Home » Laptops » Top 10 Best gaming laptops under 500 [reviews] buying guide 2021

Top 10 Best gaming laptops under 500 [reviews] buying guide 2021

Best gaming laptops under 500: Don’t you love playing games like Fallout 4? Obviously, when you have reached searching for the best laptop for gaming, you love playing games. But, that’s not the question here. The question is, do you like having a dedicated laptop for gaming, the laptop that is specially built for gaming to perform under demanding graphic situation? This is where most of us think that we cannot afford it. And to some extent, we are very true, because gaming laptops cost arms and legs. They usually have to perform high-graphics oriented tasks that are why they should be adorned with the bulky specification.

See Our other reviews of gaming laptops for  fallout 4 , Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5) and minecraft, or budget gaming laptops under 400,  8001200150020002500 and more.

But, this does not mean we should stop digging the internet in search of the best budget laptops. If we could go deeper and search the specs that make the laptop enough good for gaming, I think we can grab the best laptops for gaming under 500 dollars.

I mean, yes there will be some areas where we might have to compromise. Like, under this budget we might not have a bulky SSD storage or brighter display with other catchy features onboard. But, we can look for a good graphics card, enough powerful to help us run the games we play most of the time.

So, we tried, and I think the list coming next is going to make your day. These are the best laptops that can help you play most of the games, and make you roll hands-on other heavy tasks as well. Without further delays, let’s get started.

Our picks of Top 10 Best gaming laptops under 500 USD Product Reviews in 2021

1) Acer Aspire 5

Acer Aspire 5

Acer is not a gaming laptop brand. But, recently, the brand has decided to put their feet into the gaming zone. And from the campaign and its sales, it is quite evident that Acer has been quite impressively successful. Because Acer Aspire 5 is taken as an affordable option for gaming for average gamers. I would not call it a laptop for gaming for avid gamers, but a novice to average gamers.

It comes equipped with an 8th Gen processor, imagine having a laptop for 500 dollars that comes installed with the 8th Generation processor.  8th Generation Intel Core i5-8265U Processor with a clock speed of 3.9 GHz is going to help you sail through any amount of processing without any issue. You take it for gaming, for heavy processing, for video streaming, and much more in the row without getting slowed down.

It comes powered with 8GB RAM. The added ram size is quite sufficient for gaming, as gamers mostly do not require much of the physical memory; they require a discrete graphics card. So, you can rely on the machine for gaming at this RAM size.

The storage section is also comes adorned with a pretty good storage amount. With 256GB SSD storage, you can fill it up with the games you like the most without slowing the speed down. It is an SSD storage, 17-times faster than traditional storages. And storage size comes with an extra slot to help gamers extend the storage up to 2TB SSD.

The screen of this laptop is quite impressive. With 15.6 inches FHD display with IPS panels, larger and sharper angles, you are going to get quite impressive images and videos produced on the screen. Above that, the screen comes with anti-glare coating to protect your eyesight from damage. You can view the screen even on the sunny hot days without any big issue.

The loose bond here in this machine is none other than its graphics card. It does not include a dedicated graphics card; it comes with a UHD 620 integrated graphics card which is capable of running most of the games when paired with a powerful CPU. Our case is the best example for that, we got a powerful CPU, so can get things rolling.

Pros
  • Powerful CPU
  • The screen is brighter
  • Lighter
  • Enough powerful to run average games
Cons
  • No discrete graphics
  • Can catch heat in a short time

2) HP 15.6″ Touchscreen Laptop

HP 15.6" Touchscreen Laptop

Before you look at the specs of this laptop, just look at the price. It comes in hands for around 400 dollars and offers a superior line of configuration. The laptop is one of the best budget machines to play games at low to average settings. Yes, it is not for dedicated AA titles, you would not be able to run those games over here.

The laptop comes powered with 7th Gen Intel Core i5-7200U Processor that reaches up to 3.70 GHz clock speed. From the performance-wise, the laptop’s processor goes beyond our expectations and offers superior processing power to tackle big loads.

It comes equipped with 8GB DDR4 RAM which is powerful and helps you quickly switch different apps and programs. The ram size is what gamers require, gamers often settle for the added ram size, as the size is enough to help run games.

The laptop comes with bulky storage space. You get hands-on 2TB HDD storage; imagine having a 2TB storage for the price of 400 dollars? The only thing is, it is not an SSD storage, that’s why you may have to suffer for loading and booting.

The keyboard looks great. The keys are good for the price, well-spaced. These are membrane keys but looks premium. It is not a backlit keyboard and we must not call for one for the price.

The laptop comes powered with 15.6 Inches HD WLED backlit display. The display is brighter, 1366 x 768 resolution with 10-finger multi-touch support.

This laptop as well does not come with a discrete graphics card. I think the price would not let the brand to come up with a discrete graphics card. But the other specs would let you play games of your desires, with low to average settings. I am not talking about the latest titles or AAA titles.

Pros
  • 2TB HDD storage
  • Good physical memory
  • Multi-touch display
  • Premium built
Cons
  • No SSD storage
  • No discrete graphics card

3)  Dell Inspiron 15 5000

Dell Inspiron 15 5000

The processor is one of the most important features for gaming. If the processor is good enough, you may not require a discrete graphics card for average gaming. Today’s processors come with integrated graphics cards which renders enough power to sail through lots of games. Again, I am not discussing AAA titles; these must be fewer graphics-oriented games.

This laptop comes powered with the 8th Gen Intel i5-8250U processor quad-core processor. You know that quad-core processors are great for handling complex processing. The updated version of the processor offers dozens of times better processing speed. Here the processor comes with an integrated 620 graphics card, great at handling lots of games.

The storage and ram section as well fills with adequate sizes. The storage section is entertained with 1TB HDD storage, no SSD storage here as well. But, it comes with an extra slot that helps users to extend the storage. The extra slot can be filled with an SSD, get 128GB SSD to speed-up the processing power as well as loading and booting.

The same goes for the RAM. It comes with 8GB SDRAM to help you handle multitasking. The ram size is more than what gamers might require. But, here as well, if you think the ram size is not enough, get an extra ram and fills that up.

The best feature of this budget gaming laptop is its backlit keyboard. The laptop comes with a backlit keyboard; the keys are soft and smooth and offer stunning travel speed. The display as well is great, 15.6 inches FHD display with IPS panels, larger and sharper viewing angles. The display is vivid, clear, and helps users to experience an immersive view. It as well comes with multi-touch support, get the smoother touching experience.

The icing on the cake, the laptop comes with all required connectivity and ports option to help connect the device with the external media. The speakers are more than just great, they fill up a small conference room with the voice and offers an immersive listening experience.

Pros
  • Quad-core processor
  • Enough ports and connectivity options
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Enough physical memory
Cons
  • No discrete graphics
  • No SSD storage

4) ASUS VivoBook F510UA

 ASUS VivoBook F510UA

ASUS is a leading name in gaming laptop production. The brand has more than one line up ranking on the top of one of the biggest shopping portals around the world. The brand has an affordable lineup for gamers as well, those who cannot afford premium range laptops, they can get their gaming zeals fulfilled using the ASUS F510UA machine.

The laptop comes with the best processor on our list. If you get the right processor grabbed, half of the work is done. As gaming largely depends on processors, and if the processor is not enough good, there should be a discrete graphics card to help in visual processing done.

This comes equipped with 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U Processor that reaches up to 3.6Ghz clock speed. The speed and power of the processor are on par, helps you sail through any tasks that come through your ways.

It comes powered with Intel HD 620 graphics card, the integrated graphics card help in running games at low to average settings. Obviously, the integrated graphics card cannot help you run AA titles.

This ASUS designed laptop comes filled with 1TB HDD storage. The storage size is good enough to help you store your favorite movies and games without struggling. This storage size is not an SSD type, so you may have one SSD storage to fill up the extra slot and make things working for you. As SSD storages are faster and make the things run smoother.

The ram section is rightly filled with adequate physical memory. It comes filled with 8GB DDR4 RAM. The ram size is just ideal; you cannot have better than this for the price mentioned.

The laptop has to share a stunning display. It comes in 15.6 inches FHD IPS type display with anti-glare panels and ASUS software enhancement to help viewers have an immersive viewing experience. The laptop has to share a stunning 80-percent screen to body ratio, enhanced viewing area.

This laptop comes with a Chiclet keyboard. The keyboard has to share well-spaced keys, with improved typing experience, enhanced travel speed and makes an impressive typing device for hours long typing sessions.

All in all, the laptop hits the right chord for average games, and makes the right choice without struggling.

Pros
  • Mammoth of storage
  • 8TH Gen processor
  • Brighter FHD display
  • 8GB RAM
Cons
  • No SSD storage

5) Acer Aspire E 15

Acer Aspire E 15

If you are looking for a sleek and slim looking laptop that runs for a long time in a single charging, get a hands-on Acer designed E15 laptop. It is the second iteration of Acer, which indicates how famous the brand is in affordable range laptops.

It is a quite popular and powerful laptop. It comes equipped with every possible feature that average gamers would like to seek in their device. It is a good looking machine, made a good option for frequent travelers.

It comes powered with 8th Gen Intel core i3 8130U Processor that reaches up to 3.2 GHz clock speed to make your processing smoother and error-free. You get all your processing done without any glitches, the addition of Intel HD 620 integrated graphics make the laptop even smoother. This helps running games at 1080P with good frame rates.

The good looking laptop makes a good option because it comes featured with good memory as well as good storage. It has to share a 6GB dual-channel memory that makes the beast go smoother and handles every type of loading without any issue. The memory might not be that good compare to other laptops, as it lacks 2GB compare to the other. The storage section is filled with 1TB HDD storage, which is good to store bulky games. Again, to get a smoother gameplay experience, users should prefer SSD storage, which is expensive. But, you can upgrade this spec, and get your memory filled with an SSD using the extra slot.

It comes with 15.6 inches FHD screen with thick bezels. The screen has to share anti-glare panels and sharper angles to make your viewing experience seamless.

The laptop has to share a standard keyboard. The keys are soft, with improved travel speed, no or minimum noise to help users enjoy longer typing sessions without putting a strain on their fingers and hands.

The Acer’s E15 comes integrated with all connectivity and ports option to make you connect it with external media devices to get a smoother transfer experience. It has a good line of USB ports, HDMI port, Headphone jack, and much more in the row.

Pros
  • Affordable price range
  • Good storage capacity
  • Slim laptop
  • Good for traveling
Cons
  • No discrete graphics
  • No SSD

6) Lenovo 15.6 Signature Laptop

Lenovo 15.6 Signature Laptop

If you are looking for a laptop that offers stunning graphics performance, then do not pass Lenovo designed signature laptop. It comes with a discrete graphics card, shares a powerful CPU, good memory, and physical memory to make your gaming experience worthy.

Actually, the laptop comes powered with an AMD processor. Yes, AMD has improved a lot and offers stunning processors good enough for gamers to get their gaming reached the next level. It comes powered with AMD Quad-Core FX-7500 processor that goes up to 3.30 GHz processing. The processor is on par, when pairs with discrete AMD Quad-core Radeon R7 graphics card with shared memory, brings forth immense graphics processing. This is the laptop we can rely on for running AAA titles. The laptop is impressive, and for dedicating gaming, the machine is going to offer seamless performance.

Its other specs are also good enough for gaming. Such as it comes with 8GB DDR4 RAM, the ram is good to go for the gamers and others.

It comes with 1TB HDD storage to help you store your favorite movies, files, and other data without giving a second thought to anything. Yes, the storage is not SSD, you might feel the speed is not that good, booting time is taking more than average and transfer speed is not that impressive. To get these issues resolved, you may get the help of SSD storage, get the extra SSD stored in your storage slot, and make things smoother.

It comes with a 15.6 inches IPS type HD display with LED and resolution of 1366 x 768. The display is there to render smoother, brighter, and crisper images. You will be able to enjoy a clear display without skipping out a single color.

The laptop comes with a traditional keyboard without backlit support. The laptop is good, improved typing experience with good ergonomics.

This laptop comes with all the required ports and connectivity options. You get a good bundle of ports, headphones jack, and other connectivity options to make your laptop using experience worth.

Pros
  • Powerhouse processor
  • Discrete graphics card with shared memory
  • Great battery runtime
  • Good for traveling
Cons
  • No SSD storage

7) Lenovo Ideapad 330

Lenovo Ideapad 330

If you are looking for a laptop that you could take along on traveling and get amused, this laptop makes a great pick. It is a slim looking, ultra-lightweight laptop which is also famous for its nickname ‘transportable notebook’.

The laptop looks great; the cover is made of aluminum. It is quite robust made and can withstand roughness on traveling.

It comes with an AMD processor, dual-core 7th Generation AMD A9-9425 processor is going to make your processing skyrocketing. You can get anything complex onboard, and without struggling get passed of that. The processor got enough power to make you process games, and let you enjoy games without single turbulence.

The laptop comes with a discrete graphics card. Yes, you heard it right for the price around $350, you get a discrete graphics card to fulfill your gaming desires. It has to share AMD Radeon R5 Graphics, which is good to go for the beginners and average gamers alike.

This laptop comes with 8GB DDR4 RAM. The ram size is standard, good enough to help you roll hands on any game at low to average settings. The multitasking would be on par for the physical memory we are going to get in this machine.

The storage is the thing that appealed to us the most. It comes with an SSD storage, the storage is enough good to help you store your things without facing any issue. It has to share 256GB SSD storage, to help you store favorite movies without slaughtering the loading time, booting time, and transferring speed.

From the display perspective, the laptop makes a good option. It comes fitted with a 15.6 inches IPS type screen with good resolution. The display has to share sharper and larger viewing angles to help the users get to see a brighter screen from any angle without any issue.

It is no doubt, one of the finest Lenovo’s production. It is a power-driven machine that helps users to get hands-on games and other creations. Its ergonomics are great, and specs are just impressive to make it a one-stop-shop for the users.

Pros
  • Great multitasking
  • Light
  • Premium built
  • Discrete graphics
Cons
  • Poor battery

8) Dell Inspiron 15 5575

Dell Inspiron 15 5575

If you are the one who watches lots of movies and casually plays games, Dell’s designed 5575 laptops are going to offer stunning performance. This laptop especially is its display. It comes with a 15.6 inches FHD display with 1080P resolution. The screen adheres to anti-glare panels, larger and sharper angles. The anti-glaring coating installed in the display helps you gaze the screen for a long time without damaging the eyesight. So, whether you are playing games or watching your favorite series, the laptop is there to help you.

This laptop comes powered with AMD Ryzen processor. The Ryzen series processor is taking the processor world by storm and giving a tough competition to Intel processor. The laptop comes powered with AMD Ryzen 5 2500U mobile processor. The added processor is a suitable solution for gamers and other graphics-intensive work.

The processor when paired with AMD Radeon Vega 8 graphics card helps users to bring forth immense graphics processing. The laptop thus can be taken on board for playing games, high-ended games even at low to average settings.

Yes, it comes with a good amount of storage capacity. It has to offer 1TB HDD storage that helps the users to stuff it with the files, movies, games, and other things they like the most. Yes, the absence of an SSD storage is there, and that can be fixed using the extra slot rightly. It comes with an extra slot that can be filled with an SSD of your choice to speed up the system.

It comes with 8GB DDR4 RAM. The ram size as well can be expanded, but as long as games are concerned, you are not required to enhance the ram size; the mentioned ram size is more than enough for gaming.

This laptop is not for travelers actually. It is bulky, weighs 4.7 pounds, and does not make the right choice for the frequent travelers who take the computer along to play games and get their professional things sorted out.

Its battery runtime is good also. With 6-8 hours long battery backup, you are going to get amused without searching for the power cord to juice up the system.

All in all, this laptop makes an ideal choice for gamers due to its ideal specs. It is a laptop that you could use for heavy graphics as well as gaming tasks.

Pros
  • Powerful graphics card
  • Powerhouse processor
  • Stunning display
  • Ideal for gamers
Cons
  • SSD not there
  • Battery life is low

9) ASUS Chromebook Flip C302

ASUS Chromebook Flip C302

If you are looking for an affordable laptop for casual gaming that travels with you, get hands-on ASUS Chromebook Flip c302. You know what makes this laptop stands out, being a budget machine and coming in a premium looking aesthetics. This laptop shares an impressive look; it is made of aluminum chassis which makes it look flawless and clear. It is good to take around; you can easily showcase an aesthetic statement.

The bar-shaped hinges have been changed for this model. Now, it looks smaller, smarter and it is easier to travel with.

It comes powered with Intel Core M3 processors; the processor is not designed for dedicated gaming but casual. The processor though makes it a hands-down option for online browsing. It would not break even you use two chromes simultaneously with dozens of tabs.

The laptop comes with 64GB storage that makes it good to go for frequent travelers to get fast and efficient performance. With 4GB DDR4 dual-channel memory, you get superior multitasking. Again, the laptop is not designed for heavy processing; it is made for casual gaming and other browsing work for traveling.

The laptop is equipped with gyroscopes which makes it a great option for motion-controlled games following virtual reality. It helps you play those games such as Asphalt 8.

It comes with a touchscreen display that rotates 360-degree. The laptop adheres to 12.5 inches FHD touchscreen display that helps uses this laptop for educational purposes as well. The screen is vibrant, and you can transition this machine into a tablet as well.

Another magnificent feature of this laptop is its long battery life. It is a great example of a Chromebook; it offers stunning back up to take it onboard for hour’s long working sessions. It works for around 11-hours in a single charging and helps you watch movies, do other things.

Pros
  • Touchscreen laptop
  • Extended battery life
  • Great for traveling
  • Good for motion traveling games
Cons
  • Not for dedicated gaming

10) Acer Nitro 5

Acer Nitro 5

If you could afford a few tads more prices, then you can have a dedicated gaming laptop to roll hands-on casual to regular games. This laptop from every side looks a complete gaming laptop, its chassis, its look, specs, and performance matches professional gaming and helps gamers to play lots of games without facing single turbulence. It comes equipped with every gaming feature that gamers would require for gaming.

Let’s dive deep and look at what this laptop comes adorned with.

It comes integrated with a discrete graphics card. The laptop has to share NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card that helps users to play their favorite games at favorite settings. Keep in mind, it is GTX 1050 Ti, not just GTX 1050, both are different and have to share different architecture and performance. So, it is way better than the former and let you get hands-on AAA titles easily. The graphics card has also shared a dedicated Vram of 4GB to easily cater to a load of visual performance.

And the laptop comes incorporated with the 8th Generation quad-core processor. The quad-core processors are taken on board for heavy multitasking performance, and in our case, we get to deal with heavy games. This laptop comes powered with the 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8300H quad-core mobile processor. No other laptop on our list can compete with the performance and processor of this laptop.

With 8GB DDR4 dual-channel memory, you get hands-on a superb laptop that handles multitasking. The added ram is more than what we require for the gaming, so without a single doubt, gets hands-on this laptop for gaming.

For storage, the laptop is adorned with 256GB SSD storage. This laptop shares a solid-state drive that helps you to load games at great speed, and get impressive data transfer. The laptop comes with an extra slot to help users to extend the storage space. The storage space can further be expanded up to 1TB HDD by filling up the storage using the extra slot.

This laptop also shares a backlit keyboard. Yes, you heard it right. For the price under 500 dollars price range, you get illuminated keys that help users to type for hours in dim light conditions.

Acer Nitro 5 laptop comes with an impressive cooling mechanism. This mechanism helps users to enjoy superior gaming performance without getting the vital organs reaching thermal throttling.

The Acer Nitro 5 laptop also comes fitted with a 15.6 inches FHD IPS type display with wider and sharper viewing angles. The laptop offers a stunning display to make the viewing experience spellbound. Due to the crystal and clear display, you get brilliant images produced on the screen without skipping out a single color.

As long as the battery life is concerned, this laptop has to share a stunning battery. The battery is one of the very few aspects of this laptop in making this machine a top-selling product on Amazon. It easily withstands as long as 4-6 hours in a single charging.

So, from the specs, you can get an idea of how good this laptop is going to be for gaming. So, without wasting your time, get hand son this stunning laptop with an amazing performance as well.

Pros
  • Dedicated graphics card
  • Long battery life
  • Vibrant Display
  • Perfect cooling mechanism
Cons
  • Bulky

What to look when buying a laptop under $500.

A laptop is a big investment. It is one of those purchases what you can’t make every year. You spend hundreds of dollars out of your hard-earned money, and if you are not careful, this hard-earned money can be wasted. Yes, if you do not look at the specs that make a laptop worthy of the job you ought to do using; your purchase would be worthless.

So, in the next section, we are going to pen down some important aspects to look into a laptop to buy it.

Processor:

CPU aka processor is one of the most important and vital aspects of a laptop. This is the attribute that determines your laptop speed, performance, and how smoothly it will be running your games. As we are spending 500 dollars in a laptop to play games, must look into this feature, otherwise, your money will be gone.

Experts recommend having hands on a core i5 processor to play casual games. If you are an avid gamer, loves to play AAA titles, it is imperative to have an i7 processor. But, for the price, you may not be able to have hands-on an i7 processor with other good specs. So, go at least with the i5 processor and make your gaming laptop enables you to run and play most of the games.

Graphics card:

The Graphics card is the single most important and crucial integration in a gaming laptop. This aspect determines how well your laptop is in running games. Without a discrete graphics card, you cannot play games, leave AAA titles.

But, for the price, I do not think you would be able to grab a laptop with a discrete graphics card. To get this done, you might have to spend some more bucks. Under 500 dollars, we have added a few gaming laptops with a discrete graphics card, have a view of the list, and check which one is those.

For the price, at least you should have a GTX 1050 Graphics card. If not, then look for a powerful processor with an integrated graphics card. As the combo brings immense power to help run good games.

RAM:

Random Access Memory (RAM) is the part of the laptop that determines how many programs your laptop can hold in one time. The larger the ram size, the more the apps and programs your laptop can handle and run without freezing or rendering issues. As we are going to buy a laptop for gaming, look for at least 8GB RAM for gaming. This is the minimum size of RAM in a gaming laptop, experts recommend. Do not settle lower than this for the price, and for the price, we can easily have the mentioned ram size.

Storage:

Gaming in 2021 is one of the resource-intensive tasks. It takes lots of storage to download and install your favorite game. In 2019, one game on average eats up around 50GB out of your storage. So, without good size storage, you cannot strive in gaming.

But for storage, more than the size, the type of storage is important. For today’s games, you cannot compete without having SSD storage. SSDs storage is way quicker and faster than HDDs, and you with SSD storage get an impressive gaming experience. They are good at loading, booting, and transferring data, you get these storages to make your gaming efficient.

But the truth is, for the price we cannot own lots of SSD storage. The best you can own is 256GB SSD storage. So, whether the case is, you will have to use the extra slots that come with laptops. You can use those extra slots and fill them up to match them or today’s gaming.

Display and Resolution:

Display and resolution are some of the core feature gamers give special consideration to. The gaming laptops should come with a brighter display that produces cleaner, smoother, and vivid color games and movies to make you enjoy more.

In the same way, resolutions aka pixel density make the images crisper. With a good resolution, you get a view of the more information produces and rendered on the screen. So, look for a good screen size with a good resolution to get an impressive watching experience.

Battery Life:

The last but not the least important consideration in a gaming laptop should be its battery. Yes, without a good battery backup, you might not enjoy the gaming from its core. Every time you indulge in a gaming online session, and you see battery running short notification. So, you will have to scrub for the power chord to make your laptop lift up its juice to get the games going. So, we recommend a laptop with good battery backup, as much as 4-5 hours in a single charging.

Frequently Asked Questions for Best gaming laptops under 500

Final thoughts:

We have reviewed the best gaming laptops under 500 products. We have eased the burden, done the hard part; you just view the list and compare what suits your needs. For gaming, the amount of 500 dollars is not sufficient. You might have to compromise in some areas, if you could get a good graphics card, you might not be able to grab a fast processor and vice versa. Yes, you will have to bear the trade-off, due to the deficiency in our budget.

Each of these laptops has been chosen after hours of of-long research. We tried to pick the best laptops out of the market and then review their core areas to make you see distinctly what are they good at.

I did not just add the laptop due to good specs, and configuration. I checked their rating, feedbacks and after getting fully satisfied with the performance for the price, added that to the list.

I am hopeful that this list is going to help you pick the best laptop for the price. If you think, the guide has helped you to pick the right product, please share this guide with others.