A lot of new laptops get released each year and to find out the best/cheapest or a combination of both is a huge task. In the earlier days, laptops with graphics cards were huge and bulky. But thanks to technological advancements, a lot has changed. With the release of the Max-Q technology by Nvidia, laptops have become significantly thinner than they used to be. Laptops today are huge powerhouses capable of keeping vital parts cool, with more expensive laptops using vapour chambers and liquid cooling to take the heat away.
The cheapest RTX 3050 laptop currently is the HP Victus Laptop. The laptop comes from a reputed manufacturer and is able to handle most games. The lower price of the Victus comes at a cost though; low wattage. This means that all RTX 3050 laptops won't give the same performance and same frame rates. The lower-priced laptops find it harder to cool the graphics card efficiently and are forced to have a lower wattage so the graphics card won't overheat.
Of all the laptops released each year, here is our list of the cheapest laptops with an RTX 3050 graphics card. If you want something more powerful, you can take a look at our cheapest RTX 3060 graphics card laptop or even our cheapest RTX 4050 laptop.
Cheapest Gaming Laptops
HP Victus
Best value for money laptop from HP
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5-5600HBuy from Amazon
RAM: 16GB DDR4 RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA RTX 3050
Storage: 512 GB SSD
Display: 15.6-in Display
HP is one of the best manufacturers of gaming laptops. With the release of the Omen series, they have been able to create laptops on a budget. The 144Hz display and the Band and Olufsen speaker system make this laptop perfect for use both as a gaming laptop and for normal office usage.
The laptop has great build quality and looks elegant. Unlike usual gaming laptops that scream for attention, the best part of this laptop is that it looks like a normal laptop until you push it to play some games. The laptop has a backlit keyboard and looks as office-going as any other laptop.
The keyboard is also great to type on, but our only complaint is that the arrow keys are not full-sized. The keys are small in case you ever use them for gaming. Most users use WASD keys for gaming, so that shouldn't be much of an issue.
The laptop is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 processor that can push the limits (has a maximum clock speed of 4.2 GHz).
The display is an FHD display and is 15.6" in dimension. It has a micro edge and an anti-glare coating making it easy to use outside. Ports and connectivity are also great.
The camera though not a great piece, gets the work done. It is an HP Wide Vision 720p HD camera with temporal noise reduction and integrated dual array digital microphones to ensure that you can go to all those meetings even in a slightly noisy cafe.
Overall, a great laptop at a great price.
GIGABYTE G5
Processor: Intel Core i5-11400HBuy from Amazon
RAM: 16GB DDR4 RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA RTX 3050
Storage: 512 GB SSD
Display: 15.6-in Display
Gigabyte is one of the lesser-known manufacturers of gaming laptops. Despite this fact, they have managed to create great laptops at great prices. These laptops offer unparalleled performance and are a great companion for your gaming needs.
Gigabyte started with shipping motherboards. Founded in 1986, Gigabyte shipped 4.8 million motherboards in the first quarter of 2015 alone, making it the largest manufacturer of motherboards. Gigabyte parts are used in famous laptops such as Alienware.
This 15.6" laptop is powered by an 11th-generation Intel Core i5-11400H processor. This is a relatively older processor but offers support for the RTX graphics card. Its battery life is not that great but then, that's to be expected from a gaming laptop.
The screen on the laptop is also great for gaming since it has a 144Hz refresh rate. The rate is at par with industry standards and helps keep the display smooth. You can plug in a third-party external monitor if you want higher display quality.
There are enough ports on the laptop to hook your mouse and external keyboard if you want a full experience using a mechanical keyboard and mouse. It also has an SD card slot so that if you're into photo/video editing, you can directly pop the SD card into the system and not rely on an external third-party card reader. The keyboard is backlit so you can use it at night too without any difficulty.
Dell G15-5520
Processor: Intel Core i5-12500HBuy from Amazon
RAM: 8GB DDR5 RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA RTX 3050
Storage: 512 GB SSD
Display: 15.6-in Display
Dell has been one of the leading manufacturers of laptops for a long time. The best part of buying a Dell laptop is their after-sales service. The laptops have a great warranty period and the large number of sales means that it is easy to find a part. I own an Alienware and had a premium support package which meant that Dell technicians would come to my house to fix the laptop. I have had no issue getting my laptop fixed in multiple countries. Getting a Dell laptop along with its premium warranty means absolute peace of mind.
Powered by a 12th-generation Intel Core i5-5520 processor, the gaming laptop is a great machine. With a maximum clock speed of 4.50GHz, the laptop is able to perform intensive graphics tasks.
The keyboard is orange backlit which might not be to some people's taste, but we personally loved the bold move from Dell. The display is a non-touch anti-reflective screen. It has a resolution of 1920x1080. With a brightness of 250 nits and covering 45% of NTSC, the display is crisp and bright. It is great for watching movies and gaming, but we wouldn't recommend this laptop for video or photo editing. Getting an external monitor which supports more of the colour gamut would be a better choice for doing creative tasks such as these.
The best part about this laptop is the cooling. Since Alienware was acquired by Dell, a lot of features have migrated to Dell. Alienware-inspired thermal design features optimal cooling thanks to dual air intake, copper pipes, two fans with ultra-thin blades and four strategically-placed vents. Due to these, the system remains cool even after long hours of gaming.
Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600HBuy from Amazon
RAM: 16GB DDR5 RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA RTX 3050
Storage: 512 GB SSD
Display: 15.6-in Display
My first gaming laptop was Lenovo and I have loved it to the core. Great build quality and quality hinges made life bliss. The Lenovo Ideapad is every bit the laptop I loved with a lot of upgrades.
The laptop comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor. This is an older processor, and it doesn't come with the fancy efficiency and performance core division that is there in the newer processors. There are 6 cores for this processor and all are performance cores. With the support of multi-threading, this processor is able to have a total thread count of 12. I am pretty happy with the performance this multi-core processor is able to give.
Lenovo is a company which gives great importance to the quality of its products. They are rarely made of cheap flimsy materials. The hinges are sturdy and they work well for long years. To put things into perspective, the laptop passes military-grade specs. It has a MIL-STD-810G Qualified Design. This means it has qualified for tests like low and high temperature, with a low temperature of -25°C to a high temperature of 63°C for up to 4 hours. That is really huge for a laptop. It can also withstand a 122cm drop test. I mean, it is a normal laptop but the amount of effort that has gone into making the laptop sturdy is just insane.
The cooling has improved massively and has a 21% larger thermal area. The TDP also has improved which means that the laptop offers greater performance. The improved thermal performance helps in keeping the laptop cool even after long hours of usage.
The keyboard is a 4-zone TrueStrike keyboard. It has anti-ghosting, anti-abrasion and soft landing switches to help during gaming. With 1.5 mm of key travel and large arrow keys, this laptop is just perfect for gaming.
Overall I am extremely happy with the specs offered by Lenovo as well as the effort put in by them to give a quality product which is extremely value for money as well.
