How Much Does It Cost To Have A Laptop Throughly Cleaned

Plastic figures cleaning a laptop — Rattana.R/Shutterstock.com

Like whatsoever computer, laptops are dust and crud magnets. But a dirty laptop isn't just a cosmetic nightmare—it tin also cause poor performance and overheating. So, how tin can y'all make clean your laptop properly?

Cleaning a laptop is arguably more irksome than cleaning a desktop. You have to clean the keyboard, the internals, the screen, and the case itself. Even so, y'all can easily give your laptop a makeover in under one hour, provided you accept canned air, some 90%-100% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs, and a microfiber textile.

Start on the Within

Well-nigh of the dirt and crud you encounter on your laptop is purely a cosmetic consequence. While anybody wants their laptop to exist cute on the outside, it'south really the inside that counts. But the dust, crust, and crumbs that accumulate within your laptop tin clog fans, vents, and estrus sinks, which result in overheating and poor performance.

We'll beginning past cleaning your laptop'due south internals. This will exist easier on some laptops than for others, but it's by and large the same procedure across the board. Take your laptop somewhere dust-friendly (a garage or exterior), prepare your compressed air or eco-friendly canless air (don't use a vacuum), and get to work!

A dusty laptop interior. It's disgusting! — algre/Shutterstock.com

If Your Laptop Opens: Power it down, remove the battery (if you can), and and then unscrew the back console. This may void your warranty, but that's the price you pay for beauty. Utilize curt bursts of compressed air to push grit from the center of your laptop toward its vents. Then, push all of that grit out the vents with gentle bursts (if the fans spin too fast, they might pause). That'due south information technology! You're done. Screw your laptop back together.
If Your Laptop Doesn't Open:Most mod laptops tin can't open, which makes cleaning less of a science and more of a guessing game. Power down your laptop and push some quick bursts of compressed air into its vents. Exist patient and don't shove the compressed air stick into the vents. You could hitting a wire or push button canned air condensation right against the board.

It'south rare to find annihilation other than dust, pilus, and crumbs inside of your laptop. If you lot do happen to see some stains on or around the board, clean them off with xc%-100% isopropyl booze and a cotton fiber swab. Make sure that you apply the alcohol to the cotton swab, non the lath, and never employ household cleaners on your laptop (or other electronics).

RELATED: How to Clean the Dust Out of Your Laptop

Hit That Nasty Keyboard

Once your laptop is beautiful on the within, it'due south fourth dimension for a Princess Diaries makeover. We'll kickoff with the keyboard since it's probably covered in years of minor stains and finger grease.

Cleaning a laptop keyboard is a strange process. Unlike a desktop keyboard, which can usually be disassembled, laptop keyboards are a fairly surface-level operation. You'll need a microfiber cloth, cotton fiber swabs, some 90%-100% isopropyl alcohol, and compressed air. Never use household cleaners to clean electronics and don't use vinegar instead of alcohol—it could seep into the keyboard and corrode its components.

A nasty, dusty laptop keyboard. — Denis Torkhov/Shutterstock.com

Beginning with a dry microfiber cloth: Use this to wipe down your keyboard earlier y'all get into the more detailed work. It'll selection up most of the dust so yous can focus on the grime.
Hit it with compressed air: Like the microfiber cloth, compressed air can get some dust off your keyboard before yous become into detailed work. Remember to use curt bursts or condensation can course under the keys.
Whip out the booze: Apply some 90%-100% isopropyl alcohol to a cotton swab (don't pour information technology on your laptop) and start rubbing down your keyboard. Get between those keys, and don't be afraid to apply a dry (preferably unused) toothbrush to deal with tight spots.
If there are crumbs under your keys: Laptop keyboards are difficult to have apart. Practise a Google search on yours to see if the keys are removable. If so, remove them with a small, flat tool (a guitar option works well), and then hit the troubled spot with a cotton swab of booze or a short burst of compressed air. If the keys can't come off, aim a quick nail of canned air under your troubled keys and pray for the best. Don't get overboard or you'll end upwards with condensation nether the keys.

If yous have trouble getting the crud out from nether your keyboard, consider sending it to the manufacturer for repairs or take it to a local service person. There's no bespeak ripping apart your laptop when someone else tin can exercise it for y'all.

Make That Screen Beautiful Over again

Improper cleaning is a quick way to end up with a broken laptop screen. Your laptop'due south LCD screen is incredibly delicate. It needs to be cleaned properly and semi-regularly.

We're going to continue this uncomplicated. Don't use paper towels or rags to clean your laptop screen. They leave dust behind and may scratch your screen. Don't use booze, vinegar, glass (or spectacles) cleaner, Windex, or any cleaning chemicals. And if you lot run across a product being marketed as a screen cleaner, don't use it on your laptop screen. That stuff is ophidian oil!

A man's hand cleaning a laptop screen with a microfiber cloth. — Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock.com

The only thing that should touch your laptop screen is a microfiber cloth. They're cheap, so don't substitute. You lot may as well desire to use some canned air, but it isn't necessary unless the screen is particularly dusty.

Prepare the screen:Turn off your laptop and look for the screen to reach room temperature. If it'due south super dusty, then give it a few brusk, sideways bursts of compressed air. If it isn't noticeably dusty (nigh laptop screens are merely smudgy), and so skip the canned air.
Lightly wipe the screen:Accept your clean microfiber textile and run it beyond the screen in a gentle horizontal or vertical motion. Don't push and don't brand round motions. Otherwise, yous risk leaving circular smudges or scratches. Light pressure level and wide movements are platonic.
For tough, greasy screens:If your screen is especially nasty, lightly dampen your microfiber textile with water and employ the same sweeping movements and light pressure we just discussed. If your screen ends up as well damp, gently dry it with a clean microfiber cloth.
For incommunicable stains: Nosotros said before that you shouldn't apply vinegar to clean your laptop screen. You should only employ vinegar as an absolute last resort. If there's some nasty sticky crap on your screen, ready a solution of 50% h2o and 50% white vinegar, dampen your microfiber material, and gently wipe the screen with wide sweeping motions.

Now that your laptop'southward screen, keyboard, and internals are all make clean, it's time to take care of its case. This is by far the easiest part of cleaning a laptop, provided it hasn't accumulated any sticker rest.

Cleaning a Laptop Case

Unlike your laptop'south delicate keyboard and screen, its case can handle some tough dearest. Simply be sure to avoid harsh chemicals, and never utilise liquids direct to your laptop. All cleaning solutions go on your microfiber cloth, not on the laptop itself.

For quick cleaning:You can clean a laptop's case with a range of solutions, but we recommend using a microfiber material (newspaper towels leave dust) with white vinegar,or isopropyl booze, orh2o (don't mix them). Lightly utilize the cleaning liquid to the cloth and wipe down the laptop's instance. Don't be afraid to use some elbow grease on trouble areas and exist sure to dry off your laptop with a make clean fabric when y'all're done.
Cleaning off sticker residue:If your laptop is covered in nasty sticker residue, now's the time to clean it off. Only utilise 90%-100% isopropyl alcohol to a microfiber cloth and offset scrubbing. If information technology doesn't come off, try using a fiddling chip of Goo Gone. Don't apply a hairdryer to warm up the agglutinative as the estrus can damage your laptop.

And that's that! Now your laptop is clean from head to toe. If you did a good job, then its fans should be a scrap quieter, and you lot might even notice a slight performance increase. Exist certain to make clean your laptop thoroughly every few months to maintain its performance and appearance.