It was the eleventh hour. My friend completed 450 pages of his thesis. That entailed about 365 days of data gathering, transcription, and verification. Now all he had to do was print it for the defense. Or so he thought. The Asus EEEPC 900 refused to start. He panicked. All his data was on the PC.Unlike most people, he didn’t keep backup copies using backup software. He felt his PC was impregnable.
My friend rushed to the PC clinic and near tears, he inquired about the possibility of reviving the unit. The tech guy prodded a few buttons and still it wouldn’t start. He then whipped out a screwdriver and gutted the unit. The failure became clear. Some chips burst (as evidenced by the bulging of the flat surfaces). The Asus EEEPC overheated and as a result everything shorted. My friend had no choice. To get his data back, had to obtain a new PC and transfer data from the old SSD. That set him back $400.
Don’t suffer the same way my friend did. Watch the heat of your PC as heat is the number one enemy of most laptops. More PCs died from high temperature than errant drops, bumps and occasional spills. Keep the PC cool and you can expect loyal service for about five years. Here’s how to manage your laptop’s thermal tantrums:
Clean Your Fans. Open your laptops at least once every six months. Inspect the fans. Some of these blades fail due to factory defect or excessive gathering dust. Replace failing or failed fans right away. Use high pressure to clean those gunked with too much dirt. Your laptop will love you for it. You’ll also experience fewer crashes after this.
Watch the Bed. It’s okay to toss, turn and tussle on the bed. But it’s certainly not okay to use your laptop on the bed. Many of you do. But did you know this is a surefire way to overheat your laptop? When you type on bed, the sheets and pillows tend to wrap around the vents. The failure of air to enter these vents leads to massive heat build up. Within 30 minutes, the laptop overheats and shuts down. Worse, some weaker chips fail! If you must type in the bedroom, place it on a hard surface like a book. This keeps the vents clear.
Install Notebook Coolers. Notebook coolers come in all shapes colors and sizes. Costing about $5, the average cooler looks like a flat book with fans embedded within. Their job is to draw heat away from the notebook and dissipate it onto something else (like your lap). Good coolers drop laptop temperatures about 5 degrees. That sounds small but it goes a long way to prolonging the life of your investment.
Your notebook costs at least $400. It costs less than $5 to keep that invaluable tool safe. Don’t you think it’s worth it?
