It's that time of year - if you've been holding out until the fall to upgrade your portable machine, it's time to work out which gaming laptop you should buy on Black Friday. With discounts landing all around us already, there's certainly plenty of choice on the shelves. However, getting the best Black Friday gaming laptop deals doesn't always mean saving the most.
In fact, the highest value offers are going to sit on the machine that suits your needs the best. After all, those looking to push the latest releases to their limits aren't going to find such performance in a $600 / £600 flash sale. Equally, if you won't make the most of a pricey RTX 5090 GPU, you're not going to benefit from the thousands of dollars and pounds off the latest and greatest rigs.
The best gaming laptop is, generally, the one that slots into your Steam library the easiest. Finding the right machine for you can be tricky if you're not quite sure what specs and features you're going to need. That's why I'm helping you work out exactly which gaming laptop you should buy on Black Friday, based on your budget and play style. Whether you've got a bank of smaller indie games to get through, or you're simply after a solid all-rounder with a good-looking price tag, there's a rig out there for you.
Indie, less demanding, or infrequent gaming
Budget | $500 - $1,000 / £500 - £1,000 |
Processor | Intel i5 / i7, AMD Ryzen 5 |
GPU | RTX 4050 / RTX 4060 / RTX 5050 |
RAM | 16GB |
Storage | 512GB / 1TB SSD |
Display | FHD at 144Hz |
Key models | Asus TUF A15, Acer Nitro 16, HP Victus 16, Lenovo Legion 5 |
If you're not going to be pushing your machine to its limits, there's no point in shelling out for a high-end system. Whether you'll be tinkering through lighter indie games, or you're simply not going to be playing the latest games on the highest settings every day, a budget, entry-level laptop will see you right. This category is also perfect for those looking to cram higher end components into their budget, by sacrificing design or chassis build.
The Acer Nitro 16 or Asus TUF A15 perform particularly well in this affordable category. I've already seen these machines up for less than $1,000 / £1,000 in this year's holiday sales so far, and the best part is these models are offering 16GB RAM as opposed to the 8GB I've traditionally seen. If you're looking to spend as little as possible, I'd recommend hunting down some RTX 40-series devices - if you can find them on the shelves.
Triple-A releases on medium or high settings
Budget | $1,000 - $2,000 / £1,000 - £2,000 |
Processor | Intel i7 / AMD Ryzen 7 |
GPU | RTX 5060 / RTX 5070 |
RAM | 16GB / 32GB |
Storage | 1TB SSD |
Display | FHD / QHD+ at 165Hz / 240Hz |
Key models | Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, Razer Blade 14, Alienware 16X Aurora, Lenovo Legion 7, Asus ROG Strix G16 |
If you're looking to push things a little further - say with an RTX 5060 or RTX 5070 GPU - then you'll want to move up a bracket to fully make the most of your power. This is where smaller models like the Razer Blade 14 and Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 come into the equation, but also chunkier devices looking to stretch a little more out of those configurations.
I generally find the Lenovo and Asus routes to be the cheapest during sales events. The former drops its price regularly and keeps to within the confines of that mid-range spec bracket. However, Asus is a little mode expensive this year by default. I've started to see those Zephyrus G14 prices dropping in recent weeks, so this is certainly one to watch. Of course, you're still getting solid performance from both, but you'll be weighing up between form factor and top-tier graphical prowess here.
If you're sticking with the larger 16-inch models, I'd also recommend keeping a close eye on higher end RTX 5070 Ti builds. These models see frequent price cuts during major sales events, which brings their high-end MSRPs down to this mid-range position. That's the perfect combination for anyone chasing the best possible value this year. The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI is your go-to here.
The latest games on the highest settings
Budget | $2,000+ / £2,000+ |
Processor | Intel i7 / i9. AMD Ryzen 7 / Ryzen 9 |
GPU | RTX 5080 / RTX 5090 |
RAM | 64GB |
Storage | 1TB / 2TB SSD |
Display | QHD+ at 240Hz / UHD at 144Hz |
Key models | Asus ROG Strix Scar 18, Razer Blade 16, HP Omen Max 16, MSI Raider A18 HX |
Those willing to invest in a long-term rig will want to make sure they're picking up evergreen components that will stand the test of time. Happily, that also means you're going to be enjoying cutting-edge graphics cards, incredibly fast processors, and bags of RAM and storage. Not only that, but once you go beyond $3,000 / £3,000, you're far more likely to find high-end mini LED displays and UHD resolutions as well.
My favorite gaming laptop of 2025 sits firmly in this high-end category. The HP Omen Max 16 punches well above its weight in benchmark tests and has been on sale several times already this year. It also sits quite happily in the middle of the price range, but if you do want to push a little further into luxury you'll want to take a look at 18-inchers.
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 and MSI Raider A18 HX are the most powerful machines I've tested so far this year and, while they're a little harder to find on the shelves, there could well be some tasty discounts here.
The main thing is to make sure you're getting plenty of RAM (minimum 32GB, but ideally 64GB for a high-end system) to make the most of those memory-heavy GPUs.
If you're after something a little more permanent, be sure to check out our guide to the latest Black Friday gaming PC deals. Or, for accessories and kit, we're also rounding up Black Friday gaming monitor deals and Black Friday gaming chair deals as well.
