How to extend the life of your laptop?

When you need to delay buying a new laptop because your money doesn't allow it or you just want to save money, minimize e-waste or you're not sure about the need for an upgrade, you can do it now. is finding ways to extend the life of your current laptop.

Limiting laptop life is similar to a human's life span: Partly based on its habits and behavior, partly depending on luck. There is no guarantee that you will treat it nicely and that it 'lives' and no one is sure that you throw it away and it will be damaged soon. But if you notice your usage behavior and are often concerned about your laptop, you'll have the opportunity to use it longer than you think.

Here are some tips to help you extend the life of your laptop.

The number one priority is to back up the data on your computer. Because the habit is, the longer you use the computer, the more 'irreplaceable' files you have accumulated, the more likely it is that a computer will 'suddenly' die at any time. So, before doing anything with your computer, clean and create at least one backup of important data to the cloud or to an external hard drive.

Pay a little attention to the habit of using and preserving it. For example, don't let your cute cat curl up on the keyboard just because you pet it, remember that cat fur can destroy the 'butterfly' keyboard of your expensive MacBooks.

- Do not throw it in direct sunlight

- Keep it out of reach of animals and children. If there is a sudden departure from the desk, push it a bit deeper inside or fold the screen down partially to protect the keyboard and mouse pad.

- Do not leave it in places prone to falling like edge of table, edge of chair .

- Do not eat or drink when handling it, especially with debris-prone foods that fall easily and fall into the keyboard slots.

- Wash your hands before and after using the laptop keyboard.

- If you use it sparingly, store it in the least accessible places.

- When turned on or in sleep mode, do not use cloth or anything covered on it because by default this mode is still 'awake' to wait for reactivation and ready to work, not to mention Microsoft will silently wake it up for security updates, very easy to heat up.

- Do not plug in the charger 24/7. While plug-and-play charging may not cause a problem, unplugging it can help you spot battery or electrical system problems.

- Do not smoke while working or near a computer, ashes easily damage your computer.

In addition, you should also periodically check your charger, especially if you have pets in the house as they can scratch or bite off cables without your knowledge.

We do not have the habit of maintaining computers at a basic level, especially when you use the laptop daily. Often you only notice it being too dirty to bring it to public places and embarrass you or when it is damaged. Therefore, take a little time to pay attention to the keyboard surface, key leaks, speakers, hinges, connectors, heat sinks and screens can save you some time. Useless time to fix trifles with your computer.

Even if there's no problem damaging your system, don't wait for those 'debris' to accumulate for so long that it's almost impossible to remove it from your device. Fan cooling is very important, so you need to pay attention to hygiene to help it ventilation.

Check the applications and files, as well as the programs or services that launch when you turn on your computer, from time to time. If you find things you no longer need or don't need to start daily, disable the launch feature every time you start your computer or remove it. That will reduce useless resources and the amount of heat generated unnecessary to maintain it.

At some point, you may feel like this approach no longer works. That's when you should consider erasing all the installed data by reinstalling the operating system 'clean' and 'refreshing' your computer again. But you need to consider carefully because some of the applications you will have to buy back or some difficult to set up as old.

It's software, what about hardware? Apart from the upgrade, the laptop's hardware is still quite 'rigid'. There's no way to make your trackpad smoother or bigger, there's no way your 4-5-year-old computer can fight heavy 2020 games at 4K resolution. But one exception is battery life: Changing software settings can partly help change your battery life.

You can use external accessories such as a separate keyboard or mouse and even a separate monitor to reduce wear and tear on parts of your computer. In addition, more importantly, they increase the value of your computer, such as an external keyboard and bluetooth mouse to help you type faster, an external display to help you work more comfortably due to the size expansion. , especially when you work from home. But if your job is simple, turn on your laptop and work without the need for external devices that are cumbersome and costly and time-consuming to set up.

If you are constantly moving between laptop and desktop, you should use dock or hub for external devices to avoid wear out of connecting ports due to continuous unplugging. Besides, the dock and the hub will add ports. It is also a significant benefit in extending equipment life.

Hardware upgrades always require additional costs, so this is a step that you should only consider after 'running out'. However, there are minor upgrades that will make a big difference, including priorities including RAM upgrades, SSD storage and even battery replacement. However, consider carefully and use it to the limit because discrete upgrades themselves are often more expensive if you later change your mind and switch to buying a new laptop because those upgrades do not satisfy you.

But among the performance-enhancing upgrades, upgrading the storage (if you're using a traditional HDD) to an SSD is a worthwhile upgrade, in addition to adding RAM. Because SSD has fast access speed and minimizes the power consumption on mechanical components, as well as minimizes the damage caused by mechanical readers that cause shocking impacts to the computer.

There are also a number of other expensive upgrades that can help you 'refresh' your laptop, for example, you can add an external graphics card (eGPU) via a protocol connected to the Thunderbolt 3 port for gaming.

Additionally, you can switch to or upgrade to a new operating system to take advantage and improve the performance of your device. Some computers will run more smoothly on Windows 10 or when you switch to install Chrome OS or MacOS. In general, limit use of older versions of the operating system because they lack security updates (exposing your laptop to malicious code that reduces performance and security) and cause unwanted errors.