Ok to play games on a laptop (heat)?

Question

Someone recently told me it was a bad idea to play games on a laptop because a laptop doesn't have adequate ventilation and a heat sink like a desktop has, and that the heat might damage components inside.

I have a Dell Inspiron with a 2.5Ghz i5 and 4 GB RAM and play a few old games like Quake 3 Arena. The entire left side heats up a lot. That's were the processor is I guess. Would playing games and generating all this heat damage things inside?

Answer 1

Generally I would disagree but it depends on what you're doing compared to your spec. Different processors have different 'strengths and weaknesses' so 2 processors at 2.5ghz perform better at different things.

There are many laptops designed for games without overheating issues, but again, if they played the game for extended periods of time then there could be a problem.

On the flip side, you could run other programs which could cause over heating - graphic and audio programs (like picture / music creation) CAN take a lot of resources (again, depending on the project size).

You can buy fans which sit under the laptop (powered by your USB) which may help to reduce the heat (I've used and wouldn't say they're great but the one I had (which was really cheap) did make some difference.

Now, I have had laptops which overheated a little and a lot - those which overheated a lot had undesired long term affects - the laptop would run slow or had other glitches. If your PC is actually getting hot, then this can cause damage.

Answer 2

Heat can damage your laptop but but it can't because whenever your laptop will gets heated too much, there is heat sensor which automatically shuts it down. By this way your computer remains safe.

You can also install Speedfan which will increase your fan speed. Alternatively you can buy separate fans for cooling of your PC.

There is another software by which you can keeps eye on cpu temperature Core temp, download and install it.