>>1564035
>gaming laptop
>modern gaming
>$1k
Save your money for a decent education.

>>1564036
My current living arrangement makes a real PC impractical. And "modern gaming" as in not crashing for anything released past 2020.

If you don't have room for a normal PC have you considered a mini pc? I don't know if it's any better than a laptop but I have a gaming laptop that got fried and will always advice against buying a gaming laptop.

If you need mobility, get a Steam Deck for half the price. It will run most games way better than a 1k laptop.

If you don't need mobility, make room for a PC and build your own. The specs you can get for 800+monitor are twice as powerful as any 1k laptop.

>>1564035
If you're hell bent on a laptop (I used to be like that too due to personal circumstances) look for deals on used laptops on ebay or whatever classifieds people use in the US. A good deal will be more important than deciding on a particular model. The market is that shit right now. What you can get new for a grand is just not worth it compared to the aforementioned Steam Deck and a full PC (especially if you also get stuff on deals or used). Also make sure to check max wattage of the GPU, the performance difference of the same mobile GPU at different power draws can be insane.
>poor battery
Irrelevant for gaming laptops, they all might as well not even have a battery. You'll be plugged in 100% of the time. And since it's not a Mac the laptop will be like 2x nerfed when on battery.
>weak plastic
If you only use it a home then also irrelevant, just never close the lid. If you want to carry it around - yeah, that's gonna break, speaking from too much painful experience. That said, other things break too so even a full metal gaming laptop (cough, Razer, cough) is not necessarily a paragon of durability. These things also overheat like crazy, as the cooling is somehow never adequate, which can lead to more damage.