Modern gaming laptops are outstanding devices, capable of ripping through your favorite game titles.
Many of them come with sturdy and beautiful designs, packing some of the world’s best hardware components to deliver the ultimate gaming experience.
Let’s look at how good laptops are for gaming as we answer some key questions you may have about them.
Here’s What You Need To Know About Laptops And How Suitable They Are For Gaming
Many laptop models can handle gaming. Dedicated gaming laptops are particularly ideal for this task. Gaming does not shorten the lifespan of your laptop, although other factors can. A gaming laptop will last you years of use with proper care and handling.
Besides that, you can use a gaming laptop for normal activities. Much that involves choosing between gaming laptops and desktops is entirely up to your preferences.
Table of Contents
Does Gaming Shorten Laptop Life?
Gaming doesn’t shorten the lifespan of your laptop, especially if built for gaming. However, some other factors like heat or poor construction could lead to a shorter lifespan.
Let’s look at them:
Overheating
Overheating is the ultimate enemy of all gaming computers. Not only does it damage laptop components, but it also slows down your computer. Also, if your CPU overheats, it automatically throttles performance to protect itself. Excessive overheating eventually damages it.
Power Surge
An unstable power supply can also reduce the lifespan of your laptop. A power surge can damage the circuitry on your motherboard, leading to critical hardware failure. You can also lose your data if a power surge destroys your hard drive or other laptop components.
Accidental Impacts or Careless Handling
Unintentionally dropping or carelessly handling your gaming laptop can also reduce its lifespan. Frequent impact breaks and loosens essential components within a laptop. You can break your screen, fan, heat sink or damage your hard drive and other key components.
Lacking Antivirus Software
Malware attacks on laptops can shorten the lifespan of your laptop. Viruses can cause certain components of your laptop to malfunction, overheat, or fail. They can also slow down the performance of your CPU and GPU. Ransomware can cost you data and thousands of dollars in ransom payments.
How Long Will A Gaming Laptop Last?
Many gaming laptops will give you about 4 years of extensive use. Besides that, good care, maintenance and repair will make your device last longer.
You can also improve its lifespan further by using it in well-ventilated areas. Also, carry your device with a padded bag to protect it from sudden impacts. In places with unstable power, use a surge protector.
Frequently clean and service your laptop to keep its components running seamlessly. Where possible, switch it off when not in use.
How Long Do Gaming Laptop Batteries Last?
Gaming laptop batteries can last you up to two years of consistent use. After this period, these batteries degrade and won’t power your laptop for long periods.
Higher-end models will give you up to 10 hours of usage before recharge, whereas entry-level and medium-range laptops will get you at least 6 hours.
Lithium-ion and Lithium-Polymer batteries in gaming laptops have limited charging cycles. The closer you get to these limits, the lesser the capacity of your battery to hold a charge.
Which Is Better: A Gaming Laptop Or Desktop?
Most gaming brands have laptops that, feature-wise, can match desktops. No one device is better than another, it just depends on what you want as a gamer. Both have their advantages and drawbacks.
Here’s why:
Portability
No matter their weight or size, all laptops are portable. This capability beats any desktop, especially when it involves gaming. For gamers who live a nomad lifestyle, portability makes all the difference.
Carrying heavy desktops around and installing them to your new station can be a tiresome process, and that’s something you never have to worry about with laptops.
Upgradability
Desktop computers offer dynamic upgradability options. With the space that comes with many desktops towers, you have room to add more upgrades than you could care to use.
Besides that, you can build a custom desktop from scratch, something you can’t do with gaming laptops. While almost all laptops only allow you to upgrade RAM or storage, they won’t allow you to upgrade your CPU or GPU. Gaming desktops come with no such restrictions.
Whatever you choose, pick whatever suits your unique circumstances.
Can You Use A Gaming Laptop As A Regular Laptop?
You can use your gaming laptop for regular activities. Although these devices come with advanced features on almost all levels, they can handle basic home and office tasks with ease.
They run similar operating systems to regular laptops, and you can use them with similar ease.
How Much RAM Do I Need For Gaming?
You need at least 16GB of RAM to handle many AAA games in the PC market.
For more versatile gaming experiences with VR and online gaming, 32GB RAM is perfect. But, if you’re on a low budget or are an entry-level gamer, 8GB is a great place to start.
Which Laptop Brand Is Best For Gaming?
With many laptop brands engaged in producing world-class gaming devices, it’s hard to pin it down to a singular brand. Aside from that, many gamers boil it down to experience and preference.
Many hardcore gamers have published their opinions on what they consider as the best gaming laptop. They have no simple answers either. In their rankings, no particular brand holds the top position for long, or even more than once.
No matter what your preferred brand is, many modern gaming laptops come with mind-blowing hardware that can run resource-demanding games.
While certain brands may perform better than others at the extreme ends of the spectrum, they are all potent enough to handle all your modern-day gaming needs.
Why Are Gaming Laptops So Expensive?
Here are some reasons on why gaming laptops are expensive:
Component Materials
Gaming laptops use innovative materials and components in their build. Not only do they feature outstanding screens with high resolution and incredible refresh rates, but they also use high-quality metal and plastic components.
Assembling these materials takes plenty of time, skill and resources, contributing to the overall price of your gaming laptops
Branding
A majority of gaming laptops in the market thrive on selling their brand. Because of established reputations, most brands add an extra charge to their devices, often called a ‘brand tax’.
This extra cost on a device is a guarantee that these devices have the highest quality for years. Some brands are also luxurious to own, attracting this charge.
Research and Development
Many brands and manufacturers spend millions of dollars on research and development to improve the components of gaming laptops.
The race to slimmer and more powerful gaming computers continues, and this affair can be quite expensive. As research leads to more innovation, part of that cost goes into the pricing of a gaming laptop.
Purpose
Gaming laptops are expensive because all their components gear towards powerful gaming. Many of them come with the highest quality of RAM, CPUs, GPUs, screens and build material.
They also come with innovative cooling systems and robust construction that can withstand reasonable amounts of impact. For this reason, they’ll cost more than other laptops.
Customer Service
Gamers are a demanding group of people, and many laptop brands understand that. For this reason, they’ve set up dedicated customer service channels for them.
If you face any challenge with your laptop, you can directly contact an expert customer service agent via chat, call or email and you’ll receive instant help. You can also contact them concerning other issues like warranties, returns and repairs.
High-Quality Batteries
What Is The Cheapest Gaming Laptop?
All gaming brands have at least one budget laptop model, although ‘cheap’ can sometimes be subjective. It will also depend on your unique needs and budget. For most brands, any gaming laptop that costs slightly less than $1000 is a cheap gaming laptop.
Budget gaming laptops usually have entry-level or medium-range features and capabilities.
Their components are slightly more advanced than ordinary laptops, although not as high-powered as their more expensive counterparts. At about $1000, you can still find a decent device.
For example, the HP Pavilion 15 gaming laptop is a budget device with a mix of power and style. It gives you at least 6 hours of battery life and has a fast-boot SSD that handles excellently. Its price tag is below $1000, but it delivers without compromise.
Are Gaming Laptops Worth It?
Gaming laptops can handle any task besides gaming, making them an excellent investment if you have demanding tasks. If budget isn’t an issue, a gaming laptop is what you should go for.
Final Thoughts
Whether you use your gaming laptop for normal activities or for your hobbies, they remain powerful devices that can perform incredible tasks.
You sacrifice nothing in terms of performance by choosing to own a gaming laptop.
Sources
https://www.tomshardware.com/features/gaming-desktop-vs-gaming-laptop
https://techspectacle.com/how-long-do-gaming-laptops-last/
https://blog.cetrain.isu.edu/blog/5-reasons-to-buy-a-gaming-laptop-for-work-even-if-you-dont-game
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/06/7-things-shorten-lifespan-pc/