Living in the north presents a whole new range of problems that people living down south.
I have done computer work all over the world and the problems users in Townsville have compared to most places are significantly different and ones computer manufactures ignore because most of the word lives in the cool.
When it comes to desktop computers there is one big difference I see in the North of Australia than the south and that is motherboards.
Motherboards are fickle devices; extremely technical, very intelligent and high sensitive.
A little bit of heat and not only does it make your computer run slow, in a lot of cases they destroy quite easy and basically melt. If you have a look at a motherboard close up they are thousands of tiny lines and parts, which are very small and susceptible to hear and climate.
Cool and Clean go hand in hand
Because laptops are quite small and don’t have a lot of wiggle room in them it is even more important to keep them clean.
Because laptops reply on air flow to keep their components cool, as soon as those air ducts and fans get too dirty and clogged up, the laptops become even hotter than if the fans where not working at all. They become a microwave and we all know what happens to sensitive equipment when it gets too hot!
So keeping your laptop clean and working in a dust free environment is very important to the over all health of your laptop.
Why you should keep your laptop cool
It is vital for your laptop to stay cool, not only for the survival of its parts but also for the integrity of your data installed on your hard drive.
If your hard drive inside your laptop over heats you can loose all the data inside of it Eg. Pictures, Tax information, Videos, Music, eMails etc.
Back in 2006 there was a lot of press about laptops over heating and catching fire. It does happen, but not a lot and I have personally never seen it.
So with so much emphasis in keeping your laptop running cool, specially in the North Queensland heat, what can you do to keep your laptop cooler?
How to keep your laptop cool
Some of these suggestions might be too far fetched. it really depends on the individual and lifestyle.
Chill Mat
A chill mat is a mat which sits under your computer and plugs into the wall to keep your computer cool.
Most chill mats will have USB support for you to plug your usb’s in and because it sits under your laptop it is better to but one which sits on an angle so it doesn’t effect how you type.
Air-Conditioning
I know what your thinking and you are right. Who can afford to leave the air conditioning on 24 hours a day just to keep your laptop cool?
But I am not suggesting that. Your laptop will run a lot hotter when you are using it. So if you are in a hot environment, turn the aircon on when using your laptop so the air it sucks in when working hard will keep it much cooler.
Stop Over Clocking
Over clocking is when you push your computer to over perform with the help of some tweaks to the physical components.
This is very popular with computer gamers and people who wish to get the most out of their computer equipments but greatly increase the heat of the computer because it has to over work and over perform. Stop it!
Get a program which monitors your laptops heat
If you have a laptop, depending on your manufacturer, you will probably already have a temperature gauging software on your computer.
If you don’t you might be able to download it from your manufactures website or buy one online.
Keeping a close eye on the heat of particular components on your computer will give you the opportunity to turn your computer down or stop using it when it gets to hot to prevent damage.
Allow airflow under your laptop
Allow the air flow under your laptop can greatly reduce the amount of heat on your machine.
It sounds counter productive to keep your laptop off your lap, but using your laptop on a table and if possible on an angle raised at the back can keep the laptop a whole lot cooler.
