Are you looking to buy a new gaming laptop? But curious about how long a gaming laptop lasts? We all know that in this digitalized world gaming is evolving as another industry and rapidly growing. And everyone is just wanting to enter this industry and wants to buy a gaming laptop to enter it. Most gamers play games and stream on PC builds but due to some load-shedding issues, they prefer laptops as their gaming machine.
Whether it’s a gaming laptop or a mobile phone, gaming devices are quite expensive compared to others. Because they come with a powerful CPU, RAM, Cooling system, and an amazing graphics card, all of these make a gaming device quite expensive. Many of you are here because you want to get an idea about how long gaming laptops last.
What is the average life of a gaming laptop?
Being electrical and powerful devices, gaming laptops are designed best in terms of durability, heavy use, and portability. The lifespan of a gaming laptop is not fixed on every device. It varies from device to device; because some of the cheaper or mid-range laptops last for almost 3-5 years and expensive ones last for almost 5-6 years. However, you can increase their lifespan by minting them perfectly. Moreover, a gaming laptop’s components can last for more than 10 years.
But with the passage of time software, games, and applications will become more advance and heavier. So maybe you would have to update your laptop after 5-6 years. Because at that time maybe you’d have more heavy usage games to play and also new CPUs, RAMs, and GPUs will have arrived there.
What is the battery life of a gaming laptop?
Generally, the life of the battery depends upon how you use your laptop while unplugged. If you use your laptop on battery only when the light goes off or you’re out of home somewhere else. Then most probably your gaming laptop’s battery should last for at least 2-3 years. Although with good battery life, you’ll get an amazing battery backup from your gaming laptop because they’ve more good batteries in them.
Which factors affect the lifespan of a gaming laptop?
Quality
As we know, gaming laptops come with one of the best components possible in your budget segment. They always would have excellent quality to provide outstanding performance while gaming or streaming. Every laptop is created for some specific reason such as gaming laptops for gaming, editing laptops for editing, and portable & lightweight laptops for students. And they’d have the specification according to their purpose.
Hardware
Hardware is one of the most important segments of a gaming laptop, for gaming you need powerful and durable hardware components. So, they can run most of the games and software at a very good performance. You’ve to look at different components’ performance and durability while buying a gaming laptop that can last for years not months.
- CPU
CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brain of your gaming laptop, it’s one of the main components to handle programs and system software. Every other component is handled and processed from this processor. It’s a kind of microchip, mostly integrated into the center of the motherboard. It plays an important role in the performance of your gaming laptop. So, you must have to look at it before buying a laptop.
If you’ve had good components but a bad CPU, then you won’t be able to run games, and may your laptop start bottlenecking. All FPS games (First Person Shooter) require a very good CPU for smooth gaming. Intel’s processor is known as the most reliable processor at this time but its prices are a bit higher than their competitors.
In addition, if you want to make your laptop a future-proof gaming machine, then you must have to look for a very good CPU with the latest generation such as Core i7 6th Gen or Ryzen 5 and 7. Both companies are reliable and trustworthy in their market.
- GPU
GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is the most important component to process graphics and animations whether it’s gaming or editing. It’s known as the core component for modern gamers because they want extreme graphics with higher fps. NVIDIA and AMD products are the most reliable and durable GPUs at this time.
A game running below 30 FPS would not give a smooth gaming experience. Most gamers would always prefer a performance of at least 60 and 120 fps with good resolution. In this modern industry, NVIDIA has produced their RTX series that left everything behind themselves, it’s just insane in terms of animation rendering.
If don’t have a good budget but want a good GPU, then you must check out the NVIDIA GTX series such as GTX 1050 and GTX 1660ti. But if you want to experience another level of gaming then you must go for their RTX series such as RTX 3060, RTX 3070, and RTX 3080ti. Recently they announced to launch of their RTX 40 series as well. Their GPUs last for years and they offer warranties as well.
- RAM
In this modern gaming, most of the games take a lot of RAM, it’s like they eat rams. RAM is the short-term memory that stays active until your laptop is turned on. When you turn it off, your all data stored or running on it would disappear. RAMs play an important role in multitasking, faster boot, and reducing lags. A decent laptop other than gaming should have 4GB or 8GB RAM.
But in the case of gaming, your laptop should have 8GB or 16GB RAM to get a lag-free and fast boot experience. If you want your laptop to run for years then you must look for higher RAM, so your laptop can take over the much RAM-consuming games and programs. If you take an example of Rockstar’s most popular games such as RDR2 (Red Dead Redemption 2) and GTA 5 (Grand Theft Auto V) both games have at least 8GB RAM and 16GB recommended RAM.
But if you want both gaming and streaming then don’t go for a laptop with less than 16GB RAM. And don’t forget to buy a laptop with long-lasting and reliable company RAM.
Cooling System
As usually any electrical device, that runs on electricity would surely produce heat. In this case, when you’ll use your laptop for gaming purposes then your CPU and GPU would be producing a lot of heat that you must have to make it cool down. So, to protect your laptop’s main components CPU and GPU from overheating, you’d require a good cooling system for your laptop.
It’s not a big issue in gaming PCs because they have spare space for airflow and fans as well but in the case of laptops, it’s really important to look before buying them. Your room temperature takes an important part in your laptop’s heat, so keep your room temperature moderate, especially in summer.
If your cooling system is not good then it may decrease your gaming laptop lifespan. Because most of your components would become overheated and could be damaged in that case. You should choose a gaming laptop that has a really good cooling system and handle the heat perfectly. If your laptop cooling system is good then that’s great. But if your laptop doesn’t have a good cooling system, then you must check out the cooling pad available for laptops on an affordable budget.
Usage
How you and how you use your gaming laptop takes a notable role in your laptop’s performance and lifespan. If you use your laptop at a moderate level and don’t use it 24/7 or overclock your laptop, it would surely add a minus to your laptop lifespan. A person; who uses his laptop for light gaming and other purposes, his laptop would last for more as compared to one, who uses it for heavy and advanced gaming.
Maintenance
To make your laptop lifespan more extensive, cleaning and maintaining are one of the most flexible ways to do it. There should be both inner and outer cleaning. You must take off dust from anywhere on your laptop whether it’s inside or outside. You can use a Microfiber towel to clean your laptop to avoid scratches and other stuff.
Cleaning dust from your ventilation system is one of the most important factors. Because overheating can cause many inner and outer problems for software. If you can screw up your laptop and open it for cleaning, then it’s an amazing way to clean the inner side of the laptop. But If you can’t then you can take your laptop to any nearby service center for inner cleaning.
How can I improve my gaming laptop lifespan?
There are many factors to make your laptop last long such as;
- Clean it from time to time.
- Keep it in a cool environment to avoid overheating.
- Take to a service center for maintenance.
- Change Thermal paste on time.
- Use a Cooling Pad
- Hardware Updates.
- Software Updates.
FAQs
What is an average battery backup of a gaming laptop
A decent gaming laptop would give a battery backup between 2-5 hours after being fully charged. Although battery backup depends upon which type of games you play and what are your graphics settings.
Why Gaming Reduces Laptop Lifespan?
Generally, gaming does not decrease your laptop’s lifespan. But if you do heavy gaming with high settings and play games for a long time. Then it may lead to heat and damage your components.
Will a gaming laptop last longer than a regular laptop?
A gaming laptop can long last as a normal laptop does if you use it properly. Although components quality and durability matter in this case as well.
Can my laptop survive for 10 years?
Yes, it can but with proper care and maintenance. And you must remember, after 4-5 years your laptop would be considered as an old-age and low specification laptop even though you bought it with good specifications while buying it. You know everything is improving and becoming advanced every day.
Should I buy a used gaming laptop?
You can buy a used gaming laptop if the vendor is providing you with a checking warranty then it could be a great deal for you. But I would still prefer to buy a new gaming laptop and avoid using one.
Is a laptop a good option for gaming?
You should look for a gaming desktop PC for gaming because a laptop can’t give you that kind of power as a desktop pc can. You would have more options to upgrade your desktop PC but you can’t upgrade a gaming laptop, most probably.
Conclusion
Usually, your laptop may last for 5 years if you bought high-end gaming laptop. But if you bought a low-range or mid-range laptop then you should expect 3 years or less in that segment. But there are many ways such as cleaning, maintenance, and cooling pad. So, you can improve your gaming laptop lifespan.