Cleaner Laptop, Faster Laptop

Last night, my ageing laptop prematurely shut down twice because of heat. At first, I thought that not only people were currently affected by this El Nino phenomenon, but also electrical appliances as well. Then a quote from a smart Alec at a computer shop inside the KB Mall rang a bell, "In one year, a laptop can accumulate dirt that it may affect the performance of the fan, thus causing the laptop, if it reaches 80 degrees of heat, to shut down prematurely." Then he continued that the shop provides the cleaning service which would cost me around RM90.

I would not waste such amount of money for something which I thought I could muster on my own, so I rummaged through my laptop bag and found the screwdriver I was looking for before I realized that, after turning the laptop upside down and then back up again plenty of times, I could not find the way to open my laptop! The 25 screws altogether underneath it made me to have second thoughts, but I braved myself and started to turn the screws, one by one.

When there were no more screws left, I tried to pry open the bottom cover to no avail. I could only peeked inside the motherboard and, true enough, I could see lots and lots of dirt. I cleaned as far as I could using the tissues, but still I could not properly touch the fan. This had made me think, 'Is it that hard to clean the fan?' It was illogical, and it made me envy the guy at the computer shop who claimed he could easily complete the seemingly impossible task.

Then I closed the cover and turned the laptop up again. It was then I saw that there was a line at the keyboard which seemed intriguing. I carefully tried to take it off, but it was stuck quite firmly. However, when I applied a little more force, the lid came off, unfortunately, together with a cable. Ten minutes passed before I could successfully connect the cable again and continue to search for the easiest way to clean the fan.

After the lid with the start button lifted up, I could easily take out the keyboard as well, although this time I was quite careful not to break any cable again. There, I saw what I was yearning for, the fan. It was, as expected, full of dirt. 'So that's why it sound really noisy when spinning.' I thought.

I cleaned up the fan and now the fan sounds nicely and the laptop does not easily overheat. It is not only faster than before, it does not shut down prematurely anymore. Not yet, at least.

Additional note:

If you do not have the courage to open your laptop, at least you could take out the keys of the keyboard and clean underneath them. You'll be very surprise!