Which gaming laptop should you buy on Black Friday?

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 4090 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 we're 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 three-figure price tag, there's a laptop out there for you. 

Indie, less demanding, or infrequent gaming

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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. 

The Dell G15 or Asus TUF A15 perform particularly well in this affordable RTX 3050 / Intel i5 processor category. We've already seen these machines up for around $600 / £600 in this year's holiday sales so far, and the best part is these models are offering 16GB RAM as opposed to the 8GB we've traditionally seen. If you're looking to spend as little as possible, we'd recommend hunting down some 2022 / 2021 devices - if you can find them on the shelves they're going to be offering some particularly low prices this year. 

This category is also perfect for those looking to cram higher end components into their budget, by sacrificing design or chassis build. That's where the MSI Pulse GL66 or Acer Nitro 5 comes in. These could well push you towards RTX 4060 graphics cards with cheaper 12th generation Intel i7 CPUs at the helm.

Triple-A releases on medium or high settings

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If you're looking to push things a little further - say with an RTX 3060 or RTX 3070 GPU - then you'll want to move up a bracket to fully make the most of your power. We generally see the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, Acer Predator Triton 300 SE, and the Lenovo Legion 5 offering the greatest value in this mid-range category, with the Alienware M16 offering up plenty of discounts to bring it into this price range as well.

We 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. We'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 excellent 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 15.6-inch and 16-inch models, we'd also recommend keeping a close eye on the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE and Alienware M16. 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 latest games on the highest settings

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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 $2,000 / £2,000, you're far more likely to find high-end mini LED displays and 240Hz refresh rates as well. 

Our favorite gaming laptop of 2023 sits firmly in this high-end category. The Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 might be one of the more expensive rigs on the market, but its sheer power, combined with still relatively portable form factor, means it's a purchase you'll be proud to show off. We don't quite see these 2023 machines kicking down to $2,000 / £2,000 - you're more likely to be tipping towards $2,500 / £2,500 on an RTX 4080 configuration. So if you want the best of the best, you'll be paying for it. Of course, there are always older models to browse as well. 

The Alienware M18 is a cheaper alternative packing excellent power, and is far more likely to see heavier discounts over Black Friday. An RTX 4080 rig with an i9 processor, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD may well tip under $2,500 / £2,500 in the holiday sales, but so far we're still seeing prices sticking above that threshold. Nevertheless, we managed to squeeze even better performance out of the Alienware than we did the Razer Blade 18 in our own testing - a machine that certainly won't be nearing that price threshold. We'd also recommend taking a look at discounts on the previous x15 R1 if you're looking to save even more. 

Then we get to the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 - the most powerful gaming laptop we've had the pleasure of testing. This 18-inch behemoth will plough through anything you can throw at it, but sitting well above $3,000 at MSRP, this is going to be one for those with larger piggy banks. 

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. Don't need so much RGB? Take a look at the early Black Friday laptop deals on the shelves.