I've scanned the early Labor Day sales — these are the 5 gaming laptops actually worth buying from Acer, Alienware, Gigabyte, and others

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S A on yellow background with big savings text overlay — (Image credit: Future)

If you're currently on the hunt for your next gaming laptop, then you'll definitely want to check out this week's early Labor Day sales. Even though we're less than a week away from the big day, major retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, HP, and others have already started their annual events.

I've been scanning through all the big sales today, and I've found some excellent price cuts. While the Labor Day sales are traditionally known for grills or the sort, there are a couple of highlights today that really stand out as good value picks.

You can check out the full list below, but I'd particularly recommend these Gigabyte A16 laptops for $1,159 (was $1,299) and $1,499 (was $1,849) at Best Buy and Walmart, respectively. If you're looking for outright bang for the buck, these are both listings that really buck the trend we've been seeing recently of inflated prices.

Another great, albeit high-end option, is this Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S for $1,899 (was $2,199) at Best Buy. While a little pricey, this is one of the better sub-$2,000 listings I've seen recently with its RTX 5070 Ti graphics card, Intel Ultra 9 chipset, and 240Hz OLED display. If I were on the lookout for a machine that can play all the latest games smoothly, this is the one I'd go for this week at this budget.

Labor Day gaming laptops - quick links

Best Buy: gaming laptops starting at $699
B&H Photo: up to $1,000 off Lenovo, Acer, Asus
Dell: up to $600 off premium Alienware laptops
HP: 34% off HP and HyperX Omen laptops
Lenovo: 10% extra off with code GAMERDAYS10
Walmart: up to $600 off MSI, Gigabyte, Acer

This week's best Labor Day gaming laptop deals

Graphics card: RTX 5050
Processor: Intel Core i5-13420H
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB

It's tough to find a good cheap gaming laptop these days, really tough, in fact. This MSI Cyborg at Walmart is a rare example of a sub-$1,000 machine that doesn't suck, however. With a Core i5 and RTX 5050, it's good enough to tackle a wide range of games, granted you're modest with your expectations. The RTX 5050 is capable of playing the latest games, but you'll likely have to tweak your graphical settings down a little on the most intensive titles.

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.