AMD Ryzen 5 5600X retail box (Source: @GawroskiT on Twitter)
Released back in early November 2020, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X desktop processor now has a US$309 list price on Amazon. Thankfully, the ongoing 50{b7c9e2c88beb1a84f22d94ab877a147f4adc4b3519717f3f957a0f34e16918d1} discount pushes the price of this chip down to a wallet-friendly value of US$153.60, which keeps it relevant in late April 2023. This processor ships with a Wraith Stealth cooler.
After more than two and a half years since its arrival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X has a list price of US$309 on Amazon, which is US$10 higher than its US$299 release price. However, the generous 50{b7c9e2c88beb1a84f22d94ab877a147f4adc4b3519717f3f957a0f34e16918d1} discount brings its price down to a tempting US$153.60. Thanks to this price tag, this aging desktop processor remains an interesting option for those looking to build a budget gaming or general-purpose desktop PC.
Back when it arrived on the market, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X was the fastest Ryzen desktop processor with six cores. This chip comes unlocked and has a base clock speed of 3.7 GHz, and goes up to 4.6 GHz thanks to Precision Boost 2. It ships with the Wraith Stealth air cooler that can keep the heat generated due to the stock 65 W TDP in check. As is always the case with unlocked processors, overclocking leads to an increased amount of generated heat, so those who are planning to push the frequencies of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X by a noticeable margin should also consider acquiring a high-end cooling solution.
After almost 20,000 validated user reviews on Amazon (19,993 at the time of publishing), the AMD Ryzen5 5600X has an impressive general rating of 4.8/5. This figure is the result of 90{b7c9e2c88beb1a84f22d94ab877a147f4adc4b3519717f3f957a0f34e16918d1} perfect scores and 7{b7c9e2c88beb1a84f22d94ab877a147f4adc4b3519717f3f957a0f34e16918d1} 4/5 reviews. The breakdown by feature focuses on gaming performance (4.7), ease of installation (4.6), stability (4.6), and value for money (4.5).
Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.
Amazon (see affiliate link at the end of the article)
Codrut Nistor – Senior Tech Writer – 5964 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2013
In my early school days, I hated writing and having to make up stories. A decade later, I started to enjoy it. Since then, I published a few offline articles and then I moved to the online space, where I contributed to major websites that are still present online as of 2021 such as Softpedia, Brothersoft, Download3000, but I also wrote for multiple blogs that have disappeared over the years. I’ve been riding with the Notebookcheck crew since 2013 and I am not planning to leave it anytime soon. In love with good mechanical keyboards, vinyl and tape sound, but also smartphones, streaming services, and digital art.
Best Buy is quickly becoming the retailer to beat when it comes to seriously good weekend sales, and that’s no different right now as it’s just launched another three-day sales event (opens in new tab) that is set to run until Sunday (April 23).
Among the various tech deals are some excellent savings on the best gaming laptops, including a major discount for the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. This is our top pick when it comes to gaming laptops and we love its vibrant display, elegant chassis and strong battery life. It’s a machine we’ve previously recommended at full price but now it’s available with such a hefty discount it’s an even better buy.
Right now, this Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop is on sale for $999 at Best Buy (opens in new tab). That’s a sizeable $650 off its full list price of $1,649, and it’s the lowest price we’ve ever spotted for this particular configuration. In fact, this isn’t just a great gaming laptop deal, it’s also one of the best laptop deals you’ll find in general.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Asus ROG Zephrus G14 key features
Display
14″ LED (2560 x 1600), 120Hz
CPU
AMD Ryzen 9 6000
GPU
AMD Radeon RX 6700S
Storage
1TB SSD
Ports
5 (HDMI, 2x USB-4 3.2, 2x USB-C 3.2)
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 — What you need to know
Price history: Like most gaming laptops the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is available with a range of internal components which has a direct impact on its price. We’ve seen top-of-the-line models retail for as much as $1,899, but this specific model was on sale for $1,199 during the holiday sales last year. It subsequently dropped down to $1,099 back in March, and it’s now hit $999 which is its lowest price ever.
Review consensus: In our Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 review, we labeled the laptop a “portable powerhouse” and praised for it “delivering a potent blend of performance, portability and power efficiency” while noting that “it can’t match the outlandish battery life of its predecessors, but the brighter screen is worth it.” We did have a few performance hiccups during our testing, and the 720p webcam made us grumble, but there’s a reason this laptop tops our list of the best gaming laptops. It thoroughly earns its Editor’s Choice seal of approval.
Toms Guide: ★★★★☆ | TechRadar: ★★★★★ (opens in new tab) |T3: ★★★★☆ (opens in new tab)
Buying guides: Best laptops, best gaming laptops, best laptops for video editing, best Windows laptops
Buy it if: You want a solid gaming laptop for a reasonable price. It’s also a great pick if you value style as the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 sports a generally sleek aesthetic that is very easy on the eye. It’s also worth considering if you want strong battery life as we managed more than 10 hours on a single charge in our testing.
Don’t buy if it: You demand top-of-the-line specs. This Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is well-equipped to play loads of the best PC games, but it’s not the most powerful option on the market. Of course, if you want more power that will come with an increase in the overall price you’ll have to pay.
We have been umming and ahhing in the business office right now around this pair of RTX 4070 powered gaming laptop computer deals. The two of which are sat at a genuinely impressive price, even though both of those of arrive with their have small caveats. Not large ones, or we wouldn’t be recommending them, but surely more than enough to imply we can’t really come to a decision which 1 we would 100{b7c9e2c88beb1a84f22d94ab877a147f4adc4b3519717f3f957a0f34e16918d1} suggest.
The selections are so: a $310 discounted (opens in new tab) on one particular of the very best RTX 4070 laptops around—the The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i—which has dropped down from $2,300 to just $1,990 or a much less expensive RTX 4070-toting $1,479 MSI Katana (opens in new tab). Which is the 1 with the caveat mainly because it ships with a lower wattage GPU variant, therefore middling cooling, and a smaller discounted of $20.
Now, to give some context we have been examining the figures on the Lenovo Legion Professional 7i’s RTX 4080 design (opens in new tab), and the figures are so perfectly well balanced that, especially for its price tag, it is really hard not to appreciate. The likewise tempting Legion Professional 7i we are thinking of right here is effectively the exact notebook, comprehensive with a potent Intel Core i9 13900HX, only it is alternatively paired with Nvidia’s RTX 4070.
You continue to get the identical 1TB SSD, the same 16:10 display screen, and even though you might be not obtaining 32GB of DDR5-6000 as with the RTX 4080 model, its sister presents us serious hope. Our most important issue has been with the 60 moment battery daily life, which is a small lacking towards some other laptops we have been tests.
As for this minor dealio dilemma, you might be at least going to be bagging a a little bigger-electric power GPU with the Legion, than with the Katana stated below. That is the significant variation between the two laptop’s, actually. The Katana packs a 105W GPU against the Legion’s 140W RTX 4070 variant, and it will signify a slight downturn when it will come to general performance.
The MSI Katana is no slouch, nevertheless. Inspite of the RTX 4070 staying paired with Intel’s last-gen Core i7 12th Gen 12650H it is really got a whole lot likely for it for the value. The 16GB of DDR5 memory need to see you while in most of present day use instances, and with a 144Hz panel and a very good chunk of storage there’s rarely a issue to complain about. Other than most likely the bloatware we’ve occur to expect with MSI laptops, as was a big worry we famous in our current MSI Cyborg 15 evaluate (opens in new tab). It’s also probably not the very best when it arrives to temps, which assists describe the option of 105W GPU.
The significantly decrease selling price is beginning to make sense now, huh? But you can see why we are possessing problems determining which a single to advocate.
Do you go with the Katana for $500 much less, and choose the hit to efficiency and thermals, as effectively as the opportunity bloatware… or commit the more funds on the Legion, but be tethered to the wall and a little extra out of pocket for a when? If you can afford it the Legion is absolutely the much better machine, with a quicker GPU, CPU, and far better screen. But can you spare a different 5 hundred clams?
Choices, conclusions. At minimum there are solutions, while.
When all eyes are on the launch of the desktop RTX 4070 this week, gaming laptops carrying this excellent graphics card have been gradually getting a lot more offered above the earlier thirty day period or so.
There are, in truth, some excellent price options cropping up now for these hunting to bounce on the RTX 4000 collection bandwagon. So considerably, these two listings at Amazon are presenting the best value in both equally the US and the British isles, in my belief:
Other notable RTX 4070 gaming laptop deals this weekend include things like this MSI Katana 15 for $1,479 at Newegg (opens in new tab) and this MSI Katana for £1,498.49 at Amazon United kingdom (opens in new tab). These are both equally Alright possibilities, much too, in my feeling, but they don’t pretty supply the exact same worth as the higher than choices because of to their 12th gen Intel Core i7s.
Are these RTX 4070 gaming laptops great worth?
Yep, they are rather fantastic if you want to be an early adopter. As often, you are going to get a greater offer if you sit it out until these machines are a little more mature, as that is when we’ll start off to see the genuine selling price cuts. Black Friday in November is a particularly great time to get bargains on gaming laptops, for reference. If you really don’t want to wait until then, even so, then we feel these RTX 4070 gaming laptops are shaping up to be a decent mid to high-close decision.
On paper, the RTX 4070 affords all around the similar sum of raw electric power as an RTX 3080 but presents the crucial edge of the two electrical power performance and aid for Nvidia’s hottest DLSS 3 with Body Technology tech. Ideal now, DLSS 3 is just not supported by that several game titles, but you can be expecting that listing of appropriate titles to improve speedily now fairly cost-effective RTX 4000 sequence playing cards are turning out to be offered.
When it does come to be broadly obtainable, you can assume a reasonably major soar in general performance in your present-day library of games. For context, here’s a online video displaying DLSS 2 compared to DLSS 3 body costs in Cyberpunk 2077.
From this, we can evidently see a major bump from the 2nd-gen DLSS to the hottest edition – from all over 70 to 80 FPS to 120 to 130 FPS. Although this is even now an early benchmark, this jump in efficiency could see the RTX 4070 serving as a incredibly robust 1440p gaming GPU for a great number of many years down the line. It is also adequate for us to advocate the most up-to-date series chip, even however RTX 3080 gaming laptops are acquiring heavy discounts ideal now.
If you happen to be searching for anything a bit less costly, we have rounded up a number of options from our principal inexpensive gaming laptop computer specials web site just down below.
Extra gaming laptop bargains this week
You can glimpse ahead to forthcoming bargains at the 2023 Memorial Day income occasion.
The Gigabyte G5 (2023) is a great deal, and that’s a little surprising considering the price hike we usually see for brand new gaming laptops. But you’ll find no fad features or unnecessary add-ons to push up the costs here. Just a straightforward, well-built, and cleverly provisioned gaming laptop for £1,200 (opens in new tab) (or ~$1,100 in the US for a similar, if only slightly worse, model) that delivers plenty of frames in games.
Let’s start with the star of the show here: the RTX 4060. We’re yet to see Nvidia’s RTX 40-series drop to this level on desktop, but even this budget-friendly card delivers superb 1080p performance befitting the G5’s 1080p 144Hz display. That’s partially down to the power Gigabyte’s prepared to pump into the GPU inside this machine: 75W.
That might not seem like much next to the 175W RTX 4090 laptops we’ve reviewed this year, but it’s 30W more than MSI is ready to run through its own RTX 4060-powered gaming laptop, the Cyborg 15 (opens in new tab). And you can watch the frame rate go up with every extra watt pulsing through the G5’s GPU. The Gigabyte G5 is up to 27{b7c9e2c88beb1a84f22d94ab877a147f4adc4b3519717f3f957a0f34e16918d1} faster than the Cyborg 15 in our testing, and the Cyborg 15 even has a better CPU for gaming under the hood.
With generally higher performance than an RTX 3060 laptop for roughly the same price as one, and added support for DLSS Frame Generation, the newer G5 seems like a done deal already.
G5 (KF) specs
(Image credit: Future)
CPU: Intel Core i5 12500H Cores/threads: 12/16 | (4+8) Boost clock: 4.5GHz GPU: Nvidia RTX 4060 (75W) Cores: 3,072 VRAM: 8GB System memory: 16GB DDR4-3200 Storage: 512GB NVMe SSD Screen: 15.6-inch Resolution: 1080p 144Hz Price: ~$1,100 (exact model not available in the US) | £1,200 (opens in new tab)
The CPU inside this machine is Intel’s Core i5 12500H. A fairly sensible choice, though let down a little by only four Performance-cores (P-cores). This is one of Intel’s hybrid Alder Lake chips, so it comes with a basket of Efficient-cores (E-cores) to help lighten the load on the quicker gaming silicon. There are eight E-cores here, which makes for a 12-core chip in total.
Generally, I’d prefer a few more P-cores in the mix, at least six. Like the Core i7 12650H CPU found on the MSI Cyborg 15, in fact. That comes with six P-cores and just four E-cores. The MSI laptop also comes with faster DDR5 memory than the legacy DDR4 on the Gigabyte machine. But as you can see in the benchmarking results, the actual difference in performance between these two is relatively small even in CPU-heavy applications and tests.
Image 1 of 3
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
You can open this laptop up relatively easily with a Phillips-head screwdriver to access its innards. You will poke through a couple of stickers over the screws that might void your warranty, so be sure you want to be diving in there before you do, but behind the back panel you’ll find one free M.2 SSD slot for an easy storage capacity upgrade. You’ll probably want to take advantage of that eventually as the 512GB SSD included in this machine will fill up quickly.
Image 1 of 15
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The biggest drawback of the G5 is the noise this thing makes when it’s running any marginally demanding game. That’s not a new experience for anyone who has used a gaming laptop in the past, but take this as your warning that gaming laptops are generally not any quieter in 2023. Not if you want high performance anyways. The MSI Cyborg 15 I also tested this past week is only quieter owing to its significantly reduced performance.
(Image credit: Future)
Buy if…
✅ You want a cheaper RTX 40-series GPU: With a price tag not dissimilar to RTX 3060 gaming laptops, you’re not paying a large premium for Nvidia’s latest RTX 40-series architecture.
✅ You’re after a laptop for both work and play: The G5 is predominantly a gaming laptop, but it’s a relatively sleek chassis and its Alder Lake CPU does come with plenty of E-cores to throw at other tasks beyond gaming.
Don’t buy if…
❌ You want to install a lot of games at once: With just a 512GB SSD installed out of the box, and the OS taking up some of that already, there’s not a huge amount of room left for large game libraries.
❌ You want a quiet gaming device: Better stick to the Steam Deck if you want something quieter. The G5 makes a helluva noise when it’s gaming.
You can choose to significantly reduce the performance on the Gigabyte G5 in exchange for quieter operation, but the quiet mode really ramps down the GPU to a paltry power envelope of just 25W. Performance tanks with it. Instead, I found the slightly more powerful Entertainment mode a better fit for that, with the GPU running around 48W. It’s still pretty loud in Entertainment mode but it delivers plenty playable frame rates.
The G5 is not much to look at, admittedly. The shiny black façade with almost invisible decals doesn’t do much for me. But it’s a functional design, relatively compact, and comes with useful I/O all over. Particularly handy are the couple of USB Type-C ports to round out an otherwise fairly full connection list. The power adapter is also a rather compact design for a 150W capable brick.
There’s plenty of good things to say about the screen on the G5, too. It’s vibrant and responsive, and while 15.6-inches can feel a little encroaching at 1080p, it’s a happy median for frame rate, resolution, and size. While this laptop does suffer a little in contrast, colours are nicely saturated and it’s an all-round solid panel.
The G5 (2023) just feels such a solid design for a gaming laptop. The performance is there, the flexibility and upgradeability too, and you aren’t paying over the odds for the hot new thing. It’s actually pretty affordable. This is going to be tough to beat for the best affordable gaming laptop to buy right now.
The cost of the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15 gaming laptop computer has remained reliable for a while now, and those people that want a blend of performance and prolonged battery daily life can go to Amazon suitable now and get this beast of a device for $1,499.99. For a laptop that is geared up with an 8GB GDDR6 RTX 3080 GPU jogging at a energy restrict of 130W, this cost could be too very good to be real, but the listing on the on the web retailer is as appropriate as items can be.
The 15.6-inch 1080p 300Hz IPS Lcd panel is catered to esports title lovers, but you can easily run AAA video games at large framerates many thanks to the RTX 3080. The establish high quality for a gaming laptop is top rated-notch, with reviewers complimenting the good hinges, absence of display wobble, and a robust keyboard deck. Aside from the impressive GPU, you get an 8-main, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU, alongside with 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 1TB of PCIe NVMe 3. SSD. Equally the RAM and storage can be upgraded at any time you want, so that is a as well as.
A couple of specifications of the gaming screen
You must know that this distinct model lacks a webcam, so if you are lifeless-set on obtaining the Strix Scar 15 as your day-to-day driver, recall to obtain a individual digital camera for your Zoom calls. The keyboard attributes RGB lighting, with all the keys that includes opti-mechanical switches for an enhanced typing and gaming experience. The gaming laptop operates Windows 11 right off the bat, but you can also set up Windows 10 if you operate into computer software-associated complications.
How the gaming notebook manages to preserve its thermals below management
The battery capacity is 90WHr, and given that ASUS has incorporated an AMD Ryzen CPU in the Scar 15, you can get numerous several hours of juice when the gaming laptop computer is not plugged in. Speaking of plugged in, the machine’s battery can be charged with the integrated barrel plug, or you can swap to a USB-C power brick, even though we will not suggest employing the latter when gaming as you will not get the comprehensive wattage, which will outcome in reduced general performance.
RGB lighting on the keyboard is included, if that matters to you
Aside from the absence of a webcam, the $1,499.99 rate tag tends to make the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15 an amazing price proposition. There was a time when even RTX 3070 gaming laptops have been not available at this value, so this is absolutely a steal. Absolutely sure, the CPU is a pair of generations previous, but this deal is undoubtedly greater than what you are receiving with newer items in phrases of pricing, so hurry when you can.
