This is a question posed by many gamers, especially hardcore gamers who play games and work. Let me tell you this, gaming laptops ARE worth it for everyday use.
I’m going to explain why they’re worth it, so don’t worry, just read on.
Let’s First Compare A Gaming Laptop With A Regular Laptop
So what does this comparison table tell us? a gaming laptop has basically more features than a normal laptop.
More features mean a higher performance than a regular laptop. In simple words, a gaming laptop is built with the aim to run heavy tasks and games, which puts immense load upon the laptop processor and graphics card, a normal laptop is designed for everyday tasks such as power point presentations, browsing, using Microsoft word etc.
Gaming Laptops are able handle heavy tasks such as video editing, photo editing and of course gaming, but there’s a lot more to it than that. The components in a gaming laptop are designed to withstand a lot of heat and an advanced cooling system makes them easily able to dissipate that heat.
The same cannot be said for regular laptops , that’s because regular laptops are made to be efficient and built to last longer on the battery.
Gaming laptops generally consume a lot of battery power and as a result consuming that battery power, they give us a much higher performance than normal laptops.
Cooling System Gaming Laptops Vs Regular Laptops
Gaming laptops come with more vents and more fans, some even have fan blades as much as 89! so this really tells us that gaming laptops have a better cooling mechanism than regular laptops, a regular laptop doesn’t have more vents and it’s fans operate at a standard speed, making it very generic and not able to control the heat and temperatures.
Apart from this, all gaming laptops come with specific software to help with controlling the temperatures and you can manually adjust the cooling mode to be set at low, medium , or high.
For example, in my lenovo legion 5 laptop, i use the lenovo vantage software to choose how to control the temperatures of my gaming laptop.
Processor Comparison
Most gaming laptops generally come with an overclockable processor while non gaming laptops come with a standard processor. But what does overclocking actually mean?
It means that if you’re not satisfied with the current performance of your gaming laptop, you can “tweak” the processor a bit by increasing it’s clock speed, and thus get a little more performance boost out of it.
However, when overclocking your processor you need to be careful not to overclock it too much or it will damage the processor and you need to keep temperatures in check as well.
Non gaming laptops don’t have this overclocking feature and they’re basically locked to a certain core speed, which limits the performance.
RAM Comparison
Gaming laptops typically come with more ram as well, because being gaming laptops , they need to provide more ram so the laptop can handle latest games and heavy software without any trouble.
Regular laptops, on the other hand, usually come with 4gb ram or 8gb ram , some of them do come with 16gb ram but those are the high end ones, then you’d be much better off buying a gaming laptop.
So regular laptops, providing less ram obviously means that they won’t be able to deliver a high performance and will likely stutter when running RAM intensive processes and might even crash the laptop in certain conditions.
Storage Comparison
Most gaming laptops come with an SSD (solid state drive) which is almost a 100 times faster than a hard drive, so that helps run and load games/programs faster.
Regular laptops, on the other hand usually come with a hard drive which tends to slow down over time and then you’ll eventually have to add an SSD to make it faster.
Another disadvantage of using hard drives in a laptop is that the windows loads slowly, with an SSD , your windows will literally load in milliseconds, while with a hard drive it could take as much as 2-3 minutes, depending upon the condition of the hard drive.
Graphics Comparison
Now here’s the main comparison, gaming laptops come with dedicated graphics cards, which is what makes them more expensive than regular laptops.
But do graphics cards in a laptop really help? yes they do, if you have a laptop with a dedicated graphics card, you’ll be able to enjoy all of the latest games, but that’s not all
If you’re a video editor, photo editor, or even a programmer, then a gaming laptop with a graphics card will be more beneficial to you, why? because everything is much faster, especially image and video rendering.
A task that takes you 10 minutes on a regular laptop will only take you 2-3 minutes on a gaming laptop, so gaming laptops also save your time!
Display Comparison
The majority of gaming laptops come with a 15.6″ IPS FHD screen with a 1080p resolution and a 144hz screen refresh rate, but what does all of that mean?
It means that your gaming laptop has a super smooth and immersive display, outshining regular laptops which usually come with a 14″ screen, a pixelated display and a 60hz refresh rate, making them extremely boring.
Design And Build Quality Comparison
We all know that comparing a gaming laptop to a regular laptop is like comparing Iphone to an Android, when you look at a gaming laptop you see an other worldly machine.
Each gaming laptop is built unique and has a certain design element to it that other gaming laptops don’t have. They have a very sleek and stylish design, with sharp edges and perfectly slanted bodies.
We all know how generic regular laptops look, you can’t differentiate an HP laptop with a DELL Laptop unless you see the logo.
When it comes to build quality there are two types of build qualities in gaming laptops, there are the thin gaming laptops , and the thick gaming laptops.
The thin ones are usually quite weak in terms of built quality and have to be taken care of , the thick ones , however, have a sturdy and a heavy built quality.
The regular non gaming laptops that we usually see fall under the “thin” category and are usually weak.
Battery Comparison
The battery is a bit disadvantageous when it comes to gaming laptops, because regular laptops can last up to 12 hours on a single charge. Gaming laptops, however, usually only last upto 5 hours on a single charge, that’s more than double the difference.
Gaming laptop batteries don’t give a good backup time usually because of the high performance hardware, the processor , dedicated graphics card and all of the hardware is demanding and squeezes out more battery.
So how do we fix this? there is no fix, gaming laptops aren’t designed to be efficient , they’re designed to give mind blowing performance, at the cost of battery timing.
You can however, control the timing by setting your gaming laptop to power saving mode, that way you can expect it to last a couple more hours depending on the model of the laptop.
Pricing
Gaming laptops are almost 1.5x expensive than regular laptops, and you must have guessed it, it’s because of the amount of functionality gaming laptops offer, which makes them pretty expensive.
An average laptop will cost you around $600-700 while a good gaming laptop will cost you well over a 1000 bucks.
So Knowing All Of This, Are Gaming Laptops Really Worth It For Everyday Use?
Yes they are, that’s because they’re providing you so much more value , although at the cost of battery timing but gaming laptops accel in everything when compared to regular laptops.
So are they worth the money? 100%.
Gaming laptops drastically decrease your work time and help you get your work done faster and easier.
Is It Okay To Use Gaming Laptop Everyday?
It’s perfectly fine to use gaming laptops everyday, in fact it doesn’t matter whether it’s a gaming laptop or not, they should be used regularly to keep them maintained and in good condition.
Using a gaming laptop everyday will not bring any kind of harm to it, in fact, i keep my gaming laptop running for 12-13 hours straight without any kind of issues.
So they should be used everyday.
Can You Use A Gaming Laptop For Work?
Using a gaming laptop at work will certainly turn some heads. That’s because gaming laptops are usually flashy with RGB keyboards and fancy stuff which may seem cool to some people and a bit childish to others.
But there are many gaming laptops that don’t have an aesthetic design and can be used for work.
On the other hand, if you’re talking about working on a gaming laptop then yes, they should be used for work and it’s perfectly normal to do it.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Gaming Laptops?
There are many disadvantages of gaming laptops but the advantages always outweigh the disadvantages.
- Gaming Laptops Have A Short Battery Life
- Gaming Laptops Are Quite Expensive
- Gaming Laptops Lack Upgradability
- Gaming Laptops Overheat
- Gaming Laptops Are A Bit Heavier Than Normal Laptops
- Gaming Laptops Have A Limited Screen Size
- Gaming Laptops Are Very Delicate
How Long Should You Use A Gaming Laptop?
Use a gaming laptop for as long as you want, but on battery it will only last 4-5 hours, while charging, you can use your gaming laptop as much as you want.
Nothing is going to happen to it.
Is A Gaming Laptop Better Than A Regular Laptop?
- A gaming laptop has everything you need for gaming, including high-performance hardware and optimized software.
- It has a high-definition screen, which means you can play games at a higher resolution than you could with a regular laptop.
- A gaming laptop is the most portable laptop you can buy, and it’s great for playing games away from home. They are better than normal laptops because of the bigger screen, built-in speakers and the ability to play on the go.
- If you are a gamer, a gaming laptop is better than a normal laptop because you can play any game that you want to play.
Do Gaming Laptops Have A Shorter Lifespan?
This depends on how you use your laptop, most gaming laptops last a very long time. The lifespan of a gaming laptop also depends on the manufacturer.
Although gaming laptops can have a shorter lifespan because of the amount of heat they generate under heavy gaming but all of this could be controlled easily using external cooling solutions such as a cooling pad.
But gaming laptops generally aren’t weak and are actually very durable so you can expect them to last atleast 5 years provided that they are well maintained and taken care of.
A few ways to increase the lifespan of a gaming laptop
- Use a cooling pad to keep your gaming laptop temperatures under control
- Keep your laptop away from dust
- store your gaming laptop in a laptop bag when not in use
- run games on medium – low settings instead of ultra settings to preserve life
- clean your laptop frequently
What Can You Do With A Gaming Laptop?
- Play games
- Edit photos
- Do homework
- Watch movies
- Play music
- Watch videos
- Play online games
- Create art
- Play sports
- Write reports
- Create presentations
- Edit videos
- Write an essay
You can run all types of games on it, like games for Android and iOS and even Windows. You can use it to edit documents and spreadsheets, play music, and watch movies.
If you get one with a great display, you can watch movies and play games on it as well so there are many uses for gaming laptops.
They are almost like regular laptops but with a massive performance boost.
Should I Buy A Gaming Laptop If I Don’t Game?
Yes, a gaming laptop is suitable for a non-gamer as well. But These laptops are typically built for gaming and not for general purposes.
If you don’t play games, you may want to look at a Chromebook or a Chromebook Plus. They are extremely cheap and can be used for work or school.
But overall, buying a gaming laptop is a good investment, as long as you know which one you’re buying. Even if you’re not a gamer, a gaming laptop will give you better performance and will help you get your tasks done faster than a regular laptop.
If I Take A Gaming Laptop To A Business Meeting, will it look weird?
No, in fact, your co workers might get jealous because not everyone can afford to buy a gaming laptop.
Gaming laptops are a privilege for many people, when it comes to business meetings, it might look a bit flashy and unprofessional, but there are options which are not flashy and have a plain design.
What Are The Good Reasons To Buy A Gaming Laptop If You’re Not A Gamer?
- High performance, so you’ll get work done faster than with a normal laptop
- Smooth display: Can watch movies and videos in 4k and Ultra HD quality
- If you’re a video or photo editor then a gaming laptop is going to give you a major advantage
- RGB colors
- Design and aesthetics
Are Gaming Laptops A Waste Of Money?
Definitely Not. They are more than worth your money. Gaming laptops aren’t just for gamers, they are for anyone who wants to get stuff done really fast.
Wrap Up : Are Gaming Laptops Worth It For Everyday Use?
Gaming Laptops are worth it when we look at them from every aspect, the only downside to a gaming laptop is that the battery backup time is less, but there are ways to control that as well.
So regardless of whether you’re a gamer or not, if you want extra ordinary performance then you should invest in a gaming laptop. So gaming laptops are definitely worth it for everyday use.
