Worried over Usage - any insight?

[' r i S e n]

I gamed on the MacOSX side for a few months (WoW) and my model (specs in sig) handled the game well and I was alright with it but eventually just stopped playing. I want to set up Windows in Boot Camp eventually solely to game but I am worried that doing so will shorten the life of my machine quite considerably.

I don't plan on running anything serious like Crysis or anything - I mainly want to play Guild Wars (as I have accepted GW2 is never coming out) and perhaps old but good shooters like CoD2. These games recommend Pentium processors and 1 or less GB of RAM, so obviously I can run them more than well but won't doing so basically run my machine into the ground that much faster?

I am quite worried about this and wondering if it is even worth it to do so if it only leaves me with a worn out laptop.

Any insight on this matter? Am I just over-exaggerating? Thank you to any replies.

 

[Miharu]

You are over-exaggerating. Computers are made to be used, and built to last. Go for it.

 

[0098386]

Yeah, that's taking it a bit too far. Installing Bootcamp and using your computer to its abilities will not break it.

I bought a run-of-the-mill stock 17" iMac in 2006. I overclocked the graphics card and every night I would play 1-2 hours of demanding games (for that machine). I played with settings on low-med but it'd still have points of slowdown. The GPU was overclocked more and more until it was at its peak. Then I continued to run at that speed, with all these games, for 5 years up until exactly 1 week ago.
The iMac is still perfect. The hard drive was replaced though, but they do wear out.

Install Bootcamp and play lots of games for a long time.

 

[' r i S e n]

Oh, I know it won't necessarily "break it," haha, what I meant was make the laptop last much less of an amount of time than it would without running such intense programs.

EDIT: I plan to Boot Camp my 13'' MBP 2.4GHz C2D 4GB RAM with games like GW and CoD2, to reiterate. Am I still over exaggerating in terms of losing much of the time of an expected lifetime (assuming proper care, of course) of my machine by running such intense (in comparison to others) programs?

 

[0098386]

As we've said. No. It doesn't matter what care you take of your computer installing Bootcamp, Windows and any games beyond that your computer will be fine.
The HDD will go in a few years. The optical drive some time after. But unless there is a design problem with the hardware itself your computer will not die.

 

[SidBala]

I want to set up Windows in Boot Camp eventually solely to game but I am worried that doing so will shorten the life of my machine quite considerably.

LOL.

Well, it is your computer. If you don't want to stress it too much then don't.

 

[' r i S e n]

LOL.

Well, it is your computer. If you don't want to stress it too much then don't.

I guess it's funny. ^^; I probably could have phrased it a bit better.

I was trying to say that if it were worth it in the sense that - if - doing so would stress it so much that if it would even be remotely worth it.

Computers have always crapped out on me in the past and I am also unfamiliar with the overall lasting quality of Apple's products, as this is my first Mac, and on top of that, my first laptop. It's a big jump for me and causes a lot of questions and worries, as I don't have the money to be making bad investments or less than stellar decisions regarding those investments ... which is precisely why I am all over these boards lately with questions - as annoying as that is. It's paranoia, to sum it up. : )

I appreciate the responses everyone.

 

[bmb012]

Haha, the computer isn't like brake pads. Just make sure it's well ventilated and you'll be fine.