Laptops are getting thinner and sleeker, and gaming laptops are also getting smaller and lighter. But there are still some heavy gaming laptops out there.
When you look at the best gaming laptops on the market, you will notice that they are not the lightest laptops. Some of the best gaming laptops can weigh as much as 7 pounds. If you are a gamer, this can be a bit of a heavy load to carry around.
The new Alienware m15 R7, for example, weighs about 6 pounds. So, I’ve been trying to figure out why gaming laptops are so heavy and what could be done to make them lighter.
In this article, I’ll explain why gaming laptops are so heavy, how they differ from regular laptops, and what you should look for when buying your first gaming laptop.
Table of Contents
Features of Gaming Laptops
Gaming laptops have some cool features that set them apart from premium, regular, business, and every other kind of laptop. Every gaming laptop made in the last 10 years has at least one of these features. These special features will help you learn more about how gaming laptops work.
Tuneable Laptop
Several things come together to make a great gaming experience. In a gaming laptop, the user can change things like frames per second (fps), clock speed, graphics, and more. There’s even an auto-tuning feature that analyzes the game to help you get more out of it.
Better Cooling
Due to the constant use of GPUs, gaming laptops tend to get hot faster than regular laptops. Gaming laptops have more cooling fans and a gel cooling system that keeps the whole CPU cool. Because of this, long-term gaming doesn’t have much of an effect on the CPU.
Exclusive Design
Gaming laptops are made to look more unique and desirable from the outside. Most of the time, these designs are made on the PVC or plastic part of the laptop. Every gaming laptop has a unique design. The design of the laptop can sometimes make it heavier than usual.
Bad Battery Backup
All gaming laptops have the same problem: the battery life isn’t very good. Because gaming laptops have high-performance parts, the most time you can get out of them is 2-3 hours. If you’re gaming on the battery, most gaming laptops will last less than an hour or two. There’s no alternative to avoid this problem.
Low Life Expectancy
Most people who buy gaming laptops are serious gamers and game addicts. The abuse that is consistently inflicted upon the laptop will eventually cause its internal components to fail. Because of this, the average gaming laptop only lasts 5 years. But many casual gamers have laptops that last for 7–10 years because they don’t play games very often.
Game Mode
There is a setup or button on gaming laptops that lets you go straight to gaming mode. This setup shuts down other programs by force so that there is room for games. It helps to keep the frame rate steady without causing lag or sudden drops.
Reasons That Make A Gaming Laptop Heavy
When you have a good understanding of laptops, it’s easy to see that most gaming laptops are heavier than premium or business laptops. They weigh between 5 and 7 pounds, which makes them hard to carry. Gaming laptops are so heavy because they have parts that regular laptops don’t have. Here are some special features of a gaming laptop that make them heavy.
Gigantic Cooling System
Gaming laptops have the highest-performing parts. So, they also need a better way to keep things cool. If a gaming laptop has more fans than a regular laptop, it will be heavier. Also, if you have a custom gaming laptop with water cooling, you know that it will be heavy.
Large Display and Size
Most of the time, bigger means heavier. To play a video game well, you need a laptop with a big screen. The average size of these laptops is between 15 and 17 inches, which is a bit bigger than the 13 to 15 inches that most notebooks have.
Also, the screens on the gaming models are made with more advanced technology, which can make them heavier in many cases.
Powerful Graphics Card
For the newest games, you need a graphics card with a lot of power. Manufacturers try to make graphics cards that are powerful enough to play both the newest games and the AAA games that will come out in the next 5 years. Because of this, putting a powerful graphics card in a laptop’s small space makes it heavy.
Metal Body
The metal layer on the outside of most gaming laptops makes them heavy. Most of this metal body is for style, but some of it helps make the laptop last longer. Again, because these laptops are so expensive, they have extra layers of protection for the parts that are fragile.
Massive Battery Size
Even though they come with big batteries, gaming laptops have a bad reputation for dying in less than 2 hours. It happens because of the use of powerful processors and graphics cards. Anyway, the laptop’s tight spacing and big size make it heavier in the long run.
Additional Components for Gaming Laptops
The weight of gaming laptops does make them harder to carry around. Besides that, gaming laptops need parts that help the user have the best gaming experience possible. When you need to move your laptop, you have to take these extra parts with you, which makes your bag heavier.
• A mouse, a mouse pad, a cooling pad, a keyboard, an optional joystick, headphones, and a webcam (optional).
• External GPU (for laptops with Thunderbolt port)
The following parts are pretty much required for gaming to work right. Since they don’t cost as much as other devices, it’s easy to buy them. Still, a gaming laptop’s portability is affected by the extra weight of the parts that make it better for gaming.
Is it possible to get a gaming laptop that isn’t too heavy?
In addition to the heavy laptops currently available, most manufacturers also create lightweight models.
These lightweight gaming laptops are a great option for gamers who don’t want to travel with a large bag or a heavy laptop.
Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
The Razer Blade Stealth 13 is one of my favorite gaming laptops. This super-thin laptop only weighs 3.1 pounds and has a great cooling system, which makes it one of the best gaming laptops for cooling. But all of these great features cost a lot of money.
Final Words
No matter how heavy a laptop is, everyone needs one for different reasons. Most gaming laptops are heavier than regular laptops because they have high-quality parts that regular laptops don’t have. Again, more parts are needed to keep those parts working, which makes laptops heavier.
All gaming laptops are relatively heavy, so you have no choice but to buy one that is heavy. Although some brands like Razer makes thin gaming laptops, I t has become a standard feature of gaming laptops that the heavier the laptop, the better it is for gaming.
We can finally agree that a heavy gaming laptop is the only way to play AAA games anywhere and anytime.
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