A concern that’s very common among laptop gamers is whether their gaming laptops are future proof or not, however there are many things to consider before we can decide whether your gaming laptop will be worth it in the long run.
Many people wonder that gaming laptops aren’t worth buying, which leads them to the question of if they’re future proof or not.
Things That Can Make A Huge Difference In Performance:
- CPU
- Graphics Card
- Display
- Memory
- Storage
Check The CPU
When it comes to buying the perfect future proof laptop, the first thing you need to check is the CPU, is it a 10th generation CPU? is it a 9th Generation CPU? perhaps a 12th Generation CPU?
Then you need to see if its an i3, i5 , an i7 or an i9. In the case of AMD you can check what ryzen generation it has, generally the higher the numbers the better the CPU.
But the most important thing to check is the number of cores and threads of the CPU, more and more games are starting to require a strong CPU.
An ideal CPU would be the i7 10th generation processor, which has 6cores and 12threads and an amazing clock speed of 2.6GHz. It will be able to handle 99% of the games, for 5 years straight, before showing a decrease in performance.
Graphics Card
Most gaming laptops nowadays come with the RTX graphics cards, which are more than enough to run all of the latest games for 6-7 years.
But the thing is , when it comes to graphics cards, you can never truly have a future proof graphics card, because graphics cards are constantly evolving and demanding games are being released every year.
You can expect your graphics card to run the latest games at high-ultra settings for 3 years max, after that, performance in games will start to decline, not because your graphics card is going bad, but because the games requirements will be high.
And another disadvantage of a gaming laptop GPU is that since there is no upgradability, you will eventually have to buy another gaming laptop.
There is a bit of a silver lining though, popular graphics cards companies like Gigabyte have started to release external plug and play graphics cards which can become mainstream in the near future.
So when it comes to future proof graphics cards, there’s still hope!
Display
No matter what laptop you have, the display is almost always going to be future proof. 90% of the gaming laptops come with a standard 15.6″ 1920 * 1080px screen, which is enough to accommodate any type of game.
However, when it comes to Esports, there might be a higher refresh rate technology, the max refresh rate in laptops right now is 240Hz, it might be more in future gaming laptops.
But it’s not a big problem to worry about unless you’re a professional Esports player.
RAM
RAM is an important thing to consider when talking about future proof gaming laptops, that’s because even in 2022, 8GB ram is a bare minimum to run the latest games.
And to run them on even higher settings, you need to have 16GB of RAM, so you can probably judge from this that you will have to have atleast 16GB of ram if you truly want to future proof your gaming laptop.
The good news is that most gaming laptops have extra ram slots so you can always upgrade the ram. The most interesting part though, is that companies have started to experiment and manufacture DDR5 ram modules which can have a speed of as much as 5000Mhz!
Storage
The storage doesn’t play a big part in future proofing a laptop, that’s because it’s only a medium to store your games and stuff on your laptop.
But one thing that is important though is that you should have an SSD storage, since 90% of the laptops in the future are going to have SSDs (solid state drive).
And the storage capacity should be a minimum of 1TB if you don’t want to upgrade for the next 5 years, because a high graphics game will easily cross 100GB of storage, such as GTA 5, or Crysis etc.
Now let’s talk about some of the FAQs related to Future Proof Gaming Laptops
Is An RTX 3050 Future Proof?
No, an RTX 3050 is not a future proof graphics card, in fact, none of the graphics cards can be deemed as future proof.
Because new types of graphics cards are being released each and every year, increasing the competition and constantly getting better with the games’ requirements.
So you can never have a future proof graphics card.
What Should You Not Do On A Gaming Laptop To Make It Future Proof?
Future proofing laptops doesn’t entirely rely upon the hardware and specifications, it also relies on how you use your gaming laptop.
Here are some of the best ways to maintain your gaming laptop and make it future proof:
- Don’t Eat Near Your Gaming Laptop: you should avoid consuming any kind of food near your gaming laptop, be it a piece of bread, chips or even water , a slight spill of any of these might result in a malfunctioning laptop or worse, your laptop could even die.
- Prevent Your Laptop From Overheating: If you feel that your laptop is not performing as it should, then it’s most likely because of overheating hardware, to control this, the first thing you should do is check the temperatures, ideal temperatures for gaming laptops on Idle is 50-55Degrees, so if it’s above that, you should do the following stuff:
- Check if all of the fans are working by putting your ear on the bottom of your laptop
- Replace the thermal paste on your gaming laptop
- Invest in a good laptop cooling pad which will help to keep temperatures under control.
- Don’t Play Games On Max Settings: I get it, you’re a gamer and you can’t control your urge to play games on ultra settings. Playing games on maxed out settings will cause your hardware to wear out faster so always play games on medium settings.
- Upgrade Your Laptop: This is one of the best ways to future proof your laptop, there might be external graphics cards, so you should buy those, or increase the amount of RAM and Storage on your laptop.
Are Gaming Laptop Durable?
Gaming laptops are very durable , but in the end it all boils down to how you’re using your gaming laptop, to truly make your gaming laptop last longer, you need to clean it regularly, maintain it, keep temperatures in check , and most of all, play your games on medium settings and control your urge to go any further than that.
What Is The Average Lifespan Of A Gaming Laptop?
Gaming laptops can last upto 10 years if taken care of properly, but they may not be able to play the latest games after 10 years, or even any kind of game at all.
But the average lifespan of a gaming laptop is generally 4-5 years, and that is IF you take care of it.
Do I Need To Clean My Gaming Laptop?
If you want to make sure that your gaming laptop lasts longer then cleaning it is one of the simplest ways to do it.
How Do I Keep My Gaming Laptop Healthy And Future Proof?
There are a lot of ways to keep your gaming laptop healthy, let’s go through some of them:
- Keep it clean and free of dust, use a lint cloth and blower to clean it.
- Prevent it from overheating by keeping it in a well ventilated room and buying a cooling pad.
- Change thermal paste after every year.
- Play Games on Low-Medium Settings.
- Use a good antivirus such as avast or windows defender
- Use a screen protector.
- Use an external mouse and keyboard to avoid damaging the trackpad and keyboard of your laptop
- Keep your gaming laptop up to date
- Uninstall unnecessary software from your gaming laptop
- Keep your laptop covered at all times
- Use a laptop stand with a stopper to avoid dropping it.
- Use a voltage stabilizer when charging your laptop
- Turn off your laptop when it’s not in use.
How Often Should I Service My Gaming Laptop?
Servicing your laptop after every 4 months is an ideal time period, if you can’t service it every 4 months then do it twice a year.
Which Laptop Brand Produces The Best Gaming Laptop That Has A Longer Lifespan?
There is no competition when it comes to this, all brands produce laptops of similar qualities which have a similar lifespan, some companies such as Lenovo , Acer, Asus, MSI, HP and DELL are seen as absolute authorities when it comes to the best gaming laptop brands.
So you should only buy your gaming laptop from these companies , but when it comes to a longer lifespan , then that depends on how you use it.
Bottom Line
Most gaming laptops should last at least 4 years and be able to run most of the games on high settings so you don’t have to worry about how long your laptop will last when it comes to keeping up to date with the latest games.
