It so often happens that our laptops get very hot, and we can literally feel the heat on our laps. This ultimately leads to the laptop fun spinning at a faster rate to keep the laptop cool. This can be really annoying for some users who want to work in a peaceful environment, but the heat through their body from the laptop along with the fan noise just annoys them to an extent that they start doubting that there is a problem with their laptop when there isn’t necessarily even one.
Laptop getting hot can be for a number of reasons. This article shall guide you on how to prevent your laptop from getting heated up in the first place. If all else fails, then only should you go for repairs.
Why is it important to prevent your laptop from getting over-heated?
First of all, anything which has a battery may explode, because ultimately batteries explode when they are heated enough. This can cause incidents, and people may suffer from burns. Moreover, even if the laptop doesn’t explode but a fiercely hot laptop is sitting on your body for a while, your skin can experience a degree of burn this way too. Moreover, with the laptop getting hot, there are chances that it will fry the processor or the mainboard or even the GPU (if there is one).
This would mean that you would have to spend extra money to replace your laptop components. Also, excessive heat can also damage your laptop hard drive, which can lead to data loss, apart from the fact that you would need to buy a new hard drive too.
Simple ways to prevent your laptop from over-heating
Fan-Check:
Simply check to see if your fan is working properly. You can check manually too, but it would be better if you use diagnostic software to check if the laptop fan is working fine. Don’t remove the laptop casing yet, as it can void the warranty. If the fan isn’t working then get the fan replaced by either the manufacturer if the device is under warranty or from any third party vendor.
Cleaning the Air Vents:
Since air needs to flow in and out through the fan to keep the laptop cool, it is equally important to keep the laptop air vents clean. With time, it is known that dust and debris can accumulate on the laptop, thus leading to reduced air flow. Therefore what you need to do is simply use compressed air to clean the air vents. You might also want to try with a slightly damp cloth to clean the vents. This is likely to increase the airflow.
Check the BIOS setting:
Under BIOS settings there are options to keep your fan always on. In case your laptop heats up frequently, keeping your fan always on might help since it would be constantly helping your laptop cool, instead of just cooling it when it gets heated. Though this might affect your battery life a bit, if you keep your laptop plugged in any way, then it is not a bad idea to enable this option. Though you might need to update your BIOS to the latest version. The latest version might also give a log of your laptop temperatures.
Keep it away from heat sources:
As easy as it may seem, avoid using your laptops in places where it may get extremely hot. For instance, don’t use while under the sun, or when there is a radiator of heat nearby. Perhaps, the thing which can cause many laptop problems is letting your laptop sit in a hot car. Therefore, do not that at all costs. Also, you might want to place your laptop on a cool surface instead of on your laps. This is because our laps are at body temperature that is 37 degrees Celsius. Therefore, your laps might prevent the laptop from cooling off quickly too.
Use a laptop stand:
Laptop stand might help prevent accumulation of heat underneath the laptop. Courtesy the laptop stand, there will be some distance between your laptop and the underlying surface, which would be enough so that heat doesn’t stay there. Courtesy air, heat can flow elsewhere, and that can help laptop to cool off. The stand is basically flat and would have a rather thin surface. Moreover, the legs of the stand will be rather short. You can find some cool laptop stands on Amazon here.
Not only this, but this stand can even be laid out on a flat surface or your lap too. Furthermore, it would not be surprising if the material used to make such stand is made up of aluminum. This is because aluminum is known to act as a heat sink.
Laptop Mat or Pad:
By using a laptop mad or pad, the design can effectively be used as a heat-sink courtesy the heat-related properties of these mats or pads. The laptop mat can prevent heat from getting to your laps thus protecting you from burns. The pads can also have fans built in. This can help remove heat effectively.
Remove any unnecessary software
It is known that with many software installed, there are chances that some of them are unnecessarily running in the background. This can increase the load on your laptop since your processor would have to deal with too many processes all at once. Also, try using the light version of the apps, as heavy apps, like Lightroom and Photoshop require a lot of processing power, thus generating heat.
Check to see if there aren’t any viruses or malware on your PC
It might be possible that your computer might be affected with virus and malware which might be overloading your processor and thus causing it to heat up. Use anti-virus/anti-malware software to clean up any viruses or malware on your PC, or to prevent them from being there in the first place.
Send for repairs..
If all else fails, then there isn’t any other option, but to send your laptops for repairs. Since your laptop might have had a manufacturing fault, you might benefit from warranty offered by your manufacturer. Else, you shall have to spend some cash from your own pocket to get the fan/defected hardware replaced.