Overheating Laptop? It’s More Serious Than You Think

Excessive heat is the enemy of electronic components. Desktops have the benefit of plenty of open space for fans. This makes the dissipation of heat so much simpler. Unfortunately, it is a great deal more challenging when you are dealing with a laptop. There are only a few ways to reduce the temperature of your laptop.

For some reason, laptops are usually built with intake or outtake ventilation on the bottom. Should these vents become covered up with comforters, thick carpets or even your legs, the fans will not be able to draw heat away from the hardware and the laptop will begin to overheat. The unfortunate thing is that this means that laptop fans will not be able to circulate air when resting in your lap. While a little heat every once in a while won’t instantly destroy your computer, this will ruin the internal hardware as time goes on.

Some laptop cooling issues aren’t caused by obstructed vents, although it’s a very common issue. Resting your laptop in a very hot environment can sometimes cause internal heating problems. It’s better not to run your laptop on a hot surface like a metal table out in the sun or near a hot stove. Keeping laptops off of hot surfaces and away from heat sources are two easy ways to cut down on overheating caused by environmental issues.

Several companies sell stands and cooling pads for your laptop. If the fans are correctly positioned on this device, you could safely rest your laptop in your lap with a cooling pad. A notebook stand holds up your notebook to allow for better air circulation. A cooling pad is a powered device that uses fans to cool your notebook. A cooling pad will typically connect to your laptop for power. They may also have power adapters that plug directly into a typical wall socket. These pads contain fans that will help cool the computer. The fans will either draw air to or from the laptop. You will want to choose a fan configuration that cooperates with the built-in fans on your machine. These notebook coolers are made with plastic or aluminum. Since it draws heat away from your laptop, aluminum is the preferred material.

However, if you are dealing with a recurring overheating issue, you will probably need a more advanced solution. Like any part of your laptop, the internal fans can fail. If your laptop suddenly develops a heating problem that it didn’t in the past, a broken fan could be the cause. Don’t attempt to fix this yourself: opening up your laptop can void the warranty and you could damage the very delicate hardware. Another complex issue that can arise is that Sometimes the thermal paste on the inside of the laptop will stop working. In this case, new thermal paste should be applied. Again, this is not something that a novice user should attempt. This requires taking the laptop apart for serious work.

Heat is tremendously bad for a laptop. Because of their compact design, it is difficult to achieve good airflow in these mini machines. This means that a laptop’s operating temperatures should be checked periodically. If you notice extremely high temperatures, you should have it serviced the first chance you get. This should greatly improve the life of your laptop. You can look up the correct temperature of your laptop on the web. Use a sensor monitoring program to check that your components are operating at a safe level.

If you are worried that your laptop is having overheating issues, you can always call Geek Choice. Geek Choice is a nationwide computer repair company that offers on-site assistance for any problem. An overheating laptop that doesn’t improve with simple fixes (like keeping it off of soft or hot surfaces) needs immediate attention before any damage is done to the hardware.