Not all of us are blessed enough to have the latest Alienware laptop or MacBook Pro. Whether for reasons of financial prudence or just a refusal to keep up with the endless cycle of buying new $1000 devices every year, many of us opt for less advanced home tech.
While this comes with its obvious drawbacks, especially when it comes to gaming, it need not be a handicap. Instead, with the right tech tips at your fingertips, you can push your aging laptop to its limits to enjoy a world of quality gaming, online or otherwise. Read on to find out the top gaming tips for Your Laptop Slow.
Clean it out
The first thing you should do is address the reasons why your laptop might be running slowly, which might have nothing to do with the age or model of the device. One of the most common reasons for depleted laptop performance is, believe it or not, dust. There are several easy ways to clean out your laptop to enhance performance, as MakeUseOf explains. Be mindful of opening a laptop that is sealed, as this might invalidate your warranty. For this, you can use a compressed air cleaner to blast any dust out of the interior, which you can purchase from major brands such as Apple.
Upgrade the hardware
Even if your laptop is in the winter of its life, you can still swap out some of the insides so that it can play games as if it were good as new. While you probably cannot swap out most parts of your old laptop, there are some that you can upgrade at home without the need for a tech expert. Upgrading the RAM, storage, and battery are all things that will enhance gaming performance substantially and will not cost you much in either cash or effort.
Update your drivers
If your laptop uses Windows, Mac, or Linux, then having up-to-date drivers is essential for smooth gaming. In most cases, this requires virtually zero effort. Although updating drivers used to be a more hands-on activity, these days it is incorporated in your standard software updates. Of course, there are some extra steps you can take. For example, updating your graphics drivers specifically to run more advanced games can be done via GPU management software such as AMD Gaming or Nvidia GeForce.
See what you can run
There are hard limits to what you can actually do within the confines of your hardware. This is why you should take a minute to see which games your laptop is actually physically capable of running, and what settings those games can be played on. For this, use a game systems analysis tool such as CanYouRunIt, which immediately tells you the specs of your laptop and provides the full list of games that your device is capable of running, assuming that your device is in perfect working order.
Try low-spec browser games
It is also helpful to consider your choice of games and to learn the best games that will run on your device without any problems. No matter the state of your laptop, low-spec browser games are a great place to start. You can try any number of acclaimed browser games, including hit indie titles such as A Dark Room, Krunker, or Catan Universe. Alternatively, you could head to an online casino that offers thousands of different browser games in one place, all available in demo mode so that you can play without even making an account. One good place to start is the Casino 777 slot library, which has a staggering number of slot games with themes ranging from action shoot-em-ups to sci-fi to old Western.
Adjust your power settings
When your laptop is running games slowly, it is likely that your power system has something to do with it. If you are over-working the battery, then your laptop will immediately start to slow down as a default. Fortunately, there are plenty of simple workarounds for this common problem. You can usually just head to your laptop’s configuration or power settings and set your battery to advanced mode, as this will allow you to push the performance to the peak without upsetting the power conservation system. However, you should keep your charger plugged in while gaming.
These simple tips will help you enjoy a world of high-quality gaming on your laptop without breaking the bank, or even exerting much effort. Give them a try right now.
