Maintenance Miscellaneous Productivity

Keeping it Cool – Preventive Maintenance

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Although the photo above looks awkward it shows very clearly some of the basic and very effective methods of maintaining the temperature on a mobile computer.

Elevation – on the underside of a laptop computer (also along the sides and sometimes the back) there are vents which channel heat that develops inside the computer to the outside; Keeping these free of obstructions will allow proper air circulation and prevent overheating issues for some models.

Assisted circulation – keeping a fan beside the computer drives the air from the surroundings into the heated enclosure effectively moving heat away from it. There is plenty of debate as to how effective this method actually is (when talking about cooling pads) but the much more comfortable feeling should be proof enough that it actually makes a difference. I myself own an elevated cooling pad and use it consistently on my active computer when I’m at home. And yes, it helps even in an air conditioned environment.

External input devices – this is not a part of the photo above but it works both for the laptop and the user itself. Using keyboards and pointing devices apart from the integrated ones grant nice level of comfort unlike when youre using the integrated board and you rest your hands on the sides of the trackpad which is also heated up more often than not. Until manufacturers find a better material that doesnt retain heat as much then I believe it will be the case for more years to come.

In this scorching 35 degree tropical summer heat most people would rather stay at home and that entails, more often than not, a lot of time in front of a computer… or a mobile device if that is sufficient enough… taking care of our devices and preventing them from overheating is imperative.

Share your own methods below.

About the author

Mark O.

Mark is an architect and artist who endeavors to design most anything that requires a little bit of thought into it.

Although writing is not considered a primary focus, a little too much time can yield many thoughts that are just begging to be written down.

Armed with a trusty array of content creation devices and surrounded with a continuous flux of technology and life, herein lies those that are fortunate enough to have been given presence through a little bit of movement and a whole lot of iterations.

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