2016-08-19

Serious gamers may laugh at the idea that they could get a competent gaming laptop under $600. It’s true that these budget-friendly computers may not be able to play the latest games on the highest setting, but they can’t deliver enough power for more casual gamers. If you enjoy older games or don’t care about the highest definition graphics, many laptops under $600 can be found.

This page covers some of these amazing machines that won’t break the bank but will still deliver enough power to have plenty of fun. For under $600 you will get a midr-ange GPU like the GTX 940M, R7 M265DX and processors like the intel i5, AMD A8 and A10 quad-core.

Although any laptop near the $600 price range will have drawbacks for a dedicated gamer, I have found the best options possible. Read on and do additional research to figure out which one is perfect for your unique needs.

Best Gaming Laptop under 600 comparison:

Models:

Acer E5-574G-71WB

Acer E5-575G-53VG

MSI CX62 6QD-047US

ASUS X555UB-NH51

Lenovo Z51

ASUS X550ZE-DB10







Size

15.6 inch

15.6 inch

15.6 inch

15.6 inch

15.6 inch

15.6 inch

Display Resolution

1920 * 1080

1920 * 1080

1366*768

1920 * 1080

1920 * 1080

1366*768

Processor

Intel Core i7-6500U

Intel Core i5-6200U

Intel Core i5-6300HQ

Intel Core i5-6200U

Intel  i7-5500U

AMD A10-7400P

Graphic Card

GeForce 940M 4GB DDR3 VRAM

GeForce 940MX 2GB DDR5 VRAM

Geforce 940MX 2G DDR3

Geforce 940M 2G DDR3

Radeon R7 M360

Radeon  R7 M265DX

Ram

8GB DDR3

8GB DDR4

8GB DDR4

8GB

8GB DDR3

8GB

Hard Drive

1TB 5400RPM

256GB SSD

1 TB 7200RPM

1 TB 7200RPM

1TB 5400RPM

1 TB 7200RPM

Inpu/
Output

2 x USB 3.0
1 x USB2.0
1 x HDMI
Bluetooth

2 x USB3.0
1 x USB2.0
1 x Type-C
1x HDMI,
Bluetooth
DVDRW/CD-RW

2 x USB3.0
1 x USB2.0
1 x Type-C
1x HDMI,
Bluetooth
DVDRW/CD-RW

2 x USB 3.0
1 x USB2.0
1 x HDMI
Bluetooth
DVD-RW Drive

2 x USB 3.0
1 x USB2.0
1 x HDMI
Bluetooth 4
DVD-RW

2 x USB 3.0
1 x HDMI
Bluetooth 4.0
DVD-RW

Battery Life

4-cell lithium ion
Up to 6 hours

6-cell lithium ion

6-cell lithium ion

Up to 5 hours

4-cell Lithium-Ion Up to 4 hours

4-cell lithium ion
Up to 5 hours

Weight

5.29 lbs.

5.46 lbs

5.29 lbs

5.07 lbs

5.06 lbs

5.1 lbs

Dimensions

15.02 x 10.08 x 1.15

15 x 10.2 x 1.2

15.07″ x 9.82″ x 1.27″

15.04″ x 10.08″ x 1.02″

15.10 x 10.43 x 0.97″

15 x 9.90 x 1.20

OS

Windows 10 64 bit

Windows 10 64 bit

Windows 10 64 bit

Windows 10 64 bit

Windows 10 64 bit

Windows 8.1 64bit

More information

More information on Amazon

More information on Amazon

More information on Amazon

More information on Amazon

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More information on Amazon

My recommendation: Acer Aspire E 15 E5-574G-52QU

Many computer enthusiasts know that Acer provides consistently good laptops at lower prices and a select few that are higher powered as well. The best choice for a gamer is the Acer Aspire E 15 E5-574G-52Q, which not only looks good with its textured surface but surpasses expectations on performance as well. It allows for full connectivity so going online is simple. It delivers more for less.

The Aspire E15 costs around $500. For that low price you get a 15.6 inch 1080P display, a core i5-6200U processor and Nvidia GeForce 940M graphics with 4GB VRAM. This included i5-6200U processor is a considerable upgrade from the 5200U frequently found in mid-priced laptops. The E5 has a 1TB hard drive for plenty of storage.

The Intel Core i5-6200U processor included in the Acer E5-573G-52G3 laptop is an ultra-low voltage (ULV) dual core processor. It clocks in at 2.3 GHz and has a turbo speed of 2.7 GHz. A benefit that is not immediately obvious is to build on Skylake architecture, which is in the sixth generation of Intel’s improvements. This makes the Core i5-6200U processor surpass the older models Core i5-5200U by 5%. For gamers, this means the ability to play some of the latest games on a higher resolution and, for others, excellent computing power for multimedia, productivity and other demanding programs.

This model of laptop features the largest possible hard drive – 1024 GB – available on any models. While this gives you amazing storage capabilities, people who want more speed rather than more space can replace the hard drive easily. Do not attempt this unless you have mechanical know-how of the inner workings of laptop computers.

While the laptop’s screen size is a standard 15.6 inches with a 1920 x 1080 resolution capability, it is not the more advanced IPS panel. The regular TN panel gives slightly deteriorating clarity when viewed from the side, although this doesn’t occur in most computer sessions. The Acer runs Windows 10, which is designed to be used with touchscreen, but works great with this normal screen as well. Touch is not supported on this model.

The people who play computer games frequently will love the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 940M graphics card with 4GB VRAM. When your budget for a new laptop is $600 or less, this is the absolutely best card you will be able to find. It is very similar to the GeForce 840M but has a 5% higher clock speed which makes the graphics processing only a hair faster than previous models. That extra boost allows you to play most 2014-2016 games with made-range details on and in WXGA (1366 x 768) resolution. Newer games with more intense graphics such as Assassins Creed Unity will only play smoothly if you set the graphics at a lower resolution with less environmental detail.

Conclusion

When your budget does not allow you to go all out for a top-of-the-line gaming computer and you want the portability of a laptop, the Acer Aspire E 15 E5-574G-52Qcomes out on top for performance and affordability. Even if you balance your game playing time with work, school projects, multimedia activities or multitask, the fifth generation Intel Core i5-5200U and 8 GB of RAM will give you all the power you need. Use the 1 TB of storage or upgrade to an SSD. Whatever your particular needs, this Acer will handle them at a price point under $600.

>>Read More information and user Reviews on Amazon<<

Other Great Choice:

ASUS X550ZE-DB10

The Asus X laptop series combines high performance, quality graphics, plenty of storage and a stunning aesthetic. The X550ZE variety has a unique spin-line finish to the laptop case. This laptop is also lighter weight and 5% narrower than previous X series machines. An added bonus is the IceCool system that cools the hand rest area while the laptop is running so using it is always comfortable.

The Asus X550ZE has an AMD APU A10-7400P quad-core processor clocked at 2.5 – 3.4 GHz, a 1000 GB hard drive, AMD Radeon R5 M230 + Radeon R7 M265 DX Dual Graphics and 8 GB of DDR3L 1600 MHz RAM.

What does all this mean for the type of performance the Asus X550ZE can give?

The AMD A10-7400P quad core processor uses Kaveri architecture to reach speeds and abilities that are comparable to the Sandy Bridge Intel Core i3-2330M or intel i5-5200U. When run in single core mode for a Passmark test, the 5200U performed slightly better.

The ASUS X550ZE-DB10 utilizes Radeon Dual graphics R7 M265DX GPU. This structure is a Hybrid Crossfire amalgamation of the Kaveri Radeon R5 M230 and the Radeon R57 M265 Dual Graphics with 2GB DDR3 VRAM that is built in A10-7400P. While this combination is powerful, and may experience tiny amounts of stuttering around 30 frames per second. This is because of the micro differences in the frame latency.

The performance of the Radeon R7 M265 is comparable to the Nvidia GeForce GT 730M. And increased gap can exist in the performance between GTX940M and 840M. How well each game performs depends largely on the engines use of graphics drivers. Some games only use the dedicated graphics card, which will make the M265 faster on its own then the M265DX.

>>Read More information and user Reviews on Amazon<<

Lenovo Z50

Lenovo decided to go with AMD Kaveri models for its newest series of laptops – Z50. The finished product is a great choice for gamers as it is quite powerful, yet isn’t expensive.

AMD A10-7300 – a quad-core processor built with 28nm technology and based on Kaveri architecture. The cores are clocked at 1.9GHz but can be boosted to up to 3.2GHz so you can ran even the most demanding multimedia programs. This processor has the same performance as the Intel Core i3-4010U. This is not as good as A10-5757M that runs on 2.5GHz and is based on Richland architecture, its performance is slightly inferior to the A10-5757M.

Since it’s built with a 28nm technology, A10-7300 is very power efficient CPU. It spends only 19W, Just 4W more than i3-4010U, whereas the TDP of A10-5757M spends 35W of power.

Graphics card Radeon R6 is installed in the Lenovo Z50 series. It’s actually integrated in the AMD A10-7300 CPU. It’s speed is 533MHz, which is not the best speed you can find on the market right now. For example, Radeon HD 8650G is a lot faster as it is clocked at 600-720MHz. But, you can still play older games if you set medium or low resolution and settings.

The good news is, this laptop will cost you less than $500 which is quite a good price for what it offers.

>>Read More information and user Reviews on Amazon<<

MSI CX62 6QD-047US

Gaming notebooks is what MSI is known for, but this company can offer a lot more. You can also find affordable laptops from MSI, where CX62 series comes to light. These are very affordable gaming laptops that are quite popular on specific gaming segments.

What you get for $600 is a 15.6″ display laptop that has a Intel Core i5-6300HQ processor, 8GB RAM and a huge 1000 GB 7200RPM hard drive. Graphics card installed on this laptop is a Nvidia GeForce GT 940MX.

A quad-core Intel Core i5-6300HQ CPU has a 2.3GHz base frequency which cab be boosted to 3.2GHz so you can handle even the more demanding multimedia and office tasks. Even though the i5-5200U operates on lower frequency (2.2 GHz vs 2.7 Ghz), it uses less power TDP (15W vs 45W). If you are not concerned about energy consumption, than the i5-6300HQ shouldn’t bother you at all.

>>Read More information and user Reviews on Amazon<<

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