Is gaming bad for my laptop?

I have an Alienware M14x R2, with an i5 processor and 1gb Geforce GT650m. This is my only laptop, and i use it for college work so I cant have it break on me. However, I would like to game on it, but I am afraid that this may break it. I have a laptop cooler and i dont overclock, i always keep check of my temps. But is gaming bad for my laptop? Is this a legitimate concern? Should i be worried?

 

No .

 

The hotter electronics get , the less time they will live. Normally you don't have to worry about that in a normal time span unless some parts get abnormally hot (e.g. CPU keeps getting to around 100 degrees C).

 

Unless your temps go off the charts there is nothing to worry about, game away

 

Just make sure to take good care of it. Clean the vents every few months and you're good. Most claims of gaming laptops overheating you see on the Internet is due to people letting their vents get clogged with dust and then it's pretty obvious why it overheated.

 

The Alienware is a GAMING laptop. Do what it's designed for with it and enjoy.

 

It's bad for your laptop in the same way that driving is bad for your tires.

 

Driving wears out tires which then need replacing. You should be able to game the hell out of a laptop without having to worry about wearing it out.

 

Sheesh, it was a decent analogy. So then we say it's bad for your laptop in the same way driving is bad for your engine... the point was well taken either way.

 

No these are all crappy analogies.

 

Gaming is bad for your laptop the same way that walking is bad for your legs, there you go

 

But walking is good for your legs...

I don't like analogies because they're so ambiguous. People use analogies on forums so they don't have to properly explain things due to limited knowledge or sheer laziness. Basically a cop-out. Nine times out of ten, analogies don't teach people anything, they just end up starting an argument over semantics.

 

No, because not everyone cares about the technical details. This is a perfect example, OP wonders if it's bad or not, and the simple answer is no. And analogies help people relate. And not everyone has the time to write a dissertation with an explanation. They don't want a long winded technical excuse. So go ahead and spew a wall of text as to why it is or isn't bad for your laptop. Nobody will care nor even read it, or their eyes will just glaze over and start to drool out of boredom.

Like you're doing?

 

LOL u mad.

 

No but I fed the troll.

 

Om nom nom nom...can I has moar?

 

Haha thanks guys, for all the responses. I try not to take analogies completely literally, but rather as a general comparison, so i understand what you guys are trying to say. I will now proceed to game on my laptop. Have a great day

 

OK here's an analogy, buying a gaming laptop and not gaming on it is like buying a car and never taking it more than a block from your house.

 

If only...

 

Eh, I'd say something more on the lines of "Buying a gaming laptop and not gaming would be like buying a sports car and only using it to buy groceries".

But yeah, OP gets the point.

 

Well, most sports cars are used that way.

You may add "transport hot girls" to the usage list, but it's the same thing as grocery shopping performance-wise.

 

exactly.. like a ferrari, there better driven the garaged

there made to be used man, use it..


gotta live life bro!!!

 

the right way to use a Ferrari

Ferrari F430 Spider drifting + donuts - YouTube

 

Or buying a four wheel drive vehicle and never taking it off road. Oh wait, a lot of people do that.

To the OP, as with any intensive task, just occasionally check your max temps on cpu and gpu. Use hwinfo64, or such. To use the car analogy, keep an eye on your engine temps. If it gets high, it may indicate it is time to clean the heatsinks of dust and hair.