The best gaming laptop under $600: 5 budget gaming laptops in 2022
We pick out the best Intel and AMD gaming laptops for $600 and less
This guide will lay out all you need to know if you’re looking for the best gaming laptop under 600 USD. We have listed five of the best gaming laptops in this price range, which each offer something different for the consumer. Each review goes through the core specifications of GPU, CPU, memory, display quality, etc. to help you pick the right one in this price bracket. If your budget can stretch to whatever it needs to be to get the ideal mobile gaming machine, then instead read our best gaming laptop page.
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Is the best gaming laptop under 600 USD worth buying?
Gaming laptops are the obvious answer to those who don’t fancy lugging a desktop PC around, though their size means sacrifices must be made performance-wise. The best gaming laptops under 600 USD are only ever going to be able to comfortably play less demanding or older games on the medium to high settings – newer, more demanding games will need higher budget machines.
We suggest you have a brief look through the Things to consider when buying a gaming laptop under $600 section further down this page to get a quick overview of what you need to know when shopping for gaming laptops in this price range.
Our Top Picks
The best gaming laptops under $600 in 2022
In-depth Review
Acer Nitro AN515 Gaming Laptop
Acer Nitro AN515 Gaming Laptop
This Acer Nitro AN515 brand new is somewhat beyond the $600 mark in terms of its MSRP, though we have seen it come down to this point in both sales and as a refurbished product. Given it’s rare to find a dedicated GPU of this power in this price range, going for the refurb should definitely be considered.
The Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics card and Intel i5-10300H processor pack a big punch for a cheap machine, and will be able to generate FPS above 100 for games such as CS:GO when the graphics are turned down. The 60Hz display is less than ideal, though it’s the best you’ll get for this amount of money. Similarly, the 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM are to be expected but can be upgraded further.
The ports on this machine are pretty much average, it also is heavier than many on this list but that is to be expected, given the more powerful components. The color gamut is limited, but if you want better you’ll have to spend more money. The brightness of the display could also be better. Overall though, given the power of the two main core components, there’s no reason you shouldn’t purchase this laptop if you can find it for around $600.
Acer Aspire 5 A515-43-R6DE Slim Laptop
Acer Aspire 5 A515-43-R6DE Slim Laptop
The Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop A515-43-R6DE is an AMD-powered laptop that comes with the Ryzen 3700U processor as well as RX Vega 10 onboard graphics. As is typical with AMD CPUs, the multicore performance on the processor is better than the closest competing Intel processor, meaning that you will get superior performance in most workstation tasks. At this budget, you’re going to be limited in power for such workstation uses, but for a new gaming laptop for c.$600 this is the best you will get.
The RX Vega 10 onboard graphics are again superior in this AMD machine, but you’ll still be limited to playing newer, more demanding games on the lowest settings. As is to be expected, the display is limited to 60Hz but actually has a decent color gamut for a budget machine, though it’s not suitable for color-accurate work.
In all other respects the Aspire 5 comes specced out with the best you can expect: it has a good battery life (expect at least 5 hours for intensive general usage i.e. non-gaming), and is pleasingly lightweight and thin, making it nicely portable. This combined with its reserved look make it a great choice for an office machine. The 512GB SSD is very nice at this price level, though can be updated further should you wish. An SD card reader would have been nice, but overall, this is a solid value machine.
ASUS F512DA-EB51 VivoBook 15 Thin And Light Laptop
ASUS F512DA-EB51 VivoBook 15 Thin And Light Laptop
This configuration of the ASUS VivoBook 15 is the best laptop you will find on the lower end of this price range at the time of writing. It has the usual selection of ports, although lacks an SD card reader, comes with a 720p webcam, and is the most lightweight and slimline laptop on this ist. It has a 256GB SSD and comes with 8GB of RAM which can be upgraded.
Battery-wise you can only expert to get a few hours out of this Vivobook doing strenuous, non-gaming tasks, and the fans are about as loud as you’d expect for a gaming laptop. The 60Hz display has about average brightness and color replication for this price point – i.e. nothing to write home about.
Regarding the most important point: gaming power, there is no getting around the fact that the AMD Quad Core R5-3500U CPU and AMD RX Vega 8 onboard graphics won’t be able to produce playable frames on the latest games unless your graphics are turned right down. Even then some titles may be unplayable on this machine – generally we’d advise sticking to slightly older, less demanding games. Nevertheless, this is not any different from any new laptop at this price point, and the ASUS F512DA-EB51 VivoBook 15 offers the same, if not better components than many of the competition and at a cheaper price.
HP Pavilion Laptop (AMD Ryzen 5 3500U)
HP Pavilion Laptop (AMD Ryzen 5 3500U)
This version of the HP Pavilion 15.6” laptop comes with a AMD Ryzen 5 3500U CPU and onboard AMD Radeon Vega 8 graphics, neither of which are particularly powerful. Although you’ll be able to run undemanding games decently on this machine, everything else will have to be on the lowest settings. The 60Hz display is more or less what you’d expect at this price point, with a poor max brightness and not so great color gamut, but not significantly worse than most other selections on this page.
The 128GB SSD is wholly inadequate for gaming usage, and you’ll likely only be able to fit a few games on it following the installation of your OS. That being said, the inclusion of the 1TB HDD is a welcome form of compensation, and you’ll want to put as much of your non-gaming files on here as possible to maximize your limited SSD space.
The laptop does have some things in its favour however. It runs quite cool for a gaming laptop, and yet still has remarkably quiet fans: though you will notice the noise under load, they’re a lot quieter than most gaming laptops. Unfortunately this probably contributes to the draining of the battery, which you can only expect to last around 3 hours under strenuous loads.
At present pricing then, we can’t really recommend this laptop for gaming compared to other examples on this list, which come switch significantly more for around the same price, or in the case of the ASUS F512DA-EB51 VivoBook, with the same CPU and GPU but for substantially cheaper and with a 256GB SSD (although it does lack an SD card reader).
Acer Aspire 5 A515-54-51DJ Slim Laptop
Acer Aspire 5 A515-54-51DJ Slim Laptop
In many aspects, this laptop is similar to the other version of the Acer Aspire laptop reviewed above, except this version comes with an Intel CPU and onboard graphics, rather than AMD. This particular version however only comes with a 256GB SSD, which is unfortunate, and something we’d recommend upgrading at a later point. Besides this, as with the other version, there is a decent array of ports, and the weight of the laptop is fairly light. The 60Hz IPS screen also has good color replication for this price point. As before, there is no SD card reader.
Generally, we’d recommend going with the AMD version of the laptop rather than this one, unless you are a hardcore Intel fan, as both the Ryzen 7 3700U CPU and onboard Vega 10 graphics are much more powerful in that version, not to mention the additional disk space. Indeed, both the CPU and onboard graphics performance in our Budget Pick the ASUS F512DA-EB51 VivoBook are superior, despite only coming with Vega 8 graphics. The only real advantage is that you will find this Intel Core i5-8265 version for a slightly lower price, though relative to the performance and utility you lose out on, we’d say this particular saving isn’t really worth it.
Final Word
So there you have it, this has been our list of the best gaming laptops for under $600 in 2022.
To reiterate, the Acer Aspire 5 A515-43-R6DE Slim Laptop is the best option if you’re looking for something new, but we’d consider going with a refurbished model such as the Acer Nitro AN515 if you actually want to get some decent gaming performance, as the specifications you can get for the same price are much more powerful.
Please see the side of this page for recommended laptop guides for different budgets if you didn’t find what you’re looking for here, including the best gaming laptop under $700 and best gaming laptop under $800 guides.
If there’s any particular laptop you’d like us to cover that we haven’t already, please also leave a comment below.
