The average laptop life is not that great, but if you hear ‘Taps’ playing in the background, it’s because I just had to put down an important member of my crew – my trusty laptop. To be fair, this machine was still running Windows 95, had a floppy disk drive, and a network card would be considered a foreign object. My old laptop Carl put in many years of good service but not without some heavy work on my end. Laptops are only designed for maybe 3-5 years of life but by taking proper care of them internally and externally you’ll be able to extend its use a good decade past your current operating system. It’s easy for us to take our laptops for granted by follow a few of these tips so that you can prolong the life of your laptop and quantify your investment.

Transportation Ruins Of The Average Laptop Life

One of the most attractive features that makes laptops so popular is their ease of transport. That being said, it’s important to exercise proper handling to prolong the average laptop life. For one, you’ll want to have a dedicated or something with a laptop sleeve so that the unit doesn’t get scratched or crushed when packaged with other items. Convenient laptop bags are also better when traveling so you don’t leave the fate of your computer up to a disgruntled TSA worker practicing his jump shot. You’ll also want to remember to store or transport your laptop at the proper temperature, typically between 40 and 90 degrees. Don’t leave your laptop in the car for 4 hours in the hot Arizona sun and don’t store your computer on the roof rack while driving through Fargo in January to help prolong the life of your laptop.

Proper Use Of The Laptop

The first thing you can do to help prolong the life of your laptop is to steer clear of shady web sites. We all have our skeletons in the closet but if you want to search for Betty White in provocative poses – do it on your parents or friends computer. Viruses and spyware are the biggest threats to your laptop’s productivity and can eventually overthrow your processing system. Make sure your laptop has the latest antivirus and spyware protection software installed to prolong the life of your laptop.

Routine computer maintenance is another important aspect of the task to prolong the life of your laptop. Every six months or so you should delete programs you don’t use, erase saved files that you don’t need anymore and do proper disk defragmentation and other general spring cleaning. This will avoid a slow running laptop and prolong your laptop life expectancy.

Clean Your Laptop Regularly To Prolong Life Expectancy

Our computers often share our laps with a bowl of popcorn or a can of soda and food particles and other debris will eventually get into the keyboard over time. Some cleaning tools you can use to wipe the exterior of the laptop include a lint free cloth, cleaning solution, cotton swabs, compressed air, a vacuum cleaner, and a small brush.

It’s good laptop maintenance to spray the compressed air into the keyboard and in the fan vents to keep dirt and lint from piling up. All computers need a good clean inside to remove dust which can cause your laptop or computer to overheat and die.

There is special electronics cleaning solution on the market and you should put some of this on a lint free cloth and wipe down the keyboard and LCD screen regularly. Also, even though they can be irresistible, try and limit those Tab Sodas until after your laptop use is complete.

Average Laptop Battery Life – Save it

Your laptop battery is the heartbeat of your system and just like you shouldn’t have 14 Tab Sodas a day to preserve your heart, you need to save your battery too. Experts say the average laptop battery life has about 500-800 charges in their life and there are ways to limit those charges.

Make sure all your laptop power settings are optimized including screen brightness, sleep settings, resolution and more. Always put your computer to sleep when taking extended breaks and remove your battery when taking a few weeks or longer away from the laptop or storing it for the winter.

Another thing to remember when taking long breaks from the computer, keep it out of the reach of children and dogs. Puppies tend to chew on the laptop and babies have the penchant for checking your email and turning your stocks on E*Trade into high-risk investing.

As long as you don’t take proactive measures to destroy your laptop like bringing it with you on your surfboard or throwing it down to your frat brother off a third floor balcony, you should get the recommended life span from your laptop. But, if you want to still be running Windows XP after the zombie apocalypse and when our robot overlords have introduced Windows 46, then follow these tips to get the maximum life out of your laptop.