Can You Game on the Cheapest Gaming Laptop? $200 Challenge!

I bought the cheapest gaming laptop I could find for just $220! But can older budget laptops actually play modern games, or is it worth spending more for a newer gaming laptop? Let’s find out!

EVERYTHING I USE:

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Timestamps:
0:00 Are Cheap Gaming Laptops Worth It?
0:09 Laptop Specs
0:26 Back When Laptops were CHONK
0:40 Internals
1:05 Battery Life - Old Battery Still Good?
1:22 Missing Modern Features
1:29 Older Ports?
2:13 SSD Speed & Upgrades
2:30 Older Screens - Not so good…
3:38 Can Old Hardware Still Run Games?
3:45 CS:GO
4:03 Fortnite
4:11 Apex Legends
4:19 Newer Games - Spider-Man
4:29 Cyberpunk 2077
4:38 No Ray Tracing / DLSS
4:52 Old Laptop vs New Laptops - 3x Games Compared
5:29 Some New Games Run VERY Poorly
5:53 Cheap 2nd Hand Gaming Laptop Worth Buying?
6:14 How To Pick Your Next Gaming Laptop!

Disclosure: Purchases made through store links above may provide some compensation to Jarrod'sTech.

[Moozy-Fruit]

This laptop was one of the best purchases ive made years ago. It still holds up pretty well and proudly functioned as my Laptop gaming setup.

[jesusbarrera]

I had the previous DELL variant with a 1050 4GB as my first gaming laptop, but the internal were identical, that single screw to open the laptop was amazing and everything is set up so neatly
The battery was also so good, was a nostalgia punch

[ShawnBoy]

Until just recently this laptop was my daily driver for at least a few years. One of the benefits I've noticed in comparison to other modern gaming laptops is that it stays very cool and very little fan noise. Even under heavier loads. This is a big Plus in my opinion cuz I have a big pet peeve with loud fan noise during gaming sessions. Even though I've upgraded I'm still keeping this one around as a backup.

[ReVDeatH]

I actually would love to see the older laptop reviews and compare them to what we can get today. It would be interesting to see how much obsolete they have become over time and observe the speed of technological advancements.

[jddplays]

I bought this laptop on launch and never regretted it, at launch on balanced settings this laptop got about 12 hours screen on time at 50% brightness, this was awesome for that time. This enabled me to go all day in university on one charge. It had its issues, but the value it gave me amazing. I still use it to this day.

[airmac]

Had this laptop from 2017 when it first came out (TN panel was pain but it worked). It did its job and lasted me 5 and half years. Upgraded to the Helios 300 12700H 3060. Crazy how much hardware has improved in the past 5 years.

[adamlanghans]

I had this laptop and loved it. A big feature I didn't hear you mention is the speakers. This thing has its own woofer so the basses are excellent for a laptop.

I also replaced the screen with something much better for $80. The whole process of replacing the screen took about 5 minutes.

[DeepteshLovesTECH]

My friend had this and still uses this - i7-7700HQ variant and later I got the i5-8300H Helios 300 2018 with the same 1050Ti. High refresh laptop screens were rare those days and I bumped up my budget to go for the 1050Ti over the 1050.
Even though it's a quad core which gets obliterated by a R5 4600H, it's still good for creative applications like in Premiere Pro due to Intel QuickSync and NVENC. The 1050Ti also somehow pulls through 1080p LOW in games, and greatly aided by FSR and NVIDIA Image Scaling.

Next year - waiting patiently for Zen 4 + RTX4000 laptops.

[Brohamond]

I saw the thumbnail and thought "hey... thats my laptop...". I was surprised to see a 1-day old review for this.

I bought this laptop ~5 years ago during a Black Friday sale. Good price and good laptop. It has served me well over the last few years; still using it as I type here. Would I recommend anyone buy a Dell 7000 variant in 2022? Certainly not for cutting-edge modern gaming but it could certainly handle a "backlog" of games that are pre-2020. I'll probably replace my Dell with something next year, but until then this laptop has been great for running my games.

[harunv.]

I had this laptop with i7 7700HQ, got it in 2017 when it was released and it served me great for more than 4 years running all the games I threw at it at 1080p medium/high, and it's still working great with the person I sold it to.

[Royan]

Not gonna lie, there's a certain excitement to seeing how far you can push a budget gaming laptop!😅

[greatwhale]

Crazy to think I was begging my parents for this laptop just around 6 years ago, and I never got it. Watching this while waiting for my 3070ti Legion 5 Pro :) times change

[wolfstorm]

Aw man, I had this exact model with same specs, had it since 2018 and sold it few weeks ago, served me well...best I've ever had

[mrdeadlypoop]

Still use the i7 7700HQ variant of it until now, put another 8gb ram and ssd to it and all I can say that after 5 years this laptop proved that the durability of Dell products are insane. ( The temp is only around 70-78 degree depends on the game )

[palaashatri]

2017 laptops had GREAT expandability imho. I have a 2016 Acer Aspire, and although the build quality is pitiful at best, and some of its ports died, it’s still a good-ish desktop replacement. 4 RAM slots, 1 HDD slot, 1 DVD-RW slot, 1 M2 SSD slot, it can easily become a good workstation if the CPU was a bit more powerful, because a dual core i5 just doesn’t cut it anymore.

cheapest doesnt have to be the worst, given the chassis is still fine and intact, there should be a market of refurbished gaming laptop with new parts to make them more like a desktop pc case where u just switch out to newer more powerful components

[GuyIntrovert]

I have the 2018 model of this laptop, with similar specs, quad-core i7-7700HQ, 1050Ti, 16GB RAM, and a 128GB M.2 SATA SSD. The 2017 model which you showed in this video has a TN panel, but the 2018 one has an IPS panel, so the display was better but still bad with low brightness and low colour accuracy.

This was my first gaming laptop which I got when I started college. 4 years later, I built a PC as the hardware was showing its age. But after I built my PC I deep cleaned the laptop and in the process managed to kill the 1050Ti. So now it only has integrated graphics. I still use the laptop and plan on using it as a secondary display when I start streaming.

Despite all that it has a special place in my heart as it was my first gaming PC, which helped me delve deeper into the world of gaming and even got me hooked to PC building and PC hardware. I am thankful for that.

I do plan on keeping it unless it is completely bricked to the point of no repair. I am planning on making it my Plex server or install Linux and try out new things.

[VamanNeurekar]

It's amazing how far we have come in such a less number of years!

[TorrasqueLi]

Talking about UGreen, I bought their USB-Gb ethernet adapter, and have been using it 7x24 for nearly three years, it never shows any glitches or malfunctions so far. Totally a reliable and cost effective brand for me!

[JoseLgamer]

I had a similarly speced hp OMEN laptop, only diferrences were that it had a i7 7700HQ and a 1050 instead. Bought it at the tale end of 2017, and served me well for 3 and a half years as my only computer. Now I have a newer laptop and 2 desktops, all more powerful than that humble laptop.