Gaming is a resource-intensive task. It requires lots of processing power to make the games running. Without a good processor, rest aside the gaming, you cannot get the simpler operations smoothly done. So, for gaming, yes I5 processor is a must-have and does not settle lower than this for the price. If it had been a 500 dollar price range, I would have recommended the i9 processor. I mean try to pick a laptop with a good processor for the price.