There’s a rumor around gamers that if you have a heavy gaming laptop, you can’t carry it around. And as a result there’s a concern that gaming laptops are heavy and compromise on portability.
So in this post I’m going to tell you exactly how heavy gaming laptops are and if they really do give you trouble or not.
Let’s Consider The Weight Of An Average Laptop First
A regular laptop weighs anywhere around 1.5kg to 5kg, and that depends on these factors.
- Battery
- Design and Aesthetics
- Amount Of Ports
- Storage
- Amount Of Fans
- Thickness
- Manufacturing Material
These factors make up for most of the weight of a regular non-gaming laptop.
| Screen Size | Weight |
| 14″ Screen | 1.5 – 2Kg |
| 16″ Screen | 2 – 3Kg |
| 17″ Screen | 3 – 4Kg |
As we can see from the table above, these are the average weights of laptops according to screen size. The bigger the screen the heavier your laptop.
How Much Does The Average Gaming Laptop Weigh?
Just like regular laptops, the weight of a gaming laptop depends on the same factors.
- Battery: Gaming laptops usually have a larger battery than regular laptops, that’s because gaming laptops have demanding hardware and they need a strong enough battery to accommodate the demanding components, regular laptops on the other hand have a smaller battery.
- Storage: Most laptops nowadays come with SSDs, but some of them come with standard Harddrives as well, a harddrive has a spindle and a disk which it uses to read and write data, which is why it’s heavier than an SSD, which reads/writes data just like a USB flash drive, with no moving parts. With a harddrive, you can expect the weight of your laptop to increase by half a kilogram (0.5-0.7Kg)
- Design & Aesthetics: Regular laptops have a boring and dull design, which is why they’re light, gaming laptops on the other hand, have a complex and a unique design , which means they’re a bit more heavier than regular laptops.
- Amount Of Ports: As more and more laptops are being manufactured, there are less and less ports in them , they’ve started to use the thunderbolt technology to minimize ports and maximize functionality, more ports mean more weight, gaming laptops have more ports than regular laptops, such as the LAN port, because it needs one.
- Fans: Gaming Laptops generally have a better cooling mechanism than regular laptops, which is why they have more fans and a heavier heatsink.
- Manufacturing Material: Now this depends on the pricing of the laptop, cheaper laptops tend to come in Plastic, while most expensive laptops come in metal/aluminum which makes them heavy.
- Thickness: This can be categorized into 2 parts
- Thin Laptops: These kinds of laptops are lighter and can easily be carried around without trouble, however, they do compromise on heat dissipation and get hot quickly.
- Thick Laptops: Thick laptops are heavier than thin laptops, but they have more room so they control the heat dissipation more effectively than thin laptops.
- Thin Laptops: These kinds of laptops are lighter and can easily be carried around without trouble, however, they do compromise on heat dissipation and get hot quickly.
So we’ve discussed all the factors and have come to a conclusion that gaming laptops are indeed heavier than regular laptops, now one question still remains , are they heavy enough not to carry?
Do Gaming Laptops Compromise On Portability?
| Gaming Laptop Weight | Regular Laptop Weight |
|---|---|
| 14″ Laptop: 2.5 – 3Kg | 14″ Laptop: 1.5 – 2Kg |
| 16″ Laptop: 3 – 3.2Kg | 14″ Laptop: 2.5 – 3Kg |
| 17″ Laptop: 3- 4.5Kg | 14″ Laptop: 3 – 4Kg |
This tells us that there’s not much of a difference between the weight of gaming laptops and regular laptops, so we can say that they definitely do not compromise on portability.
Even if they do , you can easily carry them around in a laptop bag.
Why The Weight Of A Gaming Laptop Is Not A Limiting Factor
Gaming laptops give an incredible amount of performance and help you get your work done faster than regular laptops, the weight difference between regular and gaming laptops is hardly 1-2kilos, it seems alot but it isnt.
So the weight should not keep you from using a gaming laptop, furthermore, laptop bags are a very easy way to store and transport your gaming laptop, you can choose to go for an alienware laptop bag, it’s a very good laptop bag with easy storage.
Portability is a big concern since that’s what laptops are actually made from, but a heavier laptop doesn’t mean that it’s going to compromise on portability.
Are All Gaming Laptops Heavy?
The thin gaming laptops are usually very light and compact, you can carry them around easily without trouble but the downside is that they are very delicate so you need to be more careful when handling them.
On the other hand, there are some thick models as well which are the perfect weight. for example the lenovo legion 5 (my laptop) weighs almost 2.5Kg, it’s a thick gaming laptop. So not all gaming laptops are heavy , some are lighter as well.
Conclusion
Looking at all the facts and figures, an average gaming laptop weighs around 5lbs or 3Kg, which is alright if you want to carry it.
However, if you’re still a little concerned about portability then get a thin gaming laptop.
