How to Take Care of Your Laptop: 6 Easy-to-Follow Tips

The longevity of your laptop depends on proper care and careful use. The better you take care of your device, the longer you will use it.

Want to watch Netflix movies or YouTube videos, play a live blackjack, and create work projects as long as possible? Follow these helpful tips.

Clean the Dust Off Your Laptop’s Casing

Dust is a factor contributing to dangerous overheating. It’s inevitable because it’s always flying around in the air. Once deposited on the parts of the device, the microparticles create a layer that impairs heat dissipation. A laptop should be cleaned at least once a year: if you are not confident in your abilities, you can have it cleaned at a service.

Surface cleaning is easy to do yourself. To begin with, you need to unscrew the bottom cover. It is worth bearing in mind that the screws can be both on the bottom and on the side of the case, and in some cases they are hidden under the legs altogether. 

Change the Thermal Paste

It is quite essential to change the thermal grease at least once every couple of years. It dissipates heat from warming parts but becomes less effective over time. You can do it yourself, but it’s important to properly clean the components of your device of old residue. Of course, you need to know what kind of paste to apply, as it differs in consistency and composition. 

Besides, it’s necessary to apply a layer that does not exceed the thickness of a sheet of paper. Otherwise, it will contribute not to cooling but to heating. In general, if you are not 100% confident in your abilities, change the thermal paste in the nearest service center.

Observe the Heat and Cold Mode

You should not immediately turn on the laptop, brought from the cold. Otherwise, it may form condensation, and this threatens the oxidation of contacts or even a short circuit and failure of individual parts or the entire system. If you bring your computer back from the cold, let it sit for at least a couple of hours.

Clean the Keyboard 

The keyboard mechanism can collect food remnants, dust and other debris. All this is also aggravated by particles of sweat from the hands which for a laptop is not particularly good. It is advisable to clean the keyboard every month using a special cleanser and brush. 

You can also use a clean microfiber cloth. The use of a vacuum cleaner or a can of compressed air does not hurt. For particularly deplorable soiling, disassemble the keyboard for deep cleaning – this operation is best carried out by an expert.

Avoid shaking

Intense shaking is detrimental to the device in general. It is especially terrible for relatively old laptops, where HDD is used instead of a modern SSD drive. Hard drives have moving parts that can be damaged. You don’t need to jerk the gadget sharply, and you need to be careful when transporting it.

Keep an Eye on the Battery

Today’s laptops are equipped with lithium batteries. They do not like excessively high levels of charging, as well as discharging – it is best to keep them between 20-80%. Batteries of this type gradually degrade – in general, they are designed for 500-1000 cycles of filling with energy.

You can check the battery status on Windows via the command line. In this case, you need to turn off the power, in the “Start” menu, find the command line with the search query “cmd”, and then select “Run as administrator” through the context menu. Here you need to type and press Enter: powercfg/batteryreport.

On a Mac, you can also open the “About this Mac” menu, go to “System Report”, expand the “Power” menu, and check the “Number of recharge cycles” line. What’s more, you can also click on the battery icon in the menu bar with the Option key pressed – that’s how macOS tells you if everything’s okay.

You can also use third-party programs for this purpose. For Windows, Battery Care is a good choice. For macOS, the well-known coconutBattery app will help you check the battery status of your MacBook. If it shows less than 80% of its original capacity, it’s a good indicator.