The company is lesser-known in the gaming space compared to the heavy hitters, but when it comes to price and power, offer up a solid alternative. If Lenovo isn’t on your radar, you’re missing out. It’s got enough power to make gaming on the go a joy.įind more ASUS TUF information and reviews here. But if you’re happy to play games that look great, rather than gleaning with 4K visuals and a bazillion frames per second, the Asus TUF is a solid little entry point. Don’t forget, SSDs make every aspect of your laptop move faster.Īs I say, none of the cheap gaming laptops on this guide are going to be able to hang with the super expensive systems. I often see the 1050-Ti used in laptops, so getting the beefier 1650 included instead is going to help with higher framerates of the more demanding first-person-shooter games.Īs a very rough guide, the 1650 is around 28 percent faster than the 1050.Īll of this power is backed up by a hardy 8GB of RAM and a lush 256GB SSD. One of the nicest surprises in the Asus TUF is the inclusion of the Nvidia GeForce 1650. Don’t expect lightning-fast speeds, but given the lower price point when compared with the most expensive gaming laptops, the speed we’ve got here is enough to be getting on with. The AMD Ryzen 5 R5-3550H Processor, though newer, is comparable with the Intel Core i5. The Asus TUF FX505DT Gaming Laptop has a surprising amount of power under the hood. So if you’re on a budget but still want to be able to game on the go, and you’re aware of the ASUS Vivobook 15’s limitations, you’ll no doubt come away satisfied.įind more ASUS Vivobook 15 information and reviews here. The more you spend, the more power you get. You’ll be able to run Fortnite and more modern games than the Acer Aspire on low, with some compatibility for medium settings.
I feel like I’m repeating myself a lot here – it’s not the most powerful card out there, but for the price, makes sense. On the graphics card front, it’s the AMD Radeon Vega 8. This is helped by the 256GB SSD, which again, isn’t as comfortable as having 500GB, but is enough, and the speed of having an SSD is going to help the whole system with load times. Things do take a turn for the better in the RAM and SSD department.ĨGB of RAM is still the lower end of gaming, but it’s what I consider a good amount to work with. The ASUS VivoBook 15 sits as a halfway house between the Acer Aspire 5 and the more powerful laptops.įor the processor, we’ve got the AMD Quad-Core R5-3500U, which will do the job but isn’t going to touch the upper echelons. Not everyone wants to pay silly prices for gaming laptops, so i f you’re after something affordable, the Acer Aspire 5 is well worth considering.įind more Acer Aspire 5 information and reviews here. So long as you’re aware of the limitations of this machine prior to purchase, you’ll have a good time. It’s a cheap gaming laptop that trades off power in exchange for a crazy low price. The only major issue is when you try to run the more modern, high-tech games.ĭoes all that make the Acer Aspire 5 worth avoiding? Not at all. For indie games, you shouldn’t have too many problems, especially if we’re talking 8-bit or 16-bit style games. I’ve seen Fortnite run on an Acer Aspire 5, and while it’s clear it’s on low, it works and is very playable. With 4GB of RAM married to the above specs, you aren’t going to be able to game at medium or high settings, obviously, but some games will run on low. The amount is manageable, but the lack of space is something that’s worth factoring in.
We’re talking around three AAA-quality games (or one Call of Duty and 28GB spare). Let’s not forget, though, 128GB is not much space at all in the modern gaming landscape.
That said, the 128GB SSD is going to help with load times and general speed.
It’s not anywhere near the most powerful chipset on the market, but it’ll do at this price point. The trade-off for the much, much lower price is a hit to power. Can you say ‘compromise’? That’s what the Acer Aspire 5 is all about.