We have listed some useful tips so that you can use your laptop for many years without worries. Although you may find it hard to implement the tips always, try to make it a habit. That way, you can stay productive while your laptop will be happy to serve you.
The tips mentioned in the post are simple and anyone could do them. Let’s find out how to increase the lifespan of your laptop in easy ways.
Extend Laptop Life: Useful Tips That Help You to Increase the Life of Your Laptop
Follow these tips to make your laptop function for many years to come.
1. Keep your laptop covered
Dust and debris from your surroundings may cause issues with your laptop and result in underperformance. So, whenever you are not using the laptop, keep it covered. You can use a clean piece of cloth to prevent dust particles from entering the laptop.
Even after prolonged use and regular care, a laptop can accumulate dust and debris. In that case, you can take your device to a service center to get the dust removed.
2. Never eat or drink around your laptop
Working on your college assignments or office presentation while sipping coffee might appear enticing. Remember that liquid spills can decrease the life of your laptop to a great extent. The same goes for food as well. It is not that your keyboard will take the beating. But it will ruin the mainboard.
Hence, never place food or drink around your laptop. This will help extend laptop life. Despite being careful if there is a spillage, immediately turn off the laptop. Go to your nearest service center to get it checked by an expert.
3. Keep your laptop clean
Proper maintenance can extend the lifespan of any electronic device and laptops are no different. Make it a habit to keep your laptop clean. Remove dust and debris from the keyboard, vents, and other places where they may accumulate.
Consider doing this at least two times a month. If you know how to open a laptop, you can do that easily. But if you don’t have the skill, take it to a professional and get it cleaned after every three to four months.
4. Help your laptop stay cool
People use laptops for several reasons. As such, the laptop could run for many hours without interruption. Laptops and desktops are designed to work for long hours continuously. Still, a little care can help extend a laptop's life drastically.
Running software that requires more resources or beating up the laptop to complete a 30-page essay can cause trouble. If your laptop is too noisy and becoming hot, shut it down for some time. Make sure that you are working in a cool area when operating the device outdoors.
5. Turn it off when not in use
Many people develop the habit of not shutting down their laptops even if there is no work. The device will remain in this situation for many days. We know that the computer goes to sleep after a stipulated time.
If you want to increase the lifespan of your laptop, treat your device as a human. Everyone needs rest and so do laptops. Therefore, make sure that you shut down your laptop after completing the work at hand.
6. Never turn your laptop on and off frequently
The components inside your laptop take a toll whenever you turn it on and off at regular intervals. This results in wear and tear on the components. It will reduce the longevity of the laptop. Waking up your laptop constantly is not a good practice and you should avoid it.
7. Carry your laptop safely
When you use the laptop both at home and outdoors, you need to pack it nicely. Use a good laptop bag so that your device stays cool and stable. Besides, the laptop should be padded well to avoid shock and rough movements. The bag will prevent dust particles from entering the laptop, too.
8. Don’t use laptop battery always
If you have a laptop with a removable battery, remove it when you are not doing anything important. You can still work with the device being plugged in. Batteries have certain recharging cycles before they become useless.
But if you are working on important stuff, don’t take out the battery. A sudden power outage may ruin your work. For modern-day laptop owners, try to use them with the power cord plugged in.
9. Use a stable power source
Having a stable power source is good for your laptop. But if you don’t have one, you can consider using a surge protector. There are problems with having stable electricity in many regions of India. Fluctuations in voltage can be dangerous for your laptop’s health. On such occasions, having a surge protector is always helpful.
10. Upgrade your laptop
If you have a budget and your laptop allows for upgrading, go for it. You can start with upgrading RAM because it will cost you less. Your laptop will benefit from more RAM. Additionally, you can get an SSD installed to increase the performance of your laptop. An SSD will make your laptop faster while keeping it cool, unlike traditional HDDs.
These days, DVD drives on laptops are no longer usable. So, you can remove them and use an SSD in its place. Moreover, you can make the HDD a secondary drive to store files. And, use the SSD for the OS and other applications.
11. Pay attention to software downloads
Malware and Viruses can make your laptop weak and reduce its lifespan. They are destructive in any form. Besides, they are hard to detect. Therefore, to prevent them from creating havoc, use a good antivirus on your laptop. Additionally, keep them updated. Keep an eye on specific websites when looking for something.
Never stay for a long time on websites that you don’t feel comfortable with. Pay close attention to websites when you are about to download files. Malicious files will enter your laptop from those websites. To extend laptop life, stay away from such websites and use a reliable antivirus.
12. Allow your hard drive to breathe
Leave some spare space on your hard drive to extend laptop life. Start by deleting useless files and applications that you rarely use. Or, you can transfer them to an external hard drive. There is no shortage of external drives on the market and you can always find one for your needs.
When your hard drive has an adequate amount of free space, your laptop will perform faster. Fully used storage on a laptop will produce more heat and decrease its longevity.
13. Repair and format your laptop
When you are using the laptop for some time, you will encounter issues. There might be errors that cause the laptop to function smoothly. It could be hardware or software malfunction. If any component is malfunctioning, contact IT support and resolve the issue.
These are little problems that can create big problems if you do not take immediate steps. If there is a software issue, the laptop will perform slowly or it will restart without warning. Formatting your operating system after a specific time will improve the performance of the laptop. Also, it will extend laptop life as well.
Not only does it force you to make backups of important files but also it cleans out every malware that your system may carry. When you reinstall the OS, you will notice significant improvement on the laptop. It is good to reinstall the OS every seven to eight months.
Extend Laptop Life: Conclusion
Getting a brand-new laptop is one thing and taking care of it to extend its life is another. Furthermore, how long the laptop will last is an important aspect that many people think about. Hopefully, this post will help you extend laptop life so that it can continue functioning in every possible way.
We want that your experience with a laptop is a smooth one. Also, the laptop should function well for many years to come. You can increase the life of your laptop simply by following the tips mentioned above. Apart from that, there is a way to make your laptop last longer.
If you believe that you cannot keep up with the habits mentioned above and have cash to spend, get a warranty. An extended warranty will cover mishaps and accidents that your laptop may face. These might include loose jacks, broken screens, malfunctioning keyboards, and so on.