President’s Day has landed, and along with that sweet three-day weekend we’ve all enjoyed, bargain-hunting PC gamers also get to enjoy some Presidents Day gaming laptop sales. These Presidents Day sales mark one of the first big holiday retail events of the year as well as what could be your last chance to hunt for deeps discounts on premium tech before the spring and Easter sales land. To help you out, we’ve cut to the chase with this list of the best Presidents Day gaming laptop deals that are up for grabs. Read on:
Best Presidents Day gaming laptop sales 2021
Should you buy a gaming laptop on Presidents Day?
Considering that these Presidents Day gaming laptop sales are likely to be your last chance before spring to score a new PC at a discount, it’s not a good idea to wait until the next big event rolls around. Seasonal sales like Presidents Day are always the best time of the year to shop for high-end electronics like computers and TVs, and gaming laptops are no exception.
That doesn’t mean that you should jump on the first laptop that catches your eye or take all advertised pricing at face value. Do some research when shopping around for Presidents Day gaming laptop deals to make sure that the item you’re looking at is actually a worthy bargain and will meet your needs so you don’t end up being disappointed with your purchase. If you need some more information before you buy, read on, because we’ve also put together a quick guide to help you shop the Presidents Day gaming laptop sales.
How to choose a gaming laptop on Presidents Day
The price-to-performance ratio gap between desktop PCs and gaming laptops has narrowed a lot even in just the past few years. Today’s best gaming laptops are highly capable machines that combine portability and convenience with beefy mobile hardware, but there are some things to consider before you pull the trigger on any of these Presidents Day gaming laptop deals.
Before you do anything, you should have a budget in mind and be strict with yourself so you don’t get carried away and overspend. Thankfully, there are plenty of good budget gaming laptops that can be had for less than a grand; owing to great leaps in mobile hardware (and the simple fact that most people use laptops nowadays, so the market is huge in 2021), long gone are the days when you had to shell out a fortune for a gaming laptop capable of running the latest titles at good settings.
In the sub-$1,000 price bracket, you’ll find plenty of deals on machines sporting Intel Core i5, Core i7, AMD Ryzen 5, and Ryzen 7 CPUs along with Nvidia GeForce GTX 16-series GPUs and 8GB (the minimum we recommend) to 16GB of RAM. During these Presidents Day gaming laptop sales, however, you may also see laptops packing Nvidia RTX 2060 and Radeon 5600M graphics cards dip below a grand, so keep your eyes peeled for those as they are nice upgrades over the GTX 16-series GPUs.
Moving closer to and above $1,000, you’ll want to look for upgraded hardware like the higher-end RTX 20-series and Radeon 5000M-series video cards, 16GB to 32GB of RAM, and even Core i9 and Ryzen 9 CPUs (although Ryzen 7 and Core i7 will still be more common here). You’re also highly unlikely to find a 4K laptop for less than a grand, so if that’s something you want, prepare to pay for it. Nonetheless, these pricier machines often get the deepest discounts during events like Presidents Day gaming laptop sales, so don’t overlook them if your budget allows.
One important gaming-friendly feature that many laptop shoppers might forget about is refresh rate, and even many sub-$1,000 gaming laptops now boast 120Hz to 144Hz refresh rates. This smooths out the image when playing at higher framerates, preventing stuttering and screen-tearing that can ruin your immersion. Refresh rate often gets buried in the specs sheet, too, so you might have to go hunting for it and make sure you know what you’re getting so you don’t get any unpleasant surprises after unboxing your laptop and firing up some games.
Finally, stick with trusted brands and read customer reviews when shopping for Presidents Day gaming laptop deals to make sure you’re getting a good one. Good gaming laptop makers include HP, Dell, Alienware, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Gigabyte, Razer, and MSI, to name the biggest brands. Customer reviews are also an important way to suss out things like a laptop’s thermal performance, picture quality, ergonomics, and other everyday usage details that you won’t find in the listed specs.
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