10 Best Budget Gaming Laptops in the Philippines 2026 | Buying Guide Reviewed by IT Specialist

Computers have been using Intel processors for decades. It shouldn’t be surprising to see most laptops sport an Intel processor. For budget laptops, the most powerful Intel chip would usually be among i5 chips. 

The 11th-generation chips were released in 2021, but they might be difficult to come by because of the global chip shortage. You can still easily find 8th, 9th, and 10th-generation Intel chips in the market. Laptops with Intel chips are more accessible, so if you need a laptop right now, you can’t go wrong with Intel.

Don't count out AMD just yet! Despite being the underdog, benchmark results have shown that the performance gap between the two processors has never been so close. It’s also more power-efficient compared to the Intel counterpart, given similar specifications. Best of all, it’s usually more affordable than Intel-based models!

You can choose between Ryzen 3 and 5 models as they are available in a lot of budget gaming laptops. Look for the 3000, 4000, or 5000 series. In this case, the higher the series number, the more updated and the more expensive.

A hard disk drive is an affordable option when it comes to storage. HDDs are commonly found in budget laptops. Most laptops offer HDDs with a high storage capacity in their base models. A 512 GB HDD is not difficult to find, and some laptops even have storage as high as 1 TB. But, the pros of HDDs end here.

In the long run, a laptop may experience slower start-up times and frequent lagging. A possible culprit is the hard disk drive. It’s affordable for a reason—it isn’t as long-lasting compared to the SSD. Before buying a gaming laptop with a hard disk drive, you should have an idea about how long you intend to keep it before replacing it.

Long loading times can be extremely frustrating, to the point that you’d want to pull your hair out. Switching from an HDD to an SSD is a huge upgrade—it can do wonders for your user experience. 

One downside of SSDs is their storage capacity. Most laptops with SSDs have lower storage capacity—they usually come with 256 GB or 512 GB SSD. If you’re the type to store many large files on your laptop, you might want to think twice about purchasing a laptop with an SSD. 

However, with an SSD, you can expect faster booting speeds and shorter loading times. These perks come at a higher price compared to the hard disk drive, but you can expect these to last a lot longer than HDDs. 

Nothing beats an immersive gaming experience. The screen plays a huge role in providing this, so if you’re particular about your display, it’s recommended to have a screen with 1080p resolution at the minimum. Whether you want to play games or watch a show on Netflix, opting for a high resolution will do you no wrong.

Every frame counts. A general rule when looking for a gaming laptop is to look for a display with a high refresh rate. Refresh rates refer to the number of times a screen can display a new image every second. When you look for a laptop with a refresh rate, you will usually find this number in the units of Hz (hertz).

Most laptops offer their display with a refresh rate of 60 Hz. This may not be the most optimal for gaming, but it will suffice if you are a casual gamer. For gaming laptops, a display with a refresh rate of at least 120 or 144 Hz is preferable.

In general, an integrated GPU is more affordable than a dedicated GPU. But as GPUs become more powerful, the power of integrated GPUs has become nothing to scoff at. It’s a brilliant choice for the casual gamer, especially if you’re on a tight budget.

For Intel, the budget option is the Intel UHD Graphics card or Iris Xe Graphics card. Meanwhile, for Ryzen, you have the Vega series and the integrated AMD Radeon graphics card.

Of course, a dedicated GPU is more suited for you if you want a better experience in playing games. Though this isn’t always available in budget models, some laptops have dedicated graphics cards. Most budget gaming laptops will contain an Nvidia graphics card, which is usually the GTX 1060 or 1600 series.