6 Best Gaming Laptops Under $400 in 2024

What features should you look for in a $400 laptop?

It can be a real challenge to choose a good laptop with a price tag of $400 or less. Finding a good gaming device with such a small budget is a daunting task. Fortunately, I’ve done half the job for you and collected the best gaming laptops under 400 in one place. You only need to choose the one that suits you.

Here are six decent budget laptops you can also use for work. Each gaming laptop under 400 dollars on this list has pretty powerful specs and features to suit the needs of a budget-conscious gamer. Read on to find out all about the main advantages of these options and also figure out how to buy the best laptop for you.

CPU: Intel Core i3-1115G4 | GPU: Intel UHD Graphics | RAM: 4GB | Storage: 128GB SSD | Display: 14-inch (1920x1080) | Weight: 3.3 pounds

This budget gaming laptop under $400 boasts fantastic design, decent performance and a good feature set. It looks like the best premium models thanks to its lightweight chassis and slim bezels. Backlit keys and a comfortable keyboard are the other advantages of this laptop.

It is packed with the newest generation CPU, has SSD storage and a solid RAM. You can hardly find a laptop with greater features in this price range. Of course, this option has its drawbacks. For example, its dim display should be improved. However, this is generally an acceptable compromise unless you are willing to pay more than $400.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200U | GPU: AMD Radeon Vega 3 Mobile Graphics | RAM: 4GB | Storage: 128GB | Display: 15.6-inch (1920x1080) | Weight: 3.97 pounds

The Acer Aspire 5 is a universal low-cost laptop. You can use it for watching videos, Skype chatting, surfing the Internet, basic bookkeeping operations, etc.

This is one of the best gaming laptops under 400 thanks to its elegant lightweight design, long battery life and fast performance. This compact machine gives you everything you need to work or play at an affordable price.

CPU: Intel Core i5-9300H | GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 | RAM: 8GB | Storage: 256GB | Display: 15.6-inch (1920x1080) | Weight: 5.07 pounds

This gaming laptop under 400 dollars features a Turing GPU and Coffee Lake CPU for incredible performance in daily use. It copes well with most tasks as long as you don’t overload it with too high graphics settings, QHD or UHD resolutions. A fast PCIe SSD is also one of the advantages of this model.

However, the main benefit of this laptop is its battery life. This is a great option for those who like to view email, surf the Internet or play games while traveling. The capacious battery allows you to do this without plugging into an outlet.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200U | GPU: AMD Radeon Vega 3 | RAM: 8GB | Storage: 256GB | Display: 15.6-inch (1366x768) | Weight: 3.75 pounds

This laptop is a great budget option for the office, home or school. This is one of the best gaming laptops under 400 for those who care about the environment. It is free of arsenic, mercury and low in halogens. The fast battery charge is one of the strong points of this model.

You only need 45 minutes to charge the battery to 50%. Plus, you can watch videos for up to 9 hours, organize 8 hours of wireless streaming or play up to 10 hours without plugging in. It is quite lightweight, and you can easily carry it with you everywhere.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5-3500 | GPU: AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 Graphics | RAM: 8GB | Storage: 256GB | Display: 17.3-inch (1600x900) | Weight: 6.17 pounds

This Lenovo product is based on a cool Ryzen 5 3500U APU to deliver fast and powerful performance. It is not only a worthy cheap gaming laptop under $400 but also a good option for office tasks and surfing the Internet. You get a fast system with SSD in the 2.5-inch format.

Moreover, the manufacturer added another slot for an NVMe SSD in the M.2 2280 format. You only need to disassemble the laptop and insert the selected SSD. Although the keyboard is not backlit, it is comfortable for typing and other tasks. The battery is not very impressive, but it provides many hours of autonomous work.

CPU: Intel Celeron N4020 | GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 600 | RAM: 16GB | Storage: 1TB SSD | Display: 15.6-inch (1366x768) | Weight: 3.64 pounds

Typically, laptops under $400 have 2 GB of RAM, an Atom or Celeron processor, a poor screen and too simple design. This Dell laptop can be a real bargain for you.

You get good build quality, a nice screen, a fairly powerful Intel Celeron processor and 16 GB of RAM at an affordable price. This is a good choice if you need a budget gaming laptop under $400 to read news feeds or play low-level games.

The minimum RAM for most modern games is 4 GB. You should also consider the RAM size to enable solving several tasks at once. If you want your computer to be able to multitask with ease and perform well, it should have 8 GB of RAM or more.

This part is very important for good laptop performance. Especially the processor’s capabilities are critical for gaming models. Even highly demanding games will be an easy task if your laptop is equipped with the latest generation processor. However, budget models show more modest results. They are also the best CPUs for video editing.

The graphics card is another key component to keep in mind when choosing a laptop. Poor GPU will not provide you with a high-quality picture and can ruin your experience. Moreover, it is very important for gamers to have a clear and detailed image. Of course, even the best gaming laptops under 400 do not have super powerful GPUs. However, some graphics cards, such as AMD Radeon R7 and Intel UHD Graphics 620, are suitable for entry and intermediate-level games. They are also referred to as great graphics cards for video editing.

If you are buying a laptop for gaming, the 11-inch models are not right for you. It is better to choose 15 or 17-inch laptops. They will provide a fairly large picture and make your gaming experience more enjoyable.

In addition to the above characteristics, you should pay attention to the ports selection, battery life, drivers, touchscreen, etc. All of these factors affect the performance of a computer and can be important when purchasing a budget gaming laptop under $400.