Buying a Gaming Laptop Under $300

Gaming laptops are generally more expensive than regular notebook computers, so it’s important to know what your budget is before making a purchase. If you’re shopping for a gaming laptop under 300 dollars, keep four specs in mind: frame rates, display size and resolution, port availability, and battery life.

For a gaming laptop under $300, you’ll want to make sure the GPU (graphics processing unit) can handle modern games at playable frame rates. That means that the GPU can keep up with the CPU, and can display games at a high resolution without suffering from lag or slowdowns.

A dedicated graphics card will also help you get better performance out of a laptop, especially when running demanding games at higher settings. A dedicated graphics card will also allow you to connect an external monitor or HDTV for a more immersive gaming experience.

You’ll also want to make sure that the laptop has enough ports for your needs, including at least one USB-C port, HDMI 2.1, and an Ethernet port. Some laptops will cut down on the number of ports in order to achieve a sleeker form factor, so be sure you check before you buy!

If you’re looking for a gaming laptop that can last more than two hours playing at high frame rates, you’ll want to make sure the battery is strong enough. This is particularly true for gaming laptops under $300, where the CPU and GPU can quickly deplete the battery.

The HP Victus 16 is an example of a gaming laptop under $300 that offers good battery life while still being powerful enough to run most games at medium or high settings. Its AMD processor is more efficient than the competing Intel models, so it can extend your battery life while maintaining a decent gaming experience.

For a gaming laptop under 300, you’ll want to make sure the keyboard has sufficient travel and actuation force, and that it has a good amount of tactility so that you can feel when you’ve hit a key. It’s also important that the trackpad is large enough to be useful for navigating menus and UI elements.

While most gaming laptops under $300 have a single SSD drive, it’s worth considering buying a model with a dual-drive configuration. This will allow you to use the faster SSD for your operating system and a few of your favorite games, while using the larger hard drive to store your library of older or less-recent games that don’t require fast loading times.

Unless you’re in the market for an 18-inch powerhouse, most laptops under $1,000 offer 14-inch displays. This makes them portable and easy to carry around, but they don’t sacrifice any gaming performance. The Razer Blade 16 OLED RTX 4070, for example, offers a great combination of performance and screen size.