SOVLED! Does playing games damage a laptop keyboard?

If you indulge in fairly long gaming sessions on your laptop on a regular basis, it is natural for you to worry about your laptop keyboard. We’re sure you’ve whispered this to yourself, “ whether or not the laptop keyboard is suitable for long hours of gameplay? Or should I invest in an external keyboard?”

It’s a no-brainer that the hours you spend hitting those keys with all your might is surely going to have a negative impact on the response time, ergonomics, and overall gaming experience. Well, it’s not too late! We’ll walk you through the ifs and buts of the same. By the end of this piece, you’ll have a clear-cut idea about the dos and don’ts with your laptop keyboard. Sit back, relax and keep scrolling to know more!

Gaming can damage the keyboard on your laptop. Especially, if you are playing games on a non-gaming laptop, the keyboards tend to get damaged faster. However, the keyboards on a gaming laptop are built with a great build quality.

Is it possible to game effectively on the keyboard of a laptop?

The sort of keyboard that is pre-installed on your laptop, as well as your personal choice, are the two factors you need to consider in order to understand this.

The majority of laptop keypads, apart from gaming laptop ones, are not built for gaming, to say the least. The reason is, that manufacturers install fragile membrane keyboards that are not meant to withstand the stresses of gaming, such as the repeated and sometimes forceful pressing of keys. On the flipside, gaming laptop keyboards, are built to deal with the same.

Typing and scrolling are examples of light jobs that do not require aggressive key pressing. With that said, standard laptop keyboards are made for these kinds of activities. If regular laptop keyboards are used for gaming, there is a greater risk of you permanently damaging the keys.

On the other hand, gaming laptop keys are robust, and are built to serve the purpose of “taking the abuse.” As they are intended to withstand a significant amount of aggression at the hands of hardcore gamers, the keyboards found on gaming laptops are what we always recommend.

The reason why they are so easy to recommend is because of their mechanical nature. You may be aware that mechanical keyboards are way superior to the membrane ones. In a number of ways, mechanical keyboards are far better when it comes to reaction time and a greater degree of tactile sensitivity to name a few. When pushed, they also make a clicky, satisfying sound and give you a feeling that an input has been recorded. 

Does Gaming Cause Damage to the Laptop Keyboard?

For starters, the majority of laptop keyboards start to malfunction as a result of frequent gaming since they are not intended to resist the stress of repeated key smashing. 

With aggressive and frequent gaming, comes a ton of roadblocks. You might run into a plethora of issues, including the following:

1. You press the keys, but no input is being recorded.
2. Keys getting after you push it.

You’ll experience that there are certain keys that respond to your keypress, while others don’t. This problem is prominent on standard, non-gaming laptops. On the other hand, you won’t face such issues with the keyboards on gaming laptops. They are less likely to malfunction even when use recklessly. 

Gaming laptop keys are more robust, tactile, and sensitive, and also offer you a wide array of RGB illumination. It leverages customization options for gamers to assign certain colors to a particular set of keys for easy spotting, even in a low-lit or darkroom. 

With all things said, if you feel that your laptop keyboard is not as comfy as you would want it to be, or if you are searching for a way to improve ergonomics and performance, you might consider purchasing an external gaming keyboard instead. In comparison to the keyboard found on a normal laptop, the reaction speeds and feedback provided by an external mechanical keyboard are far better by a long shot.

So, it’s a no-brainer that the majority of gamers pick mechanical keyboards because, in addition to the benefits described above, these keyboards come with a wide selection of switch types. Cherry MX series and Omron switches are probably the best options out there, which are specially tailored to meet your requirements for a particular game or typing task.

Additionally, as mechanical keyboards are heavier than membrane keyboards, they are more stable when placed on a desk and they don’t slide here and there.

With that said, purchasing an external keyboard comes with a couple of drawbacks, which you should consider. Firstly, you need to invest some money to buy the external keyboard, which you can think about it as an additional expense. Reduction in mobility is yet another factor you need to consider. However, if you may compromise a little on the mobility, the advantages of owning one are second to none.

Is It Possible To Use A Gaming Keyboard With A Laptop?

If your laptop has a connection for USB peripherals, you will be able to connect a gaming keyboard to it with ease. When it comes to attaching an external keyboard to a USB port, you may either choose an USB cable or a Bluetooth dongle to do the same.

Does Using an External Gaming Keyboard Make Laptops Run Slower?

As gaming keyboards do not impose a great deal of demand on the processing power, memory, or graphics card of your laptop, adding an external game keyboard will not have any obvious influence on the performance. 

Now, the vast majority of gaming laptops are still able to provide you with good performance even after having a variety of add-ons and accessories installed. Rest assured, your laptop’s performance will never be negatively impacted if you use gaming accessories like a gaming keyboard and mouse, a gaming headset, or a gaming laptop cooler.

Now, to answer your doubt, it would be an easy NO! Using an external gaming keyboard doesn’t make your laptop run slower.

Wrap Up

Gaming laptop keyboards are built to survive the rigors of intensive usage. On the other side, a typical laptop keyboard is not even close to being as sturdy as a gaming laptop keyboard. If you plan on using your laptop to play games on a regular basis, you might want to consider purchasing an external laptop.

In case your laptop’s keyboard malfunctions, it will be much easier to replace an external keyboard with a new one. When playing video games for long periods of time without feeling back pain, you may find that using an external gaming keyboard in combination with a gaming mouse helps you keep a better posture and relieves some of the strain on your back.

Because a gaming mouse, as opposed to the touchpad on a laptop, offers more precision for gaming, purchasing one is an investment that is well worth it. This is especially true for hardcore games in which accuracy is of the utmost importance, such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and PUBG.