You don't have to go super-expensive to buy a gaming laptop; it doesn't have to cost more than $1,000. This Evoo gaming machine is about half that price ($549 at Walmart) and has enough components and features for the price.

Admittedly, this is not the best gaming laptop money can buy. At this price, you can't expect it to be. However, for a budget laptop, the combination of a 10th generation Intel Core i3 10300H Comet Lake processor (4C/8T, 2.5GHz to 4.5GHz, 8MB L3 cache) and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU is a great choice for 1920x1080 display (60Hz), a capable duo for playing games.

While you'll need to lower the image quality settings for more demanding games, the GTX 1650 is certainly better than any integrated graphics solution (the folks at NotebookCheck have a rough idea of what kind of gaming performance this laptop GPU can deliver). (The folks at NotebookCheck have an extensive collection of benchmarks to give you a rough idea of what kind of gaming performance this laptop GPU can deliver).

The main compromise here is a combination of just 8GB of RAM and a mere 256GB SSD. These are both clearly low-budget specs, in line with the asking price, but still not exciting. Fortunately, it is easy to remove the bottom panel and upgrade one or both components if the need or desire arises.

As for port choices, the laptop has a USB 3.1 Type-A port, a USB Type-C port, a USB 2.0 port, two mini DisplayPort outputs, an HDMI output, and an Ethernet port. It also has a microSD card slot and a Kinsington lock slot. In addition, it has RGB LEDs.