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How to Clean Your Laptop

nytimes.com

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Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#41

Post by bproven »

raithel wrote: post #37

I used to work in a laptop repair place. I found that isopropyl rubbing alcohol can sometimes damage or wear some exterior rubbers or plastics on laptops.(works great on interior and metal though!) The best method I have found to clean exterior of a laptop is the following: - Turn off the computer. Standard: - Wipe down exterior, screen and keyboard area with Windex sprayed on a cloth or use Lysol wipes. If Heavily s…

> Wipe down exterior, screen and keyboard area with Windex sprayed on a cloth or use Lysol wipes.

I'm pretty sure this is the worst thing you can do to a screen (use Windex/Lysol). Much too harsh. I believe the better option is using Isopropyl alcohol - see this (source Dell): https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln153766/how-...

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#42

Post by gnicholas »

raithel wrote: post #37

I used to work in a laptop repair place. I found that isopropyl rubbing alcohol can sometimes damage or wear some exterior rubbers or plastics on laptops.(works great on interior and metal though!) The best method I have found to clean exterior of a laptop is the following: - Turn off the computer. Standard: - Wipe down exterior, screen and keyboard area with Windex sprayed on a cloth or use Lysol wipes. If Heavily s…

Huh, the article specifically says not to use Windex. You've not found it to damage the screen?

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#43

Post by mikec3010 »

mehrdadn wrote: post #21
patorjk wrote: post #19

Keeping your tools clean is good hygiene. Additionally, whenever I start working at a new place I always clean the keyboard. It's amazing how disgusting they can get. For old keyboards, if you pop off the keys, you'll find they're typically full of hair, food, and other random debris. People usually think I'm a weirdo when they see me doing it, but my boss at my previous project saw how gross my keyboard was when the…

What I wonder about is, if you're not getting sick from it (and the keyboard is working), then what is the goal of getting a new keyboard due to what's under the keys of the previous one? Just the unpleasantness of knowing what's there?

Eventually it could attract insects or mice. I remember coming into the office early, lights were off. I felt this very gentle hair on my left hand finger tips, moved my hand, saw nothing, went back to work. Happened again and I realized it was a decent sized cockroach! Went right back under the desk and I never caught it.

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#44

Post by jason_slack »

imwally wrote: post #24

Many moons ago Apple included a nice little microfiber cloth[1] with an embossed Apple logo on it. Ever since then I have taken extra care to clean my devices every so often with the same cloth. [1] https://nicolasbottari.com/uploads/_big/apple_cleaning_cloth...

Wow, I have a show box of these clothes! I just tossed them in when I was buying devices.

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#45

Post by erikb »

If that level of description solves any of your problems you don't really have problems. It gets interesting when you need to take out keys to get the food out underneath, or when the air delivery is full of dust. I don't know, having a split in the screen or something might also yield interesting situations. But that you should airblow your keyboard before you wipe your screen... if you can't come up with that yourself you'll experience it once or twice, then you know.

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#46

Post by pasbesoin »

I've had just a drop of water change the appearance of the anti-glare coating on my T430's matte 1500x900 screen. Once applied very gently with a soaked soft paper napkin, to remove a new speck on the go because it was irritating me and also before it dried and "set" on the screen. Once when a drop fell from my washed and rinsed hands, while reaching for a towel in cramped quarters on vacation, and rolled partway down the screen before I got to it.

The marks don't show much while I'm using the machine and looking directly at the screen, unless something particular is displayed at those spots, although I can see them if I look for them. Quite evident when the screen is off, particularly if there is any reflectivity (hazy reflectivity, due to the matte screen).

Because of this, I've become very hesitant to clean it. I'm pretty clean and careful, so otherwise the screen doesn't really need it. I very gently wipe away dust with a disposable "Swiffer" type cloth -- although I've started worrying about the long term effects of minor abrasiveness.

Anyway, I would very much like to clean it and all the more so, my W520's very nice full HD screen. The latter got some spatter while I had an acute medical condition of some weeks.

But, with simple water apparently altering the matte coating, I'm very hesitant.

As for blowing compressed air in the vent holes. I would be worried about blowing dust and debris to a different location where it does more damage. And, with desktop machines, I remember the advice making sense to carefully freeze the motion of fans with a pencil or similar, to keep the compressed air from torquing or over-revving the fan and excessively stressing its bearings. I would assume that could apply to laptop fans, as well.

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#48

Post by iooi »

blowski wrote: post #20
arosequist wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a scientist, but this paper found "high level bacterial contamination" of cell phones: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466825/ Anecdotally, we were recently in the NICU of a children's hospital and they required washing our hands and cleaning our cell phones before entering. It doesn't seem too far-fetched that they would have a reason for doing so.

David Mitchell, a British comedian, has a great comment on this. Given that all smartphone users are not dead, it just goes to show how meaningless studies like that are. Being around people with compromised immune systems requires different standards, but day to day, it doesn't seem to matter.

That sounds witty for a minute, but if you think about it, almost every single person that died in the past 10 years used a cell phone.

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#49

Post by mehrdadn »

mikec3010 wrote: post #43
mehrdadn wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I wonder about is, if you're not getting sick from it (and the keyboard is working), then what is the goal of getting a new keyboard due to what's under the keys of the previous one? Just the unpleasantness of knowing what's there?

Eventually it could attract insects or mice. I remember coming into the office early, lights were off. I felt this very gentle hair on my left hand finger tips, moved my hand, saw nothing, went back to work. Happened again and I realized it was a decent sized cockroach! Went right back under the desk and I never caught it.

Haha wow, thanks... now I'm going to freak out every time I feel gentle hair on my body!! :-)

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#50

Post by phyzome »

raithel wrote: post #37

I used to work in a laptop repair place. I found that isopropyl rubbing alcohol can sometimes damage or wear some exterior rubbers or plastics on laptops.(works great on interior and metal though!) The best method I have found to clean exterior of a laptop is the following: - Turn off the computer. Standard: - Wipe down exterior, screen and keyboard area with Windex sprayed on a cloth or use Lysol wipes. If Heavily s…

I've heard that you should disconnect the fan before using compressed air on it, lest it act as a generator and fry the motherboard. Can you speak to that?
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