Gaming laptops - how long do they last? Care advice?

[coffeecup]

Questions for those who have owned gaming laptops:

1) How long do they last? I mean how long do they stay working without hardware problems/failure? (don't care if they can play the latest games or not, since I only play games before 2013)

2) What are the maximum temperatures which the GPU/CPU/Hard disk shouldn't exceed?

My laptop
7th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-7300HQ Quad Core (6MB Cache, up to 3.5 GHz)
8GB, 2400MHz, DDR4
1TB 5400 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive with 8GB Cache
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 with 4GB GDDR5

Thank you.

 

[captaincharisma]

since you can't change out the GPU in most cases i'd say you will be able to play modern games at mid-high settings for 2-3 years. maybe less since yours has a 1050 and not a 1060-1080 GPU

 

[rgd1101]

1)It hardware, it could failed tomorrow or last a long time.

 

[dark_lord69]

"How long do they last?"
Anywhere from 3 to 5 years

"What are the maximum temperatures which the GPU/CPU/Hard disk shouldn't exceed?"
You'll never have to worry about that with a laptop. Why? Because the laptop was designed by experts that have designed the laptop to have sufficent cooling ability for both the CPU and GPU. Further, you can't upgrade laptop cooling and the temp a CPU can handle depends on the CPU itself.
For your CPU: 100 C
Your GPU: TDP = 75W
Hard drives rarely overheat or need additional cooling.

 

[loki1944]

1.) This can really just be luck of the draw. Here's how it has gone for me:

a.) Dell Inspiron 8500 bought in 2003: still works

b.) Alienware Aurora m9700 bought in 2006: motherboard failure in 2008

c.) Sony Vaio bought in 2007: Destroyed by wife spilling Koolaid on it in 2008

d.) Alienware M11X: bought in 2011: still works

e.) Dell XPS M1730 bought in 2008: GPU failure (fans no longer work) in 2015

f.) Sager gaming laptop bought in 2009: still works, but slow as crap

g.) Alienware 14 bought in 2013: drive failure in 2015 (drive replaced by me and works again)

h.) Origin Eon 15S: bought in 2014: Still works (couple of keys are hokey as of 2016 and I typically use a usb keyboard with it)

i.) Asus G75VS OC: bought December 2016: lots of issues such as overheating and finicky usb ports, but it still works.

2.) Generally speaking for newer CPUs you shouldn’t be hitting past 90C; for my Asus I had to undervolt and underclock the CPU due to what I believe is shoddy thermal paste application on their part to stay under 90C. Newer GPUs should also stay under 90C; the GTX 1070 in my Asus does not go above 84C.
For Hard drives; it just varies, but no drive I have had fail was due to being too hot; this might be of interest: https/www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-temperature-does-it-matter/

Generally speaking, if your max temp is around 45C I wouldn’t be too worried on the hard drive.

 

[jaguarskx]

It is hard to say how long the hardware any laptop will last. There are lemons that rolls off the production line even for expensive premium laptop that could be caused a bad batch of a specific component that makes it past sampling tests that ends up in a laptop. Examples could be capacitors, resistors, the GPU chip itself... just about anything in the laptop.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y470 was my first gaming laptop from 2011. It still functions today. I had to replace the crappy thermal paste though because it was causing the laptop to run really hot when playing games (above 95c) and the CPU started to throttle down in some games like GTA IV. But I had to wait until the warranty expired before I could do so. That dropped the temps to a more reasonable 82c.

 

[coffeecup]

Thanks everyone! Since not everyone's experience and luck is the same, having all you guys share your different personal experiences greatly gives me a much better picture!

Yeah, I use a laptop cooler plus also further propping it up with bottle caps for added airflow underneath. I also run games with most things on low (with the occasional medium-high, but never ultra) - to get frame rates averaging at 100fps -hopefully meaning that the laptop is 'comfortable' running it rather than working too hard and creating more unnecessary heat.

Here are Speedfan results done (I will keep this data to compare with in the future if I sense the laptop getting hotter):

BF4 temperature without cooler:
GPU 62C
CPU 53C

BF4 temperature with cooling pad and propped up:
GPU 57C
CPU 50C

I am relieved that for this current laptop, it wouldn't be too difficult for me to clean the more exposed fans at least:

Another factor which I hope will make this laptop relevant for me for a longer period is that the latest games that I have are from 2013/2014 (BF4, Ghosts...) and I have no interest whatsoever in getting any newer games post 2013. So far games that I acquire tend to be going backwards in time.

I will have to learn how to get comfortable with re-applying thermal paste (and knowing what to look for and where and how!) if the need arises.
If you know any good idiot's guide to recognizing thermal paste problems and how to fix it yourself, please do post the links here

Thanks again guys! @loki1944 - I really appreciate your detailed account!

 

[loki1944]

Thanks everyone! Since not everyone's experience and luck is the same, having all you guys share your different personal experiences greatly gives me a much better picture!

Yeah, I use a laptop cooler plus also further propping it up with bottle caps for added airflow underneath. I also run games with most things on low (with the occasional medium-high, but never ultra) - to get frame rates averaging at 100fps -hopefully meaning that the laptop is 'comfortable' running it rather than working too hard and creating more unnecessary heat.

Here are Speedfan results done (I will keep this data to compare with in the future if I sense the laptop getting hotter):

BF4 temperature without cooler:
GPU 62C
CPU 53C

BF4 temperature with cooling pad and propped up:
GPU 57C
CPU 50C

I am relieved that for this current laptop, it wouldn't be too difficult for me to clean the more exposed fans at least:

Another factor which I hope will make this laptop relevant for me for a longer period is that the latest games that I have are from 2013/2014 (BF4, Ghosts...) and I have no interest whatsoever in getting any newer games post 2013. So far games that I acquire tend to be going backwards in time.

I will have to learn how to get comfortable with re-applying thermal paste (and knowing what to look for and where and how!) if the need arises.
If you know any good idiot's guide to recognizing thermal paste problems and how to fix it yourself, please do post the links here

Thanks again guys! @loki1944 - I really appreciate your detailed account!

Also keep in mind that later on you can drop the resolution as needed; dropping from 1080p to 720p can massively increase the long term gaming viability of a gaming laptop.

 

[franc733]

i dunno, i havent own a gaming laptop yet....

but i have a gaming pc, and what i even do is i dont run games at 1080p, ( pc gaming we have the choice to choose the resolution often of games... )

i dunno why , i just have a basic small graphic card on my gaming pc, and i run very fine games.

i think to myself that its better to run games below 1080p, because it doesnt make my graphic card run 'high' all the times.... i feel the gpu is more computing if its at 1080p , then below...

so maybe if you intend to play at high resolutions, to understand that it make the gpu work more .

 

[coffeecup]

I agree, because I have been doing the same as well - running at 720p. I think games already look gorgeous in 720p - and I play fps games which are fast moving and I don't have the chance to appreciate the difference between 720p and 1080p anyway