The gaming laptop is an amazing piece of gadget that acts like a mini pc when it comes to Gaming and renders the highest quality visuals at a swift pace.
Everything seems fine but when it comes to battery life it’s the reality that Gaming Laptops have very average battery backup.
If you have ever used a Gaming machine you must have noticed this and it is no confidential fact, nevertheless, if you have ever wondered why do gaming laptops have bad battery life read the below-detailed discussion to know the reasons that impact laptop battery.
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Why do gaming laptops have bad battery life?
The gaming laptops selling point is never battery life as it emphasizes performance to navigate into your favorite gaming world, to make this all-possible laptop needs more power-driven hardware, especially CPU and GPU.
Though not only processors and graphics cards are responsible to drain batteries yet both largely have a 50-70% impact on your Gaming machine’s battery hours.
However other reasons are decorative backlit keyboard, high-resolution screen with frame rates, using heavy applications and to some extent speakers used in this kind of Laptop are louder than regular laptops.
While searching for gaming laptops you must have noticed that manufacturers brag about model features like processors, graphics cards, display size with refresh rate, storage capacity and high ram memory support, and also other gaming benefits.
But there is not much mentioned about battery life, besides, in business Laptops, they brief about the battery in detail simply due to its selling point as they know the intent of the user and purpose of buying Laptops.
However, we never suggest gaming on the battery instead you should always play games with charging plugged in as it can damage the durability of your device and of course its battery.
It’s actually not a big concern for those who use the machine in their studio but a large number of Gamers are students it can become a headache if you want to use the laptop on the go.
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Is 6 hours of battery good in gaming laptops?
Before answering this, we have to understand that a lot of factors are involved in battery life whether you are using gaming laptops or regular laptops.
Everything counts on which kind of work you are doing on your desk, and the battery life varies under circumstances such as if you are running heavy applications then the machine ingests a lot of power that drains the battery faster.
However, while doing normal tasks like web browsing, working on excels, and basic software your laptop will deliver better performance.
Also, it is not necessary that the battery give you the exact hours that it asserts during investment as those metrics are conditional on testing done by brands.
The 6 hours of battery backup is pretty much amazing if your gaming machine is offering such a long battery.
Nevertheless, while gaming you do not get such long hours, moreover test your existing gaming machine under normal use even if it has 3-4 hours of support, you do not need to worry as it is acceptable in a gaming laptop.
Why do gaming laptop batteries drain so fast?
1. High-Powered Processor:
The responsibility of processors is identical in any computing machine and without a strong processor, you can not do the smallest work on your device.
For instance, gaming requires very heavy power to run smoothly, and there is a difference between CPU in normal laptops and gaming laptops, though it has an equivalent role to play in both.
Furthermore, to understand this let me give you a few illustrations, the gaming CPU has a high TDP and technology use compared to normal CPUs.
For instance, most gaming machines are made under the 45watts TDP whereas normal laptops are designed with 15 watts.
The large TDP (Thermal Design) draws more power even on day-to-day tasks it works on 45watts, additionally, while playing games or doing demanding work such as rendering videos or working on heavy applications your laptop also overclocks the speed.
All of this contributes to generating a high processing system, also the Nano-metre in CPU measures for length, the higher nm takes a lot of power during usage compared to the lower range processor.
In gaming machine manufacturers mostly use 14nm+ technology to tackle heavy tasks, the processors made for gaming have an “H” label and for normal tasks “U” label also indicates that the processor runs faster and more efficiently than other types of laptops.
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2. Dedicated Graphics card
The graphics card is one of the biggest reasons for draining the battery of your laptop, the dedicated video card is a resource Hungary component that is essential for playing graphically intensive games.
As it renders the visuals far more smoothly and efficiently than an integrated GPU.
There is no way you can skip this feature in your gaming machine, as an integrated graphics card is pretty much ok to work on basic video editing tasks or watch full HD movies.
But to play video games you must have a separate graphics processing unit to render images and videos at a fast-paced to control and get hold of your enemies in-game d-GPU is essential.
This is too quite identical to processors for instance normal laptops usually get an integrated GPU that is connected to the CPU.
So to render any image or video, GPU has a long process to reach your display screen, whereas with a dedicated GPU it takes far lesser time, therefore, this is very important hardware in gaming devices.
However, these dedicated video chips are made with super powerful TGP (total graphics power), though it depends from product to product.
Usually in lower-range machines manufacturers add 60 to 80 watts TGP, whereas for high-end machines it can vary between 95 watts to above 130watts.
Additionally, the speed of these graphics cards is also what you have to add to the equation, this is also depending on each product it goes from 1200Mhz to above 1600Mhz, which puts pressure on the battery.
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3. High-quality screen
Gaming laptops are known for their high-quality screen, however, there is a normal laptop to come with similar features nowadays, still, the technology used in making gaming monitors is far more advanced.
As playing video games is all about staring at your screen so you need a proper blend of quality to reduce strain on your eyes and techniques to empower your device to generate high FPS to enjoy gaming sessions.
There is a dedicated GPU that adds a lot of value in terms of delivering crisp and smooth visuals, but it’s not the only factor that helps your game to play at high frame rates with ultra settings, these laptops usually have more refresh rates than regular machines.
Additionally, in high-end variants, manufacturers use many kinds of technologies to ensure gamers’ powerful gaming setup, technology such as G sync and AMD sync is the latest one.
It provides visuals without any stuttering and lag while playing games at high speed, however, this all demands power from your battery.
4. Stylish keyboard
Gamers including me like to get those beautifully crafted and vibrant-looking backlight keyboards, specifically, during gameplay everyone wants to use them but this is also a major factor why gaming laptops drain the battery fast.
Try to avoid using backlit support, use it wisely and only when requires, the main aim is to provide a backlit keyboard you can use during the night or in dark areas so you should also use it only when necessary.
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5. In-built fans
Though the fans are an important element in a gaming laptop, as its influential gear to manage the thermal issues in gaming laptops as during heavy usage Laptops Heat up quickly.
However at times, these fans move faster to control heating that keeps your device as cool as possible, overall it’s very essential for longevity but drains your battery faster.
In gaming laptops, brands add multiple fans compared to normal machines as it requires more help to cool down while operating.
The solution to this, many brands nowadays provides various settings one of them is to manage the fan speed, you should not put it on a higher range during regular task.
Only increase if your laptop running any heavy applications or while streaming your games you should use this option.
6. Multiple Connectivity, ports, and accessories:
Do you connect multiple sources while using your laptop? Well, all gamers do as they have to use accessories like headphones, keyboards, mice, and external monitors to enjoy the gaming session at its full capacity, but these all things contribute to draining the battery faster.
The functionality of the laptop is very simple if you want to get the most out of it, the battery has to suffer, so somewhere we have to sacrifice as you can not get both high-end performance and battery backup.
Additionally, wireless connections such as the usage of Bluetooth and WIFI also make your battery drain faster, you can try using a wired connection for the internet instead of Wi-Fi, if want to improve the battery of your gaming laptop.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. How do I maximize my gaming laptop battery?
Gaming laptops draw a lot of power and there are certain things that are not under our control still, there are a few tricks you must use in order to improve battery performance on your gaming laptop some of them are below.
- Do not let your laptop charging go down at 10-25% always keep charging your laptop and avoid draining it to such a low level, however, another important thing does not charge the laptop full up to 100% keep between 80 to 90%
- If your laptop has a mux switch option you can utilize it to switch between a discrete graphics card and an integrated graphics card, this can benefit immensely to enhance battery support.
- Check the brightness of the screen do not unnecessarily use it at a high range.
- Check if multiple applications running in the background.
- While not playing games check the refresh rate settings and lower the refresh rate to 60hz.
- Try to use a wired connection and avoid connecting your laptop to multiple external sources and accessories, also use a Bluetooth connection if needed and turned off after work is done.
2. How long should a gaming laptop battery last?
This is totally depending on your usage while heavy gaming or working on demanding applications like rendering videos or working on 3D designs battery last for 1-2 hours.
Whereas on regular use it can give a slightly better battery back of around 3-5 hours again this can vary from model to model.
3. Does GPU affect battery life?
The integrated GPU is not a power Hungary component as it is connected to the CPU, but if your laptop has a discrete graphics card then it runs separately to ensure users get crisp and quality visuals on display.
Additionally, it delivers images far more quickly than i-GPU, but for all this, it takes power from the machine which definitely affects battery life.
Final words:
So we have covered all the factors why do gaming laptops have bad battery life, the thing is gaming laptops are highly optimized computers to serve the performance that you needed, whereas normal laptops are not meant for heavy tasks.
Nevertheless somewhere you have to compromise on the battery to get a smooth experience on video games.
If your laptop battery works fine for up to 3 hours it is acceptable and considered to be good in a gaming laptop, I am sure we have answered all queries if you have any doubts put them in the comments we are always happy to guide you.
