The Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 is a budget-friendly gaming laptop that provides excellent value for its price. It features a 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12450H or a Ryzen 5 6600H chipset, 16GB/8GB of RAM, a 512GB/256GB SSD, and a 4GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card.

Gaming performance at 1080p resolution is decent, though it falls behind higher-end GPUs in benchmark tests. However, it can handle popular games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Far Cry 6, Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Borderlands 3 at playable frame rates (60-80 FPS approx).

The IdeaPad Gaming 3 also performs well for productivity tasks, delivering solid CPU performance in video transcoding and file copying tasks. It’s suitable for everyday productivity and light content creation. If you like the design, I recommend IdeaPad Gaming 3 for content creators.

In terms of design, the IdeaPad Gaming 3 feels solid and well-built, with minimal flex in the chassis and lid. It has a sleek appearance with blue accents on the exhaust ports, adding a touch of style. The gaming laptop weighs 2.3kg, making it relatively lightweight compared to competitors.

The 15.6-inch display offers bright and vibrant colors, although its color gamut coverage is less extensive than some competitors. The keyboard is responsive and comfortable, while the touchpad is spacious but may feel cramped for left-palm placement.

The audio quality is impressive, with clear and crisp sound from the speakers. The Nahimic audio utility provides different sound profiles to enhance the listening experience.

Upgrading the laptop is possible but may require effort, as accessing the internals involves removing multiple screws. The M.2 SSD is replaceable but supports only shorter 42mm drives. The RAM can be upgraded, but replacing the entire kit is more cost-effective than matching the existing 8GB stick.

Battery life is average for a gaming laptop, lasting just over four hours in typical usage scenarios. Heat management is decent, with the keyboard and touchpad staying relatively calm, but the underside can get warm during intensive tasks.

The 720p webcam is suitable for basic videoconferencing but not for streaming or low-light environments. The laptop has minimal pre-installed Lenovo software, and most included apps are standard Windows 11.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 offers excellent value for gamers on a budget. While it may not match higher-end gaming laptops’ performance, it delivers solid gaming and productivity performance for its price range. It can be a capable and affordable gaming machine with potential upgrades like additional RAM and a larger SSD.

The HP Victus 16 is another gaming beast that you can buy below a 70000 Rs budget. The gaming laptop is powered by a Ryzen 5 5600H or Core i5-12450H chipset, which is one of the best processors in this price range. The processor boots alongside the Nvidia 4GB RTX 3050 GPU, and the combination results in a seamless gaming experience.

GPU (FPS Score)

You can install your favorite games directly on the 512 GB NVME SSD storage, which would boost the gaming experience even further by reducing the loading and file opening times.

The laptop boasts a 15.6-inch FHD IPS display with a `44Hz response rate. The bezels on the screen are quite thin, and the laptop offers a screen-to-display ratio of about 84%, which increases the overall viewing area, and visibility, and it can have a great impact on your gameplay. The screen has a maximum brightness level of 250 nits which is good enough.

The dual audio speaker system on the HP Victus has been developed by Bang and Olufsen, and the audio quality is simply the best in this segment.

If you are someone who plays online games quite frequently, then the Victus Ryzen 5 has something unique in store for you. If your network lags while playing, you can opt for the Network Booster mode, which would prioritize your game over anything else and provide you with the fastest internet speeds possible on your current network.

The HP Victus can be a great choice for you if you want a larger-screen gaming notebook with decent performance. The HP Victus is also an ideal option for content creators.