How Much Storage Should A Gaming Laptop Have? [6 THINGS TO CONSIDER]

The amount of storage capacity in a gaming laptop determines how many games and applications you can have installed at the same time. 

If you have insufficient storage space, you’ll only be able to install a few games before you run out of storage space. 

Having to delete older games or stuff that you wanted to hold on to in order to install new games can seriously affect your gaming experience. 

Therefore, it is essential to know how much space is needed for gaming in order to avoid deleting files from your laptop sooner than you expected. It also saves you from spending more money on storage space you won’t be needing.

Recommended Storage For A Gaming Laptop

A gaming laptop should have at least 512 GB storage if you are planning to install only a few games. But if you are planning to install several AAA title games or doing some serious video editing, you need at least 1 TB of data storage space.    

For some gamers, even 1TB (Terabyte) of storage may still not be enough, while for some 512 (Gigabyte) GB will be more than enough. It all depends on how much space the games you plan on installing need and what else you want to store on your laptop. 

Many popular AAA titles sometimes require more than 50 GB. Therefore, having at least 1 TB of data storage capacity allows you to install several of these games before you eventually run out of space.

Below are some popular games and how much free disk space they require:

PC GameAmount of storage required
Fortnite16 GB
Player Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBG)30 GB
Minecraft1 GB
Call of Duty Modern Warfare175 GB
Dota15 GB
Overwatch40-50 GB
Grand Theft Auto V:65 GB
The Witcher 350 GB
Shadow of the Tomb Raider40 GB
Doom Eternal50 GB

As you can see from the table above, AAA title games take up quite a lot of space. Fortunately, you can easily upgrade the storage on most gaming laptops. 

Generally, gaming laptops with more storage space will be pricier than those with less storage capacity. 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB are some of the most common storage capacities you will find in modern laptop storage devices.

Why Do Some Gaming Laptops Have Both SSD And HDD Storage?

Gaming laptops have both SSD and HDD storage because SSDs are able to load heavy programs such as games a lot faster while HDDs offer more space to store lighter files without significantly increasing the price of the laptop. 

It is usually recommended to install the OS and games on the SSD for fast booting and loading and use the HDD for general storage.

Things To Consider When Deciding The Amount Of Storage You’ll Need

1.The Kinds Of Games You Play

Different games require different amounts of free disc space. For example, AAA game titles such as Final Fantasy XIV, Metro Exodus, and Resident Evil take up more disk space than lesser graphics-intensive games such as CupHead, Into The Breach, and Stardew Valley.

If you are going to be playing only games meant for low-end PCs you don’t need a lot of data storage capacity, and vice versa. You can find out the requirements of any game, including the file size here

2. How Frequently You Purchase Games

If you are buying a gaming laptop mainly for casual gaming (to pass time), then you’ll likely not be purchasing many games. In this case, you won’t need a lot of storage space, 512 GB storage space will be enough. 

If you plan on doing some heavy gaming on your laptop, then you’ll likely be purchasing and downloading lots of games within short periods of time. Therefore, in this case, 512 GB of storage space will fill up fast, in which case you need at least 1TB of storage.

3. How Many Games You Currently Own (For Example On Steam and GOG Libraries)

Downloading a large number of games you already own on platforms such as Steam, Origin, and GOG will require you to have a lot of storage space on your laptop. So if this is something you are planning on doing, then you’ll need 1 TB or more. 

how much storage does gaming laptop need

4. Whether You Like To Hoard Games

Some gamers like to delete old games once they’ve finished playing them and this frees up space for new games to be installed. 

But if you are the type who likes to keep older games or have several games installed so that you can bounce between games, then you’ll need a lot of storage space.  

5. Other Things You Plan On Doing Besides Gaming

Besides gaming, you may also want to collect movies, install work/school-related software, or store large media files. If you are going to be doing lots of other stuff outside gaming then you’ll likely run out of storage space if your laptop lacks sufficient storage.

6. How Much You Want To Spend

We all want lots of data storage capacity on our laptops but sometimes our budget limits it. However, if you are not limited in terms of how much you can spend, get a laptop with as much storage as possible. 

High-end gaming laptops can have as much 2 TB of storage or more. But if you are on a budget, prioritize getting a gaming laptop with a good processor and graphics card and worry about storage and RAM later. 

You can always upgrade Storage and RAM later but in most laptops, it’s not possible to upgrade the CPU and GPU.

Different Types Of Storage Devices Found In Gaming Laptops

Hard Disk Drive (HDD)

A hard disk drive, also known simply as a hard drive or hard disk is a non-volatile computer storage device that writes and retrieves data magnetically using a series of spinning magnetic disks or platters. 

Non-volatile means that HDDs don’t need electrical power to maintain data. HDDs are usually slower at accessing and writing data compared to SSDs. In addition, they are cheaper and less power efficient. 

Solid State Disk (SSD)

SSDs are a type of non-volatile mass storage device that differs from HDDs in that they store data in flash memory (data is stored in chips) instead of spinning disks. 

Flash memory is 5-20 times faster than standard hard disk drives and this allows for fast booting and loading of games and applications. Also, because SSDs have no moving parts, they are more power-efficient and perform better than HDDs. 

However, they are more expensive than HDDs. The larger their capacity the more expensive they get. For gamers, Solid State Drives are a good investment as they are able to load games a lot faster, reduce overheating, and make your PC more power-efficient. 

M.2 SSDs

how much storage good for gaming

M.2 is an evolutionary form factor that was designed as a replacement for mini-SATA (mSATA). M2 SSDs are about 22mm wide compared to the 30 mm width of mSATA and can be as long as 30 mm compared to the 50 mm length of mSATA.

This allows these SSDs to be fitted in thin devices such as the Razer Blade Stealth and Gigabyte Aero 15 gaming laptops. Besides their small form factor, they are also able to support serial Advanced Technology Attachment 3 (SATA 3)  and Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) interface protocols.

In most modern gaming laptops, you’ll find NVMe SSDs because they are much faster than the previous SATA 3 SSDs. The SATA interface limits the data transfer speed to around 600 MB/s, but with the NVMe interface, SSDs can reach transfer speeds of up to 3.5 GB/s or higher.

Solid State Hybrid Drive (SSHD)

An SSHD consists of both HDD and SSD technology. It is slower than an SSD but is a bit faster than an HDD. It is able to achieve slightly faster load speeds than traditional HDDs by utilizing a small amount of high-performance flash memory to store the most frequently accessed data.

SSHDs are a good choice if you are looking for a storage device that is slightly faster than HDDs at a reasonable price. 

Internal Storage vs External Storage

internal vs external storage
external hard drive

Internal storage is the main storage and is found inside your computer while external storage connects to your computer through your computer’s USB ports. Internal storage determines your computer’s performance while external storage is used mainly for backups.

Conclusion- Amount Of Storage Needed In A Gaming Laptop

How much storage you need in a gaming laptop ultimately depends on how many games or applications you want to install as well as their size. The larger the games or files the more storage space you’ll need. 

512 GB of computer storage space is usually enough for the average gamer, but if you’re going to be doing a lot of gaming, go for at least 1 TB storage space.

 If your budget allows, get a gaming laptop with as much storage as possible. This will allow you to hold more games without worrying about running out of storage space quickly.


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