basics of taking care of a laptop?

[KayC]

Hey guys i was wondering what are the basics of taking care of a laptop? Like how to take care of battery, and also the internals. Thanks mucho

[Cin']

This is helpful regarding batteries

Notebook Battery Guide

[Gamer872]

Compressed air, soft anti-static cloth, and keep the battery charged at 40%. Those are the basics.

[The Garfield]

A soft micro-fiber cloth, and a bottle of compressed air for cleaning out the fan and the dust that stores over time in your computer.

As well as occasionally unplugging the computer from the charger.

[KayC]

Okay and also should i let it sleep overnight or hibernate? Also do i let it plugged in the charger while i am on the laptop or plug it out and charge it once it hits around 20 percent?

[sgogeta4]

It depends on your usage habits. I always leave the battery in while plugged in as the battery acts as an UPS (uninterruptible power supply) so if there is a power failure, I don't lose my work if anything happens. I try to use my battery without power at least twice a week, generally draining it until around 15% (my low battery warning) before plugging it back in to charge. At night, I just shut down my laptop if I'm not downloading or doing something that requires me to leave it on overnight.

[KayC]

Okay i will do that and also i thought it was bad to shut down your computer everyday?

[JOSEA]

Good Q KayC, I personally always shutdown my ASUS at end of day, because I sometimes I go 3 or 4 days when I use my dell only.
If I only had one machine without an SSD I would use hibernate.
Shut Down or Hibernate? - Page 2 - Windows 7 Forums

[HottSushiz]

Sorry for hijacking your thread but quick question.

I leave the battery out of my laptop and the guide says its recommended to keep it at 40% but i notice that the battery discharges around 1-3% of the remaining life left every 2 or so days. Do i just charge it back to 40% when it goes down? Won't that waste a charge cycle? thanks in advance.

[The Garfield]

Originally Posted by KayC

Okay and also should i let it sleep overnight or hibernate? Also do i let it plugged in the charger while i am on the laptop or plug it out and charge it once it hits around 20 percent?

Sleep overnight. Generally, if you don't need the battery, don't use it. However, I recommend using the computer on battery mode every single month at least once.