List of the Best Gaming Laptops Under $500 in 2021

When you decide to buy the best gaming laptops for under $500, great options can overwhelm your mind. Do you buy a cheap, ultraportable laptop for work and play, 2 in 1 or a powerful gaming laptop? To help you choose, we've selected the best gaming laptops under $500 in every category, based on our extensive experiences, research and comparisons.

To make this list, the system needs to score at least 4 out of 5 stars in our reviews and provide the things that shoppers are most interested in. In the reviews, we focused on design and comfort, display quality, keyboard and touchpad, performance, battery life, as well as especially value.

1. Suitable for all needs

Looking a little more specific? We've got guides on the best gaming laptops under $500, the best learning laptops, and the best business laptops.

If you are an office man who needs to handle work, you should choose a laptop with at least 4GB of RAM, 500GB HDD hard drive, and an Intel Core i5 CPU processor. If your company requires you to run a specific software to serve the job, you should also consult with the person in charge for advice.

If you are a student, you should try to choose for yourself a laptop with memory configuration from 4GB to 8GB RAM, hard drive can have 250GB SSD, Intel processor from Core 2 Duo or Core i3 capable of operating the software well. Another thing is that on your laptop you should have office applications, web apps, and a genuine antivirus suite.

2. Cheap laptops now also have SSDs, don't choose HDD anymore

This will depend on the individual preferences and opinion of each person, but it costs just under 500$ to have a truly perfect laptop is very difficult.

Many people will think that the D build brand is sturdy - durable, company A quickly degrades, X/Y/Z company this and that? The answer is both right and wrong. It is true that the company mainly builds (completes) from the metal frame, although it costs about 500$, but the trade-off is reduced configuration. As for the plastic frame, of course, it will not be priced and configured more appropriately for the price.

The wrong thing is that before making any product, the manufacturers have carefully calculated the inconvenience and suitable where, what the users benefit, and the version for that market. It all just depends on how the user likes.

3. How to choose RAM wisely?

Do not choose a laptop with 4GB RAM if there is about 500 $. Most of the best gaming laptops under $500 have their own 8GB of RAM for maximum support for players.

The first reason is not worth the price. The era of 2GB RAM laptops is long gone, and 4GB will not be long anymore. Simply put, the less RAM, the more difficult it is to launch many applications, the cache will not be able to store them enough and the RAM overflow occurs.

Of course, the RAM is only one part, the CPU also plays an important role in managing the cache. But don't worry, keep your Windows operating system up to date and remember to clear the cache.

The second reason, buying a laptop with 8GB RAM by default will save you a lot more time and money, instead of having to buy more RAM and bring it to the company to assemble.

4. For graphics lovers, GPU is the most important thing.

The graphics card is usually the most expensive part of a computer, but luckily it doesn't have to be changed often. When Nvidia launches a new line of GPUs, GTX 10-Series GPUs will also drop in price. Whether ray tracing or 4K gaming are Nvidia's "quarterly" technologies, current GPUs are powerful enough for you to play A-list games.

It's well worth the time you save to buy the graphics card you need. Don't rush to buy a cheap card and then quickly upgrade to another card when the cost of both can help you buy a much more powerful GPU.

For those who want to save money, manufacturers such as Asus, EVGA, ZOTAC, etc. will soon release their respective versions of Nvidia's cards after the Founders Edition is on the shelves next time. The price will be about $ 100 cheaper, some will be higher but there are many improvements in design, clock speed, etc.

5. Brand and price of laptop

Buy any electronic device you should pay attention to the brand to ensure quality, durability and full warranty, there are many famous brands for laptops for you to choose from such as Dell, Asus, Acer, HP, etc However, price is also a decisive part of whether customers should choose to buy products. 

Under the price of less than $500 but still meeting durable and beautiful design and great features, it is also a difficult point for users to choose suitable for their budget, to meet the work needs in the best way.

1. How to check the type of graphics card (GPU) on the computer?

The GPU is always carefully checked. So there are ways to check as follows:

• Use Task Manager or DirectX Diagnostic Tool;

• Use Device Manager

• Check GPU model number with System Info tool.

2. What is the experience of checking on a computer?

Some of the features we need to check before buying a computer are:

• Laptop battery test.

• Test the speakers and carefully check the specifications of the speakers

• Check the screen carefully, to avoid blind spots. Especially for touch computers.

• The laptop's keyboard and touchpad must be solid. There is no substitution phenomenon.

• Check the machine configuration is correct and match all the parameters or not?.

3. What should I do if I want to clean the computer?

There are 2 types of cleaning for a computer:

• Cleaning the outside: You can get a dedicated cleaning solution to clean the outside of the laptop such as the screen, above the keyboard and cover of the laptop.

• Internal cleaning: You need to have a lot of experience with a removable laptop. Absolutely not unintentionally disassembling to clean the inside to avoid a short. One advice is to bring to the store for the best support.

4. As for laptops, is it possible to upgrade the machine in the future?

A question that a customer might ask the seller. A laptop, even if you buy an old one, should only be bought if it has at least the ability to upgrade the RAM and hard drive.

Some cheap old laptops sold out RAM to the machine, making the machine unable to upgrade when customers need it, customers can only buy a new one.

5. Should you choose the old laptop with a Win license?

In my experience, if you choose, you should choose the FreeDos type laptop because it will be cheaper. And some versions of Win that come with the machine are usually just Home SL, which can be quite annoying in an enterprise environment when more features are required.

However, when customers buy a licensed Win laptop, it is extremely beneficial if the customer needs to reinstall the machine, it will save time, reduce headache and basically the customer will be maximized protection from the supplier Win copyright.

The Best Gaming Laptops under 500$ (specialized gaming laptop) is equipped with a low profile compared to other laptops, but can still respond well to your daily work tasks and can fight demanding games. ask for high configuration. Aim for gamers who are gamers or you simply need a powerful laptop to play average titles.

Gaming laptops often have a rugged, powerful exterior design, and a keyboard with RGB lighting. There are many famous brands of gaming laptops that can be mentioned such as: Razer, Asus, Acer, Dell, MSI, HP.

• Best Gaming Laptop Under $500 for overall: Lenovo Ideapad 3 14″or HP 15-dy2021nr Laptop 

• The Runner-up: HP Touchscreen Laptop AMD Ryzen 3 256GB SSD

• Best Lightweight Budget Gaming Laptop: Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop

• The Budget Choice for you: Lenovo IdeaPad 3 Laptop

• Quiet and well-designed: Lenovo - IdeaPad 15.6" Laptop - AMD Ryzen 3

• The reliable choice for you: Lenovo Ideapad S340

With the above criteria, we hope you will have the right choice for your financial ability as well as the needs of your laptop for the present and the future. Technology is always changing and increasingly fast, higher and higher, so you should think carefully before "buying" yourself the best gaming laptops under 500$.