Budget gaming laptops don't have to cost $1000. With Computex 2019 right around the corner, retailers are now offering heavy discounts on last generation SKUs to make room for newer models. The best part is that these older processors are still able to offer nearly the same performance as the latest generation hardware.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Nitro-5-with-Core-i5-8300H-GTX-1050-Ti-graphics-and-256-GB-SSD-is-only-630-USD-right-now.421916.0.html
Just got one a month ago. REALLY good performance to price ratio (if you ignore all the Intel security flaws going around).
Drop in a 1tb 2.5in drive and another 8gb of 2666mhz ddr4 ram and you've got yourself a great machine.