Best UK Gaming Laptops for Under £500
The old saying of “what you pay for is what you get” is commonly phrased in the PC gaming world but despite this, there is opportunity for UK PC gamers to shop online and find some hot deals on gaming laptops under £500. Whilst this price point is considered on the low side, at PC PowerZone we have identified 3 models that are meet our strict criteria of being able to run the most popular games at decent speed.
We have looked at many laptops under the 500 pound bracket and found that many top brands like Dell, ASUS, HP, Acer and Alienware shy away from producing high powered laptops at this price point but if you dig a little deeper you can find many office standard laptops that are just as powerful as mid-range gaming PCs and will run top games like WoW, FIFA, PUBG, Fortnite, CoD, GTA, Overwatch and more.
Why Do Gaming Laptops Cost so Much?
Its practically impossible to buy a cheap gaming laptop and expect it to be able to play ALL the latest top 10 PC games, but why is this?
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Games are very resource hungry and require a great deal of processing power, including a graphics card capable of rendering 3d at high speed and system RAM that enables the PC to process commands quickly enough for the games to feel responsive – in short, these components inside a gaming laptop are expensive to produce.
Even when you opt for cheaper brands such as AMD (CPU) the raw cost of these parts are expensive and to think that they have to be placed inside a small device like a gaming laptop I’m sure you can understand this is the reason why it can often be a struggle to find a good gaming laptop for under £500.
Research and Due Diligence
Don’t buy the first laptop you see. You may have landed on a real bargain buy, but it pays to do your own research and we recommend you perform the following check before you click that “add to cart button”.
PC PowerZone 5 Point Checklist for Buying a Bargain Gaming Laptop
1. RAM: Check the memory spec of the laptop, does it have at least 4GB Ram?
2. Display: Want sort of graphics card does it have? Look for an NVIDIA or GeForce based card with at least 2MB RAM.
3. CPU: The “engine” of the laptop, make sure the processor is at least an AMD Ryzon 5.
4. Reviews: Crucial at this level because cooling is a major issue. Read online reviews and check star ratings to ensure other buyers give good feedback.
5. Audio: Sound is an often-neglected feature, but it shouldn’t be as laptop gamers nearly always wear headphones. Check reviews for sound quality and look for Dolby or Realtek audio if possible.
Top 3 UK Gaming Laptops that Come in Under £500
After hours of research and testing we proudly give you three laptops that are priced under £500. Pricing is quite volatile at this price range, when we last checked all were under the target price with a couple of them having been heavily discounted.
We look for value for money, good specs and feedback from real buyers who have made a purchase and are able to answer questions from potential buyers.
1. ASUS VivoBook X512DA 15.6″ Full HD Laptop [Editors Pick]
Last update on 2020-10-31 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The ASUS VivoBook 15 is a little gem of a laptop that is hidden away amongst the bigger boys. The ultra slim bezel and stunning full HD display gives the machine a quality feel but it’s under the hood where things become even more interesting.A fast Ryzon 5 CPU is backed up by 8GB of RAM and a home edition of windows 10 which is fully configured. Although the graphics card is integrated, it runs incredibly fast and can run games like Warcraft at decent FPS.
Features: AMD Ryzen 5 CPU, 8GB RAM, 1080p HD display, 256GB SSD, Bluetooth, WiFi enabled, HDMI, 1 USB 2.0 Port and 2 USB 3.0 Ports.
Pros:
Incredible value for money gaming laptop
Fast AMD R5-3500 CPU
Full HD Display
Stylish and thin casing
Good graphic speed
Perfect for watching Netflix, Sports and films
Cons:
Lacks dedicated graphics card but performance still very good.
2. Lenovo V330 15.6″ Full HD Laptop Intel Core i5-8250U
Last update on 2020-10-31 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
With a solid reputation of manufacturing high specification machines at low prices, Lenovo has once again come up trumps with the V330. It comes shipped with good audio output, a dedicated graphics card (Radeon 530 mobile), fast 8GB RAM, Intel i5 Core CPU and 256 solid state hard drive.The large 15.6-inch screen is both clear, concise and attractive to look at for long periods (keep it plugged in) so if you are a student gamer that also likes to do study or office work on your computer then check this Lenovo gaming laptop out.
Features: Fingerprint reader, Windows 10, DVD Drive, 8GB RAM, Dedicated Graphics card, Intel CPU.
Pros:
Fast performance for a gaming laptop under £500
Very crisp display screen, full HD
8GB RAM to handle most resource hungry games
Doubles up as a perfect office/student workhorse
Great sound
Cons:
Battery life could be longer; you need to turn down settings if you want to game for long periods.
3. Acer Nitro 5 AN515-43 15.6-inch Gaming Laptop
Last update on 2020-10-31 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The editor has very kindly said yes to this Acer Nitro budget gaming laptop as its slightly over the £500 threshold. But for another 40 odd quid this machine represents incredible gaming specification that you would see in a £1000 plus computer.The keyboard is the first thing you notice when fired up, incredible back lit in vibrant red. The graphics card is a notable AMD Radeon RX so if playing WoW, Fortnite, Call of Duty or FIFA is your thing then this machine will eat them up breakfast. If you can afford the extra ££ then buy this laptop – it’s a stunner!
Features: AMD Ryzen 5 CPU, Bright Backlit Keyboard, 1TB Hard Drive, CoolBoost Cooling Technology, FHD IPS display, WiFi & Bluetooth enabled.
Pros:
Acer produce brilliant budget gaming laptops.
Impressive dedicated Radeon graphics card
8GB of DDR RAM
4 USB Port Slots
Aesthetically very attractive, looks like a top end £1500 gaming laptop
Cons:
Quite heavy, but this machine is the REAL deal – runs games lightning fast
We hope you have enjoyed reading our top three picks for best gaming laptop for under £500. Each laptop reviewed has its own merits and although the number one pick is a great all round device, if the Acer was a little bit cheaper it would romp home because it is a pure gaming laptop with the best hardware inside.
