10 Things You Can Do To Keep Your Laptop Healthy

A laptop is a beautiful piece of gadget. Compact, elegant and efficient, it packs the power of a big-guy-desktop in a small frame. Yes, a laptop is the Tyrion Lannister of the computing world, and it has to have a long life!

It is also a significant piece of investment, because, unlike desktops, spare parts are not easily replaceable, because they are so compactly set in the laptop chassis. This makes your laptop even more valuable.

Here are some tips to prolong Tyrion Lannister’s (AKA your laptop) life.

1. Don’t overcharge your battery

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Technically, overcharging a battery is not exactly possible with the new models that use lithium ion batteries. But, the circuit that protects the battery from overcharging may malfunction, which may lead to the battery heating up and subsequently, damaging it.

Lithium batteries perform the longest when they are 50 – 80% charged.

 

2. Clean your exhaust vents

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I know your seller advised you not to open your laptop, but you are not exactly doing anything other that cleaning the vents. Over time, a lot of dust is accumulated, which hampers the cooling of your processors. This, in turn, degrades them.

Learn to clean the cooling vents, and clear them from time to time.

 

3. Do not use a laptop charger that is not made by the original manufacturers

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A laptop battery charger made by the original manufacturers have to pass through strict quality checks to ensure that the electricity supplied does not harm your laptop in any way. The chargers that are not manufactured by the original manufacturers might not have undergone these checks, and could supply voltage that may harm your laptop.

 

4. Do not eat and drink near a laptop

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I know it’s awesome to eat snacks and watch a movie on your laptop or drink Red Bull when you are gaming, but what you are doing is incredibly risky. Assuming you do not own a laptop that is spill-proof, that Red Bull will definitely fry your computer to oblivion.

Even if it is spill-proof, there’s a good chance that the liquid made its way inside. Remember, it is spill-proof, not water-proof.

Keep food and drinks away from your laptop.

 

5. Keep it away from pets, and ants, and cockroaches

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Cockroaches eat anything. Literally anything. If they do not find conventional food to eat, they might just eat the insides of your laptop. Also, ants have been known to destroy electronics, chewing through the wires and causing shorts in the internal circuits.

-Another reason to start cleaning the inside of your laptop and not drop any food on it.

 

6. When adjusting the screen angle, do so by holding the middle of the screen edge

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Laptop screens are delicate. They are thin and light, and not that strong. And because the laptop has to be light too, its exterior is made from composite polymer, and not metal. Which means, the laptop screen is not made of something really strong either.

Most of the people I have encountered adjust screen angles by holding one of the top corners.

This is a wrong practice, because the opposite corner is not being pulled upon, so basically you are just bending your screen, which may damage it over time.

Hold the screen in the middle when adjusting the viewing angle.

 

7. Do not keep heavy objects on it

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Again, a laptop is a functioning piece of delicate machinery. It is not a book, on which you can keep many other books.

A heavy load on the wrong part may just damage it.

 

8. Use a cooling pad

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Unless you live in a place with sub-zero temperatures, the cooler your laptop is, the better. And if you live in India, or if you have an AMD processor, you are basically fucked in the summers.

Heat is bad for your laptop in the sense that it degrades the chips over time. The computer will not function at its optimum. Buy a cooling pad, and a good one at that. It transfers the heat efficiently away from the laptop’s surface, keeping it cooler.

 

9. When using it, do not accidentally cover the vent

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Due to the portability of the laptops today, many of us carry our laptops to our beds and watch a movie, or work on something snuggly. What we do not notice is that our blanket may be obstructing the exhaust vents.

Exhaust vents are what keep your laptop’s processor cool. It throws out the heat emanating from the processor. If you block this, your processor might overheat and your laptop may just turn off abruptly.

 

10. Keep the laptop in a place with good ambient temperature

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Again, heat is bad for your laptop. Cool is good. Keep your laptop in a cool place, away from direct sunlight.

Take care of your laptop. Like with everything in our lives, please do not take it for granted. Because like with everything in our lives, we will be sad only after we have lost it.

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