Many people wonder if gaming can actually damage your laptop. This is a debatable topic but I have personally gone through the facts and figures and it is safe to say that it depends on the type of laptop you’re running a game on and ofcourse the type of game.
Let me explain.
Let’s say you have an i5 3rd generation laptop with 4gb RAM and no dedicated graphics card. What do you think? will you be able to play a game like Red Dead Redemption 2?
If you think not, then you are very near to the truth my friend.
Why? Because RDR2 is a machine intensive game, meaning that it puts alot of load on your laptop graphics card and processor.
Now here’s the process of how this happens:
- The Game requests your i5 3rd generation laptop to provide it’s cores and threads to support it, and when it finds out that your laptop doesn’t have a dedicated graphics card, it displays an error message “Graphics Card not supported” or “You can’t run this game”.
- Even if you manage to run the game, you will hardly be getting 2-3 FPS (frames per second).
- But there’s one more thing, you don’t realize how its damaging your laptop. Think of all of your laptop resources going into running a single game.
When your laptop is entirely focused on a CPU and GPU intensive game, it will naturally start to overheat as well, and this is where the real problem begins.
Slowly and gradually you’ll start to notice that your laptop is not performing the way it should and you should realize that at this moment, it all happened because of that game.
So what’s the lesson here? Don’t run heavy CPU intensive games on your laptop unless your laptop supports them.
But How Exactly Does Gaming Damage Your Laptop?
In very simple words, the game requests too many resources for the laptop to handle, and as a result of that, the laptop tries hard to make do with what it has , which leads to damaged components such as CPU and graphics card.
And if your laptop has a hard drive than that too.
So, what’s the fix?
Good question, to prevent this from happening, you have to check the requirements of the game and tally it with your laptop specifications, if your laptop corresponds with the game’s requirements then you can run it.
A good place to check game requirements is systemrequirementslab.
Does Gaming Reduce Battery Life?
This is a common question asked by gamers, the short answer is no. Gaming does not reduce battery life.
The reason for that is because the sole purpose of the battery is to provide power to the main components.
Although gaming on a battery is not preferable, because while gaming on the battery, you will not get full performance, and the battery backup will only last 2-3 hours.
the best way to game on a laptop is to keep it plugged in. This will ensure maximum performance from your laptop.
Another downside to gaming on the battery is that you will have to keep charging your laptop every now and then , which is a bit of a hassle.
How To Protect Laptop Battery While Gaming
The easiest way to protect your laptop battery while gaming is to play the game on low – medium settings, assuming that you have a gaming laptop, monitor temperatures and make sure that your fans aren’t running on airplane mode.
Airplane mode basically means letting your laptop loose, just like a wild animal, because the fans run so loud that it’ll almost seem like they’ll break apart.
So avoid playing games on maximum settings, even if your laptop can handle the game, don’t play on maxed out settings, this is one way to ensure longevity of your laptop battery and general health.
What Are Some Of The Things That Can Actually Damage Your Laptop?
1. Liquid & Food: keep every kind of liquid and food away from your laptop, even if it’s a pack of chips, spilling liquid or food on your laptop will lead to a malfunctioning keyboard, or worse, your laptop won’t work anymore.
2. Don’t Drop Your Laptop: Try not to drop your laptop, the best way to avoid this is to keep a laptop bag with you.
3. Don’t Hold Your Laptop By The Lid: DO NOT hold your laptop with the lid. Ever, this can cause the wiring in the lid to stretch or break, leading to a faulty display, or no display at all!
4. Running Intensive Processes: Try not to run very CPU intensive processes on your laptop, such as mining crypto coins or playing unsupported games.
5. Prevent Laptop From Overheating: Overheating is a very common problem so don’t disregard it and use a cooling pad.
These are some of the main things that can damage your laptop , so be careful.
Does Gaming Damage A Macbook?
Many macbooks come with a dedicated graphics card so gaming generally doesn’t damage them.
How Long Can You Play Games On Your Laptop Without Damaging It?
You can play games on your laptop for as long as you want, all you have to do is keep the laptop in a cool environment and use a cooling pad to prevent it from overheating.
But obviously, gaming on it for too long will cause the parts to wear out faster.
Does Playing Games Damage Laptop Keyboard?
If you’re playing an Esports game such as counterstrike then you should definitely get an external keyboard, since Esports games require a lot more movement, they’re likely to damage a laptop keyboard.
But if you’re playing offline games then its totally fine, just make sure not to hit the keys too hard and you’re good to go.
What Is The Average Lifespan of A Gaming Laptop?
This entirely depends on how you’re using it and if you’re taking care of it or not.
I’ve seen laptops last as much as 7 Years. But gaming laptops generally tend to wear out faster than normal laptops, so they should be taken care of properly.
Under best conditions and maintenance, you can expect your gaming laptop to last at least 5 years.
Can You Damage A Laptop By Hitting It?
Yes, you can easily damage your laptop by hitting it, infact why would you even consider that? the real answer depends on how hard you hit it , but it should generally be avoided.
Can A Laptop Survive A Fall?
If your laptop fell on a pillow or cushion then yes, it will survive.
But if it fell on hard concrete , carpet , tiles or flooring then you can say goodbye to it, because many laptops don’t survive a fall on hard floor.
So to avoid this , make sure that you’re not using your laptop on your lap, use a retractable laptop table, or use a study table to keep your laptop on, and make sure that it’s centered.
Another way to keep it from falling is to use a laptop stand with a stopper, this will help the laptop to stay in one position.
But How Do You Know If Your Gaming Laptop Is Damaged?
The first sign of a damaged laptop is the screen, if the screen turns blue , or flickers, then it’s a sign that something is wrong with it.
The 2nd sign is that your laptop will run extremely slow, in other cases it might stutter alot, that’s another sign.
If your laptop doesn’t turn on.
All of these factors are a sign that you laptop has been damaged.
Will Your Laptop Get Damaged If You Don’t Use It For 3 Months?
Some people wonder “what happens if i don’t use my laptop for 3 months?”, well, nothing actually! if you keep your laptop in a laptop bag , away from dust, bugs and any other harmful stuff, then nothing’s going to happen to it!
Will Repacking Games Damage Your Laptop?
Repacking games is basically compressing a huge file into a smaller file size, for example a100gb game into a 30gb file.
So judging by the huge decrease in the file size, we assume that repacking does indeed damage laptops.
But I’m not here to assume stuff! i’m here to talk about facts, so, does repacking really damage your laptop?
That is correct, if you assumed that then it’s correct, but why?
Because repacking puts an insane amount of pressure on your storage i.e your SSD or HDD, and it puts heavy load on the CPU.
So repacking games is not recommended, especially if you have a laptop!
Conclusion : Can Gaming Damage Your Laptop?
Gaming cannot damage your laptop, unless you’re trying to run a new game on an outdated and old laptop that doesn’t meet the game requirements.
If you have a gaming laptop then you can play any kind of game on it , without worrying about damaging it, provided that it meets the minimum requirements of the game.
