No one can deny that gaming PCs are more capable of running games faster than gaming laptops. But there are also high-end gaming laptops that can match the performance of today’s gaming PCs. However, suppose you don’t have the budget to buy a new gaming laptop. In that case, there are ways to improve the speed and performance of your current unit.

Here are tips you can do to speed the performance of your gaming laptop:

Update your hardware drivers.
Set your gaming laptop to high performance.
Choose SSD as your gaming laptop’s main windows hard drive.
Upgrade your gaming laptop’s important hardware components.
Uninstall any unused apps.
Update your Windows operating system.
Enable the Game Mode of your gaming laptop.
Clean your gaming laptop.

1 – Update your hardware drivers.

To speed up your gaming laptop, you need to update all its drivers and software, especially the processor, motherboard, and graphics card. Another software you need to update is the Microsoft DirectX software. Make sure that it is updated to the latest version. You can download an app to monitor if your software needs to be updated.

Another primary software you need to keep updated is your graphics card driver.

If your gaming laptop has an NVIDIA GPU, you can go to their website and download the latest GeForce driver software.
For an AMD graphics card, go to this site and download the new Radeon Graphics Driver for your unit.
And for Intel graphics cards, you can download the Intel Graphics drivers on this site.

2 – Set your gaming laptop’s battery mode to high-performance.

Your gaming laptop has different battery modes. One of these modes is high-performance which optimizes the battery to perform to the max. Usually, the battery is set in balance mode. But once you put the system in its high-performance mode, you will see a whole lot of difference in your gaming experience.

Another update you can do is to enable the hidden power settings. To do this, follow these steps:

Go to Settings and then choose System.
Go to Power Options, and select Ultimate Performance.
Then click the option that says Unhide Additional Plans.
You can then choose an option that works for your current setup.

3 – Choose SSD as your gaming laptop’s main windows hard drive.

Using your SSD as your unit’s main driver is the perfect setting for gaming. Doing so will ensure that your system will boot faster and get the performance you need for gaming.

Also, when installing games, choose your SSD drive as its storage. This will help your games load and run faster since the read-and-write times for SSD are very high.

You can buy an additional hard drive to store your other files if you want extra storage.

4 – Upgrade your gaming laptop’s important hardware components.

The main components you can upgrade to boost your gaming laptop’s performance are the RAM, graphics card, and hard drive.

You can switch to an SSD for your hard drive instead of a hard drive for high-speed performance. SSD prices have hugely dropped over the past years. They will give you the extra speed you need for gaming.

For RAM, you might need to have at least 16GB of RAM for gaming. The higher the RAM of your gaming laptop, the faster it can process and run your video games.

Last but most importantly, your graphics card plays a vital role in affecting your gaming experience. If you think you can afford a better graphics card compatible with your gaming laptop, then opt to upgrade the component.

5 – Uninstall any unused apps.

Make sure to uninstall any apps, programs, or services you no longer need or use. This will make more space for your games. Plus, the fewer apps and programs you have, the better your gaming laptop’s performance will be. Doing so saves space and processing power, which can be used by your unit for efficiently running your games.

You can also download cleaning apps like CCleaner to erase all temporary junk files on your gaming laptop. It also works by cleaning the C drive of your unit for max performance. It will uninstall and remove all the bloatware from your system.

6 – Update your Windows operating system.

Updating your current operating system, especially for Windows users, will help boost the performance of their gaming laptop. Windows usually have valuable updates to help your system run faster and smoother. Not only that, but Windows also releases updates that can fix the bugs of their old updates and let your system run better.

7 – Enable the Game Mode of your gaming laptop.

Another tip that can help you boost your gaming laptop’s performance effectively is enabling Game Mode. Windows 10 and Windows 11 have an Xbox app that allows users to enable the Game Mode feature. Your gaming laptop’s system will be optimized upon turning on the Game Mode.

To enable Game Mode, follow these steps:

Go to Settings or click Windows + I.
Click Gaming, then choose Xbox Game Bar.
Switch the On Image.
Select the Game Mode located in the left-hand menu.
Enable the feature by switching it on.
Close the windows to finish.

Once done, you can now press Windows + G to automatically display the Xbox panel. If prompted, check the Yes.

With the Game Mode enabled, your system will run your games at the optimum settings. This will suspend all your background tasks.

8 – Clean your gaming laptop.

If you haven’t cleaned your gaming laptop since you bought it, you might want to do so. Cleaning your laptop and making sure that it is dust-free will significantly improve its performance.

Dust and dirt build-up in your gaming laptop will lead to different issues. This will result in reduced airflow and your gaming laptop overheating.

Once the hardware components heat up, all of them will start to slow down. They will significantly affect the performance of your gaming laptop. Not only that, but overheating will also cause several issues and may damage your unit.

Cleaning the unit is the best way to speed up the performance of your gaming laptop.