The 5 best gaming laptops under $1500

Gaming laptops do require some investment and this list will help you to make the ideal choice

Searching the best gaming laptops under $1500 will definitely be a daunting task particularly where there is a whole list of manufacturers to choose from. Luckily for you, the task at hand does not have to be all that arduous because we have compiled the ideal list for you. Since $1500 happens to be the sweet spot for gaming laptop enthusiasts because it delivers impressive hardware and does not sting your conscious or bank account as effectively as those with larger price tags, here is our list of the best gaming laptops under $1500.

1. Gigabyte P55W-BWCUK

15.6 inch gaming laptops have become the norm and Gigabyte’s P55W-BWCUK 15.6-inch mobile gaming machine sports an impressive configuration for the price of $1,249.00. The notebook uses a 14nm Intel Broadwell processors instead of a Skylake and that is completely alright because there is a marginal difference between the two processor lineup. Unfortunately, there is no SSD present, but a single 1TB mechanical hard drive.

However, you will be pleased to know that you can swap the optical drive with a hard drive caddy and insert an SSD inside that. With SATA based SSDs getting cheaper and cheaper, you will effortlessly be able to find a reputable brand and improve your overall speeds. It also has a whopping 16GB of DDR3 RAM, giving you enough memory headroom to deal with multitasking operations. It might just have an 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter but you can always upgrade that in the future with an 802.11ac USB adapter. For the remaining specifications, you should look at the list below.

Other specifications

• Screen Size: 15.6 inches
• Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
• Processor: 2.7GHz Intel Core i7
• RAM: 16GB DDR3 SDRAM
• Hard Drive: 1TB
• Graphics chips: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M with 3GB VRAM
• Wireless Type: 802.11n
• Number of USB 2.0 Ports: 2
• Number of USB 3.0 Ports: 2
• Item Weight: 5.5 pounds
• Product Dimensions: 14.9 x 10.6 x 1.1 inches
• Item Dimensions: L x W x H: 14.92 x 10.59 x 1.14 inches
• Optical Drive Type: DVD-RW

2. MSI GE62 Apache Pro

There is no gaming laptop list under $1500 without including MSI’s products in them and the company’s GE62 Apache Pro is definitely the best example of an affordable gaming machine, which carries a price of just $1,099. Armed with a quad-core Intel Skylake processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM and 2GB of VRAM to enjoy the best PC titles the industry has to offer, GE62 Apache Pro is definitely a great machine for its price.

Because of its low price tag, the gaming laptop does not have an SSD pre-installed, but just like the solution that we gave you for the earlier product, MSI’s gaming notebook can also be upgrade to support an SSD by removing the optical drive. It does however, have an 802.11ac wireless adapter, so you will not have to invest in a USB wireless adapter. The only drawback that we are looking at right now is a GTX 960M graphics with only 2GB of video RAM. The latest titles, when played on the highest graphical settings will obviously become sluggish because there will not be enough video RAM to load all of those textures, but that obviously does not mean that you cannot experience smoothened out gameplay while playing on medium and high settings.

Other specifications

• Screen Size: 15.6 inches
• Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
• Processor: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7
• RAM: 16GB DDR4
• Hard Drive: 1TB
• Graphics chips: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M with 2GB VRAM
• Wireless Type: 802.11ac
• Ports: 3 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.1 Type C, 1 x Mini Display, 1 x HDMI, SD Card Reader (XC/HC)
• Camera: FHD Type Webcam (30FPS at 1080p)
• Keyboard: Steel Series Full-Color Backlight with Anti-Ghost Key
• Item Weight: 5.3 pounds
• Product Dimensions: 15.1 x 10.2 x 1.1 inches
• Item Dimensions: L x W x H: 15.07 x 10.23 x 1.06 inches
• Optical Drive Type: DVD-RW

3. Alienware AW15R2-6161SLV

This is the very first gaming laptop in our list to cross the $1500 mark and for very good reason. Unlike the other laptops around, there are options to choose either a 1080p display or a 4K display, and we are confident that several gamers will choose a 1080p one because it will result in smoother rendering of frames.

The higher price tag is due to the fact that there is a 256GB SSD present inside the gaming laptop in addition to the 7200RPM 1TB hard drive. A Skylake processor powers the entire system and a GTX 970M will render all the graphics. You can also choose to opt to have a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M present inside the gaming laptop, but that will skyrocket the overall price, and you obviously do not want that.

Other specifications

• Screen Size: 15.6 inches
• Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
• Processor: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7
• RAM: 16GB DDR4
• Hard Drive: 1TB
• SSD: 256GB
• Graphics chips: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M with 3GB VRAM
• Wireless Type: 802.11ac
• Ports: 3 x USB 3.0
• Item Weight: 7.1 pounds
• Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 10.6 x 1.3 inches
• Item Dimensions: L x W x H: 15.19 x 10.64 x 1.34 inches
• Optical Drive Type: None

4. Alienware AW17R3-4175SLV 17.3 Inch gaming laptop

Another Alienware ends up on our list and this is for all those gamers who want that extra canvas for improving their overall experience. Keep in mind that you will have to pay $99 above the $1500 mark, but trust us, it will be worth the investment and if you take a peek at the hardware specifications, you will know exactly what we are talking about.

Other specifications

• Screen Size: 17.3 inches
• Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
• Processor: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7
• RAM: 16GB DDR4
• Hard Drive: 1TB
• SSD: 256GB
• Graphics chips: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M with 3GB VRAM
• Wireless Type: 802.11ac
• Ports: 3 x USB 3.0
• Item Weight: 8.3 pounds
• Product Dimensions: 16.9 x 11.5 x 1.4 inches
• Item Dimensions: L x W x H: 16.93 x 11.49 x 1.35 inches
• Optical Drive Type: None

5. ASUS ROG G751JT-WH71

The ASUS gaming notebook has everything you need in a sub-$1500 gaming machine, despite the fact that it is most heaviest machine in our entire round up. Even though it is running an Intel Haswell processor, it is stacked with an NVIDIA GTX 970M GPU with 16GB of DDR3 RAM, and a whole terabyte of storage. Like majority of laptops out there, you can remove the optical drive and replace it with a solid state drive to get the best possible speed that you need from ASUS ROG G751JT-WH71. Take a look at these specifications and tell us what you thought.

Other specifications

• Screen Size: 17.3 inches
• Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
• Processor: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7
• RAM: 16GB DDR3
• Hard Drive: 1TB
• Graphics chips: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M with 3GB VRAM
• Wireless Type: 802.11ac
• Ports: 4 x USB 3.0
• Item Weight: 8.4 pounds
• Product Dimensions: 12.5 x 16.4 x 1.7 inches
• Item Dimensions: L x W x H: 12.5 x 16.4 x 1.7 inches
• Optical Drive Type: DL DVD±RW/CD-RW

This was our round up of the 5 best gaming laptops under $1500. If there is any other product that you feel should be added here, do let us know.