Best Gaming Laptop for $2,000

I live in the USA and I could go a little higher but would like to stay around 2 grand for a new laptop. I would also like an SSD and HDD in the laptop. What do you guys think?

Look for a current gen msi laptop near your budget. Can’t really go wrong there.

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The last gen alienwares aren’t all that bad. Some even had dual GTX 770’s. Might have some fun with one of those.

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MSI might not be the best choice, if you’re going to use the trackpad often. The thin models also run quite hot - often regularly in the 90s.

For AMD, there’s only one real option right now, and that’s the Asus GL702ZC. R5 1600 or R7 1700 with an RX 580 in a 17" laptop. Has both an M.2 Slot and a 2.5" bay.

In my opinion, Alienware offer the best bang for your buck right now. They’ve been suffering from temperature problems from the factory, but once they’re repasted, they run relatively cool and quiet. The 13 R3 has dual M.2 slots, and the 15 R3 and 17 R4 both have dual M.2 slots and a 2.5" bay.


It’s potentially worth waiting a few months to see whether Intel come out with some 6-core mobile chips. They’re launching the K-series Coffee Lake chips on the desktop in early October, so we should hopefully start seeing them pop up in gaming laptops by the end of the year, if not by November.

I’m personally waiting for this, and hoping Alienware come out with a new 13" model with both a 6-core and 1070 Max-Q.

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Some solid advice here. Although AFAIK I haven’t seen any rumors of 6 core mobile parts so you may be waiting really long for that one.

Adding on:

Alienware, MSI and the like all make some nice stuff. Check out Linus’s reviews. He actually is a very solid resource on laptops. Should help you narrow it down.

Can’t really recommend the AMD ones. The lack of a low powered iGPU really hurts battery life when not gaming.

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As well as Linus, I’d recommend reading Notebookcheck’s reviews. Normally pretty solid - If a little inconsistent with display testing.

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Thanks everybody! :sunglasses: