Are my hopes realistic for a gaming laptop?

[Trp1204]

Hello all and thank you for having me! As a console gamer of more than 25 years, I am happy to cross the fence where the grass is in fact greener lol.

I am dead set on wanting a gaming laptop. I have already made up my mind on it being the Alienware X17 with the following specs:
$2549.99 at the time of this thread.

I7-11800H
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070
1TB SSD
16 gigs of ram
1920 x 1080 360Hz FHD

Games I want to play:
Warzone
Red Dead Redemption 2
Diablo 2


I am confident that this pc will play all the games that I want. However, is it realistic to say that I want this laptop to last a minimum of five years? Is that doable? I figure with no overclocking, no maxed out settings, and no prolonged game sessions I can achieve that longevity. I am not a competitive gamer nor do I want or need 4K and 300 FPS either. Of course proper preventative maintenance will be utilized with keeping it cleaned and a proper cooling mat.

Edit: I prefer Alienware because of the cooling technology and the robust build quality.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

The components will probably be above minimum requirements for most AAA games for the next 5 years. Its a powerful laptop.

The problem is that gaming laptops get very hot, and heat is the enemy of longevity for electronics. If you are playing several hours a day of demanding games it might struggle to last 5 years. Consider that most desktop graphics cards come with 3 years warranty, and they have huge coolers attached and over-engineered PCBs to regulate the power they use. Compared to a laptop where the same chip is being hot boxed, even though its not operating at anywhere near the same speed as a desktop version to try and keep it cooler.

Using a cooling mat and cleaning it out every so often will help. Make sure with the cooling pad that you are blowing air into the intake vents. It will actually be worse for the laptop if your mat happens to be blowing heated exhaust air back inside, becuas ethe laptop exhaust from there like some do.

Alienware x17 Review: A Designer Gaming Laptop

Seeing what 'Element 31' cooling can do.

www.tomshardware.com

Toms review for the range, you get a one year warranty which isn't too reassuring.

You'll find most people recommend desktops for these reasons, laptops are only recommended for if you really need it to be mobile.

 

[ZedClampet]

I am confident that this pc will play all the games that I want. However, is it realistic to say that I want this laptop to last a minimum of five years? Is that doable?

Yes, it's doable, but you have to accept that it might not happen. I still have an Alienware 17 from 2017. Granted, that's only 4 years, but I doubt it's going to die anytime soon. My daughter is using it now, and plays quite a bit on it, and I played on it for several hours a day for about 3 of those 4 years. It really doesn't get very hot at all, either. But it's lasted longer than any previous laptop. A lot of that has to do with the fact that premium laptops don't get as hot as they used to.

The problem is that gaming laptops get very hot, and heat is the enemy of longevity for electronics. If you are playing several hours a day of demanding games it might struggle to last 5 years.

My last two haven't gotten very hot at all, but they were top of the line. I had two games running at the same time on my Sager today, AC Odyssey and Craftopia (I had a process running in my world I didn't want to quit), and my CPU never got above 67 and my GPU never got above 54.I did specifically turn the fan on its highest setting. Usually they are both in the low 50's or 40's. Now, we've had ASUS and ACER's and MSI's that you could cook dinner on, and they generally lasted about 3 to 4 years before the failures started. But the Alenware and the Sager both run at acceptable temps.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Yes, it's doable, but you have to accept that it might not happen. I still have an Alienware 17 from 2017. Granted, that's only 4 years, but I doubt it's going to die anytime soon. My daughter is using it now, and plays quite a bit on it, and I played on it for several hours a day for about 3 of those 4 years. It really doesn't get very hot at all, either. But it's lasted longer than any previous laptop. A lot of that has to do with the fact that premium laptops don't get as hot as they used to.



My last two haven't gotten very hot at all, but they were top of the line. I had two games running at the same time on my Sager today, AC Odyssey and Craftopia (I had a process running in my world I didn't want to quit), and my CPU never got above 67 and my GPU never got above 54.I did specifically turn the fan on its highest setting. Usually they are both in the low 50's or 40's. Now, we've had ASUS and ACER's and MSI's that you could cook dinner on, and they generally lasted about 3 to 4 years before the failures started. But the Alenware and the Sager both run at acceptable temps.

Great to hear from someone who had direct experience, I'm not a laptop guy and instinct is always to recommend a desktop if its to be used mainly at home.

I'm a little concerned that the Toms review for the Alienware does specifically say that the x17 runs hot. Its there in the summary and mentioned a couple of times later on but never really explored with numbers for some reason.

Alienware x17 Review: A Designer Gaming Laptop

Seeing what 'Element 31' cooling can do.

www.tomshardware.com

They do say the previous M17 R4 runs cooler than this version, although the reviewed version of the new model OP is interested in is using an RTX3080 which is using potentially around 30% more power than the 3070, so that version should run cooler all else being equal.

@Trp1204 Great that @ZedClampet brought up Sager laptops. They are the main reseller of Clevo in the U.S and Clevo shells have had a great reputation for many years, definitely worth finding reviews of their latest models in comparison to the Alienwares, if you're not already decided.

 

[ZedClampet]

Great to hear from someone who had direct experience, I'm not a laptop guy and instinct is always to recommend a desktop if its to be used mainly at home.

I'm a little concerned that the Toms review for the Alienware does specifically say that the x17 runs hot. Its there in the summary and mentioned a couple of times later on but never really explored with numbers for some reason.

Alienware x17 Review: A Designer Gaming Laptop

Seeing what 'Element 31' cooling can do.

www.tomshardware.com

They do say the previous M17 R4 runs cooler than this version, although the reviewed version of the new model OP is interested in is using an RTX3080 which is using potentially around 30% more power than the 3070, so that version should run cooler all else being equal.

@Trp1204 Great that @ZedClampet brought up Sager laptops. They are the main reseller of Clevo in the U.S and Clevo shells have had a great reputation for many years, definitely worth finding reviews of their latest models in comparison to the Alienwares, if you're not already decided.

Great info!

By the way, @Trp1204, if you are new to gaming laptops, you do want to keep an eye on your temps, especially at first. Alienware and Sager both make tracking and adjusting your power usage easy for beginners. Alienware will put an app on there that monitors it for you. If you are regularly running over about 75, I would adjust the power settings (inside that app). On Alienware and Sager, you have 4 options, the top two being "Performance" and "Entertainment". If the laptop is running too hot on "Performance", you can drop it to "Entertainment". That will still run games pretty well at 1080p. The next step down would be "Balanced". At that point you'd probably have to drop your graphics settings just a bit. The point is, though, that they give you tools to keep your temps down if you are having a problem. Be sure and use them.

Also, dust is a real problem with laptops. You need to keep them clean or they'll definitely start over-heating. I blow air through mine once a month. You don't have to take them apart. Just blow air into the fans. Everything will come out where your laptop vents heat. I bought a blower for pretty cheap on Amazon (It was a long time ago. All I remember was that it didn't cost much).