Laptop keyboard for gaming durability

Will using your laptop keyboard for gaming shorten its life time? Will it break sooner? I would think that hitting the same key over and over for extended period of time will eventually break it off or at least make the label on the keys come off sooner than other keys that are only used for typing.

 

I would agree that using the laptops keyboard for gaming would most definately shorten its life. I would buy a cheap USB keyboard then you can hammer it all you like and if it breaks then its only a few £ gone. If your laptop kb needs to be replaced after heavy use then it could cost you at least
£40

 

No,I don't think so.

 

Unless you're the type that pummels the keyboard, like some people do to desktop keyboards, I wouldn't worry about it. I suppose a lot of it is down to the quality of the keyboard, but I've found most of the fast, repeated, button presses are on the mouse; like with first person shooters and even RPGs like Oblivion & The Witcher (strategy games are controlled almost completely by the mouse).

So, yeah, it'll be fine as long as it's a good quality keyboard and you don't abuse it. I've had my Toshiba A210 for almost a year now and there is no noticable wear from when I first got it.

 

google Belkin Nostromo N52te. I had the same concern as you when I first bought a gaming notebook and wanted to take care of my investment. And Hands down the N52te with a gaming mouse was meant for a gaming notebook. It just complements each other. Check it out and get it you won't regret it.

 

I've looked at game pads like that before and they seem like a good idea. Is the software good and have you had any compatibility problems?

 

Software for it is simple, infact you can just plug and play and it'll work without even installing the cd software. And from inside your game settings under controller you can assign keys to map how you like.

I use it for Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, Gears of War, Oblivion, Ufo afterlight, and I'm thinking about programming it for Falcon 4 Allied force to be used in conjunction with my flightstick when I have time. I also have the Xbox 360 controller.

But yeah the N52te makes gaming on my notebook more better. Funner and easier to control, I don't get worried when I'm slamming hard on the keys like I would, doing to the keyboard on the notebook, it's ergonomic and you can position the notebook high at about eye level while both you right and left hands are down at you waist level and on your sides.

I play on a couch so I can place the notebook on a chair in front of me prop it up with a box to so it's at eye level and use the couch for my mouse on the right and place the n52 on my left, as I kick back,but still it's proper positioning for using a computer, At my job this is what they teach in body mechanics.

I got it at best buy for 65 bucks it's tough with the abuse I put it through and I rather have it break than pay to replace my notebooks keyboard.

 

It's good to hear you don't have to install the extra software; the Logitech Setpoint software is enough for me (I don't like extra programs running). I'm going to have more of a look into this. Thanks.

I'm not concerned about the keyboard wear (though it is a benefit), but like you say; these pads look much more comfortable and better suited to games.

 

actually strategy games can be more 'keyboard intensive' any other kind of games. have you seen koreans play starcraft?

 

No, but I've seen some videos of one person playing co-op Ikaruga (controlling 2 ships at once) so I can imagine.

I'm a bit of a casual RTS player to be honest; Warcraft 3, Command & Conquer 3 and Company of Heroes are all the RTS games I have, and C&C3 is the only one I've really put much time into. I guess I would use the keyboard more if I was playing at a higher level. I enjoy Disgaea on the PS2 (turn-based strategy RPG) and RPGs in general, so I don't know why I've never got into RTS games, but I might give Starcraft 2 a go if it turns out well (and isn't too CPU intensive for my Turion TL-56).

Edit: here is a video of the Ikaruga player I was on about. I thought I done well with one ship to get upto the begining of chapter 4, but I had no change to get past the part in the video that, somehow, the player does with 2 ships.

 

OMG! Thats like trying to pat your head whilst stroking your stomach!! LOL!

 

For keyboards, I would recommend the Saitek one that has backlighted keys. I almost always turn them off myself, but the thing is just very durable. You can also adjust them, like a dimmer switch.

I pound the daylights out of my keyboards by the way. People walking by ask me if I'm pissed off or something. I've been worried about messing up my laptop with too much hammering and vibration too. At some point I'm going to just have to start connecting external devices. I just wish you didn't have to put the screen so much further back to sneak an external keyboard in when you do that.

 

Some notebook keyboards (like HP's) only cost like $20 and takes 5mins to replace.

 

Keyboards have a lifetime; for a typical desktop membrane keyboard, it is around 10-15 million keystrokes. I would imagine it is around the same for notebooks. I doubt gaming will have a significant impact on keyboard lifetime. I gamed and used my old Sager everyday for over two years, gaming and so on - never had any issues.

Game away.

 

I'd worry more about what the vibration might do to the rest of the laptop than to the keyboard itself. I pound my keys like a gorilla.