Recommendations For Clean Computer

[PinkiPad]

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?

 

[Mellon Head]

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.

 

[Bertison]

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.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

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.

 

[PinkiPad]

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.

 

[jonnyhillow]

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.

 

[Mellon Head]

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.

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-Compressed-Gas-Duster.product.11591333.html

 

[gregrocker]

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.

 

[Mellon Head]

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.

 

[mrsnakeman]

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.

Have you tried wearing a pair of gloves? Works for me.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I use a Metro DataVac. I prefer to remove dust not just relocate it. With 4 PC's, 2 LT's and 2 tablets I was using a lot of canned air, the DataVac does both vacuum and blow, it paid for it's self in less than a year.

 

[Mellon Head]

That's a nice little unit. I assume that it's ESD safe seeing how it's marketed for computers. I might just have to get one for the lab at work.

 

[gregrocker]

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.

Have you tried wearing a pair of gloves? Works for me.

The problem is more that the air stops working, not that it freezes the hands. I wondered why.

Does it freeze up the nozzle?

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Even better than canned air is a DataVac duster.



Despite the name, it is a powerful blower that will run circles around any can of canned "air" (actually, a canned gas that can be really nasty). It can be held at any angle with worry of super cold liquid spraying out, ruining whatever you are spraying and will not lose pressure as you use it. Even thought the initial cost seems steep, in the long run, it will pay for itself from the savings from unpurchased cans of "air". The only disadvantage is it runs on 120v (240v models are available) but the advantages more than outweigh that disadvantage; at least it comes with a long power cord.

I've had mine almost two years and still love it!

 

[Bertison]

Greetings from the overpriced UK, dear Lady, but whilst that is only $59.98 in the USA, over here in Amazon UK it is a whopping £98.

Not your fault I know, but that is how we suffer over here. Even if I ordered from Amazon USA, the Import Duties would bring it up to around £100. Now, at the current rate pf exchange, these are the figures: -

$59.98 = £35.54 £98 = $166.31.:shock:

The Special Relationship apparently does not apply to price equivalents.

And I would really have liked to buy that, looks good and will outlast many, many cans of air.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Greetings from the overpriced UK, dear Lady, but whilst that is only $59.98 in the USA, over here in Amazon UK it is a whopping £98.

Not your fault I know, but that is how we suffer over here. Even if I ordered from Amazon USA, the Import Duties would bring it up to around £100. Now, at the current rate pf exchange, these are the figures: -

$59.98 = £35.54 £98 = $166.31.:shock:

The Special Relationship apparently does not apply to price equivalents.

And I would really have liked to buy that, looks good and will outlast many, many cans of air.

Even though it costs more over on your side of the pond, something like this is a long term investment and should still pay for itself, albeit taking longer, unless you use very few cans of canned "air".

 

[Bertison]

Lady F, I don't use more than one can of air in 6 months, and I am a Senior on a low income, so the product would represent an unnecessary purchase for me. Still is an economic purchase though, for anyone who uses lots of canned air, you are correct in that assumption. If I was a System Builder, I would certainly buy it. I only build and repair for family and friends. (And sometimes that's quite enough!)

I do have a 'hand held' vacuum, which is quite powerful, plus fine nozzle attachments which I use carefully.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Lady F, I don't use more than one can of air in 6 months, and I am a Senior on a low income, so the product would represent an unnecessary purchase for me. Still is an economic purchase though, for anyone who uses lots of canned air, you are correct in that assumption. If I was a System Builder, I would certainly buy it. I only build and repair for family and friends. (And sometimes that's quite enough!)

I do have a 'hand held' vacuum, which is quite powerful, plus fine nozzle attachments which I use carefully.

You are correct; the price of one can only every six months will take a long time to amortize the cost of the DataVac. I live in a very dusty climate, however and could easily go through one or more cans a month.

One thing, though. The DataVac is a blower, not a vacuum. Unless you are using your vacuum as a blower, you are risking generating ESD that can fry computer components. I use a rechargeable battery operated vacuum to clean the exterior of my computer and the outside of the filters but never on the inside.