The 10 Best Gaming Laptops on Amazon in 2023 - What in Tech (2024)

There are thousands of different laptop on Amazon.

How are you supposed to decide exactly what’s best for your gaming setup (and wallet!)?

I’ve reviewed the notable options and ranked them to easily guide you through the best gaming laptops on Amazon today, for all different budget considerations.

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Overall Best Gaming Laptop on Amazon (Mid-Range Pick):MSI Thin GF63

I’ve been very impressed by what MSI offers in the laptop space for many years, and gaming is at the forefront of that.

For the top mid-range pick, I wanted to find the best gaming laptop for $1,000 on Amazon as this tends to be the most common price range my readers will enquire on. This choice is just a touch more expensive than that, but paying that bit more is definitely worth it, as you gain access to an RTX 4050laptop.

This graphics card, as far as portable gaming goes, is the best you’ll get around the $1,000 mark. Many competitors offer RTX 3000 series cards at this price range. It’s a fantastic deal, especially when the device is well-rounded in its other specs.

With great performance, you’re going to be able to play a majority of games at 1080p high settings with excellent framerates. And it will be well future-proofed for big upcoming titles. If you’re looking to get high framerates & resolutions with max settings in intensive games, you’ll have more luck with our premium picks below or desktop options. But rest assured, most titles will look fantastic on the GF63

Working alongside the 4050 is a Core i7-12650H, 16GB DDR4 RAM & a 512GB NVMe SSD. Not only are these specs more than enough for ensuring the GPU isn’t bottlenecked by the hardware, but they’re capable of giving you a very smooth general-use experience with the laptop (be it web browsing, videos, or other program usages).

It’s annoyingly common to see laptops come with the latest GPUs but skimp on CPU or RAM to keep the costs low. That’s really why I rate the GF63 so highly, it’s the full package spec-wise.

Although I’m happy to see 512GB over 256GB that many other builds at this price come with, the main area that left me longing was the storage space. It will serve you initially but is a little low for a gaming PC if you’re interested in multiple large titles. There is another drive bay you can easily use to upgrade your storage should you need to. Don’t be fooled by lower price laptops that have larger drives; I’ve been through them and their specs suffer in other ways to compensate for this (especially GPU, which is more important for your setup).

The laptop is well-designed. One of the things I like about MSI the most is its ability to create sturdy, long-lasting PCs. With a good track record of thermal management for the powerful specs, a beautiful backlit keyboard, and a fantastic full HD IPS 144Hzscreen.

If your budget is around the $1,000 mark, this is the best gaming laptopon Amazon for you.

Best Gaming Laptop under $1,500 on Amazon:Acer Nitro 17

If you can stretch your budget a little further, the Nitro 17 is a fantastic laptop where you can expect a further ~30% improvement in games compared to our above pick.

Acer Nitro has been a common feature in my gaming laptop articles, they consistently manage to offer excellent value in this series over the years.

This is achieved here with the great combination of the RTX 4070 and Ryzen 7 7735HS, both fantastic specs for this price range. You can expect to comfortably play most titles in great settings, 1080p with a very high frame rate.

You have a wonderful screen to enjoy those high frame rates on too. Boasting a full HD, IPS, 165Hz panel with low latency and great color accuracy. The screen gives off vibrant pictures and a snappy response time to match the fast reaction needs of competitive gaming.

Working alongside the CPU and GPU is 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD. In all of the previous laptops I’ve featured in this price range, the manufacturer alwaysskimps out slightly and provides a 512GB drive. So it’s really nice to see 1TB provided here (which feels more realistic as a storage size for serious gamers).

The list goes on: beautiful design, tactile RGB keyboard, good thermals, and solid build quality. I really like that this 17″ gaming laptop doesn’t feel like it skimps on any area and is a good all-around pick worth its price tag.

If you can stretch your budget to the Nitro 17, you’re going to love it. This machine is such a fantastic value for what you’re getting.

Best Budget Gaming Laptop on Amazon: Acer Nitro 5 GTX 1650

You have to respect that with this budget, manufacturers are very limited on what kind of parts they can include. With that said, I’m pleasantly surprised by just how good this Nitro 5 model is for its ridiculously low price point.

Led by the GTX 1650, you still have a graphics card capable of running most games at fair settings/frame rates. If you’re playing older games/many of the popular titles that are well optimized (Fortnite, Overwatch, WoW, etc.), you’re still going to get great frame rates on them suitable for competitive gaming.

Accompanying the GPU is the very capable 9th Gen Intel Core i5-9300H, 8GB DDR4 RAM & a 256GB NVMe SSD. While you won’t get very far with high-end production work on this laptop (high-end video editing, rendering, etc.), it will still do very well when it comes to general use for things like web browsing, videos, and standard work if needed.

You have some easy options to upgrade this laptop also. Acer has sensibly installed 1 stick of 8GB RAM (instead of 2 x 4GB) to allow you to easily add a second 8GB RAM stick if you like. There’s also a 2.5″ drive slot if you wish to expand your storage.

Another reason we picked this as the top budget choice is that the laptop still has some impressive design features for its price range. With a good build quality, a 1080p IPS screen, and a USB 3.1 Type C port, you’re really getting a lot for your money here.

On top of being a great budget choice, I’d also suggest this is one of the best gaming laptops for beginners, kids, teenagers, or simply someone who’s behind on gaming and has some titles to catch up on alongside their general laptop use.

Rest assured, although it isn’t going to give you the same performance as our top picks, we still love the value of this Nitro 5 model. There’s a reason it’s one of the best-selling gaming laptops on Amazon.

2023 update:I’ve retained the Nitro 5 as the budget pick as I know some readers are very price focussed. With that said, if your budget can stretch to it, I would really recommend going for the IdeaPad Gaming 3, which boasts a HUGE upgrade for a relatively small price increase.

Most Powerful Gaming Laptop on Amazon:MSI Stealth 17 Studio

Our next pick is for those looking for the most expensive gaming laptop on Amazon that isworth buying (not needlessly pricey for pointless bells and whistles).

There are some diminishing returns when comparing this laptop to our laptop pick under $1,500 for gaming alone (that said it has a whole lot more going for it). There’s a bit of an awkward zone between these two picks, where many manufacturers up the price by including more RAM, drive space, and better CPUs, but these are all secondary for machines that are already powerful enough when it comes to these specs).

Now with all that said, what you’re getting in the Stealth 17 the best laptop GPU available today: the RTX 3090 (I expect it to remain the best for a while too).

With some incredible additional specs to go with it. You can expect this laptop to perform about 60-80% better than the Nitro 17 in games. That is a fantastic improvement considering how great the Nitro 17 already feels. This would be perfect for someone looking for a VR-ready laptop or a reader who doesn’t want to compromise on game settings now or in the next few years.

Accompanying the powerhouse GPU is a beastly Core i9-13900H, 64GB of DDR5 RAM & a 2TB SSD. These are some seriously fantastic specs that will empower you to do some serious production work, with the Stealth 17 doubling as a 4k video editing laptop/suitable for other intensive tasks.

I was really quite impressed when I saw the design of the Stealth 17 in person. It looks and feels fantastic. The build quality is what you’d hope for in a premium gaming laptop and although the machine runs hot, the thermal solution is more than capable of keeping the device manageable.

And then there is the amazing display. On top of reaching great color accuracy and a sharp 3ms latency, it’s running at a very impressive 240hz QHD/1440p. Some laptops with these ultra-high refresh rates don’t have the specs to actually run games to take advantage of this, but the beauty of the Stealth 17 is that it does. Some premium gaming laptops will push their screens to 360hz @ 1080p, but I think that opting for 1440p is much better. The resolution increase will be more significant (I’d argue even for many e-sports enthusiasts) than the diminishing returns of 240hz vs 360hz.

I’m so impressed with this laptop. It’s a pricey offering but the specs, build quality and thermal solution are classic examples of getting what you pay for. If you’re serious about buying the most powerful laptop possible, this is the pick for you.

Cheapest Gaming Laptop on Amazon: Lenovo IdeaPad 3

Now let’s be clear, I’m being very generous in calling this pick a gaming laptop and I would highly recommend you save up the extra money to at least get the budget Acer Nitro pick above for gaming.

That being said, I appreciate that some readers will be looking for the cheapest laptop for gaming on Amazon, even if that means some serious limitations.

This Lenovo laptop is impressive for its price point. With a capable Ryzen 5 3500U processor, 8GB DDR4 RAM & a 256GB SSD. You can still expect it to be a decent runner for general usage and office work.

For games, you’ll be relying on the integrated Vega 8 graphics; which still do a semi-decent job on older titles. You’ll be able to run games like Fortnite, Minecraft, and league of legends on lower settings.

Another credit to the IdeaPad 3 is that it has a nice build quality for its price. It’s a very slim, lightweight laptop that would be ideal for travel.

If your budget is very tight and you need a new PC now; then as long as you can respect that this is a lightgaming PC, you’re still getting excellent value.

Alternative Picks

The top 5 picks are our main favorite choices for your various budgets when considering the best gaming laptop on Amazon.

That being said, we’ve included some additional worthy choices for some other price brackets that are popular – we’d still recommend these laptops if they work for your budget.

Best Gaming Laptop under $1,200 on Amazon: ASUS TUF506IV-AS76

Between our top 2 picks is a choice that doesn’t upgrade the GPU, but does offer a fantastic design, upgraded processor, and impressive 1TB SSD. We featured one of the cheaper TUF models in our best 144HZ laptops feature.

Best Gaming Laptop under $800 on Amazon: Acer Nitro 5 RTX 3050

Inbetween our top overall and top budget picks is space for this fantastic Acer Nitro 5 unit – Getting an RTX 3050 for this price is still excellent if it’s as far as you can go.

Second Best Amazon Gaming Laptop under $1,200: Acer Predator Helios 300

One other very decent option in this price range was worth calling out; this doesn’t have the same storage capacity as the ASUS laptop but has an improved thermal solution and fantastic 3ms response time which is why we ranked it at the top of our list for high-refresh-rate laptops, perfect for competitive gaming.

Best Amazon Gaming Laptop under $1,500 Alternative: ASUS ROG Strix G15

Now if you’re up for spending a little more than our second pick, this is one of the top gaming laptops on Amazon by ASUS. And their ROG brand really stands out with its fantastic design. For the extra price, you’re getting 240Hz and more storage, so worth considering.

Best Laptop under $2,000 on Amazon: CUK MSI GP65 Leopard

If you like the look of our best laptop under $1,500 pick, but want something with a little higher spec, this is a great future-proofed choice (it won’t get you much more performance in gaming, but it’s RAM, CPU, and storage are very impressive for other tasks).