ASUS TUF A15 - What's the typical lifespan of a 'gaming' laptop and what can I do to maximize lifespan?

[TheBigFatClown]

Hi all,

I've just purchased an ASUS TUF A15 laptop and it seems I can't satiate my desire to keep doing research even after the purchase. What is the typical lifespan of a 'gaming' laptop and what can I do to maximize the lifespan? I find it a bit odd that the warranty on my ASUS laptop is only 1 year but I think that applies to almost all laptops even non-gaming ones. So, it makes me wonder.

I know that prolonged heat over long periods of time is not good for the CPU/GPU. So, if I can make sure my laptop doesn't go outside it's safe temperature ranges wouldn't I get more than a year of life out of one? And doesn't the CPU/GPU/Windows operating system have built-in protections for all this as well?

I have a non-gaming Toshiba laptop I bought years ago that still works. But I don't have that many 'miles', I.e., 'power-on' hours on it also so that may be why it still works to this day.

I just don't want to believe that 1 year of life is all I can expect to get out of a good gaming laptop. The ASUS TUF A15 in my case specifically.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

I'm hoping that bottom covers of the newest 2021 models of the TUF A15 have the exact same shape and dimensions as my model. If so, I will definitely hunt one down and replace mine for better cooling. I'd like to start a petition for ASUS to offer this asap to make amends for the mistake of not doing this in the first place.

 

[neeyik]

Vendors typically only offer a 1 year warranty to help boost sales of extended warranty packages. That said, items such as gaming laptop are designed to maximize the financial return on them, given that they're lower volume sellers compared to, say, home/office systems.

Certain components can't be 'cheap' as such (CPU, GPU) but lots of other components can be - DRAM, SSD, motherboard & its elements, LCD panel. Anyone of these could fail within that time span, simply because they're all mass manufactured on an enormous scale. So statistically, there's always going to be some components that pass Q&A testing post-manufacturing but repeated use exacerbates an otherwise minor issue into becoming a component failure.

I know that prolonged heat over long periods of time is not good for the CPU/GPU. So, if I can make sure my laptop doesn't go outside it's safe temperature ranges wouldn't I get more than a year of life out of one? And doesn't the CPU/GPU/Windows operating system have built-in protections for all this as well?

Correct on both accounts. It's worth noting that heat and temperature are related, but ultimately different things. One can have a chip generating very little heat but have a very high temperature; for example, GDDR6X modules in RTX 3080/3090 graphics cards only make around 3 or so watts of heat each, but hit over 100 degrees Celsius, under full load, with the standard cooling systems used.

Excessive temperatures (as well as excessive voltages and heat cycles) are indeed problematic. But while CPUs and GPUs are full of thermal diodes to monitor the temperature at various spots around the die, and have drivers/OS to then adjust the voltage/clocks, to keep the temperatures in check, numerous other components (e.g. DRAM, voltage regulators) don't have these.

So your laptop could work fine for 5 or even 10 years, with barely an issue (although it's unlikely the SSD would last that long). Keeping an eye on CPU and GPU temperatures will help matters, as will regularly cleaning the cooling system, but as long as you're not doing anything daft with the laptop, it should last for ages.

If it doesn't, then you've just been unlucky.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

Vendors typically only offer a 1 year warranty to help boost sales of extended warranty packages. That said, items such as gaming laptop are designed to maximize the financial return on them, given that they're lower volume sellers compared to, say, home/office systems.

Certain components can't be 'cheap' as such (CPU, GPU) but lots of other components can be - DRAM, SSD, motherboard & its elements, LCD panel. Anyone of these could fail within that time span, simply because they're all mass manufactured on an enormous scale. So statistically, there's always going to be some components that pass Q&A testing post-manufacturing but repeated use exacerbates an otherwise minor issue into becoming a component failure.


Correct on both accounts. It's worth noting that heat and temperature are related, but ultimately different things. One can have a chip generating very little heat but have a very high temperature; for example, GDDR6X modules in RTX 3080/3090 graphics cards only make around 3 or so watts of heat each, but hit over 100 degrees Celsius, under full load, with the standard cooling systems used.

Excessive temperatures (as well as excessive voltages and heat cycles) are indeed problematic. But while CPUs and GPUs are full of thermal diodes to monitor the temperature at various spots around the die, and have drivers/OS to then adjust the voltage/clocks, to keep the temperatures in check, numerous other components (e.g. DRAM, voltage regulators) don't have these.

So your laptop could work fine for 5 or even 10 years, with barely an issue (although it's unlikely the SSD would last that long). Keeping an eye on CPU and GPU temperatures will help matters, as will regularly cleaning the cooling system, but as long as you're not doing anything daft with the laptop, it should last for ages.

If it doesn't, then you've just been unlucky.

Thank You very much for the good information. Regularly cleaning the cooling system is one piece of advice that really stands out to me. I never did that for my last laptop purchase but then again it probably didn't even have a cooling system since it wasn't a gaming laptop.