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If you’re an avid gamer, the chances are that you dedicate a significant chunk of your free time to working on your skills and moving to higher levels of various games. Therefore, it is only natural that you’d want your gaming laptop to last you as long as possible and avoid having to replace it constantly.
Besides the satisfaction of using the same laptop for more than three to five years, which is an estimated lifespan for most devices, keeping it in good condition also allows you to save money and stress. Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do to take good care of your laptop and stretch its lifespan as long as possible.
In this article, you will find a few simple tricks that will be very helpful in preventing your device from breaking down much earlier than it is intended to. The tips below range from updating software and performing regular maintenance to transferring your data to the cloud and avoiding leaving your laptop plugged in at all times. Check them out!
Transfer Your Data to the Cloud
Using a significant chunk of your available hard drive space can slow down your laptop to the point where gaming on it becomes unbearable. In general, if more than 80% of your hard drive space is taken, your computer will likely slow down and become difficult to work on. Besides issues with running your favorite games, you may also find it hard to perform tasks as simple as browsing the internet or writing.
So, if you’re low on local storage, moving some of your files to the cloud can be an excellent solution. Many engineers, researchers, as well as IT professionals use HPC cloud computing to assure better performance for their devices, and you should learn from them. A file hosting service such as Dropbox, which offers 2GB of storage for free, should be more than enough for your needs. You can also try using Google Drive or pCloud, depending on your individual needs.
Update Your Software
If you are a Windows user, try to stay on top of your weekly updates. They contain all the necessary patches, security fixes, and software updates that will help keep your laptop running smoothly. Most Windows Updates are set to install automatically, but it’s always wise to know exactly what’s going on on your personal computer and check the updates every once in a while. This way, you’ll see if the installation is completed correctly and ensure that everything’s in order.
Additionally, you should also aim to run Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter regularly. The former helps get rid of all unnecessary files that might be cluttering your hard drive, while the former recognizes the files on your hard drive and consolidates “fragmented” files to help everything run more efficiently.
Mac users will find that most of the maintenance process on their laptops is automated and built into the operating system. If you own a Mac and still want to implement some good maintenance practices, you can check whether your Software Update is current. On top of that, try to uninstall unnecessary apps that you don’t use. You can use a program like AppCleaner to make sure all traces of these apps are removed from your laptop.
Don’t Leave Your Laptop Plugged at All Times
According to Battery University, the ideal charge rate for laptop batteries is to let them charge to 80%. Then, it’s advised to let it drain to 40%. Doing so can extend the life of your battery even up to four times. That’s because lithium-polymer batteries are charged to a voltage level. Thus, the higher the percentage, the higher the voltage level and the more stress your battery will be under. Moreover, batteries heat up as they charge, and the constant heat also puts a lot of stress on them.
You can also try to reduce wear and tear on both your battery and hardware by leaving your laptop on if you’re using it throughout the whole day or stepping away for a while just to come back later. Instead of keep turning your laptop on and off, try to do so once a day. Turn your computer off completely if you know that you won’t be using it for a while.
Use Cooling Pads
Most laptops have their air intake at the bottom, and if you’ve ever tried to rest your device on your bed or a blanket, you probably noticed that it started to warm up really quickly. The same applies to your desk – the closer your laptop is to its surface, the less air it will be able to take in. However, this problem is easy to solve with a cooling pad.
Cooling pads effectively decrease your laptop’s temperature by keeping it elevated and allowing for more air to go in. You can choose a simple pad that’s only meant to elevate your laptop and ensure better airflow, but you can also splurge a bit on a pad with additional fans that will work to keep your laptop’s temperature down.
Cooling pads are one of the most cost-effective ways to improve your laptop’s performance without having to open it up and peek at its insides. If your device tends to heat up too quickly, consider investing in one.
In Conclusion
Buying a new laptop is often an expensive ordeal that comes with a lot of stress. Luckily, things don’t have to be this way as long as you learn how to take proper care of your device so it can serve you well for much longer than average.
Laptops are intended to be handled with love and care, but this is not always enough to keep them from getting sluggish or breaking down unexpectedly. If you want to extend the lifespan of your personal computer, you can try to stay on top of your software updates, consider transferring your data to the cloud to have more space on your hard drive, use cooling pads, and take good care of your battery.
