Introduction
Is your gaming laptop underperforming? Explore the common mistakes you might be making and how to avoid them to get the full potential of your gaming laptop.
Over time, gaming laptops have become more and more popular, and customers now invest a lot of time, effort, and money in finding the perfect laptop for their requirements. Laptop manufacturers are working hard to create and provide great gaming laptops. They are allocating most of their budget, research, and time to creating a powerful, portable, and aesthetic gaming laptop.
Now, these laptops are becoming a popular choice for gamers who require immersive gaming experiences on the go. Powerful devices offer the perfect balance between performance and portability, but they also come with a unique set of challenges.
To make the most of your gaming laptop and ensure it works perfectly well for years to come, you need to be aware of the common mistakes that can compromise its performance and longevity.
This blog will explore some of the critical mistakes you should avoid with your gaming laptops. Whether you are a gaming enthusiast or a beginner to the world of gaming laptops, improving performance ensures that your adventure remains smooth, enjoyable, and hassle-free.
Mistakes To Avoid with Your Gaming Laptop
Gaming laptops are excellent devices to enjoy your favourite games from anywhere, but some common mistakes people make can harm their performance and make them wear out faster.
These laptops are like small powerhouses, but because they work hard, people can accidentally do things that aren’t good for them.
Here are some simple mistakes you might not even know you’re making, but they could be causing your gaming laptop not to work as well as it should.
1- Never settle for default settings
One common mistake gamer make with their laptops is settling for the default settings. While it might be easy to dive right into gaming without adjusting the settings, you should never settle for them because default settings are often accommodated with a broad range of hardware. Customising the settings can fine-tune your laptop to get the best performance possible and ensure a smooth gaming experience.
Ensure your laptop is set to performance mode and ready to deliver the best performance when you need it the most. Even though gaming laptops are designed to handle high-quality graphics, default settings may not fully utilise your gaming capabilities. Adjusting the graphics can enhance the visual quality of gaming.
Also, your laptop’s display and audio capabilities might not be fully utilised with the default settings, so optimising the resolution and tweaking audio make your gaming sessions more engaging.
It’s essential to install new updates to optimise the laptop’s performance. If you’re using a Nvidia GPU, download the GeForce Experience tool and set up all the new updates from there. For those with an AMD GPU, download the Radeon software to ensure your graphics drivers are up to speed.
2- Never take it off the AC power
The number one rule for any gaming laptop is that you should never remove it from the AC power. Gaming laptops are meant to game with unlimited power; even if you max out the settings and enable performance mode, relying on the laptop’s battery will drain it in a few hours and limit your gaming experience. The reason is simple: your laptop will focus more on conserving battery life than maintaining a smooth frame rate above 100. It might sound counterintuitive, but gaming laptops aren’t portable enough to always enable gaming on battery power. However, they allow you to avoid being chained to the desktop where it was initially set up. So, keep your gaming laptop plugged into an outlet for optimal performance and longevity.
3- Never block the ventilation ports
The gaming laptop’s performance is not only determined by the GPU, but a reliable ventilation system is equally important for it. If you’re dealing with an older laptop or one with poor thermal management, you will find a decline in overall performance. The reason is the excessive heat trapped within your laptop’s components with no way out. You should invest in its vent layout to ensure your gaming laptop stays cool and efficient.
Vent location also plays a vital role, as some laptops are capable of efficiently expelling heat from spots where obstructions are unlikely. Ideal locations for vents encompass the sides and back of your laptop, as these are typically clear and ensure continuous heat disposal. The bottom of your laptop is another go-to spot for vents because it’s the area where heat tends to accumulate the most. Blocking any of these areas will make your laptop’s fans work harder, drawing power away from your gaming performance.
In a nutshell, clear any objects that are near side or back vents and refrain from resting your laptop on a blanket or cloth, as this can obstruct the bottom vents. A well-ventilated gaming laptop is essential for maintaining top-tier performance and ensuring your hardware remains in excellent shape.
4- Don’t assume that overclocking will provide the best performance
The main idea behind overclocking your gaming laptop is that by pushing the GPU or other components to their limits, you potentially increase the performance levels, resulting in smoother and better gameplay. However, it’s a concept with many variables and considerations. The synergy between the GPU and CPU and your chosen method is a major factor.
Sometimes, the best option is not to overclock your gaming laptop, particularly if it has an RTX 4090. It might be a possibility that your laptop is already running at its peak performance. There are instances where even mild overclocking negatively affects the performance of these gaming laptops. Let’s take, for example, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, a generally high-performing laptop that experiences a substantial drop in frame rates when you tweak a single option in the Lenovo software designed to enhance performance.
Experimenting with your gaming laptop should be done to see what works best for you, but don’t hesitate to leave those overclocking options alone if you notice a decrease in performance. It’s about achieving the right balance between boosting performance and maintaining system stability.
5- Avoid Focusing Too Much on the Design of Gaming Laptops
When you are looking to buy a gaming laptop, it’s crucial not to be overly swayed by the design alone and to look for other factors. Focus on the laptop’s specifications, like CPU, GPU, and RAM. Investing more in the CPU and GPU provides a better gameplay experience. These two components cannot be upgraded, so it’s better to get the best possible CPU per your budget.
It’s important to consider the right features for gaming laptops, like an anti-ghosting keyboard, a high refresh rate, and a low response time display. If your laptop does not match the minimum requirements of a gaming laptop, you can never fully enjoy gaming, and there’s nothing you can do to increase its performance. Some of the best-performing gaming laptops with high-end specifications are as follows:
MSI Stealth GS66 12UHS-099UK with the Intel Core i9-12900H is an excellent choice for gaming due to its immersive hardware specifications. The multi-core processor, with a high-performing CPU and speedy 32GB of RAM, can handle demanding tasks and allows multitasking.
ASUS TUF Gaming A17 AMD Ryzen 7 6800H is a compelling choice for gaming with a robust processor and 16 GB of RAM, ensuring smooth gameplay and faster game loading times.
6- Stop Overheating Laptops when Gaming
Overheating is one of the most common issues that can significantly impact the performance and lifespan of gaming laptops. Gaming laptops are designed to deliver robust performance and often push the hardware components to their limits. The combination of powerful CPUs and GPUs and the confined space within a laptop’s frame can generate a substantial amount of heat. When this heat isn’t effectively dissipated, it can lead to thermal throttling, where the laptop’s components slow down to prevent damage from excessive heat.
Best Tips to Protect Your Gaming Laptop from Overheating
Here are some tips to protect your gaming laptop from overheating.
- Ensure that your gaming laptop has its vents unobstructed.
- Regularly clean the internals to remove dust and ensure efficient heat dissipation.
- Consider using external laptop coolers and cooling pads to provide additional cooling by increasing your laptop’s airflow.
- Use monitoring software to keep an eye on the laptop’s temperature during gameplay.
- Adjust in-game settings to balance performance and temperature.
7- Multitasking During Gaming
Multitasking during gaming and running resource-intensive applications in the background while playing games on your laptop can negatively impact the gaming experience. Modern games are demanding on the CPU and RAM. When you run a resource-intensive application alongside a game, they compete for CPU cycles and available RAM, leaving less computing power for the game.
One of the most noticeable effects of multitasking during gaming is lag and stutter. When your CPU is dividing its attention between running the game and other applications, it can lead to delays in processing game-related tasks. This results in lag, where actions in the game don’t respond as quickly as they should. Stuttering occurs when the frame rate becomes inconsistent, causing a visually jarring experience.
Multitasking increases the workload on your laptop’s hardware and can strain these components, leading to increased heat generation and potentially overheating. Over time, this can contribute to hardware wear and tear. It can also result in game crashes, often resulting in losing the program or restarting the game if you need to multitask while gaming, consider upgrading your laptop’s hardware to handle the increased load or invest in a more powerful gaming laptop that can manage both gaming and multitasking without sacrificing performance.
8- Skipping Regular Cleaning
Skipping regular cleaning for your gaming laptop can seriously affect its performance.
When dust and debris accumulate inside your laptop, they can clog air vents and block the internal fans, inhibiting the laptop’s ability to effectively expel heat and leading to increased temperatures. If the laptop’s fans struggle to cope with clogged vents and accumulated dust, they spin faster to maintain proper cooling. This will not only affect your laptop’s performance but also result in increased fan noise and distracting gaming sessions.
So, it’s essential to regularly clean your gaming laptop by using compressed air to blow dust and debris out of the laptop’s vents and ensure that you do this in a well-ventilated area to prevent the dust from settling back inside. Wipe down the exterior of your laptop regularly to prevent dust buildup. If you’re comfortable disassembling your laptop, you can open it up and clean the internal components, including fans and heat sinks. However, you must be cautious and consult your laptop’s manual or seek professional assistance.
9- Avoid Enabling Power-Saving Features
Power-saving features help conserve battery life and reduce energy consumption when your laptop runs on battery power. Power-saving settings can introduce input lag, with a noticeable delay between your actions and the game’s response. Gamers need responsive controls, and disabling power-saving features helps minimise input lag, enhancing gameplay.
How to Improve Gaming Performance on Laptop?
Here are some of the tips that you can follow to improve the gaming performance on your laptop.
- Adjust the graphic settings to find the right balance between the visuals and performance quality.
- Invest in cooling solutions and accessories like cooling pads to prevent it from overheating.
- Regularly update your graphics and system drivers to ensure compatibility with new games.
- Close unnecessary background applications and processing to free up the system space.
- Play with your charger plugged into the laptop.
What is the Optimal Processor Speed for Gaming Laptop?
For modern gamers, a quad-core processor is a minimum requirement. However, many gaming laptops now come with six-core or even eight-core processors, ideal for handling the demands of modern gaming. It’s essential to have a processor with a base clock speed of 2.5 GHz or higher to maintain smooth gameplay. Many processors feature a turbo or boost clock speed, which allows them to run at higher speeds when needed and boost performance during intense gaming sessions.
Where to Buy the Best Gaming Laptop?
When purchasing a gaming laptop, exploring various retailers is an intelligent approach. Among the reputable options, consider checking out Laptop Outlet. This retailer offers an extensive selection of gaming laptops and desktop PCs, for gamers looking to enhance their gaming experience. At Laptop Outlet, you’ll find an array of gaming laptops from renowned brands like ASUS and MSI, all available within a budget-friendly price range under £2000.
They frequently provide discounts and host sales events, enabling gamers to secure their desired gaming laptop while saving a significant amount of money. So, if you’re searching for a gaming laptop that delivers both performance and value, Laptop Outlet is a destination worth exploring.
Final Verdict!
In conclusion, gaming laptops are powerful machines designed to provide an enjoyable gaming experience. To make the most of your investment and ensure long-lasting performance, it’s crucial to avoid common mistakes.
These include overlooking the importance of proper cooling and ventilation, settling for default settings, blocking the ventilation, skipping regular cleaning, and forgetting to back up your valuable gaming data. By addressing these issues and following the tips provided in this blog, you can keep your gaming laptop in the best condition and continue to enjoy countless gaming adventures.
Remember, a well-maintained gaming laptop is not just a gaming companion; it’s your ticket to an extraordinary world of virtual adventures and entertainment.
