Re: Will playing sims 4 without laptop mode damage my laptop in the long run?

@Divinity_wingz  Laptop mode isn't a protective mode for laptops; it's just a button to disable Advanced Rendering.  (I checked the Options.ini file, and that's precisely what that setting does.)  You're seeing the effects on the in-game graphics, so I don't need to tell you what no Advanced Rendering means.  The point of the setting is to lower the game's demands on the system, but it's not a special setting for laptops and isn't any different than lowering other settings.

The point is, disabling laptop mode won't do any harm; it's just another graphics setting to manage.  For your laptop itself, the only sources of short-term damage you need to worry about are heat and physical impact, e.g. dropping the laptop.  Longer-term, higher voltage does cause wear and tear, but this is unlikely to have any effect at all by the time you're ready to upgrade anyway.  So keep using the cooling pad, don't drop the machine, and play with whatever settings you like.