advice for preserving macbook

[RSedan]

i bought my macbook brand new from the apple store in march 2009. i'm starting to worry because i know it won't be perfect forever. what can i do to preserve the life of my beloved macbook? i hardly even use it for anything other than web browsing and iphoto. any suggestions are appreciated.

i remember on my family's PC we used to do a Disk Cleanup like every single day. i just want to know what i can do to make this thing last as long as possible.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Backup your data, backup your data and backup your data.

As for "cleaning":

Articles explaining why Mac OS X does not need maintenance software like CCleaner, MacKeeper or CleanMyMac:

• Five Mac maintenance myths
  [*]The myth of the dirty Mac

As for battery:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ by GGJstudios​

As for performance:

If you want to enhance the performance of your Mac, be sure to check these two articles, do not just use applications, that promise to do it for you.

• Performance Tips For Mac OS X
• Mac Performance Guide

As for the rest: Just use it, and back your data up.

 

[RSedan]

Backup your data, backup your data and backup your data.

As for "cleaning":

Articles explaining why Mac OS X does not need maintenance software like CCleaner, MacKeeper or CleanMyMac:

• Five Mac maintenance myths
  [*]The myth of the dirty Mac

As for battery:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ by GGJstudios​

As for performance:

If you want to enhance the performance of your Mac, be sure to check these two articles, do not just use applications, that promise to do it for you.

• Performance Tips For Mac OS X
• Mac Performance Guide

As for the rest: Just use it, and back your data up.

awesome, thanks!! what's the best way to back up my data though? i'm such a n00b. i thought i knew more than i actually do.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

awesome, thanks!! what's the best way to back up my data though? i'm such a n00b. i thought i knew more than i actually do.

It depends on how much data you have (in GigaBytes). As you have photos, you probably should use one or two external HDDs and use Time Machine to backup to one HDD and use CarbonCopyCloner (version 3.4.7 is still free) to clone the Time Machine HDD to the second HDD, if your photos are worth it.

I have one 500 GB HDD for my photographs (digital and analog) libraries and editing documents, one 500 GB HDD with my personal video footage in an editing friendly format.
Both 500 GB HDDs get backed up to one 1 TB HDD via CarbonCopyCloner.
And that 1 TB HDD gets backed up to another 1 TB HDD via CarbonCopyCloner.
Therefore I have three copies of my important data.

 

[seveej]

i bought my macbook brand new from the apple store in march 2009. i'm starting to worry because i know it won't be perfect forever. what can i do to preserve the life of my beloved macbook? i hardly even use it for anything other than web browsing and iphoto. any suggestions are appreciated.

i remember on my family's PC we used to do a Disk Cleanup like every single day. i just want to know what i can do to make this thing last as long as possible.

Besides what has already been mentioned, the most important advice I can give is: Don't drop it, don't throw it around, keep it away from liquids etc.

RGDS,