Best Gaming Laptop Under $1000 / $900 / $800 / $700 (May 2012)

The new ASUS N56VZ-ES71 won't be the best under $1000 gaming laptop for a very long time, because the upcoming Lenovo Y580 with GTX 660M will take the throne very soon. But currently I would get either pricier MSI GE60 0NC-006US or Toshiba Qosmio X775-Q7170. The MSI has similar specs, but it has better hard drive, higher resolution (Full HD) and its video card uses faster GDDR5 memory. The Toshiba Qosmio has an older i5 dual-core processor, but almost everything else on it is bigger/better than ASUS N56VZ-ES71.

ASUS N56VZ-ES71 15.6-Inch Laptop
(Black)

Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.3GHz, up to 3.3GHz with Turbo Boost
6GB? of DDR3 SO-DIMM memory
500GB SATA hard disk drive (5400 RPM)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 2GB DDR3
15.6-inch display (1366 x 768?)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Estimated 3DMark06 score: ~12500

The HP Pavilion dv6t Quad Edition has larger HDD and more RAM, but it's not good as ASUS N56VZ-ES71 for gaming. It is equipped with a quad-core Sandy Bridge i7 processor and mid-range AMD Radeon HD 6770M DirectX 11 graphics card (it's faster than new Radeon HD 7670M & NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M). So the laptop should be powerful enough for playing most new games (maybe not Battlefield 3) at highish settings at this laptops low native resolution. Beware, some similar HP Pavilions are "improved" with worse HD 7470M GPU.

HP Pavilion dv6t Quad Edition 15.6" laptop

Intel Core i7-2670QM 2.20GHz, up to 3.10GHz with Turbo Boost
8GB DDR3 of system memory
1TB (1000GB) 5400RPM hard drive
AMD Radeon HD 6770M 1GB GDDR5
15.6" BrightView LED-backlit Display (1366 x 768)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Estimated 3DMark06 score: ~10500

Lenovo Ideapad Y570 08623TU is a great laptop if you can get it for $800 or less (sometimes it costs more), but it is not as good as more expensive HP Pavilion. Lenovo has slightly weaker graphics card and smaller hard drive. AMD Radeon HD 6770M is usually equal to GeForce GT 555M, but the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M in Lenovo Y570 is a crippled 128bit version with only 96 shaders, so its real-world performance is closer to GeForce GT 550M.

Lenovo Ideapad Y570 08623TU 15.6-Inch Laptop
(Dusk Black)

Intel Core i7-2670QM 2.2GHz, up to 3.10GHz with Turbo Boost
6GB of 1333MHz DDR3 system memory
500GB (5400RPM) hard drive (SATA)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M with 1GB dedicated DDR5 VRAM
15.6" (1366 x 768 pixels) LED backlight display
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit)
Estimated 3DMark06 score: ~9300

The best performing gaming laptop for under $700 is currently Lenovo Y570 08622ZU. It often goes on sale for $699, probably because the Y570 will be replaced with Lenovo Ideapad Y580 very soon. This Intel Core i5 powered Lenovo Y570 08622ZU has a very powerful graphics card for its price, also a big hard drive and plenty of RAM.

Lenovo Y570 08622ZU 15.6-Inch Laptop
(Dusk Black)

Intel Core i5-2430M 2.40GHz, up to 3.0GHz with Turbo Boost
6GB of 1333MHz DDR3 system memory
750GB (5400RPM) SATA hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M with 1GB dedicated DDR5 VRAM
15.6" (1366 x 768 pixels) LED backlight display
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit)
Estimated 3DMark06 score: ~9000

If you can't find a cheap Lenovo Y570 anywhere, then consider getting a cheaper Acer Aspire AS7750G-6645. The Acer has a larger 17.3" screen with higher resolution, so it is more suitable as a desktop replacement. Although other specifications are slightly worse than Lenovo's, it's still a pretty fast gaming laptop for the price.

Acer Aspire AS7750G-6645

Intel Core i5-2450M 2.5GHz, up to 3.1GHz with Turbo Boost
4GB of DDR3 system memory
500GB (5400RPM) hard drive (SATA)
AMD Radeon HD 7670M 1GB DDR3 VRAM
17.3" CineCrystal LCD display (1600 x 900)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit