Introduction

We understand that you wish to start gaming on your laptop, however, you don’t want to spend money on getting those expensive gaming laptops. That is why we will be sharing some handy tips on upgrading your laptop to a gaming laptop. While getting a dedicated gaming laptop is the best way to experience gaming on a laptop, it may not be ideal for many users.

The main issue with gaming laptops is the price, followed by their bulky heavy body, shorter battery life, and excess heating. Any of these factors may discourage you from getting a dedicated gaming laptop. You may also not want a gaming laptop if you are looking forward to playing casual games or wish to game for a specific time daily. That is why we are sharing the best tips to upgrade your laptop for gaming.

Let us dive straight in!

Connect to AC Power

By connecting to the AC main power, you are providing your laptop with the required ‘juice’ to perform to its maximum potential. Almost all laptop manufacturers provide several battery-saving features on their laptops, which makes the battery last longer. However, a major issue with such features is that they also make the laptop perform slower than what it is capable of.

For example, the laptop’s CPU may only use its battery-saving cores if you are using it on battery. However, by connecting to the mains, you are essentially signalling the laptop to unlock its full potential to utilize all of its cores to run the games smoothly.

Get an External GPU

The next best option to improve gaming performance on your laptop is to get a dedicated External GPU. Many GPU manufacturers provide external GPUs which can connect to your laptop via the USB-C slot and amplify your gaming experience. While these external GPUs can be costly, it won’t be as costly as buying a gaming laptop.

On the other hand, since dedicated GPUs are much more powerful than the integrated ones found on normal laptops, they can enhance your gaming experience by multiple times. For example, you can start playing AAA titles with the help of a dedicated GPU, which may either crash or run with stutter and lag on the integrated GPU.

Upgrade RAM

Can I upgrade my gaming laptop RAM? Well, yes, you certainly can upgrade the RAM and the storage of almost all laptops. Laptop manufacturers generally provide a single screw access panel to the underside of the laptop, which can be unscrewed to reveal the SATA port, M.2 port and the extra RAM slot.

You will need to check your laptop manufacturer’s website to understand the RAM compatible with your system. However, a general rule of thumb is to double the amount of RAM by getting another RAM stick with the same speed and generation as the one already present in the laptop.

Add an SSD

The next best upgrade for your laptop is an SSD or Solid State Drive. SSDs can make your laptop faster by at least 5x since the slowest SSDs are 5 times faster than common laptop hard disks. However, you will have to check your laptop’s user manual to understand how to open the panel beneath the laptop to insert the SSD.

Additionally, you will have to check whether your laptop has a SATA or M.2 slot inside and buy the SSD accordingly. While the SATA SSDs are cheaper, they are also slower compared to the M.2 SSDs. Hence, you should check which one is supported by your laptop before buying a compatible one.

Switch to Wired Internet

The next way to optimize gaming laptop is to connect your laptop to a wired connection. While you may enjoy the wireless convenience of a Wi-Fi connection currently, having a dedicated wired connection using a LAN port or ethernet is recommended.

Having wired connectivity is especially useful for multiplayer and mobile gaming since it helps avoid network lag and makes your movement faster in online games. Wired connectivity vastly enhances your chance of winning online games simply by avoiding the lag generally experienced with wireless connections.

Clean Laptop

Since we have covered the hardware side of upgrading your laptop, let us share a different way to upgrade gaming laptop. Cleaning your laptop periodically is one of the easiest options to enhance the overall performance of your gaming device. By keeping your ports clean, you ensure smoother connections with the gaming peripherals such as the external GPU, gaming mouse, gaming keyboard, etc.

Similarly, by keeping the vents clean, you can ensure smooth airflow inside the laptop, allowing it to remain cool under longer gaming sessions. Additionally, by keeping the laptop clean, you can also avoid any hardware-level damage, further lengthening your laptop’s life span.

Get a Gaming Keyboard & Mouse

If you wish to play games on a laptop or upgrade your existing laptop to a gaming laptop, it is a good idea to invest in a pair of gaming keyboard and mouse. These gaming peripherals will transform your gaming experience and help you enjoy your favourite games with added enthusiasm.

You may even opt for an RBG-infused gaming keyboard and mouse combo as it will enhance your gaming setup, helping you feel like a true e-sports champion. Having the right gaming accessories can also be the difference between winning a match or losing out early, especially in online multiplayer games.

Use Cooling Pad

Another essential accessory to upgrade gaming laptop is a dedicated cooling pad. Gaming is an intensive task for any laptop. It is especially taxing on a normal laptop as its internal cooling system and hardware were never designed keeping gaming in mind.

By using a cooling pad, you can provide additional cooling to your laptop, helping it lower its internal heat and helping you game smoothly on your upgraded gaming machine. Hence, it is one of the must-have accessories if you wish to upgrade your laptop to a gaming laptop.

Update Software

Now that we have finished the hardware-related upgrades, let us move on to the software side of things. Updating all software in your laptop is essential to get maximum performance out of your laptop. Hence, you should update Windows, as well as all drivers, especially the graphic driver, as well as all applications and apps installed on your laptop.

Additionally, it is vital to ensure that your laptop is free of any malware by periodically scanning it for potential threats. Moreover, you should switch off automatic updates to ensure that all software is updated only when you want it to do so. Otherwise, the system might use internet bandwidth to update the software in the background leaving you with a laggy multiplayer experience.

Switch to ‘High Performance’ Battery Mode

Since we have covered that you should connect to AC power to get the maximum performance out of your laptop, it is also essential to ensure that Windows is set to ‘High Performance’ battery mode. Most manufacturers set the default power mode to either ‘Balanced’ or their custom one.

Hence, you should change it to ‘High Performance’ to let your operating system understand that you are ready to utilize the complete processing power of your system. If you have any apprehensions regarding this mode, you can switch it on only while gaming and change back to the default battery mode once you are done.

Switch on ‘Game Mode’

Since Windows 10, Microsoft has provided a dedicated ‘Gaming Mode’ inside Windows Settings to enable additional tweaks to the operating system that help in gaming smoothly. To activate it, you need to open the Settings app and select the ‘Gaming’ option. You need to select the ‘Game Mode’ menu and switch the ‘Game Mode’ to on position.

The Game Mode in Windows 10 and 11 will prioritize the gaming experience by turning off multiple background tasks such as updates, when it observes that you are running a game. It will also tweak some internal settings to provide a stable frame rate depending on your laptop’s hardware.

Conclusion

We understand that buying an expensive gaming laptop is not feasible for everyone. We have observed that ‘How do I add a graphics card to my laptop?’ is one of the most common questions in online gaming forums. Hence, we have shared the essential steps to add a dedicated GPU, as well as additional RAM and SSD storage. We have also provided further hardware and software tweaks to ensure a smooth gaming performance for you.