Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Tips on how to prolong laptop's life
Options
-
18-02-2009 2:11am#1
Comments
-
-
-
Battery life is basically a function of cycles (number of complete charge/discharge cycles), so to prolong it, don't use it :pac: Which kind of negates the whole point of a laptop, but anyway... Typically a modern battery will 'last' 300-500 cycles, but it's a fuzzy definition, as it won't just suddenly die but you'll gradually see (as you have) reduced lifespan.Just looking for some general advice about prolonging the life of my 2 yr old laptop, the battery etc.
Temperatures are very important in terms of prologing the life of the machine. The simple thing anyone can do is to keep the vents clear of dust/debris. To do the job fully, you'd need to open it up and physically clean the fan (ie clean the dust build up from the fan blades etc). Its something i do every few months, but whether you do it yourself will depend on how comfortable you are opening it up. Ive seen load temps drop 10C just by doing this on machines that hadn't been cleaned in a while. This is why you shouldn't use a laptop on a bed etc, as the intake fans will just suck tonnes of dust into the vents.
You can go further in the pursuit of a cooler machine, and undervolt the processor - this will safely lower temperatures without affecting performance. I do it on all my laptops as a matter of course. Again, I believe a processor running at x degrees will last longer than one running at x+10, and literally those kinds of results (10-15C cooler) are sometimes possible. Its slightly technical, so post back if you actually want to do it.
In the same vein, the factory thermal paste (between the key components like the CPU and the heat sink) is probably cruddy and dried up. You could remove it and re-apply a high performance paste, which in theory could lower temps a few degrees. That's slightly advanced again, but something to consider if you have a techy friend or family member.
To prolong the charger, just be careful how you store it and wrap it up. The amount of times ive seen people tightly wrap the cable around the charger!
Just use a bit of common sense and try not to put any stress anywhere on the cable, especially near the ends.
As AC said, a hard-drive can die at any time, you'd hope it lasts a few years but sh1t happens, so make sure you've got all your stuff backed up. Once you've got your stuff backed up, a HDD failure isn't a major problem, they're cheap as chips these days, and a new one would perform much better than what you have anyway.0 -
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
I used to use only the Dell /PPXCPX/CPJ/Models from the 400 MHz Pentium 2 to P4 2GHZ and nothing else for about 10 years. All batteries, HDD Caddies and bays were interchangeable with all models. Had 4 batteries and 3 power supplies at one time. Parts are still dirt cheap and plentiful for them on Ebay and they still make a good browsing hackJust last night had my hands on a 4 year old inspiron. Disassembled it, cleaned out the dust, tried to fix the power connector which was loose (failed to) but other than that the laptop was still hanging in there. Good kitty.
Battery wise, Pays to have a spare I guess. Either get into the habit of rarely connecting it or have a fresh spare which is only going to be used when you intend to be away from a ower source for a couple hours. When your old battery completely dies youll be glad of the replacement.
You can also speed it back up by (yes upgrading ram) but also reformatting and reinstalling windows, defragging the hard drive, etc etc.
0
Advertisement