Knowing how to reduce laptop heat will keep your laptop lasting longer. Keeping the internal components of a laptop cool helps the longevity of the components and keeps it performing at it’s best.
A laptop has many components sitting close to each other. This means that if one of them overheats, it’s very likely that
Ways to keep your laptop cooler
By following these recommendations, you can lower the heat inside your laptop and extend the lifespan of it.
1. Make sure it’s on a flat hard surface
Hotter areas under the laptop can cool down better when it’s surrounded by air rather than blankets or clothing.
Keeping your laptop on a flat hard surface helps keep air flowing through the cooling intakes and outlets.
The cooling system usually relies on a blower-style fan(s) that draw air in through a vent, then cools a heatsink, with the hot air exiting the outlet or exhaust vent.
If either of those vents are obstructed, it would impact the cooling capability dramatically.
2. Use a laptop cooler
This is a very effective way to keep your laptop cool, for a low-cost product.
If you are using your laptop for gaming, you will want a cooler that performs well. It will most likely contain multiple cooling fans.
There are laptop coolers available that can cope well with being used on a bed.
This way, you aren’t restricted to using your laptop on a hard flat surface.
I would say that it is almost a must-have for laptop owners.
3. Make sure the air pathways and fan(s) are clean
Over a period of months, dust starts to accumulate in the cooling system. It’s simply the nature of cooling in general. Desktop computers also need to be cleaned and preventative steps can be implemented to keep dust out.
But with a laptop, you are pretty much stuck with the cooling system’s design, and adding filters isn’t an option.
The only thing left to do is to make sure that your laptop is either serviced by a professional every year, or you can try to clean the cooling system yourself.
If you are keen on the second option, you will either need an air compressor or a can of compressed air.
Blow air into any vents that you can see until no more dust is seen coming out of the holes or vents.
Although it is recommended that you have it done professionally, this method can be effective enough to keep your laptop from overheating from clogged vents, fans or heatsinks.
4. Try to avoid direct sunlight on it
Whether you are using it or not, try and keep your laptop out of direct sunlight.
There are small plastic parts inside that can become warped from too much heat.
If you are using your laptop in the sun, it will raise the internal temperature of it.
If it continues to run for hours this way, it can shorten the lifespan of certain parts inside.
Storing your laptop in a hot car can also cause some damage if certain plastic components warp.
5. Make sure the laptop’s fan(s) are working
If you are using your laptop and notice absolute silence (no fan noise), shut it off and have a professional take a look at it.
This means that the cooling fan is either damaged, or some other malfunction is causing your fan not to spin up.
This can cause damage to your laptop and it should be looked at as soon as possible.
If you hear rattling sounds coming from your fan(s), it means that the fan(s) are worn out and need replacing.
Because of the delicate and compact nature of all the internal parts, unless you’ve had laptop repair experience, have a professional replace them.
6. Use software to monitor temperatures and fans
By installing software that can inform you about temperatures of components in your laptop, you can easily keep an eye on crucial component temperatures.
There are several software packages that control fan speeds as well as provide you with temperature information.
On some applications, you will be able to setup fan speed profiles based on temperatures of hardware components.
This way, you can also make sure your fan(s) are doing their job by observing increased fan speed as your internal hardware gets hotter.
7. Is the hardware capable enough?
Having old hardware with a modern operating system and software can be a problem.
If the laptop hardware is old, it will be flat out trying to perform basic tasks. This will inevitably raise the laptop’s temperature.
The CPU will be working hard to keep up and will also be using lots of power from the battery to sustain its operation.
At this point, there aren’t any tricks to get around the problem, a new laptop is the only way out.
I have been down the path many times installing lightweight Linux operating systems to get extra time out of the laptop.
Truthfully, it simply isn’t worth it and I’ve always ended up replacing it anyway.
An external graphics card is an option for gamers who’s internal GPU isn’t up to spec.
Although, depending on your situation, it may be worth it to simply replace the laptop seeing as portability will be affected and considering the cost of an external graphics card setup.
8. Check the BIOS settings
Make sure there no settings that are keeping your fan from performing the way it should.
Check that any fan control settings aren’t set too conservatively which can keep
9. Don’t overload it with too many programs at once
Try and keep the number of programs running down to a minimum.
If you are working in an application and completed a task, consider closing it instead of minimizing it.
This will also free up your laptop’s resources in order to deliver better performance to something you are currently using instead.
Keep the number of tabs open in your browser down to a minimum. It will use less memory and keep your laptop able to deal with other things a bit easier.
10. Check the power settings
In Windows, there are a couple of settings for power management that can help keep your laptop cooler.
- Change the power plan settings to ‘Balanced’.
- Change the ‘System cooling policy’ for ‘Plugged in’ to ‘Active’.
This will help keep your laptop cooler by reducing power to certain internal components when they aren’t being used to a higher potential.
Conclusion
I hope some of these tips have helped you in some way to keep your laptop cooler.
If you aren’t able to get it to run cooler after trying these suggestions, hand it over to a professional to take a look at it.
It could save the lifespan of your laptop and it will be money well spent.
Marlo is a full-time professional computer programmer, electronics engineer and computer technician. Computers are his passion and he loves to help anyone wanting to know more about them.