If you want a full-fledged gaming laptop then maybe you would have to shell out a little more than $500 to expect a decent gaming experience. But for causal gamers out there who play indie games at 720P on clients like Steam, GOG Galaxy or Origin, following is my list of budget laptops that come under the price tag of $500 for such games.
1] Acer Aspire E 15
The Acer Aspire E 15 is easily the best budget laptop out in the market. Powered by the latest 6th gen Intel Core i5-6200U processor, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce 940MX with 2GB DDR5 VRAM graphics card, 15.6-inch Full HD display and the battery that can easily last up to 12-hours. See complete specifications here.
2] ASUS X555DA-WS11
This Asus is probably the cheapest performance laptop available as of now. It comes with an AMD Quad-Core A10-8700P 1.8 GHz with turbo boost up to 3.2 GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD and 15.6 inches LED backlit display. With the power of CPU & GPU built into AMDs APU processor, you can expect decent performance for 720P gaming. This 15.6 inch laptop comes with Windows 10 pre-installed, making it a great deal overall under just $400. See complete specifications here.
Have better budget? – Our recommendation of 1080P Gaming Laptos under $1000!
3] Dell Inspiron i5559
This is a budget laptop by Dell. It has the latest 6th gen Intel Core i5-6200U processor, 8 GB DDR3L SDRAM, 1 TB HDD storage and 15.6-inch FHD touchscreen display. You can surely enjoy some arcade titles and games from last generations on the stunning 1080P screen. See complete specifications here.
4] HP Notebook 15-ay011nr
The HP Notebook is an affordable performance budget laptop which integrates latest hardware and software. It has an Intel Core i5 6200U 2.3GHz processor, 8GB DDR3L SDRAM, 1TB hard drive and 15.6″ Full HD display. See complete specifications here.
5] Acer Aspire E5-573G
This is a full-fledged budget gaming laptop that comes in the budget segment. The Acer Aspire E5 has an Intel Core i5-5200U with 2.2 GHz frequency, 8 GB DDR3L SDRAM, 1 TB Hard Drive, NVIDIA GeForce 940M with 2GB VRAM graphics card and 15.6-Inch Full HD display. See complete specifications here.
To find laptops in this price segment was a hard task. Keep in mind that these laptops are not meant for heavy gaming, they can play small or older games quite efficiently but struggle to run heavy ones. So, in case if you want a decent gaming laptop which can run heavy games check out my list of budget gaming laptops here is our favorite budget gaming laptops under $1000 (2016).