Top line gaming laptops come with powerful processors, good graphics cards having dedicated video memory, higher display resolutions, and typically range between $1000- $1500.
These machines utilize the latest available hardware, and more than often maintain Intel 7th Gen Core i7700 HQ Quad Core processors to be their standard processor, or high end video cards such as Nvidia GeForce GTX or AMD Radeon RX to be their standard graphics card, and of course more memory.
The configuration though on a higher side, helps to reduce the heat generation even while playing the most aggressive games, and boosts up the overall efficiency and performance of the machine.
So if you are a serious gamer, you may have to shell out that extra cash – to get the ultimate gaming experience.
1. Acer Predator Helios 300 G3-571-77QK 15.6-Inch Laptop
Acer Predator Helios 300 G3-571-77 QK is powered by 7th Generation Kaby Lake Intel i7-7700HQ quad core processor (up to 3.8GHz and 6MB smart cache). It has an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 (VR ready) graphics card and 16GB DDR4 RAM.
The configuration is enough to run all your favorite games and intensive applications without any noticeable lag.
Apart from that, it includes a 256GB M.2 sata SSD and 1TB sata HDD as the storage devices, a USB 3.0 port, 802.11 a/c wireless and a display resolution of 1920×1080 with the IPS technology.
The laptop measures 15.4 x 10.5 x 1.1 inches, weighs around 12 pounds and is loaded with Windows 10 Home edition. It offers a decent battery life of up to 7 hours.
What we like
- Decent battery life
- Good performance
What we don’t like
- Heavy
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2. Acer Aspire VX 15 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop
Acer Aspire VX 15 laptop itself gives the appearance of a gaming system with its red lid accents, and is perfect for playing both old and new games.
It comes with the 7th Gen Intel core i7 processor (up to 3.8GHz), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5 VRAM) graphics card and 16GB DDR4 memory.
It includes a 256GB SSD storage device,1x USB 2.0 port, 3x USB 3.0 ports, Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit Ethernet, headphone/mic jack etc. The 15.6 inches screen has a full HD IPS display resolution of 1920X1080.
The laptop weighs approximately 5.51 pounds and measures 15.3 x 10.4 x 1.1 inches in size, and is loaded with Windows 10 operating system. It offers six hours of battery life.
What we like
- Decent design and build
- Above average battery life
- Affordable
- Performance/price ratio is great
- Supports M.2 PCle NVMe SSD
What we don’t like
- TN panel unsatisfactory
- Noticeable heat dispersion during heavy load
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3. Dell Inspiron i7559 15.6-Inch UHD Touchscreen Laptop
Dell Inspiron i7559 carries a sleek matte black look and is great for gaming or heavy duty processing.
It is powered by Intel quad core i7-6700HQ 2.6 GHz processor (up to 3.50 GHz and 6M Smart Cache) and has NVIDIA Geforce GTX 960M 4GB GDDR5 graphic card plus 16GB DDR3L SDRAM.
The device also has 1TB Hard Disk Drive with 8GB SSD Flash Cache Hybrid drive for storage, 3x USB3.0 ports, wireless connectivity (802.11abg, 802.11bgn, Bluetooth 4.0) and more. The 15.6″ UHD IPS 4K LED-backlit Truelife Touchscreen comes with a display resolution of 3840 x 2160 that makes for a great viewing and gaming experience.
The laptop runs on Windows 10 Professional, and weighs approximately 6.61 pounds and comes in dimension of 10.4 x 15.1 x 1 inches.
What we like
- Stylish chassis
- Easy to maintain
- Illuminated keyboard
- Good touchpad
- Great performance
What we don’t like
- If you try to twist it, you’ll hear some loud creaking
- Lacks optical drive
- Not torsion-resistant
- Mediocre keyboard
- Screen is very glossy
- Touch isn’t always useful
- Fan control can be annoying
- High power consumption under heavy load
- Subpar turbo utilization
4. MSI GL73 9SDK-219
MSI is a gaming beast and has been in the arena for years. In order to enhance the gaming experience, its laptops come with dedicated gaming configuration and well-built body chassis with the red MSI logo on its aluminum lid.
These laptops are often big, red and black, though the Stealth Thin does something more subdued, but you can’t miss the trademark dragon logo.
It also includes the Dragon Center software that was recently redesigned, allowing for multiple performance profiles, system monitoring, customizing keyboard backlighting, and controlling of the fans.
This particular model sports a Full HD, large 17.3 inch display with 144Hz refresh rate for smooth gameplay, an Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB RAM.
An NVidia GeForce GTX 1660Ti graphics card is included with 6GB memory, and a 512GB NVMe solid state drive for storage.
Aesthetically, the laptop has an RGB backlit keyboard that matches with its character, and 5 hours continuous usage, so you get decent value for money in the overall package.
What we like
- Smooth gameplay
- Decent value for money
- Well-built chassis
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5. Lenovo Legion Y7000
This mainstream gaming laptop is light in weight and has a sleek premium look and feel.
It offers premium features wrapped in a thin profile. These include a strong core i7 CPU, NVidia GTX 1060 GPU in a stylish chassis, wildly, vivid 15.6-inch display with a comfortable, punchy keyboard, and solid battery life.
Despite its awkwardly placed webcam and irritating speakers, it’s a great gaming laptop at an affordable price, offering impressive gaming power.
Its Full-HD IPS anti-glare display delivers clear, yet crisp visuals from a wide viewing angle, plus you get more display and less bezel.
The combination of its RAM and processor make for an efficient multitasking experience.
You can quickly find and access your frequently used programs and store all your favorite games in its 128GB SSD and 1TB HDD. If you still want more storage space, you can connect an external drive via USB ports.
What we like
- Solid battery life
- Premium features
- Affordable
- Quality gaming
- Good storage
- Crisp, clear display and visuals
What we don’t like
- Awkwardly placed webcam
- Irritating speakers
6. Dell G7 15
This new G Series brand from Dell is a stylish and moderately powerful gaming laptop that pairs bold colors with a sophisticated design.
While it doesn’t look like a typical laptop for gamers, it packs powerful features that deliver an immersive experience at an affordable price.
It’s outfitted with a core i7 processor, NVidia 1060 Max-Q GPU, 8GB/16GB RAM, 1TB HDD, and a 15.6 inch 1080p display.
This laptop consistently performs above expectations and rocks a sports-like design, making it look like nothing Dell has ever made.
Beyond the good looks, you get specs that can deliver solid mid level gaming performance and loud audio.
The downsides are the sluggish hard drive and dim display that keep this laptop from scoring high points among the greats.
However, it’s cut from a different cloth compared to the Alienware or Inspiron brands so it has its own identity.
Thanks to its graphics card, gamers can get good frame rates on graphically intensive games, on a budget.
What we like
- Striking, bold design
- Strong gaming performance
- Good battery life
- Affordable
What we don’t like
- Shallow keyboard
- Dim display
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7. MSI GS65 Stealth Thin
This is one of MSI’s slimmest gaming laptops that measures 0.7 inches thick and weighs a mere 4.1 pounds. It features an Intel core i7 processor, which offers a 20 percent higher performance than the previous version.
An NVidia GTX 1070 Max-Q graphics card is squeezed into the machine’s slim frame, plus massive storage of 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage.
As a gaming laptop, the display needs to be visually pleasing, which is why MSI added a 15.6 inch 1080p display to this laptop.
Overall, you’ll enjoy great performance, excellent audio quality and impressive battery life while you play your favorite games.
What we like
- Great performance and graphics
- Slim
- Beautiful design
- Light weight
- Great display
- Impressive battery life
- Less bezel
- Excellent audio quality
What we don’t like
- Tends to get hot while gaming
8. Acer Aspire V15 Nitro black edition
This Acer Aspire laptop doesn’t scream gaming, so you can carry it with you anywhere without worrying that it’ll stand out.
It doesn’t have the fancy bold color schemes with most gaming laptops, but sports a more professional look so you can still go with it to work or school.
The V15 Nitro Black Edition features an i7-7700HQ Kaby lake processor, with a GTX 9XX graphics card, and 16GB RAM to complement the powerful processor, with support for up to 32GB.
It’s one of the most successful lineups of gaming laptops since 2015, and comes with lots of improvements that add it to this list.
A 15.6 IPS screen offers a vivid, crisp display with excellent viewing angles, plus essential and necessary ports such as HDMI with HDCP, Thunderbolt 3, two USB 3.0 ports, and two USB 2.0 ports.
It’s also portable what with its light weight and fits in most bags or laptop sleeves effortlessly, but it doesn’t have an optical drive if you’re not playing digital games.
The storage is huge, with a primary 256GB hard drive and a 1TB 5400 HDD secondary drive. Its audio quality is good what with its four built-in, Acer TrueHarmony speakers, with two fans that keep the system cool during intense gaming.
For aesthetics, a red backlit keyboard with Chiclet keys is included for that gaming feel, though the keys are a bit too crowded as there’s no space in between them.
What we like
- Great audio
- Tamed design
- Great performance
- Powerful graphics card
- Thunderbolt 3
What we don’t like
- Fans can be noisy
- Slow hard drive
- Keys are too crowded
- Poor quality webcam
What To Look For In A Gaming Laptop Under $1500
If you’re working with a budget under $1500, you can get a great gaming laptop at this price if you know what options are available in the market.
A gaming laptop combines the latest and highly advanced hardware that’ll deliver an immersive experience just like what you’d get on a gaming PC.
Here are some of the powerful specs to consider when looking for a gaming laptop in that budget range:
Processor
Gaming can’t be great without a powerful processor. Getting a fast and latest processor comes with several benefits, plus you can install and play games that are more intense and complicated.
A dual core processor by Intel is preferable owing to its outstanding performance.
Look for minimum processing speeds of at least 2 GHz or higher for the best experience. Other specs can be adjusted based on your budget.
In this case, look for a 7th or 8th generation i7 processor, as it is Intel’s flagship processor, and can play the latest high graphics games.
Graphics card
A graphics card completes the gaming laptop. For such a budget, you can get at least 4GB in a graphics card, and if it’s more than that, then you have a great deal on your hands.
This is a key component in enjoying heavy graphical games, without which you may not play most of the heavy gaming stuff.
It needs its own storage for buttery smooth gameplay, especially if you’re fond of 3D games – you need an advanced graphics card.
Avoid integrated graphics if you’re expecting outstanding performances from your laptop.
Memory
The laptop you want is meant for playing high-end games, which is why you’re spending money on it. In this budget range, expect at least 16GB RAM, which is enough power to run all high graphics games with no lag. If you get more than 16GB, it’s still a good deal.
RAM is another very important component, as it is your laptop’s onboard memory and is essential in the smooth running of games on your machine.
Storage
Most laptops today come with dual storage segments like HDD+SSD drive. The secondary SSD is costlier but much faster, which is why high-end laptops offer a smaller SSD and big HDD.
This helps run the operating system and its related files a lot faster.
Larger hard drives store multimedia files better, so you don’t need to buy external hard drives if the current one has good storage capacity.
However, you can always update your storage later, or connect your external hard drive to your laptop.
Many brands are offering more than 1TB storage hard drives in this budget range.
Wrap Up
Gaming laptops have improved since their introduction to the market. Besides improvements in their specifications, their aesthetics and designs have also changed over the years.
However, the added advantage of being portable tends to come with lesser performance from the laptops’ components, plus the pricing.
If you’re to build a gaming laptop, your budget can go a long way in determining the kind of rig you’ll get ultimately.
If we compare the processors installed in the gaming laptops we’ve reviewed to high-end laptop and desktop processors, there’ll be a huge difference in terms of pricing and performance too.
Similarly, if you decide to handpick your components in order to build a PC gaming rig, it gives you more control over the performance your build can deliver.
This is better than using laptops that let you upgrade only certain parts like hard drives and memory, which are dependent on the device manufacturer.
Our top gaming laptop picks for the under $1500 budget come with an attractive look, powerful internals for smooth gameplay, and they’re powerful enough on their own terms.
We hope you’ll find your best one from our suggestions. Feel free to get in touch through a comment and we’d be happy to help.
