Increasing Laptop lifespan not only helps to save money but reduces one’s contribution to e-waste. A laptop is no doubt a valuable tech tool and daily companion for home usage as well as at the workplace.
Laptops also suffer from wear and tear like many other tech tools. Proper care, hardware checks, software upgrades, and using appropriate accessories can make a laptop last longer.
Laptops require proper care to avoid mechanical wear and tear, keep an eye on the state of their hardware and software for robust usage and use appropriate accessories to extend the life of a laptop.
In this article, we will be discussing these four components to find out how they affect the lifespan of a laptop and possible solutions to obtain optimal performance.
At the end of this article, you will also find an infographic on how to increase your laptop lifespan for the years to come.
Precautions to Avoid Wear and Tear
Each laptop requires attention and careful handling to avoid unnecessary wear and tear. This applies to both mechanical, and electrical components of a laptop.
Environment
Place your laptop in a clean environment where you can avoid dust and dirt. Try to avoid combing your hair near laptops as it can end up in your laptop. You should avoid food and drinks near your laptop as the crumbs and coffee slips can be stuck in parts of your laptop and restrict some operations e.g. Fan blockage .
It’s always a good idea to close the laptop lid if it’s not in use and avoid food consumption near your laptop. This will reduce the wear and tear of your system.
The room temperature should be 50 – 95 degrees Fahrenheit which is considered a safe working environment by most laptop manufacturers.
Transportation
A laptop consists of small parts and one should try to transport it in a padded case to avoid wear and tear. Some laptops with workstation settings are heavier and they should not be carried/moved by holding them from the screen as the hinges are weak and can tear down.
One should also avoid putting unnecessary weight on top of it. If your laptop consists of HDDs then you should avoid unnecessary movement when your laptop is already doing some tasks. It’s advisable to turn off (or sleep mode) a laptop before transportation.
Remove the Battery: If you are using an old laptop that cannot automatically disable battery charging then it’s advisable to unplug the batteries if they are not in use. Three things affect a battery life
- The chemical properties of lithium ions present in modern batteries
- Laptop lifespan decreases over the period
- Laptop heat affects the battery which could increase if your laptop fan is not working properly due to dust and a non-clean environment.
Power Adapters
In most cases, power adapters are not handled very well. They are rolled without taking care of their joints which are often bent in a non-recommended way. This leads to the breakage and malfunctioning of the power adapters.
Try to fix your power adopter to a specific location and avoid unnecessary movement. Alternatively, you can purchase a new power adapter which is usually available in a reasonable price range.
Unnecessary Startups
Laptops are not like light switches which you can turn ON or OFF. They are monsters working on your tasks which can be turned off to save electricity costs.
You should try to keep your laptop running and in use during a single session. Each extra startup from hibernation or sleep mode puts stress on hardware components to expand and contract.
Keeping Your Hardware Upgraded
It’s a good idea to keep the hardware upgraded for a longer laptop life ass the latest software and their updates are more resource-intensive. Following are the common hardware upgrades to last your laptop longer than the usual life span.
Battery
Historically, laptops have been delivered with swappable batteries to offer ease of use, replaceability of batteries, and transportation.
However, a recent trend has emerged where built-in fixed batteries or double batteries (1 swappable, and other fixed) are delivered. In this case, you have to look for individual battery-changing options for your laptop and perform an upgrade.
Hard disk / SSD
Most of the old laptops were delivered with HDDs (with mechanical parts) but the recent trend of solid-state disks (SSD) has been quite popular.
SSDs are available in either a standard 2.5-inch format or NVMe SSD. For most of the laptop versions, you can upgrade your hard disk easily and an upgrade to SSD will give a boost to your laptop performance.
Random Access Memory (RAM)
Most of the laptops manufactured in recent years were between 4GB to 8GB RAM.
One can easily upgrade the system RAM because it’s as easy as removing two screws and inserting new RAM in their respective slots. This will boost your system performance as you can load those memory-intensive programs which were not otherwise possible.
Another reason for the RAM upgrade is that the latest version of the operating system requires more RAM compared to its predecessor version.
Fan Upgrade
A malfunctioning fan can reduce the performance of a laptop as the heat discharge from the system is not working properly.
This also affects the lifetime of the battery, mainboard, and graphics card. Fan upgrade requires opening up the laptop and replacing it with another Fan. This should be done by someone who understands the laptop’s hardware.
Graphic Cards
Nivida, a graphics card manufacturing company, regularly releases updates for their graphics card. These graphics cards are used for GPU processing and rendering operations.
You might need to upgrade your graphic card if you require GPU capabilities or advanced rendering operations.
CD ROMs
Modern laptops are not delivered with built-in ROMs as most of the data transfer is carried out over USBs, Cloud, and networks.
If your laptop has a CD ROM then you might want to upgrade it with an extra hard disk, or a swappable battery.
Loose Hinges
Laptop screens are connected with the main body using hinges. Due to their mechanical designs, it’s quite common for old laptops that their hinges get loose.
If this is the case, then you can remove the front panel/bezel of your screen/main body and fix their screws.
Keeping Your Software Updated
Software updates are crucial against security attacks and optimal hardware utilization. Following software updates should not be forgotten to keep your system up to date.
System Software
Every laptop requires an Operating System (OS). You should keep your system OS up to date with all the updates provided by the respective hardware/software manufacturer. Also, keep your laptop debloated by removing unnecessary software and background services.
Alternatively, reinstalling the operating system or upgrading to a newer version (Windows 7 to Windows 10) will help you to keep your laptop in optimal health. A good alternative is to use a Linux-based operating system as they usually support very old hardware.
One can always run an older version of a Linux distribution on the hardware which is not supported any more for Windows OS.
Disk Cleanup
It’s always a good idea to keep your Hard Disk cleaned from unnecessary junk files. You can do so by inspecting your system from time to time.
You might need to defragment and optimize your hard drive from time to time. The choice of applying defragmentation depends upon the Operating System, the file system, and the type of hard disk used.
One should never apply it on SSD as it only wastes the write cycle and will not give any improvements.
Virus Protection
It’s always advisable to install at least one antivirus software to protect your Windows against virus attacks.
The Windows Operating system is more prone to virus attacks compared to its Linux-based alternative. Installing an antivirus keeps your system protected and usable for the years to come.
Cloud Software
There is a trend to use cloud software e.g. Chrome for old laptops with limited Hard disk capacities.
People are reluctant to use cloud software due to privacy concerns and not everyone is fond of them.
Using Appropriate Accessories
Power Cable
Always use the original power cable provided with your laptop to optimal use.
This will not only give longevity to your hardware but will protect you against any warranty claims if your hardware stops working due to power issues.
Always choose the appropriate and best quality power cable if you have to due to any reason.
Surge Protector
You can use a surge protector to protect your system, especially hard disks. One should avoid plugging their computer directly into a power socket during a thunderstorm.
Mouse/Keyboard
Modern laptops are provided with a keyboard and touch/trackpad. Since they are the most used part of any laptop, you can avoid their wear and tear by using an external mouse and keyboard as often as required. This wear and tear of a trackpad can lead to phantom cursor movements.
USB Drives and Storage
When possible use USB drives and external storage for backups and to keep free storage space on your laptop. This greatly affects the boot time if your system Desktop is full of files and the boot loader has to wait for it.
Laptop Bags
The laptops are designed to be transported from one place to another for business or any other reason.
This movement can damage the internal tiny components of a laptop (especially non-solid state parts). This can be avoided by using an appropriate laptop bag that protects unnecessary shakes.
Screen Protector
A screen protector is used with a laptop for several reasons. These reasons could be security and protection against scratches and dust particles.
Cooling Pads
Don’t put your laptop on a blanket or mattress as the heat will be transferred to these objects through air ventilation and can burn them. You can use a cooling pad to elevate your laptop to provide proper air ventilation.
Keyboard Cover
Most of the dust and small pieces can end up in the laptop through their keyboard. For most of the laptop versions, if coffee or any drink falls over a laptop keyboard, it will seep through to the mainboard. For these reasons, it is advisable to use a keyboard cover to protect your laptop for a better and longer life span.
Conclusion
You can take care of your laptop so that it will last longer. The aforementioned points highlight important points to achieve the longevity of any laptop. Taking care of your laptop and keeping its software up to date will give you better performance in the short run.
Hardware upgrades and the use of appropriate hardware accessories are useful in the long run. The combination of both better performance and achieved longevity through hardware upgrades will make your laptop last longer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do More Expensive Laptops Last longer?
More expensive laptops could be durable due to their better mechanical and hardware designs. They will give you better ergonomic feelings and more productivity. On the hardware side, they might have better system specifications for a specific task e.g. GPU for graphics works.
How to prolong the battery life?
The battery life of a laptop can be prolonged by
1. Reduce the
screen brightness
2. Turn off unnecessary devices e.g. Cellular networks or Wifi (always prefer Wifi over Cellular networks)
3. Wherever possible, try to reduce the use of video content
4. Use software-enabled smart battery mode.
5. Aeroplane modes provide most of the aforementioned settings.
Which OS will make my laptop last longer?
Windows software and their OS has a shorter shelf life compared to their other Linux counterparts e.g. Ubuntu or OpenSUSE. Thus using a Linux-based OS provides longer support and you can use it for years to come.
Inforgraphic
A detailed infographic on how to improve the lifespan of a laptop.
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