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Features which a Gaming Laptop should have
Budget Gaming Laptops are generally used by casual, mid-range gamers.
There are many features which are important in a gaming laptop so lets list them one by one.
- Processor : A good gaming laptop should use a new or recent chipset preferably a 6th or 7th generation Intel Chip. Quad core chips and chips with the Kaby Lake processor are quite powerful and currently in vogue (as in 2018).
Many of these processors provide overclocking or turbo boost leading to clock speeds of up to 3.5 GHz. This is quite good for gaming processors - Decent Graphics Chipset: Graphics is perhaps the most important feature for gaming laptops to consider.
Games such as GTA 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider etc. and other multi-player newer games have real life 3d graphics which work at high frames per second , typically greater than 40 fps at mid or high settings. For this the gaming laptop should have decent chips like the NVIDIA GeForce 1060 MX or 1050Ti MX or 960 MX .
These chipset have dedicated memory , generally around 2 GB - RAM: Talking of memory how can forget that the RAM should also be at-least 4 GB and realistically 8GB or more to get a proper gaming experience. Decent gaming models in the under $1000 budget , do provide for 8 GB RAM which also helps make the laptop work well in a multi-use setting
- Battery Life: Run any new or modern game and most of the laptops will have the battery run out in 1.5 -2 hours.
That's a fact. Still battery life is important and also the time spent in charging the battery. - Cooling: Ignore this at your own risk. The best gaming laptops under $1000 in 2018 are the ones which have decent cooling fans, sometimes more than one which are not too noisy and yet powerful and able to keep the temperature of the laptop down even at high settings gaming.
MSI for example is a dedicated gaming laptop company and most of it's model have technical edge in cooling - Keyboard: Backlit keyboards are generally a standard requirement for even this budget gaming laptops so you should see that the laptop has these type of keyboards.
Additionally it should not be a totally flat keyboard and provide a good experience in keypress. This seems to be a small requirement but is definitely important. - Display: One of the most important requirement is perhaps the display and the display is either of type TN or IPS.
One should prefer an IPS kind of display because that provides for better viewing at all angles. One should also see if there is a benchmark provided about the brightness of the screen and typically around 240-250 nits is decent for gaming laptops in this price range.
Generally, of course the laptops are close to 180-19 nits. Apart from brightness, color accuracy and color gamut are two other important factors so you are able to see your gaming graphics in real and vivid colors. - SSD Storage: While an SSD won't necessarily improve fps (though it might smooth out a few spikes in games that feature large environments), it does improve load times, and Windows just feels better with SSD, open explorer tabs etc..
Most gaming laptops do serve as multi-purpose laptops and are windows based , so if they come with SSD it is an added advantage although not a deal breaker. - Sound: Last but not the least, decent sound system should be available in the laptop.
Most of the good gaming laptops in this price range have decent sound system, like some have Harman Kardon speakers, or speakers with Dolby 5.1 etc.
How to check these features when purchasing your gaming laptop
Well, the above is a list of important features but you will not find all laptops to be the best gaming pc under $1000 in ALL of these features.
You may have to check out reviews of gaming laptops and give weightage to these features accordingly and then decide the one to buy. You should also look at the objective benchmarks of the laptops you have shortlisted to decide on the one to buy.
Happy Shopping !