how often should laptop be cleaned from the inside

[shtaklef]

i have an alienware 17 r5 laptop. i am using a coolpad which has 3 rings

in the past when i was in my old bedroom i often noticed that there were dust rings on the 3 coolpad rings and also there were 3 dust rings on the bottom of the laptop. i wiped the dust rings and then it comes back after few weeks

i took the alienware laptop to a repair shop mid july 2020 and a technician removed the back cover to clean the laptop from the inside. i saw that there was a thin layer\bit thick layer in the center of the laptop around the battery area

after july 2020 i had to move to another bedroom in my house. i noticed that there was no longer 3 dust rings under the laptop when i am in new bedroom

now 7 months have passed since i took laptop to repair shop for cleaning from the inside. once a month i am using can of compressed air and i am spraying air through the bottom grill at the laptop fans and through the vents as a precaution to make sure that they are clear and that there is no dust stuck in them

when is next time i have to take laptop to repair shop so back cover is removed to clean the dust from the inside? before i was under the impression that i need to remove the back cover once every 6 months and people told me that's not needed

is it after 9 months or 1 year passed or 2 years since last time back cover was removed to remove the dust?

there are people who are obsessed with cleaning the laptop. once every 3 months they remove the back cover and they use electric duster to remove the dust. that's not necessary and the important thing is that there is no dust on fans and vents and i am making sure of that by using compressed air can. air can is not that efficient and it just unsticks the dust and it shuffles it around inside the laptop and the back cover should be removed to remove all the dust. however, the amount of dust inside the laptop now should be less after i shifted to new bedroom

[GOD RAYS ON ULTRA™]

I've never heard of opening up a laptop just to clean it. That sounds silly to me and it's most certainly something that the manufacturer took into consideration, since they would never want you to do this. My laptop is three years-old and I never once cleaned it. never thought about doing it either. i'm certainly not opening it up unless I'm doing a repair or upgrade. Spraying the can of air is fine i guess, seems like a waste of money to me though.

[Nabster]

Never, my laptop is 7 years old. You can clean it once every few years if you want.

[shtaklef]

if there is big dust build up on the fans and its also blocking the vents then it must be cleaned from the inside or else laptop will overheat

[invision2212]

clean it as often as you need to. i am obsessed with cleaning my pc and open it up once a month and clean it completely with a soft brush.

[Supafly]

Same as a PC, depends on it's environment. If the areas it's used is dusty it'll require cleaning more often.

I have pets and allergies so I'm forever blowing my nose, more the higher pollen count is and PC is on carpet. That results in my system picking up a lot of dust. Considerably more than when I had no pets and PC was on wood flooring.

Unless temps are rising and/or its getting noisier from fans running higher there isn't anything to worry about. Just leave it until they do and then clean it

[🦜Cloud Boy🦜]

You don't need to open a laptop to clean it unless you are planning to use the same laptop for 20 years. Little dusts won't affect performance, at least not in its normal use duration (4-5 years).

[オナニー]

Everyone here is anti-clean team apparently. I bet their PCs look like those in computer cleaning videos.
Really dont need to pay someone for a simple laptop dust removal session. Its simple to do on your own with online guidance.

[Supafly]

Originally posted by 🌈Cloud Boy🌈:

You don't need to open a laptop to clean it unless you are planning to use the same laptop for 20 years. Little dusts won't affect performance, at least not in its normal use duration (4-5 years).

DSepends on location when used. The more dust it sucks it the less effective cooling will be. Just because you can leave it 4.5 years doesn't means others can.

I have dustfilters on all intakes for my PC and within a week I can see a blanket of dust over them and have to clean them. I'm not a dirty person that doesn't clean. PC on carpet, pets and forever blowing my nose due to allergies creates dust and dander that gets sucked in. Before the filters I used to givemy PC a thorough clean every 3-6 months.

A little light brushing will brush most of the dust off a vent opening. However, highly likely to push some of it inside. Continue doing that and it'll start slowing fans down. You blow dust out not push it in. To do that you need to open it for it to be effective. Especially when you can't get to the fan from the out side.

[Autumn_]

Depends on where you are, people in dusty countries/houses need to clean theirs more than others.

If you are seeing a performance decrease, clean it.
If you see a buildup of dust, clean it.


I personally clean mine every couple/few months, or when temps exceed a certain number.
Same with every other laptop or computer in my house.

It's not hard to maintain;
Buy a cheap air compressor with a moisture trap, it will cost you way less than compressed air cans (it's also better for the environment.)
Check to see if you can take the laptop apart, if you can learn how, to do a proper clean every now and again.
Get some 70-90% Isopropyl, to clean dirt and sticky ♥♥♥♥ off the case/keys.
And if and when necessary, thermal paste. But it's pointless buying unless you need it, because it does have a shelf life.

[Set-115689]

Depends on the laptop and how the air circulation works. Some might not need to be cleaned for a very very long time in a low dust environment. Temperatures should give you a hint.

[GOD RAYS ON ULTRA™]

Originally posted by PiKK\/Mi:

Everyone here is anti-clean team apparently. I bet their PCs look like those in computer cleaning videos.
Really dont need to pay someone for a simple laptop dust removal session. Its simple to do on your own with online guidance.

This opening up a laptop to get the dust is such a waste of time. I live in Apache Junction Arizona, probably the dustiest place on earth. literally nothing but rocks and dust. My pc is so clean you could eat off of it. If you have a dust problem then you have to take care of that so it doesn't get into your pc in the first place. not keep opening them up and dusting them, what? That makes no sense.

Originally posted by Set-115689:

Depends on the laptop and how the air circulation works. Some might not need to be cleaned for a very very long time in a low dust environment. Temperatures should give you a hint.

This user makes sense.

[DeadPhoenix]

I clean mine fully every 3 months. You'll be suprised of how much dust can gather after a few years of not cleaning it.

[Talby]

^ agree, it largely depends on the design of the laptop, if you can short-burst canned air in there and dust comes out of the bottom, you are probably good to go - if not and the fan is ramping up more than usual, you might have to disassemble to a certain point for a proper cleaning. If it's clean, and the fan is still loud or struggling, might need a replacement...

[Decathect]

As someone whos been repairing electronics for around 18 years, everything from PC, laptops, consoles, old TVs, newer HDTV's, etc you better bet your *** you'd better be cleaning it out if you'd like it to keep functioning.

Don't listen to this nonsense that you shouldn't. Does not matter what kind of environment you're in, there is intake and exhaust on your laptop, shooting compressed air into it does nothing, the dust will be all caught up in the cooler, all through the system. Shoot the air through the intake, it just forces dust into the cooler, shoot it into the exhaust, it just traps it back towards the cooler until you turn it back on. You have to open it to clean it properly. Your PCB will eventually heat soak, then warp, then you'll be bringing the laptop to someone like me looking for a reflow of the solder joints.

EVERY single electronic device that has an intake, and exhaust type cooling I've ever opened has been dusty. Every PS4 for example, the cooler fins have been clogged. Every laptop has been clogged, then dust starts clogging into areas it shouldn't even be like under the keyboard because the fans are going to keep pulling and it'll pull the air from anywhere it can. Don't get to crazy, just open it up, clean what you can from under the bottom shell, and close it up.

[Washell]

Originally posted by shtaklef:

when is next time i have to take laptop to repair shop so back cover is removed to clean the dust from the inside?

When the temperature rises, and performance drops. There's no set time frame, because it depends on the environment you're in if and when it clogs up.

Originally posted by Hardware Hero™:

This opening up a laptop to get the dust is such a waste of time. I live in Apache Junction Arizona, probably the dustiest place on earth. literally nothing but rocks and dust.

Soooo, no moisture and such that would coagulate said dust, hairs and skincells inside the hardware? Nice!

The world is big. It's a combination of factors (*), dust alone is indeed not an issue. Just google "dusty computer" for millions of examples where it's definitely a necessity.

* smoking next to a PC will make it dust up anywhere in the world though.