Introduction
I move around a lot as part of my day job. That said, I haven’t used my gaming PC in almost a year because it’s been at my family’s home, but I still want to make progress on a lot of RPG games I’ve been playing like Assassins Creed on Steam. I did a lot of personal research about gaming laptops to see if they would be a good fit for me and if I could upgrade them in the future.
What I learned is that some of the parts can be upgraded like the graphics card (GPU), processor (CPU), Random Access Memory (RAM), and storage. But how feasible is it to actually do?
There’s a ton of articles about this topic but it took me a while to finally compile all the useful information anyone would need to know about doing an upgrade of their gaming laptop.
So can you actually upgrade a gaming laptop?
Upgrading a gaming laptop for better graphics and performance is possible, but it requires tedious mechanical adjustments to the motherboard and software to the point where most gamers would prefer to buy a new laptop altogether.
So as a gamer, what are you actually supposed to do if it’s not worth it? By the end of this article I will help you understand the following things:
- Why upgrading a gaming laptop is so difficult
- What laptops are so good you won’t ever want to upgrade them
- An interview with an Alienware expert for professional advice
- Tips to increase gaming performance on your current laptop (even if you currently have a surface book like me)
If I can help one person out by providing the very best of what I’ve learned after doing hours of research through this article, then it was all worth it! I did a ton of research so you don’t have to!
If you want to reach out to me, I’ll leave my personal email if you have additional questions or comments. Let’s get started.
Why Upgrading A Gaming Laptop Is Difficult
Here’s some of the issues you’ll run into if you try to internally upgrade certain parts of your gaming laptop:
- Compatibility: The BIOS software that runs Windows 10 is specific to the laptop’s organic parts, which means additional graphic cards or processors might conflict with the already- installed hardware
- Upgrading your graphics card means upgrading your processor. These two items are the most expensive parts of a gaming device. If you try to jump from a GTX 1080 graphics card to a RTX 2080 but only have a Ryzen 5 1600 i5 processor, your processor won’t be able to keep up with the demand of the GPU (graphics card). In short: it’s often too expensive to upgrade your processor AND graphics card to meet compatibility requirements.
- Not every laptop can be upgraded. Gaming Laptops by nature aren’t designed to be upgraded. Some models like the Alienware Area 51 can accept GPU upgrades but most aren’t like this.
Is It Worth Upgrading a Gaming Laptop? How to Decide:
I did a professional poll of the hardcore gaming community on Facebook and asked them if they’ve ever considered getting a laptop that supported future upgrades, and if such a thing even exists. Here’s what they said:
Clearly, most people would prefer to buy a gaming laptop altogether as their upgrade or avoid using one in the first place if possible.
“A gaming laptop is great for people that don’t play demanding AAA games with beefy graphics. They’re best for Online Gaming, Birds Eye View and Strategy Games, as well as classics. If you must, then triple A games have to be played on lower resolution settings”
After I discovered all this, my next question was how do I decide if a gaming laptop is even for me? Check out the decision tree I made to help you decide! The next section will cover the best gaming laptops for each type of gamer based on my own research.
What does it look like to upgrade a gaming laptop?
Linus Tech Tips did an awesome video showing people how to plug in a better graphics card to a gaming laptop. He took an Acer Predator Triton 700 and plugged in an RTX GPU through a converter and it worked! But he had a huge, bulky graphics card sitting next to his gaming laptop to make it work which begs the question: was it really that worth it?
Gaming Laptops You Won’t Feel The Need to Upgrade
There’s some really good gaming laptops on the market right now, and they’re only getting better, here’s a quick table to help you get an idea of what a good one looks like:
Best entry level |
Best Battery and Best Graphics |
Most Portable |
|
|
Acer Swift X: Most Affordable
This is the laptop my college roommate used to play hours of Fortnite and Apex Legends. As an architect student, it helped to have the RTX 3050 graphics card for his project designs. It’s an extremely affordable price for portable gaming and it’s graphics card is 3x better for the price of a gaming PC of the same price.
Asus Zenbook 14: Best Battery Life
I reached out to Hardware Canucks, a gaming channel on Youtube and asked them for the results of their battery life test of these gaming laptops. Clearly, the ASUS Zenbook 14 has the best battery life of any other models. With a Ryzen 7, you’ll still enjoy it’s performance as well.
Eluktronics Max 15: Lightest and Most Portable
This one’s a little more expensive, but if you want portability and you know that you don’t play graphics-heavy games (or you’re okay playing on 1080p or lower resolution), this laptop will serve you for several years. The review in the video is a great resource to help you decide if it’s worth the investment for you.
This only con I saw with this laptop is that the battery life is rated to be lower (4 hour battery life) than the three I researched, but most people plug in their gaming laptop when they game so this shouldn’t be an issue for most.
My Interview With Alienware Gaming Expert
I had the chance to interview a sales expert from Alienware. I wanted to get some professional advice to cut straight through to the helpful info. Here’s the notes from our conversation and the questions I asked him.
What Alienware gaming products can be upgraded?
We have a bunch of laptops that can be easily upgraded specifically for graphics cards and processors. You can upgrade the m17, M15 and the area 51 model.
Can you replace the RAM and does that increase performance?
This is one of the features that will increase performance, but it is not the most effective way. This is not a recommended fix in order to increase performance on a game that is already performing substandard on your device. Unfortunately, the best way to increase performance is by investing in a good graphics card, which can be difficult on a gaming laptop.
Why does Google say a gaming laptop only lasts 3 years and how can you increase its life?
Most people use their gaming laptop on battery alone. The recommended way to game on a laptop is to always keep it plugged in. And most cases, you should have access to an outlet even if you’re traveling. It’s hard to put a good battery in a gaming laptop while keeping costs down.
Are more expensive laptops usually better? What makes them better?
More expensive gaming laptops are better for the same reason as desktop computers. They’ll have the better graphics cards and processors and a more optimized motherboard for performance. I’ve never spent more than $1,500 on a gaming laptop and I still love it. My laptop is also five years old and it still gets about 3 to 4 hours of battery life on full brightness.
What do you guys to better than other gaming laptop companies?
From my experience working here, I would say we give our audience four qualities that are better than average. Those four things are portability, better specs, durability, and more customization options. We have a multitude of products that can be easily upgraded and customized to each player for a reasonable price on our website.
Anything else you want entry level gamers to know about gaming laptops?
Gaming laptops are really good for other activities if you’re an architect student, a computer programmer, photographer. Don’t forget you can use it for every day at work as well. They function just like a regular laptop and a little bit better.
Other Ways To Increase Gaming Laptop Performance
- Put gaming laptops on the lowest graphics setting. A well optimized game like Metal Gear Solid 5 or Skyrim will look just as good on low settings. I can run these two games on low settings on my Surface Book and it still looks amazing and runs at 60 FPS!
- Keep your laptop plugged in. Most of the time, you should have access to an outlet whether you’re at an airport, in a dorm room, or waiting for class to start. No matter how good the laptop, it will always perform better when not using battery.
- Online gamers should look into getting a gaming router. If you haven’t heard of these things. Be sure to check out that article on why a gaming router is worth it. It will definitely increase performance. I’ve been using the Netgear Nighthawk for four years and it’s incredible. Check out the link here to the exact one I use.
- Overclock your system using a safe guide on the internet. This is considered an advanced technique, but a simple search on google will show you the best ways to do this with the exact gaming laptop model you have.
- Activate Game Mode on Windows 10 platform. This setting won’t turn on automatically, but it will greatly enhance performance. Switching this setting to ON will prioritize your GPU (graphics card) and CPU (processor) for the game you’re running and ignore all other background apps or processes in you Task Bar. To do this, go to the settings then use this screenshot:
- Get a Solid State Drive (SSD) to keep disc space open. Some people don’t believe this will have an effect on performance, but I’ve noticed a huge change in my PC’s ability to run efficiently when it’s organic disk space is left almost completely open (and all the large file games are kept on the SSD card).
- Get a cooling pad for enhanced temperature regulation. Here’s how much better your GPU and CPU will run if you use a cooling pad:
Jarrods Tech on Youtube did an awesome cooling pad test and compared them all to each other. What he found was that these cooling pads had the best effect on gaming laptop performance (they were also the most portable and quiet). I don’t recommend the vacuum coolers, those were extremely loud.
Additional Resources
As you spend your time browsing for gaming laptops, you might be wondering what specs to pay attention to. Some of my avid gamer friends recommend getting a good laptop with solid refresh rate, but I’ve found that 60hz is actually enough for gaming and here’s why. My article is about monitors, but the same applies for gaming laptops.
After you’ve decided on a gaming laptop, the next most important thing a gamer can get is a gaming mouse. Gaming Mice are worth every penny, here’s why. Check out my article on that for more information. I was reluctant to get a good gaming mouse for a while, but once I did, I’ve actually become a better player at Apex Legends.
Thanks for reading! If you have anymore questions or comments, feel free to reach out to me at entertainmentden.ns@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to respond. I’m currently taking article suggestions so feel free to send those over to0. Thank you for the feedback I’ve received already and stay tuned for the next article!