How You Should Care for Your Laptop – FlashFixIT Advice

Life without a laptop is tough to imagine these days! Though many alternatives exist now in the market with functionalities to replace the laptops, but they are proven to be inefficient when it comes to full-fledge usage. Newer and more portable/handy versions are now available in the market and have the same yet advanced components. If you are one of the 90s kid, you might remember the rules to visit a computer lab! Yes! No shoes, no food, fixed machines, special cleaning liquids for the screen and all that. Now all of those rules are pointless, since we have portable computers. As I said, the components used to build a portable version of those bulky machines are same. With evolving needs and demand, efficient versions of components are now used. The maintenance and basic care these machines require is different. The most common issues faced by the laptop users these days are just because the improper usage or handling.

Being a professional at FlashFixIT, here are few things I would like to suggest to help people avoid issues due to misuse or mishandling:

How you should charge the battery?

You might have heard many people telling you to unplug the charger once the battery is fully charged. This was partially true for the older laptops. The factory laptop batteries have lesser life and it will never match the estimates as per studies and it strongly depends upon your usage. Each time you drain and charge the battery, the life span of the battery reduces a little.

The older laptop models did have the issue of overcharging because they did not have the built-in protection against that. The newer versions have a built-in feature to discharge the battery to maximize the battery life. Macs have the Optimized battery charging feature and the Windows have the Smart Charging feature. Rather than intentionally unplugging the power cords after noticing that the battery is fully charged, you should only unplug the laptop when you are not using it. This way you are allowing the computer mechanism to drain the battery to optimize it systematically while plugged or unplugged.

The older laptops also do not need to be unplugged every time the battery is full. Using them once or twice a week to drain 50-60% of battery is enough to maintain.

Always try to keep the laptop charged between 30-50% until and unless there is an emergency situation. This is utmost important for the health of your laptop’s battery. If this happens more and more often, you are unnecessarily inviting issues related to battery life.

Sign in, Shut down, Sleep or Restart?

In earlier days if a computer starts to lag, we used to restart it and it solves the problem. Same way laptops need a restart when they go slow. Better if you practice shutting them down every time you are done with your work. If you just flip the screen after using it, you have just left your computer ON to work. All the components are consistently in use even if you are not using it.

How to hold your computer and where to place it?

Well, this is entirely different thing to discuss! 95% of laptop users do not handle their laptops as it is recommended by the manufacturer! What’s the point of using a laptop, if we are not allowed to use it on our bed or lap? If I am angry, of course I will smash and close my laptop!

I only have few things to say on this matter, please try to give a little room to the exhaust fans below the keyboard and on the sides to vent out the air and maintain the temperature. The lint and dust in the bedding and your clothes can obstruct the normal functionality of your laptop. So, just let it breathe a little. If you are one of those who use laptop on bed even on occasions, it is recommended to clean the air vents of your laptop at least once a year.

Laptop manufacturers spend a lot of money to make a robust design that match people’s lifestyle, but still users report issue like slow performance, lesser battery life and overheating. This is because the users are not aware of the basics to maintain the mighty machine they are using. I always try to educate my customers at FlashFixIT about basics to keep their machines running like new.