- Because, an ounce of prevention, and all that jazz...
Most of us use laptops both professionally and personally, or at least we have in the past. We sometimes tend to treat them as magical devices that let us do whatever we want, but realistically, they’re physical machines subject to the same failures and limitations as other physical machines.
Many of us ignore or neglect how our daily habits and activities can impact the functionality and lifespan of these marvelous technological devices. In truth, you probably have multiple bad habits that are inadvertently damaging and shortening the lifespan of your laptops.
While there are many practical laptops for sale, most people would prefer to keep their current laptop functioning for as long as possible. So how can you identify the sneaky habits eroding your laptop – and how can you avoid them?
Allowing Dirt, Dust, and Debris to Build Up
One of the fatal mistakes that people make without realizing is allowing dirt, dust, and debris to build up. Your laptop is a sensitive, complicated machine with dozens of internal moving parts. If any of those moving parts are compromised or corrupted by excessive dust buildup, your laptop will not be able to do its job properly.
It’s only natural for dust and dirt to build; this isn’t a reflection of the cleanliness of your workspace or your personal hygiene. What’s important is that you take time to periodically take your laptop apart and clean it. In many cases, a simple, quick blast of compressed air is more than enough to keep your laptop relatively clean.
Leaving Your Laptop Plugged in All the Time
Laptops are designed to be portable, but the time you spend carrying it around is probably only a small fraction of the total time you spend using it. This is normal and perfectly acceptable. What isn’t acceptable is leaving your laptop plugged in all the time. Leaving your laptop plugged in constantly is bad for your battery health, ultimately reducing the amount of charge your battery can hold and impacting the reliability of your battery as well.
Practice proactive battery management with frequent, shallow discharges and incomplete charging. Read up on battery health recommendations for more tips here.
Ignoring Signs of Overheating
Your laptop generates heat; this is normal. This is a powerful machine that converts massive amounts of electricity into computing power, so it’s only natural for heat to emerge as a byproduct. The problems begin to emerge when this heat builds up without effective cooling. Chances are, your laptop already has fans designed to help dissipate this heat, but they’re only designed to work in short-term bursts.
If your laptop is constantly overheating, it’s going to cause premature wear. Obvious signs of chronic overheating include fans constantly running and, as you might imagine, perceptible heat emission.
You can usually fix this by cleaning your laptop, replacing broken components (like internal fans), and tinkering with your settings to better handle complex tasks.
Handling Your Laptop Carelessly
Some people break their laptops or cause them to die prematurely because they handle them carelessly. Prying open your screen aggressively and throwing the laptop down on surfaces are just a couple of examples of problematic activities. If you’re not careful, you could easily break the screen or damage irreplaceable internal components.
Being Rough With Plugs and Ports
Similarly, many laptop users are excessively rough with plugs and ports. A single instance of jamming a USB cable into a port aggressively probably isn’t going to wreck your laptop, but if you do it over and over, it’s only a matter of time before the port and the cable are ruined.
Browsing the Web Without Care
You need to be careful when browsing the web. Even a simple action like downloading an unfamiliar email attachment or clicking on a suspicious link could end with your computer infected with difficult-to-remove malware.
Allowing Software Clutter to Kill Your Laptop Slowly
It’s only natural to accumulate software over time, but if you accumulate too much software, or if you accumulate software mindlessly, it can eventually compromise your laptop’s ability to perform. Startup programs are among the worst culprits here; if you have too many programs running at startup, it’s going to slow your computer down to a ridiculous degree. The solution is to disable these startup programs, or better yet, uninstall them altogether.
If you proactively understand and anticipate these potential bad habits, you can avoid them, at least for the most part. Being mindful about how you use your laptop and taking good care of your machine overall can help it last many more years and allow you to be even more productive during that time.