The Five Best Custom Gaming Laptops Under $1,000

For playing the latest PC games, a computer needs three main things: speed, a lot of RAM, and a fast graphics card. There are other considerations, of course, but those are the basics. So when it comes to trying to buy an affordable laptop that won't force you to take out a second mortgage, you should focus on those three items. For online gaming you will also need wireless LAN to connect you to the internet. Bluetooth is also essential for a gaming laptop in that it lets you use a wireless mouse, since the touch pad on laptops cannot simulate the feel and control a mouse provides.

You can head over to your local electronics retailer and purchase whatever they happen to have on their shelves, but the relatively small number of brands and the inability to customize the laptop make these less-than-ideal choices for a true gamer. Instead, consider getting a customized laptop. You won't have to deal with an annoying salesperson, and you can include only the features you really want. I have listed here what I believe to be the five best customized gaming laptops for under $1,000.

5) MSI MS-168213-003 (CX600)

Mgepconline.com offers this 16" laptop from MSI at the standard configuration price of $787.99. To give it some true gaming muscle, I upgraded to 4 GB of Kingston HyperX memory and gave it Windows 7 Premium Edition 64-bit as an operating system. The configured price came out to be $963.92.

Included in this laptop are a 2.53 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 processor, ATI Radeon HD 4330 with 512 MB of DDR2 memory, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, and a 1.3 mega pixel webcam. I have used MSI products for years and have never had a problem with any of them. This laptop should provide a great gaming experience for the price.

4) Sager NP7652

Popular laptop maker Sager is known for their gaming notebooks, and the NP7652 represents an excellent value. The standard configuration price for this 15.6" laptop starts at $784.33 (at Powernotebooks.com), but I upgraded the processor to the 2.53 Ghz Intel i5-540M processor, boosted the memory for 2 GB to 4 GB, and gave it the Windows 7 Premium Edition 64-bit operating system. The final configured price is $999. Powernotebooks.com offers a price matching guarantee, so if you can find it cheaper they should meet the price.

Also standard on the NP7652 are a 250 GB hard drive, integrated WiFi, fingerprint reader, ATI Mobility Radeon AT 4570 graphics with 512 MB of GDDR2 memory, a built in 2 mega pixel webcam, and Bluetooth. Sager is a popular brand of gaming laptop, and anybody looking for more familiar name among the sometimes less-than-familiar-names in customizable laptops should consider the NP7652.

3) iBUYPOWER Battalion 101 CZ-10 Ultra (2)

This 15.6" customizable laptop has a base price of $919 and is very well configured at that price. It comes standard with a 320 GB hard drive, 4 GB of memory, a Mobility DDR3 512 MB ATI Radeon HD 4650 3D video card, 2 mega pixel webcam, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. The only tweak I added to it was to upgrade the processor to a 2.66 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile P8800 Dual-Core and change the internal wireless network adapter to the MSI adapter with included Bluetooth. The upgrades bring the total price to $964.

This laptop is quite fast and comes with a lot of standard memory, which should make for excellent gaming at an extremely reasonable price. Even if you don't upgrade to the P8800 processor, the P8700 that it comes standard with is very fast. It also has a very cool looking case.

2) Red Barn Carbon 171F

This customizable 17" laptop starts at $850, but I upgraded to the 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 P8600 to give it a little more speed. The Carbon 171F comes standard with 3 GB of memory, a 250 GB hard drive, nVidia GeForce 9400M graphics, Bluetooth, and a 2 mega pixel webcam. With the upgraded processor this laptop will run $993.17. This is a large machine but loaded with power. You can find it at the redbarncomputers.com store.

Among the many reasons to consider the Carbon 171F is Red Barn's unique upgrade policy, which allows you to receive a credit when you upgrade any of the parts of your computer within the first three years(based on the parts being upgraded). You can actually upgrade the entire computer and get credit for it. Plus, the labor to upgrade is free. You won't find a deal like this anywhere else.

1) Prostar KHLB2

This customizable 15.6" laptop is quite possibly the best value in gaming laptops out there. Although the listed starting price is only $581, to turn it into a true gaming PC you will need to upgrade the processor to (at least) the 2.53 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo P8700, add 2 GB of memory, get a 350 GB hard drive, add Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit, add integrated wireless LAN, and add integrated Bluetooth. These additions will bring the total cost of the laptop to $959. That is an unbelievable price for what you get.

Standard on this laptop is an ATI Mobility Radeon 4650 GT video card with 512MB of GDDR3 video memory, a fingerprint reader, 2 mega pixel video camera, 4 USB ports, and an HDMI output port. You can find this amazing laptop at Pro-Star.com.

Don't settle for whatever your local electronics store wants to dump on you! Configure your own. The five customized laptops I have listed are a better value than what you will find at almost any store.