Clean Out The Dust

For Cool, Quiet, Operation


If you read a lot of tech sites and computer forums, like I do, you will have come across a few recent articles on restoring laptops to their cooler, quieter, original operating condition.

These articles have a whole lot of removing/repainting heat-sink putty on your processor and other stuff that appeals to obsessive compulsive types, but one thing they all include is, dust removal.

Inside laptops, especially MacBooks, there are micro corridors for air to flow through and cool the components. The tolerances are varied and designed to maximize the speed and efficiency of the airflow from intakes to exhaust.

Dust will restrict the openings and space over which the air must travel to keep the components at optimum operating temperatures. This causes overheating and increased wear on the electronics.

The hotter the processor, the faster, and harder, the fan must work. The harder it works the louder it gets and that indicates less efficient cooling.

I have had my MacBook shutdown a couple of times in the past month. It did this to prevent overheating of the processor and other components. Tonight, I opened up the back and cleaned out what dust I could with a soft cloth and q-tips.

It made a difference. It is running quieter and cooler as I write this. It will likely get warm, and the fan will spin faster when I do some processor intensive activities, (like producing HD videos, editing high quality audio tracks, or multi-tasking graphic design and photo effects programs),  but I expect it won’t be as bad as it was.

Now let’s produce a video with the timelapse footage I took while dusting and see if it still overheats...

Today’s Cool Video;



A Matter Of Degrees