I have a Dell laptop and want to buy a vacuum. The keyboard gets dust and shmootz plus I'd like to open it up and clean inside.
I am debating between USB (my preference) or battery (need lots of batteries for power).
I want a little portable unit, nothing to use on my carpeting, too.
Recommendations?
I have no particular recommendation in mind, but if you do buy a vacuum to clean your computer, make sure that it, and its attachments, are ESD safe. Normal vacuums are not static friendly and can do a lot of damage to a computer.
The preferred way to clean a computer is with compressed air. A couple of cans of it is certainly less expensive than an ESD safe vacuum.
Just my $ 0.02.
Hi Pinkipad, hope you are well at the moment. I had an experience very like your own some years ago, lost much of my childhood memories.
I would not use a vacuum on your laptop. An Airblaster can and a very fine brush should do it, but first of course switch off and totally disconnect the lappy.
Put a couple of sheets of white paper - I use A4 copy paper - on a flat surface and turn the lappy upside down over the paper, open with keyboard exposed. GENTLY tap the bottom of the keyboard with the palm of your hand, side to side. Watch all the crud fall out onto the paper! (Might be a few insects there) If you are confident with taking your lappy apart, move on to the areas where the dust lies and blow it out with the Airblaster. Rebuild the Lappy, bin the dust and return to the Keyboard. Use the fine brush to clean between the keys, repeat the inverted laptop routine and you should have a clean machine. I use screen cleaner spray or spectacle cleaner, to clean the screen and the surfaces. Use a soft, dry cloth to finish.
We have a HP Dv7, 4 years old, and I do all this about twice a year, although I never have to take the thing apart. It's the wife's laptop and she has always used an inclined laptop rest, up on a hard surface, and it never seems to attract dust inside. I personally believe that the name "laptop" should be abolished and rename with some other title that people would not see it as being OK to use on a lap. I have actually had to strip, clean out and reinstall Windows and all drivers in a heavily choked and overheated laptop after a lady across the street used it for 2 years on top of 2 folded tablecloths, close to the floor. It was full of dust and carpet fibres.
Ordinary desktop keyboard have caps on the keys that can be removed with a little tool---you just pop them off like opening a Coke bottle with a bottle opener.
That exposes more of the innards so you can better get at the underlying grime.
I don't know if laptop keyboards have similar removable caps or if you want to go that much trouble, but the tool would be cheaper than any vacuum.
Thanks, all. I forgot about canned air. I've never used a vacuum but knew the keyboard looked dusty. I use my laptop only ten hours a week, otherwise it's closed and locked up.
I use eyeglass spray on my iPad screen and laptop screen. They gave me several bottles with my $700 glasses. They gave one but I asked for more since I spent so much on one pair. I should have asked for a case!
I just looked up the canned air on Amazon, where I buy my stuff generally. $10 a can? Price of air went up... Any suggestions for cheaper and free shipping!? It's cheaper to buy six but two will be enough.
Bertillon, thanks. I'm still stuck in the nursing home, needing care. The amnesia hurts more than the physical issues. I used to code my own websites and began writing plugins for WordPress. Today html is equal to learning Russian. Six years ago I made my own banners. Now I can't even code placement of a banner without looking it up every time.
It's frustrating as hell but after four years in a coma, this is preferable.
Seven hundred dollar glasses ? Holy cow . I have cleaned the inside of my computer with electronic cleaner which is safe for plastics .
It's a relatively powerful spray and after i open it i just tilt the laptop up a bit and spray wide swaths that rinse out the other side , bet it's not recommended but it has worked flawlessly for me .
Got rid of all contaminants and dust inside and dried very quickly.
I've used this stuff and it's not bad. It's made for computers and electronics and is cheaper than the outlet stores. And shipping is included.
http://www.costco.com/Dust-Off-Compr....11591333.html
You can get two cans at Staples for under $10.
I have a question: What do others do to avoid the can freezing up so cold it hurts your hands and stops spraying until it warms back up? I've tried not shaking it, not tilting it, short bursts, everything. This vexes me.
I've never had a problem with freeze up, but I know what you mean about the cold hands. I've learned to hold the can with only my thumb and middle finger around the very top of the can, with my index finger on the trigger/nozzle. It still gets cold, but you can spray longer without pain.
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