You don't have to spend more than $1,000 to get a decent gaming laptop. For example, MSI's GF65 Thin (model 9SD-837) is on sale at Newegg for $799, down from a list price of $1,049.

To get the full discount (which is reduced to $949), you must apply promo code 5YEAREND97A at checkout. This brings the price down to $799 with free shipping, making it one of the best deals in this week's cheap gaming laptop deals. [The GF65 Thin features a 15.6-inch IPS display with 1920x1080 resolution and 144Hz refresh rate; Intel Core i7 9750H processor (6C/12T, 2.6GHz to 4.5GHz, 12MB L3 cache), Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU, and 8GB RAM.

With this deal, you're essentially buying last-generation technology at a discount, which is not a bad proposition; the CPU/GPU combo packs a punch worthy of 1080p gaming while wrapped in a thin (0.85 inches) and light (4.1 pounds) design.

I don't find the 8GB RAM configuration all that appealing. However, with a little patience, you can crack open the laptop and upgrade the RAM and SSD.

The deal also gets you a few bonus items, the most interesting of which is an MSI Urban Raider backpack worth $149. Another bonus is a loot box pack worth $62.89, which includes a gaming mouse, mouse pad, dragon doll charm, and collectible box.

If you're looking for a current-generation Comet Lake laptop instead, HP's similarly configured Omen 15 is on sale at Walmart for $849 (a $450 savings over list price) and includes a Core i7 10750H CPU, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU, 8 GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD combo included. Several bonus items are also included, including a gaming mouse and headset.