My favorite gaming laptop deals right now cost less than a Steam Machine — get an RTX 5070, RTX 5060, and more for under $1,000
It's not all doom and gloom for gamers this week
The Steam Machine is making headlines today, mostly for the sticker shock. While undoubtedly interesting, the Machine's high price has sent many prospective buyers reeling. Such is the price of a new gaming PC today.
Not all is lost, however, as there are still some good deals out there for gamers. If you're willing to go for a laptop, for example, then you can score some relatively good options in the Prime Day adjacent sales events this week. Best Buy's 'Tech Fest' sale is particularly good right now.
Just below, you can see four gaming laptop deals that come in at around the same price as a Steam Machine, give or take.
My top pick, so far, has to be this Acer Nitro V Slim 16 with an RTX 5070 for $999.99 (was $1,299) at Best Buy. This one is the cheapest RTX 5070 gaming laptop I've seen in months, though I think Best Buy has mistakenly labeled the chipset on this machine (you can read more about that here).
Another very good option, in my opinion, is the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S for $1,199 (was $1,724) at Best Buy. This one will cost a bit more than a Steam Machine, but you do get a premium OLED display. If you're not planning to hook up your machine to an external monitor, that can go a long way. Read more about this laptop and others, just down below.
The best gaming laptops I've seen today
Graphics card: RTX 5070
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB
It's been a long time since I've seen an RTX 5070 gaming laptop go for this cheap, but is this Acer Nitro V Slim 16 is hitting a rock-bottom price at Best Buy today. Almost unbelievably, I believe this one is incorrectly listed with a "Ryzen 2000 series" chipset rather than a Ryzen 7-260 since you get 16GB of DDR5 RAM. Regardless, this is a rare example of a budget RTX 5070 gaming laptop.
Graphics card: RTX 5070
Processor: Intel Core 7 Series 2
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB
The above Acer Nitro V Slim 16 also comes in an Intel-based configuration, which is also a decent buy today. It's a little pricier, but you get an Intel Core 7 Series 2 chipset and 16GB of DDR5 RAM. These should, on paper at least, give you a decent boost in performance.
Graphics card: RTX 5060
Processor: Intel Core Ultra 9
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1TB
This Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S might seem like it's a little on the pricey side for a machine with an RTX 5060, but this is a great price on this premium model. Not only do you get a powerful Intel Core Ultra 9 chipset under the hood here, but this Predator Helios Neo 16S also features a high-end OLED display, which is a notch above the usual panels you find on cheaper machines.
Graphics card: RTX 5070
Processor: Intel Core Ultra 9 285H
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1TB
The price cut on this HP Omen 16 at Best Buy isn't huge, but it's still one of the best value RTX 5070 gaming laptops you'll find on the market this week. Pairing up your RTX 5070 with a powerful Intel Ultra 9 chipset means plenty of headroom for all the latest titles. Annoyingly, this machine only comes with 16GB of RAM, but you do get a spacious 1TB SSD as a bonus.
More early Prime Day deals today
- Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
- Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
- Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
- Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
- Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
- Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
- Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
- Smartwatches: up to $250 off Garmin & Apple
- Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34
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Alex is TechRadar's retail editor, specializing in buying advice and general tips on how to save our readers as much cash as possible. He's covered major retail events in some capacity for over seven years now; both in editorial and other ecommerce adjacent roles on TechRadar, T3, GamesRadar, and other Future PLC sites. Alex's expertise touches on most areas, but he has a particular love for phones, laptops, and cameras, being an avid photographer.
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