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Computers are some of the most expensive technology found in the average person’s home. Thanks to high-end components and advanced cooling systems, even a budget of $2,000 might not be able to cover the most powerful computers available from every major brand. There’s always the option of building the computer yourself, but this runs the extra risk of messing up connections or damaging parts during the setup. Additionally, thanks to sale prices and special deals, there are some pre-built computers that can outperform custom desktops in terms of both price and performance.
Limiting yourself to $1,000 will still let you get a decent computer, sometimes even allowing for extras like custom motherboards and RGB lighting. The only downside is a limit to how powerful your device truly can be, but you can still gauge that power by checking out CPU and GPU model numbers. Other features like RAM can make a difference, but the actual results might vary depending on what you need most. It’s important to be aware of the most powerful pre-built computers under $1,000 to keep from wasting too much money on unnecessary performance.
Be warned that many computers on this list can only reach prices under $1,000 due to limited-time sales and clearance discounts. You might not find these products at their budget prices as a result, but they might gain similar sales in the future. It might be a good idea to keep an eye on their prices and bookmark them for later.
Lenovo Legion Tower 5
Lenovo lacks options for high-power PCs under the $1,000 price tag, but sale prices allow for quite a few relatively high-end picks. The Legion Tower 5 Gen 8 is the primary computer you’ll want to go for, but you should take a closer look at different variations. The version currently on sale for under $1,000 comes with an AMD CPU, the Ryzen 5 7600, along with AMD’s RX 7600 graphics card. This card is able to go head-to-head with Nvidia’s RTX 4060 in terms of performance, but the price difference with the sale means you have an extra $300 to work with if you go with the former.
The Legion Tower 5 comes with many different variations, including a separate version of the tower housing Intel CPUs instead of AMD’s. While these aren’t currently on sale on Lenovo’s website, they’ve reached lower prices both there and through other major storefronts such as Best Buy. If you’re able to find such a tower with the i5-14400F and a similar graphics card, you’ll get similar performance to the aforementioned Legion Tower 5. It definitely won’t reach the heights of extra-expensive products like Lenovo’s Legion 9i laptop, but it should get most jobs done without very many issues.
Dell Inspiron 3020
Dell’s most powerful computer under $1,000 might end up disappointing in some areas compared to its rivals. Even so, at a sale price of around $949, the Inspiron 3020 has some unique features that other pre-built PCs can’t easily match. On top of being cased inside a more compact exterior, the computer features a disc drive and a memory card reader for anyone unfortunate enough to lack adapters. It even boasts some modern touches like a USB-C port in front and Wi-Fi 6 compatibility. On the surface, it’s one of the most versatile computers you’ll find at this price range.
Where the Inspiron 3020 falls short is in its specs. The 13th-gen Intel i7-13700 still offers respectable performance even though it’s vastly outperformed by the 14th-gen 14700. The most disappointing part of the computer is the RTX 3050, a graphics card that can hardly outdo mid-range graphics cards released nearly a decade ago. There also aren’t any customization options on Dell’s website for this particular model, so you’re stuck with single-channel RAM and no extra hard drives or SSDs for storage. It’s not the worst choice you could make, but you can find far more powerful PCs even outside of sale prices.
iBuyPower RDY Scale 002
The best budget pre-built system on iBuyPower’s website is the RDY Scale 002. Unlike the Legion Tower 5, this desktop comes with the RTX 4060 graphics card and the Ryzen 7 5700 CPU. The components of both desktops are able to trade blows effectively in just about any benchmark, so you won’t miss out on much, no matter which one you go with. If you want another alternative in iBuyPower’s lineup, or you miss out on the Scale 002’s sale, there’s also the RDY Slate 6M 001 which comes in a different case and includes an RX 7600 as its own graphics card. As mentioned before, the two cards don’t vary much in terms of performance, with one usually only winning over the other in certain video games.
Though overall power is similar between iBuyPower systems, you might have a better time with the RDY Scale 002 thanks to its RTX graphics card. The RTX 4060 was called the “ultimate” GPU for 1080p gaming not just because of its strength, but because of its raytracing capabilities as well. Games and programs will handle raytracing with an RTX graphics card much better than they will with just about any of AMD’s GPU offerings. If you care about top-tier lighting in your games, RTX cards will win against their competitors almost every time.
Asus ROG Strix G13CH
If you’re willing to pump your budget by around $50 or $100, you can get your hands on some high-power products from Asus, like the TUF Gaming A16. But if you’re set on a flat $1,000 price point or lower, your best bet will be the company’s ROG Strix G13CH. This desktop, unfortunately, lacks the same power as previously mentioned computers, falling short of even Dell’s choice thanks to its lower-tier i5-13400F CPU. The eight gigabytes of RAM also leads to some restrictions if you want to run modern games or intensive programs, with many web browsers taking up a sizeable percentage of that number on their own.
The greatest benefit of the G13CH is its price. Currently, it’s on sale directly from the company itself at just under $900, allowing it to be one of the cheapest options on this list. Products on the Asus “eShop” also commonly go in and out of stock, so you might want to keep it bookmarked or check other official vendors featuring Asus products. With luck, you can end up getting a far better PC for a remarkably similar price.
HP Victus
Thanks to sale prices, HP’s strongest computer is actually a laptop. The laptop in question is the 16-inch Victus by HP, which was unleashed by the company alongside new OMEN laptops in 2023. Thanks to how recently this product launched, it’s able to boast components from the latest generation, including an Intel i5-14450HX and the RTX 4050. This CPU/GPU combination is able to keep up with most modern programs, with the GPU performing well against desktops with the 4060 and easily outdoing its last-gen 3050 counterpart.
With these specs, the 16-inch Victus is priced at around $999 on sale. If you happen to miss out on this offer, though, the HP Envy Desktop is a decent choice without any time-limited restrictions. It’s among the few computers on this list to be priced under $1,000 without needing a sale to reach those numbers, even with a 14th-gen Intel processor included. Where it falls short is its own graphics card, only reaching such a low price with the aforementioned RTX 3050. It won’t be the strongest computer you can buy, but for as long as it’s available, you’ll never be surprised by it suddenly going outside of your budget.
CyberPowerPC
Similarly to HP’s offerings, the GX 2803 takes the title of CyberPowerPC’s most powerful computer under $1,000 due to sale prices. It doesn’t manage to top out this list in terms of power, though, only featuring the i5-14400F and RTX 3050 CPU/GPU combo. Like with the G13CH, the main draw here is price, which is even cheaper at around $879 while including bonuses such as a variety of case fans and RGB accessories. You can also opt to mess around with the company’s custom PC configurator to fine-tune your specs yourself, though you might have some trouble obtaining similar performance at a similar price.
If you’re willing to stretch your wallet just a bit further, you can also check out the GM 99269. Even without its sale price, it’s only $100 above the $1,000 limit, and you can always keep an eye out for deeper discounts down the line. This could be more worthwhile than you think, as its specs of the Ryzen 7 8700F CPU and the RTX 4060 GPU make it perhaps the strongest computer at this price point. It might be tempting to go with the cheaper option immediately, but a bit of patience can go a long way for buyers and their bank accounts.
Apple Mac mini
Outside of computers boasting the Windows OS, the Apple Mac mini is the most powerful Mac you can find at this price point. You won’t be able to opt for the device’s M2 Pro CPU, but the regular M2 chip within still packs a decent punch alongside the 10-core GPU. The Mac mini also manages to be among the few computers on this list that are not bound by sale price restrictions, set at just $799 for the mentioned specs. It doesn’t stand up particularly well to Windows PCs with similar specs, but that likely won’t matter to you if you were specifically looking to buy a Mac anyway.
Though it’s more expensive and less powerful, those who want a more portable option might be interested in the 13-inch MacBook Air. Even though the less-powerful eight-core GPU is the best you can get for it at a total price of $999, you also get a True Tone display and even some alternate color choices. However, the biggest reason to get the MacBook Air instead is just the included display and built-in keyboard, allowing for an easier time moving everything. The Mac mini is much smaller and more powerful, providing a great alternative even to most high-end laptops.
Acer Nitro 50
It’s easy to assume that budget gaming desktops won’t stand up too well against Acer’s boosted Nitro and Predator gaming laptops for 2024. Unfortunately, the company’s best option, priced at just $999, doesn’t manage to impress very well on its own, either. The Acer Nitro 50 includes the 14400F as its CPU, which is a respectable choice, but the included RTX 3050 is little more than a disappointment at this cost. The computer even manages to lack some of the basic nice-to-have features like a tempered glass side panel, making it difficult to do as you please with the components inside.
Despite these downsides, the Nitro 50 still has some good benefits outside of raw power. The included terabyte of SSD storage is better than most computers on this list, making a big difference if you want both speed and capacity in that area. The fact that it includes dual-channel memory also lets it trade blows with Dell’s own under-$1,000 offering despite having a weaker CPU. Sometimes, the benefits of power can’t outweigh the benefits in other areas, with the Nitro 50 being a prime example of that fact.
NZXT Player: One
NZXT is among the best custom gaming PC builders, but its best pre-built systems aren’t too impressive under $1,000. The $829 Player: One does happen to be one of the cheapest options you’ll find while still having a decent amount of power behind it. The price difference also lets you customize the computer while still keeping under budget, allowing you to choose between an SSD with two terabytes of storage or 32 gigabytes of RAM. In terms of raw power, though, you won’t be getting much from the last-gen i5-13400F or the RTX 3050 within.
While there are options for better CPU and GPU configurations, these will bump up the price considerably, with the better CPU forcing you into a “Prime” configuration priced at over $1,200. The company’s other “Player” pre-builts are only more expensive from there, leaving you with few options for high performance. You’re better off taking advantage of the other customization options, such as including a keyboard and mouse or opting for better storage. It won’t be the strongest PC under $1,000 no matter what you do, but you can still make it into the best PC possible for your needs.
MSI Sword 15
When considering sale prices, the question of “most powerful PC under $1,000” gets muddy in MSI’s case. The company’s Sword 15 gaming laptop is arguably its most powerful competitor at just around $999, though it’s one option that shows its age quite a bit. The included 3070 Ti GPU is able to outdo most other graphics cards on this list, even standing up against the 4070 at times, but the i7-12650H isn’t all that impressive by today’s standards anymore. Thanks to these unique restrictions, it also ends up stuck with DDR4 RAM instead of DDR5, lowering its performance in memory-intensive applications.
Alternatively, you can go for the MSI Codex R2, which has the more modern 14400F CPU and the weaker, but newer RTX 4060 GPU inside. The inclusion of DDR5 helps make up for whatever performance hits it might take, and it manages to be priced under $1,000 even outside of sales. You can even take advantage of a free gaming bundle that includes Star Wars Outlaws. Even if you don’t happen to miss out on the Sword 15’s sale, the Codex R2 might be a much better choice for you overall.
Methodology
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As mentioned previously, this article primarily covers computers subject to sale prices. Some of the items on this list might reach prices over $1,000 when you check them yourself, so make sure you’re aware of this when confirming their cost. This article also covers computers and laptops rather than computer-like devices. As a result, phones, gaming consoles, and handheld console-like PCs such as the Steam Deck OLED are exempt from this list. After all, there are more benefits to a computer’s strength than just gaming or portability.
With the passage of time, new components will surface while older components become more affordable. Next-gen graphics cards and processors can arrive as early as the next year or two, which will lead to more powerful computers becoming even less expensive. If you want your budget computer to rival top-end builds today, keep an eye out for these improvements as they happen, and you might just get your wish sooner than you’d expect.
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