GPU is the most important thing to consider in a gaming rig, especially if you're trying to go for a value based option. The amount of quality mid range chips for CPUs is so abundant you really can't lose there. But a 10xx Nvidia is trash for most modern games. You're going to want to try and get a 30xx if you can since the 40xx are right around the corner. I'm not familiar with AMD's laptop GPU's.

I'd highly recommend considering a desktop. Your money goes so much farther. When your machine is getting a little long in the tooth you can swap out the GPU or add more ram to punch it up.

With a laptop it's such a pain in the ass to upgrade. I know there are these extremely pricey external setups, it's just that they don't seem supported longer than a generation or two.

If you really want to go with a laptop, I think Dell's value gaming rigs are going to be tough to beat. HP's build quality is suspect and I really don't get some of their design and engineering choices. But maybe that's just me.