Maintaining laptop life

I am not an expert, but I always viewed heat and wear and tear to be the biggest problems with notebooks. So I try not to leave my notebook on all the time, where I do leave my desktop on all the time. I also make sure I have a well padded case. I also clean the dust out of it every couple of months. I have not lost a notebook in the last 7 years. I lost one 7 years ago when co worker dropped it and it cracked up on a concrete floor.

I am not for warranties since I replace my notebooks every year or so. But it does give you some good piece of mind.

I usually work at home, and for several years my consecutive notebooks have been on most of the time, with the screen turned off after 10 mins and the HDD after 3 mins. (Well, the HDD-s did turn off with older versions of Windows, but with XP Pro they tend to turn on infrequently even with the indexing service disabled, possibly because at work I connect to a domain.) I have never used timed-out suspends or hibernation.

Since I always get a 3yr warranty, I let Dell worry about the potential reliability issues. I have never had any serious issues so far, except for a minor problem with an Inspiron 7000 bought in 1999 (a vertical red line on the display, which disappeared after a couple of weeks on its own accord, since I didn't have time for servicing).

When did you buy your laptop?

You can upgrade your warranty to 4 years of at home service for $140 if it was within the first 45 days

Thanks for the advice, but my notebook was bought in Europe.

As pointed out above, heat is a major issue for wear and tear on notebooks. As such, I purchased an antec notebook cooler which I run all the time with my notebook. I have noticed this making up to 10C difference in different situations to GPU temp. It does not seem to reduce the maximum temp of internals, but definitely makes them take longer to heat up with use. Anyway, I thought cooler must be better and it only cost AU$60.
Cheers

Nothing wrong with standby ... when it works with all your external devices.

Close lid for Standby

that's what i do and i've never had any problems. In fact, it may be better than actually shutting the machine off: booting up frequently is a lot of wear and tear on the hardware.

Laptops are pretty sturdy..
if they dunn die on ya within the first 6 months then they will last a while

unless
- u dun turn it off for a week
- fall alseep while its on your lap - and then u roll over forgett about the darn thing
- spill OJ
- or do some other stupid thing

from personal experience wif mah gateway =)
bloody good machine too

oh just one thing.. i'd be more concerned with the optical drive more then the overall system... the drive gradually became picky on what cds it wants to read

but these days.. with firewire/usb2 external cases.. its not an issue now as it were 3/4 years ago...

one thing to note though... the keyboard eventually marks the screen....
so keep a piece of paper inbetween or a screen cloth *advertisement* like radtech

okuda:

Concerning the keyboard eventually marking the screen, does it concern the current D800/M60 models as well?

This used to be a big problem with the former C-family machines (I8200/C840/M50). My C840 arrived with a piece of foam over its keyboard, and I have used this foam ever since. In contrast, my M60 came without anything between its screen and keyboard.

KCK : i believe laptops screens would eventually suffer from keyboard marking the
screen if care is not taken...

the back panel of the screen on the M60 seems stiff

in short if your worried put an a4 piece of paper inbetween the keyboard and screen.
thats enuff to stop any oil/dirt/crap on the keyboard attaching itself to the screen
when u close it *theoretically*

long reply
those rubber thingis on the screen is suppose to stop the screen from touching the
keyboard. The very center of the screen relies on the stiffness of the back panel.

*dont try this at home*
Now, with your lappy closed, put a very heavy book on it. Apply pressure with your
hands, what parts is going to give first? -> the center of the screen. similuate
this a billion zillion times and u eventually get keyboard marking or a broken display
whichever gives up first

just think it like this
have a boxing bag and let your friend kick you (with the boxing bag in between)
now take away that boxing bag, and let your friend kick you...
boxing bag = laptop bag
you = your screen

even inside a laptop backpack, like the targus matrix, the padding just cushions the
impact on the laptop - great for the sides, but not very good for top side of the screen
cos its pushing the screen closer to the keyboard with every bounce....

ideally u want one of those cases where a truck can run over it and wont damage it..
i seen someone had one of those in this forum, or might have been in another one...

http://au.f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/...&.dnm=8543.jpg
at least this gives me a false sense of security. but great for cleaning the screen =)

I keep the little foam thing that came in the laptop between the screen and keyboard when it shipped inside at all times, when the laptop is closed.

okuda:

Thanks for the general explanations, but I was looking for information specific to the current models of D800/M60. So have you heard any complaints about keyboard marks on their screens? Actually the track stick is more dangerous, since its cap protrudes by 0.5mm above the keyboard level.

As I wrote, my M60 came without anything separating its screen and keyboard. Now bohh added that his I8600 came with a foam sheet (just like my old C840). Since we know that the screen covers are different between I8600 and D800/M60, I am still wondering whether insulating the screen and the keyboard of D800/M60 is really necessary under normal conditions.

Nice!

Ha, don't you love that!
stu

Man, I can't get anything out of them. I must be an idiot.

Nah, just unlucky. You have to use the right tack, on the right person when they are in the right mood. It can be pretty hard and frustrating for some.
stu