Like most of the laptops on the list, it comes with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card. The GTX 1650 will run most games smoothly, but if you want to hit 60 fps on the latest games, consider getting a laptop with the RTX 2060 GPU. When you compare the GTX 1650 vs. the RTX 2060, you’ll see that the RTX 2060 has 68% higher effective speed.

If you want to run a CPU demanding program, it can handle it with ease thanks to the 9th Gen Intel Core i5 processor.

Summary: The MSI VD62 has a nice design and powerful hardware, but you can get better performance for under $1000.

Pros Cons Well-designed No backlit keyboard Super fast NVMe SSD Only 8GB RAM Powerful 9th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU Only 256GB of storage

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#10 The Budget Choice: Acer Nitro 5

The Acer Nitro 5 has everything you need to look for in a budget gaming laptop, and you don’t have to spend the full $1000 for it.

With an aggressive design with clean lines, large fan exhausts, and a sturdy dark red hinge, you know that this is a machine made for gaming. The red-backlit keyboard feels great and is well laid out. The big issue with it is that fingerprints show up quite quickly. The speakers have a decent sound, and the 1080HD screen is high quality providing clear images with accurate color.

The CPU is the 9th generation Intel Core i5-9300H. It’s a processor that will handle everything from gaming to demanding applications such as video editing software. The RAM is only 8GB, compared to the standard 16GB in this price range. But it is the latest generation of RAM, DDR4, so it runs fast. And you’ll also get a 256GB solid state drive for that super fast boot and load.

Unfortunately, there’s no HDD, so all the included memory is the 256GB from the SSD. But you can always buy external storage.

Summary: Everything you need in a budget gaming laptop. The Acer Nitro 5 has a quality design, fast performance, and a decent graphics card. But with only 256GB storage, you might need to buy additional storage if you want to save a lot of files on it.

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Pros Cons Excellent price Only 256GB storage Good display Fingerprint show up quite quickly Strong processor Only 8GB RAM

What to look for in a gaming laptop for under $1000 – the ultimate buying guide

When searching for a cheap gaming laptop under 1000, the number one thing consider is the graphics card. It’s the graphics card that will make or break your next gaming notebook. I like to classify the graphics card found in gaming laptops in three groups.

The three types of graphics cards

Integrated

Some “gaming” laptops have integrated graphics cards. They are not really gaming laptops, but they are in some cases advertised as laptops for gaming. Maybe they have a flashy design or lots of RAM. But with an integrated graphics card, the gaming performance is terrible. To spot an integrated graphics card, look at the specs for the words integrated or the Intel HD series of graphics cards, or the Radeon R series of graphics cards. If you see something like Intel HD5500 or Radeon R6, stay away, it’s not meant for gaming.

Here is a comparison of dedicated graphics card vs. an integrated graphics card, with stats courtesy of Userbenchmark.com.

With these numbers, you’ll probably understand why I am so against gaming laptops with integrated graphics, in fact, I have a whole section in my article on gaming laptops under $500 on why there are no gaming laptops with integrated graphics. If you spend money on a computer for gaming with an integrated graphics card, you are wasting your money. Here, at LaptopBlogger I guarantee you we’ll never recommend a laptop with an integrated graphics card for gaming.

Outdated

At the beginning of this article, I clearly stated when the list was updated. This is necessary for you, so you know if this source is up-to-date. What’s a suitable component in a gaming laptop is constantly changing and what was the best a couple of months ago is probably not the best today. This article is updated at least once every month so you can be sure you always have the most current information. Examples of outdated graphics cards are the Nvidia 9XX series of graphics cards. They work fine for gaming, but Nvidia has released the 10XX series of graphics cards that are far better. Have a look at the difference between the Nvidia 960M from the past generation compared to the Nvidia 1060 of this generation. The results speak for themselves.

Current

The graphics cards I recommend in a gaming laptop under $1000 is the Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti, the Nvidia GTX 1060, the Nvida RTX 1650 and the Nvidia RTX 2060. There are some exceptions, if a laptop with an old graphics card has an awesome feature like UHD resolution, I may still recommend it but generally only go for laptops with an Nvidia 1050 Ti or better. AMD has recently released some interesting graphics cards, which we’ll soon see in more and more gaming laptops under $1000 and I’ll let you know right here my AMD recommendations once they have been included in more laptops.

RAM

If you want to play the latest games smoothly, you’re going need at least 8GB of RAM. With 8GB RAM you meet the recommended requirements for pretty much every PC game out there. More RAM won’t increase the frame rates in games. But if you do a lot of multi-tasking like running a game, your web browser with some tabs and your voice communication program simultaneously, 16GB RAM might be good as an affordable gaming laptop with 16GB RAM will allow everything to run smoothly without lag. If you want to futureproof your system, you can go a bit overkill and get 32GB of ram, but for most people, 16GB will be just fine. You can often buy more ram and install it without any hassle in most modern gaming laptops.

Hard drive

There are two types of hard drives you’ll want to keep your eyes on, the classic HDD and the much faster Solid State Drive (SSD). Most notebooks for $1000 offer an HDD, an SSD or a combination of the two. Think about how much storage you’re going to need and if you want the speed of the SSD.

If you find a great gaming laptop with an SSD for under $1000, but get disappointed that the memory is too small, don’t fret. Even if it’s rather common with just 256GB of space, it’s easy to buy an external hard drive or store your files on the cloud. Many laptops even have the option to install an SSD, so if you go for a laptop with just an HDD, you can often easily install an SSD whenever you want.

Processor

The processor (CPU) is the component that does all the calculations you’ll need in games and programs. And most modern games require a potent processor. I recommend a good Intel Core i5 or i7 processor. They are powerful enough to run any program you throw at it and are fairly energy efficient.

Battery life

Gaming laptops are not made for long battery life; they are made for the best possible portable gaming performance. Almost every gaming laptop under $1000 can only last around 2 hours when gaming. This is because the hardware in a gaming laptop requires far more power than the hardware you’ll find in a regular laptop. Some gaming laptops might last longer when used for web surfing or watching movies, but if you go for a gaming laptop, be prepared to have it plugged in.

Appealing design

The first thing you can check when it comes to the design of the laptop is the general aesthetic of the laptop. Some gaming laptops look flashy and are the perfect machines to bring with you on a LAN, and other look very professional so you can bring them to a professional setting without anyone raising an eyebrow. But looks are not everything when it comes to the design of the laptop; it should also be portable and have good heat management and portability.

Portability

If you want to carry your sub $1000 gaming laptop with you, then you’re going to need a portable laptop. Gaming laptops are naturally a bit heavier than ordinary laptops, but there are plenty of sleek and portable gaming notebooks on the market. A good weight to aim for is around 5 pounds for a 15-inch laptop.

Heat Issues

Many gaming laptops tend to get hot. Common areas you’ll notice heat issues is underneath it and over the touchpad area. Most laptops will run fine even if they are a bit warm, but if you have it on your lap, you’ll quickly notice when it gets hot on some models. A common way of reducing heat issues is buying a laptop cooling pad or an external laptop fan.

Ports

Make sure the gaming laptop has all the necessary ports for a good gaming experience. Examples of ports you’ll need are USB ports for adding USB sticks, an external mouse, or any device you connect via USB. It’s also good with an HDMI port so you can connect the laptop to a screen.

Display

A top-rated gaming laptop in the 1000 dollar price range should have a good full HD display. The colors should be accurate, and the brightness should be good enough to see what’s happening on the screen anywhere.

Keyboard and touchpad

A common mistake in finding laptops for under $1000 is looking too much into the trackpad. You will most likely have a better gaming experience with an external mouse anyway so don’t bother too much about the touchpad quality. Many gamers prefer an external keyboard for gaming laptops, they often have more space, and if you are a fan of mechanical keyboards, it’s almost a must since not many laptops have a mechanical keyboard. But the fact is that many gaming laptops under $1000 have an excellent keyboard that feels like a breeze to type on and is also very accurate for gaming. When looking at the keyboard, make sure it’s backlit if you want to use your laptop in dark places.

Speakers

Most gaming laptops have decent speakers. They are good enough for games but if you want the best possible music experience you probably need to get a good pair of headphones or good external speakers.

How do I find a gaming laptop that fits all these requirements for under $1000?

That’s the easy part. You are already here! So, just scroll up or click here to get to the start of the list and look at the best gaming laptops under $1000. These are handpicked and have everything you’ll need for a gaming laptop in this price range.

Conclusion

No matter what gaming laptop you decide to go for from this list, you can’t go wrong. I have researched almost every gaming laptop in the 1000 price range and narrowed it down to these seven laptops. If you pick any of the laptops above, you will have a powerful and futureproof gaming laptop. It will run all your favorite games at high frame rates at the best possible graphics settings.

I enjoyed writing this list, but it took me several hours of writing and even more time doing all the research. If you got any info that might benefit your hunt for the best gaming laptop, I would love to have you share my website on your favorite site or social media site. But now you have a more important task. If you haven’t already, pick the best gaming laptop under 1000 for you and enjoy the best of portable gaming!