Opinions on heat output gaming laptop vs. regular laptop

[buckm17]

I use a laptop most nights if my wife is watching something I don't find interesting. I sit in a recliner with a wedge-type lap desk that has a hard flat surface so cooling of the laptop itself isn't an issue.

I'm going to upgrade a nine-year old i3 laptop and was thinking of getting a gaming laptop. I'm hot-natured, and I'm wondering how much heat a gaming laptop will output from the cooling fans vs. a regular laptop. My current laptop has a 65w power brick; the gaming laptop bricks run around 160w. Does this mean the gaming laptop will generate about 2.5x as much heat as my old laptop? Or if I'm just surfing will the power draw be much lower.

I just don't want to end up not using it in the recliner because it makes me hot. I know it's subjective, but any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[lunarlander]

No, I don't think the heat generated will be 2.5x. That is because the cpu has a top temperature at which point it will go no higher or shutdown. I don't know about the gpu though.

 

[managed]

A gaming laptop will create more heat than a 'general purpose' one but if it well designed the heat will be blown out of the case by fan(s) and should not hit your body or be enough to make you feel too hot. Using it on a flat surface will help, as you already know.

 

[crjdriver]

Heat generated is directly proportional to load. If you run games, it generates heat. Just sitting there playing solitaire or reading email, I doubt it would generate any more heat than your current system.

Do understand that a well designed gaming system is heavier than a run of the mill laptop. A basic comparison is usually 2lb heavier. Battery life is not as long either.

 

[buckm17]

Good point about the weight, crjdriver. I hadn't thought about that. Looking at the specs, one of the gaming laptops I'm looking at is the same weight as my current laptop. Guess 9 years of technology has lightened things; however, if I could shave off a couple of pounds, might be worth it to got with a lighter non-gaming laptop.

I have a dedicated desktop for the limited gaming I do. Only reason I'm considering a gaming laptop is that by the time I get the SSD and processor options I want, a few gaming laptops were only $100 or so more than the non-gaming ones. It will probably just come down to what's in stock and/or on sale.

Thanks for the replies.