Prevent PC, laptops/notebooks from power surges & over heating

By: Energy Complaints | posted in Internet, Reviews |
Date: January 16th, 2010

I am no expert when it comes to laptops and notebooks, but I had some major hardware failures with my laptop and PC because of overheating and power surge. Let me tell you that it didn’t feel so good to have waited 2 weeks to get it repaired. Also, the extra few hundreds of dollars I had to paid for the computer repaired shop.

From my own experience, the two reasons that caused my hardware failures were overheating and power/electrical surges. The first hardware failure happened when I was running my HP Pavilion DV6000 laptop/notebook during one summer night. It was hot and humid but I never thought my laptop/notebook would easily get over heated and it did just that after about 2 or 3 hours of use. There was no fire but I smell something was burning and the next time I tried to turn my laptop/notebook, it didn’t start. Read all about it here.

The other hardware failure happened to my desktop PC, it was caused by a power surge by the nearby transformer explosion which was hit by lighting. At the time I didn’t have a surge protector, I would only plug my computer to the power plug into my walls. The power surge caused me to buy a completely new computer because my PC was completely destroyed. Now I have one of the top of the line surge protector by Belkin, about $60-$80 dollars, which is the unlimited version. Ever since I have the surge protector by Belkin, there haven’t been any power surge problem.

Here are my tips to prevent your computers, laptops and notebooks from power surges and over heating

Get a good surge protector for all of your electronic equipments. I highly recommend Belkin, not so sure about other brands because I never used them.
If you have a laptop or notebook get a laptop/notebook cooler. Here is the laptop/notebook cooler I have right now. Also, make sure you try to run your laptop/notebook in a cool or air condition room. Make sure you have a air duster and regularly blow off the white dust throughout your laptop/notebook and PC. (make sure you don’t inhale the dust because you can die from it) Don’t wait before it is too late, especially for laptop and notebook. Once you see any dust practically around the air vents, blow it off with a good air duster.
Make sure when you are using your laptop or notebook have it place on a flat and hard surface. Avoid soft surfaces like your bed or sofa which may block the air flow going through the air vents.
If you find it too hot to type in your keyboard, then that’s a sign to save everything and put the system to the sleep mode or turn it off.

It is worth buying a laptop/notebook cooler and a air duster that comes in a can. Make sure you dust off any access dust around the air vents to keep enough air flow. Consider how much it will cost to get this repair and how much time you will last if something happen. SO it is worth the extra dollars to get that cooler and clean your PC and laptop/notebook regularly.

That’s all I can think for now. If you have other ideas to keep a PC or laptop/notebook cool or any other techniques you like to share. Feel free to comment below. Just remember, technology had improve every single year and companies are building faster and better computers. Each computer systems are different and some are better than others. However, there is no perfect computer. Things will still need to be fix but you can always help preserve all of your equipments by making sure there is enough air flow to keep things cool and also to clean out any dust around the air vents.

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