If you are a proud owner of a laptop or netbook computer and wish your computer would serve you for years to come, then you have to go through this article very carefully. You will find the tips that, when you follow them consistently, will prolong the lifespan of your laptop and will provide a much more pleasant experience using your laptop in the future.
Laptops and netbooks today are designed with rough, mobile activities of their owners in mind. They are designed, unlike their counterparts desktop computers and servers, to operate while in movement, to be exposed to bigger temperature swings, and overall, to more abuse. However, the laptop computers are definitely vulnerable to extraordinary treatments. Let us look into a few of them now. Here is the list of eight things you definitely want to avoid doing with your laptop:
Do not allow laptop to fall or slide down to the floor. Even though today’s laptops are designed for heavy shock treatment, this may just be too much. Even if your laptop is a ToughNote or a Lenovo series with active fall detection mechanism, challenging your laptop this way is just not worth it. Do not open any cover of your laptop unless you are exchanging the memory banks. The inner workings of the laptop are extremely densely packed and it will be difficult for you to do anything. You will probably void the warranty and in addition, you probably will not be able to find anything there worth fixing anyways. If you are adding or replacing memory banks, be sure to ground yourself very well before opening the laptop. The inner workings of a laptop are very sensitive to static electricity. Do not sit a heavy object on top of the laptops case. I once had a guitar “slide” down onto the top of the case. When I opened the laptop up, the screen was broken. Not a pretty picture to behold. The LCD screen is just a fraction of an inch away from the top of the case and there is not much protection for the screen by the top of the case. Do not use your laptop in dirty or dusty environments. I have recently been in an area with many fires around for a week. The air was filled with smoke, not enough to prevent me from walking on the streets but enough to enter into the houses and affect my laptop. I had severe problems with the laptop starting up and I suspect it was because of the smoke and dust settling on the inner workings of the laptop. In case of smoke, cover your laptop with a plastic bag at lest when not in use. Do not let your laptop get wet. Today’s laptops are mostly designed to withstand a spill of coffee, soda, or tea. However, I would not take a chance. The keyboards are usually difficult and expensive to replace on a laptop and could still be sensitive to the effects of a spilled hot coffee. And even a single stuck key could necessitate replacing the entire keyboard. Do not allow your laptop close to strong magnetic fields. Such fields are present in the old-style CRT television tubes, around larger stereo speakers. A strong magnetic field can interfere with the hard disk activities that work by modifying magnetic fields. Your hard drive may become unusable. Do not turn your laptop off when it is writing data on the disk. Modern operating systems such as Vista or Windows 7 write date on the disk practically all the time, to optimize performance. So whenever possible, do not turn your computer off without the proper shutdown or restart procedure. Especially dangerous is turning the computer off during the check disk procedure and during the disk defragmentation procedure. Do not expose your laptop to extremes in temperature. Both high and low temperatures can damage your LCD screen, causing it to crack. The extremely high temperatures are liable to warping the case of the laptop. LCD screens do not particularly like being twisted and can become irreversibly damaged or broken.
So here you have it. Now that you know the eight things to avoid doing with your laptop, you can memorize them and just stop doing them. Just a few thoughtful acts and precautions can extend the life of your laptop and its parts by several years.
Archive for the ‘ laptop computer ’ Category
Laptop Computer Maintenance – Eight Things to Avoid Doing With Your Laptop Or Netbook
Author: adminJan 4
The Laptop Computer – Baby You’ve Come A Long Way
Author: adminOct 31
A laptop computer, or simply ‘laptop’, is a small battery powered personal computer that usually weighs around 1 to 8 kilograms.
These days, many office workers use their laptop as their primary source for computing using an external mouse, keyboard and monitor when in the office, and using the laptop’s organic screen, pointing device and keyboard when traveling.
Laptops usually run on a single main rechargeable battery, or from an external AC/DC adapter that charges the battery while also supplying power to the computer itself. Laptop batteries usually last from between 2 and 5 hours between recharges. New battery technology is set to extend their useful life by factors of 3 or 4 times. Most laptops also have a button cell battery to run the clock and store the computer’s bios. In most cases, the laptop also holds an image of the main operating system that can be used to restore full functionality after a virus attack or other comuting disaster.
Laptops contain components that are similar to their desktop counterparts and perform the same functions, but are miniaturised and optimised for mobile use, low weight and efficient power consumption.
Typically the laptop gives less computing power per dollar because they use customised components and propriety designs to lower weight and give lower power consumption. Laptops usually have colour liquid crystal displays, and most of them use different memory modules than standard personal desktop computers. In addition to a built-in keyboard, they may also offer users a touchpad (also known as a trackpad) or a track-ball for input, though an external keyboard or mouse can usually be attached.
The first commercially available portable computer was the Osborne 1 in 1981, which used the CP/M operating system. The Osborne 1 weighed 10.7 kgs, had a tiny 13cm CRT display, and a single density floppy disk. Although it was large, heavy and useless compared to today’s laptops, it had a revolutionary impact on business. Computing and engineering professionals were able to take their computer and data with them for the first time.
Since these early days the major developments in laptops have been focused on processing power, weight reduction, price reduction, battery life, and more recently, aesthetics. It wasn’t until the mid to late 1990s that laptop computers became common place as prices reduced and they became less burdensome to travel with. As far aesthetics are concerned, Apple’s range of laptop computers are examples of brilliant industrial design combined with serious computing power.
Weighing in at less than 3 pounds, the MacBook Air is less than .77 inches thick and will run for up to 5 hours on a single charge.
The future for laptops looks promising. As industrial design and battery technology improves, laptops will get faster, smaller and lighter. The laptop will become more of an industrial strength PDA than a computer. It won’t be too long until you will be able to get full computing power in a handheld device 12 x 12 cms by 8mm thick. The Apple iPhone is half-way there.