Maintaining a laptop for as long a life possible

[mikehurley]

Hey guys,

I'm about to receive my NP9150 from www.reflexnotebook.ca.

I was wondering about some good and possibly innovative ways to prolong, extend and otherwise maintain my new laptop as best I can. This would be things other than defrag, virus scan every 2 weeks, disk cleanup.

Any and all useful suggestions are welcomed!

 

[mikehurley]

So... which one is it?

"With a Li-ion battery in a laptop you want to only fully drain the battery once or twice when you first get it to condition the battery, and after that you want to keep it fully charged as much as possible. In fact cycling Li-ons will dramatically decrease their life."

"I'm not sure if this matters any more but I also fully drain the battery every few weeks before re-charging."

"Do NOT ever let it run fully dead, as this will permanently degrade the battery. If you run on battery, don't plug in until you're ready to fully charge."

 

[Hazle]

1) Apply the best thermal paste you can(i.e. IC diamond or Arctic MX-4 etc)

2) Don't leave the battery plugged in while running off a wall outlet as it'll wear your battery to half capacity in no time(unless you need to use the battery as a UIPS/power outage protection).

3) If your laptop has a glossy screen I'd suggest a "Screen protector" so your nice shiny screen doesn't become a fingerprint magnet.

1)not exactly a must unless it heats up unnaturally. even then, as jaguarskx mentioned, this will void your warranty.

2)true for older laptops with nickel based batteries. not so much for modern laptops with Lithium-Ion batteries:

http/www.dansdata.com/danletters017.htm

http/www.marco.org/2009/09/24/laptop-battery-myths

http/www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/31/9-biggest-tech-myths-busted_n_1840745.html#slide=1435423
(no.4 and no.5 and it's corresponding links on the slideshow should be of interest)

my own personal experience at this by plugging my laptop in most of the time with the battery showed only a 5 minute decrease in battery life over it's initial 5.5 hours within the year. i compared this with my boss' laptop which he also bought last year and constantly unplugs it. it now only lasts for 20-30 minutes on battery over it's initial battery life of 6-7 hours.

3)not exactly relevant in maintaining a laptop's lifespan unless he/she constantly touches the screen or it's constantly vulnerable to scratches, say, from a cat.

generally, outside of the common PC maintenance (defrag, virus scans, etc.), the only thing you can do is not to drop it or experience any sort of physical shock, naturally. if you're prone to that or are paranoid of that happening, well, there's always buying for the sake of build quality, expensive as it is. i.e; i have a $2.5K Asus notebook from 2003, that's still running fine today. heats up like hell, had a drink fell on the keyboard once, fell 2-3 feet to the ground 3 times, got slammed between a door once, (i was a very careless college student) and the only problems with it now is that the HDD gets disconnected if i move it too much due to a design flaw (HDD compartment is too big), the hinge on the screen snapped off due to some melted glue, and the 10-15 minutes battery life. i've only ever send it out for repair once. still works well as a desktop replacement for general use.

 

[mad1316]

So... which one is it?

"With a Li-ion battery in a laptop you want to only fully drain the battery once or twice when you first get it to condition the battery, and after that you want to keep it fully charged as much as possible. In fact cycling Li-ons will dramatically decrease their life."

"I'm not sure if this matters any more but I also fully drain the battery every few weeks before re-charging."

"Do NOT ever let it run fully dead, as this will permanently degrade the battery. If you run on battery, don't plug in until you're ready to fully charge."

As listed in this article, no memory for li-ion batteries, so full drain is not needed. Also, do NOT fully discharge http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-ion#Prolonging_battery_pack_life

 

[wannabepro]

I am more or less in the same position, have a Sager np9170.
BE CAREFUL with the power cord. It plugs in to the back of the laptop. The plug is really short, and the supply is like a brick. (Not sure if it's the same with the 9150, but anyways..)
Mine has the: i7 3610qm, HD 7970m, + SSD. I get about 2-3 hours on battery. (General usage, browsing, note taking, etc)
(Power saver makes a massive difference.)
I still need to find a good case that can fit in my back pack though.

 

[mikehurley]

To keep the laptop cool, I saw a tip that states it may improve temperatures if you set your processor power management/maximum processor state from 100% to 99% while on battery or plugged in. This is without adverse framerates.

Any truth in this? Any others with the same experience?

source: http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n0IDp3Qcx8

 

[cats_Paw]

If you want the laptop to have any life, you will buy a good cooling stand.
My laptop is especially dual core on a 17 inch laptop (and you can in theory have a quad in a 15 inch, same cooling) for this reason.
So far, i had no everheating even once, but i clean it regulary, and i check its temps once a month.

The first time i see aything dangerous im chanching its thermal paste.

Im already overdue in warranty so its no big deal, but it might be better to keep your warrany till it expires, and only then open it up to clean it etc.

 

[mikehurley]

when you open it up to clean it, do you use air in a can or something else that may be more effective? Also, do you simply open the bottom up and spray air into the fans to void the dust, or do you do anything more to ensure it to be dust-free. thanks

 

[Crony]

I have an ASUS that gets a little warm during gaming, but not too bad. Since it is still under warranty I use:
http://www.shopping.com/adjustable-laptop-or/GEK1WQGfB7pWpDxc8gCuJQ==/info

This keeps maximum airflow and it stays really cool, even when gaming, but note, I only game for about 20 minutes or so, rarely ever more than 40 minutes per session. What makes this cooling option worth the investment (it's about $8 with shipping) is that it is ultra portable. At home I have a cooling pad for long sessions, but rarely use it... but it never leaves the house. This baby goes with me everywhere, I actually bought four, to ensure it never gets left at home--same for the wife, one for home, one for work/travel needs.

I also recommend keeping the kids from getting near it. I set my laptop down on the floor and closed it the other night to go get a drink and did not want my daughter hitting the keys in the whole 1minute I would be gone. I pour some milk, turn around and she is standing on my laptop. WTH?! I freaked. Sure enough, opened it up and the bezel broke. This was just last night... UGH! I have repaired the bezel, it wasn't all that bad, but it did crack. I put enough super gel on the back of the cracks to ensure it flexes instead of breaks now, so all is well. Just be weary for added weight when it is closed, I highly recommend a hard case, and it will hold your laptop, a few extra items, your power adapter, your telescoping cooling stand, a mousepad with mouse, mouse usb adapter, thumb drives, extra external HDD (small form factor one) and your wallet and checkbook. It is worth the investment and you would be surprised as to how often you would use it. It is truly a welcome item and the investment pays for itself over time. You should consider it...

Use a ceiling fan/oscilating fan if it gets too warm in a room. Pay attention to the air flow in the room, not just the system. Ceiling fans are amazing, I can't live without them. I always have air flow on when the computer is in use, usually off when not in use.

Keep the plastic SD-card filler that comes with your system. If you did not get one, find one from a friend or use an old crappy SD card to fill the gap. You can also get LAN port fillers and USB/HDMI fillers if you live around a lot of dirt. If you find yourself rarely using these ports in a dirty environment, fill the holes, hair/dirt is hard to keep from those small ports, especially if animals are involved. And even more so if animals are involved with circulating air in the room.

Do not store DVDs/CDs in the optical drive. This can harm your laser if jolted too much, and trust me, a scratched lens just plain sucks. Keep a small CD/DVD case for all media, I actually have one that is velcroed to my case's lid... they are never far away when I need them.

Do not hold air cans (for cleaning) upside down, and when you do use them, only for the keyboard. I actually use a leaf blower to clean my ports... it cleans the heck out of my laptop and gaming consoles. I usually push a q-tip into the fan to keep it from spinning, I bend it in half and put it in the fan blade then bow it out, it works quite well. Crazy, I know, but I have never had an Xbox, PS3, Nintendo, laptop or desktop computer fail on me. Ever. Call me OCD, nuts, insane, but it works, don't knock it `til you try it.

 

[mikehurley]

"Adjustable Laptop Or Tablet Cooling Stand -" interesting idea!

"plastic SD-card filler" very smart.

"Do not hold air cans (for cleaning) upside down," did this once before, last mistake i'll make with compressed air in a can...

good tips, very welcomed, cheers!