Gaming laptops have emerged as a completely different segment for gamers who want portability and power in the same machine. A few years ago, you wouldn’t even think of buying a laptop for gaming because it just didn’t have enough juice to handle your favorite games. Not anymore! Today, you can buy very powerful gaming laptops that allow you to play the latest games at high resolutions. In fact, 60-80K is considered an entry-level budget for gaming laptops in 2023. It’s a tough decision to find the right device for this budget especially because it’s not a small investment. So you have to choose your device carefully. Here are the factors you should consider for choosing the right gaming laptop in this budget range.

Prioritize Your Gaming Genre

For any gamer, understanding the personal choice of gaming genre is extremely crucial. Depending on the genre, one can understand the hardware configuration requirement.

There are other key expectations like longevity, robustness, portability, performance, and features, which are equally important. So, the first step a potential gaming laptop buyer should do is to analyze the requirement and prioritize on which part the user wants the most value.

For example, a laptop that’s good for FPS gaming might not be a good choice for AAA RPG game lovers. On the other hand, a laptop with better portability might not do well in longevity.

So, create a checklist and prioritize, and then crosscheck the attributes against the specs of gaming laptops that interest you.

List Down Other Uses

Many first-time buyers are skeptical of the worthiness of their investment in a gaming laptop. If you are one of them, then you need not worry because you don’t have to buy a gaming laptop for gaming alone. Students can use the same device for studying and completing assignments besides playing games. Office employees can do their work on weekdays and enjoy their weekends playing games on the same device. Software developers can use gaming laptops for data science, machine learning, and deep learning, while engineering professionals can run 3D simulations, etc.

Crucial Features to Look for

Among various features of laptops, gaming has some excruciatingly important ones, which every gamer must have in 2023. Ensuring such features under this budget segment can be a challenge. Let’s dive a little deeper in this.

• High Refresh Rate: Budget segment buyers often overlook this one, but it’s an inevitable requirement for FPS gamers in 2023. The number of 144 Hz monitor users are rising rapidly, especially among desktop users. So, if you are playing competitive games like CSGO, Valorant, Overwatch, etc. then not having a 144 Hz display puts you in the backseat. Even RPG games feel smoother with 144 Hz & 165 Hz displays which you must ensure while buying a dedicated gaming device. Modern BR games like Apex Legends and COD Warzone are also extremely FPS-sensitive to ensure dominating gameplay.
• Higher Resolution: For gamers, 1366×768 resolution is strictly a no-go. 1080P FHD is the minimum requirement to ensure you get the bare minimum experience of any game in 2023. Especially for AAA and Role-playing games, resolution plays one of the biggest roles to ensure the look & feel of the graphics output. If possible, go for WUXGA or 2K resolution under this budget.
• Anti-Ghosting Keyboard: Here is another must-have requirement for FPS and BR gamers. Have you ever had a feeling where you thought you pressed the key, but it didn’t work, and that’s why you died in a game? Then yes, it’s a serious issue for most gamers. Anti-ghosting ensures that each keystroke gets registered and put in action so that you never lose a game. Even if you don’t realize it till date, you do need an anti-ghosting keyboard in 2023.
• Audio Output Quality: Most gamers use headphones for gaming, still playing role-playing games, racing games and sports games on speakers has its own charm. If you also think like that, then go for a gaming laptop with powerful speakers that provide crisp, superior boom, and nominal bass. Getting a device with Dual Bang & Olufsen Speakers is a good choice for gamers.

Choose your Configuration

This is the part where the requirements vary from person to person. The configurations you will find under this budget will have only two CPU options, either AMD Ryzen 5 or Intel Core i5. On the other hand for GPU, you have three options–Nvidia GTX 1650, AMD Radeon Rx 6400, and Nvidia RTX 3050.

If you want to choose the best combination with the mentioned components, it will be Intel Core i5 paired with RTX 3050.

For an avid player of FPS games like CS-GO, Valorant, and MOBA games like DOTA, and League of Legends, a GTX 1650 GPU and Ryzen 5 CPU is enough. However, it will have a reduced lifespan as compared to the configuration mentioned earlier. For a superior AAA gaming experience and a longer lifespan, Intel CPU with a superior RTX 3050 GPU is the right choice.

For the best value for money, I’ll recommend opting for an AMD Ryzen 5 CPU with Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti GPU. This will save some investment on the CPU but you still have the power & compatibility of RTX 3050. Victus 15 fb0051AX Gaming Laptop is one of the few gaming laptops to feature this configuration, and that too with an 80K INR price tag.

Thermal Features Come Above All

Both performance and longevity are directly dependent on the Thermals and ventilation capabilities of a gaming laptop. Without proper cooling features, the components cannot perform optimally which leads to a poor gameplay experience. No matter how superior the CPU, GPU & RAM are if overheating issues happen, then the device won’t perform well.

On the other hand, overheating also reduces the lifespan of components drastically. Components malfunction and irreversible damage are also possible due to extreme heating traditions. So, choose a superior cooling system for your gaming laptop. Tempest Cooling technology in HP’s Omen gaming laptops is a pretty good option to consider.

Futureproof Attributes to Look for

I don’t recommend looking for too many future-proof attributes in an 80K budget in 2023. Futureproof attributes like Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6 are good to opt for, but DDR5 RAM, Gen4 SSD, Thunderbolt Ports, etc. are unlikely to come under this budget bracket.

Some Good Gaming Laptops Under 80000:

The Victus 15 series is surely one of the best bets in this budget. I recommend you check out the Victus 15 fa0350TX if you want to the best configuration under 80K INR. Powered by an Intel Core i5 CPU and Nvidia RTX 3050 GPU with RAM upgradability, this device is real value for money performance-wise.

If you want premium features like an anti-ghosting keyboard, the mighty Tempest cooling to keep the device cool, longer battery backup, and smoother gameplay, then you’ll need to increase your budget and go for a device like the Omen 16 c0136AX. The Ryzen 5 5600U CPU inside delivers superior multi-core rendering power and features great gameplay as it combines with Nvidia GTX 1650 GPU.

Check out the HP online Store to browse many other premium and value-for-money gaming laptops.

Click here to know about HP Victus and Omen gaming laptops.