Archive for the ‘Laptop Maintenance’ Category
Adding Skin to Make Either A Blue Or Black Laptop Computer
Is your laptop more special?
Generally people give more preference and considerations for laptops than their personal computers or desktops. This is because their laptop speaks about them more than their PC. This is the reason why they give a lot of preference for laptops. There are people who can’t do anything without their laptops. Their entire information will be in their laptops and need to carry it almost every place they go. While doing this their laptop computers gets exposed to other people. For this reason, to get some name for themselves and for their laptop, people have started adding designer skins on their laptops.
Laptop skins – what’s that:
Usually your laptop gets a dull look on the outer surface with scratches when time passes by. Laptop skins are a kind of adhesive product, which when added to your laptop gives a spectacular look along with other benefits too.
To provide a laptop with splendid designs, manufacturers were in a situation to undertake a process called the case modding. But with the invention of laptop skins, the expense incurred in the process of case modding has been reduced for the manufacturers.
These laptop skins in addition to giving a spectacular look to your laptop also save your laptop from any kind of a scratch that occur while handling it. We know that there have been usage of laptop covers, but they are not that catchy as the laptop skins. This advantage has been used by many companies like Hewlett Packard, which already began to launch their brand new laptops with ultra modern skins. Hewlett Packard’s HP Pavilion DV2-1030US 12.1 laptop model is available with elegant black and blue skins.
Choosing right laptop skin for your laptop:
Laptop skins vary from different color, size and shape. But, the best laptop skin is the one with black or blue color. This is because, black or blue color have a darker appearance, which will eventually reduce the appearance of scratches even if there are any. Also these skins are very easy to handle with and give more color and look to your laptop. Within black or blue color there are varieties of shades of skins present. You have to be confident about the laptop size and shape, so that you can add an exact one to enhance your laptops appearance.
How to add your blue or black skin to your laptop:
After getting your blue or black laptop skins, you have to focus more on adding it to your laptop. Some skins can be applied to your laptop only by the company’s officials, since it involves a lot of tasks. But other than that you can easily apply your skins for your laptop. First smoothen your laptop surface by cleaning it with damped cloth and then with alcoholic cloth. The line up the skin with the laptop in exact position you need and then remove the back cover. Then gently apply some force for sticking it firmly to the surface. Usually all the laptop skins works well for at least six months even for rough usage. If you use it only in your homes, then it may last for longer period.
How to Maximize A Laptop Battery Life
Any laptop is as good as its battery, which are an expensive and integral part of it’s operattions. It thus becomes very important to keep your battery in optimum condition so that it has the maximum extended life possible. We discuss below some of the major steps that can be taken to maximize the life of the battery nay the life of a laptop.
The first thing that needs to be done is that one should use the power cord that came with laptop or an authorized replacement. The laptop recharging method should be strictly as per the guidelines provided. The laptop should never be exposed to the sun as it could considerable damage. The power management features should be set to enable maximization of battery life management and putting the laptop on “sleep” mode if not used for a reasonable duration.
When you have to purchase new batteries as a replacement buy batteries with internal processors such as Li-Ion batteries. Non Li-Ion batteries have to fully discharged and then recharged every 2-3 weeks which is an avoidable consequence.
Some steps can also be taken initially itself to get the maximum utilization of the battery. One should disable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. If you were to turn these features off you would save on booting time and this adds up to a considerable amount if you boot up a number of times in a day. Further you should reduce the screen brightness if you are not using electricity. By merely dropping the brightness by a few notches you would not even feel the difference but your battery would feel a reduced burden. Keep doing this until your eyes do not get affected.
Avoid watching DVD’s on battery and watch downloads since DVD’s consume a larger amount of power. You can always save your downloads on the hard disk and watch them as and when you desire. If you need to free up your disk space you can transfer the data to other drives or even Ipod’s.
Some people argue that they keep their laptop always on power and never use the battery. This in fact causes greater damage to your machine as your battery is likely to wear off sooner than it should since it has forgotten how to retain a charge. You tend to aggravate the problem if you keep your machine plugged 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The simple solution to this is to pull out the wire and after some time plug it in for a recharge. It’s a bit of a bother but do consider the fact that you delay the expenditure of purchasing a new replacement battery which generally costs around $100 and still continue to derive the maximum benefits from the battery you had purchased. Old, discarded batteries have a tendency to leak and cause damage to the internals of the laptop. It is in your interest to look after your battery to have a healthy laptop operational for a longer duration at the lowest cost.
Using this tips on how to maximize your laptop’s battery life would prevent you from buying a laptop anytime soon.
Tips to keep your laptop Clean
Before using the newly bought laptop it is important to go through the User’s Guide or Manual and learn the correct way to keep it clean. A thorough cleaning once every year is the minimum that is recommended by most manufacturers though some users do it more often to keep their machine clean. Laptops tend to acquire dirt in different forms like dander, pet hair, dust, ash and other residue during normal usage. It is essential that the laptop is cleaned very carefully and softly without the use of any callous cleaning agent containing ammonia so as not to harm any part.
Different parts of the laptop require different methods of cleaning. For instance the keyboard should be cleaned with compressed dry air only. You could also use a damp cloth to clean the keys. The same cloth can be also used to clean up the touchpad and pick up the debris lying on the sides as well. Of course it would be better if you avoided eating and drinking near the laptop as things could easily spill on to the keyboard in the first place.
The display screen should be cleaned, as with other parts, only after the computer is switched off. You should spray some water on a cotton cloth to clean the laptop screen left to right and from top to bottom with light strokes. Never use any cleansing agent which has ammonia as one of its ingredients. You could even make your own solution of using one part of isopropyl alcohol with one part of water. Also remember never to spray anything directly on to your LCD or use a paper towel to clean off any unwanted marks as it invariably fails and makes the blot only bigger.
The interiors of the machine also require very careful cleaning as the exteriors. The cooling vents can be cleaned by using a can of compressed air. You should be careful with the compressed air that you spray as it should not be too hard and there should be absolutely no liquid on the blades. Cotton swabs should be used to hold the fans while they are being cleaned. Try avoiding spraying directly on a fan as it could cause them to over spin. The input output (I/O) ports should be cleaned by cotton swats to remove the dirt that would have collected there. While cleaning these ports you should ensure that you do not blow any dirt inadvertently into them.
After you have cleaned the exteriors and interiors of the laptop it will be necessary to clean the outer case of your laptop so it looks new and fresh. The easiest way to do this is to use a damp cotton cloth to be used with a bit of water. However if there is something additional that cannot be cleaned with water, you can use alcohol but not any household cleaners to remove the stain.
A clean and well maintained laptop enables you to extend the life of a laptop and prevent unnecessary damage to the equipment. Laptops which are not well maintained to have had various problems like random reboots and slowing down of operational performance causing avoidable discomfort.