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This is how dirty a regular MBP can get inside... (Graphic images)

R

R.T.J.

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Original poster
Jun 3, 2021
82
96
This is my 2014 15" MBP.

I use it in my room and sometimes at the office. It usually lays on my bed. I do not have dogs, cats and I clean my apartment to the point I walk barefoot to check nothing sticks on my feet and use white socks to check the floor is spotless. So I bought new batteries for my MBP and when I opened it I found this... WTF!!!!!

I ended up literally cleaning the button with a hose. The MBP ended up looking brand new and it never overheated again, no more fan noise and I still doing 4K video editing with it. I changed the thermal paste as well. I spent a week cleaning it up.

So, for you to see the amount of garbage MBP collects inside no matter what. The fans were blocked by dust. Most of the dust I can tell is from my bedsheets/ cotton.

Enjoy.


mbp dust.jpeg
 
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Well, my day is ruined. Thanks


Just kidding haha. But seriously, that is...ridiculous. I wish Apple could introduce a seal or something to help prevent dust buildup.

I want to open mine to clean but am scared I will break it.

I have a 2019 15" MacBook Pro. Not sure if it needs to be cleaned now or it can wait
 
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Hieveryone said:
Well, my day is ruined. Thanks


Just kidding haha. But seriously, that is...ridiculous. I wish Apple could introduce a seal or something to help prevent dust buildup.

I want to open mine to clean but am scared I will break it.

I have a 2019 15" MacBook Pro. Not sure if it needs to be cleaned now or it can wait
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There is no problem with opening it. Take a look at iFix tutorials first and buy their tools. If your fans start to run and the computer gets hot... it may be dust for sure.
 
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You must have improved the performance by 10-15% at least with all that dust buildup. Did you notice it running better and/or cooler? A can of compressed air every couple of years is probably a good idea.
 
Madhatter32 said:
You must have improved the performance by 10-15% at least with all that dust buildup. Did you notice it running better and/or cooler? A can of compressed air every couple of years is probably a good idea.
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I did that repair a few months ago and the computer used to run hot and the fans working fulls speed, since then I haven't heard the fans ever again.
 
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I run five standalone HEPA filters in my house and it has cut down on dust and pollen in the house considerably. There's a HEPA filter in our HVAC as well but the filters are more porous to allow good airflow. It also helps to vacuum regularly, particularly with vacuum cleaners with HEPA filters.
 
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Hopefully in time Apple Silicon and production advancements will make fans unnecessary across the whole lineup... I guess we're still a way off that yet, but 10 years hence?
 
Falhófnir said:
Hopefully in time Apple Silicon and production advancements will make fans unnecessary across the whole lineup... I guess we're still a way off that yet, but 10 years hence?
Click to expand...

I had the batteries replaced in May by Apple. I hope they cleaned things up in there.
 
pshufd said:
I had the batteries replaced in May by Apple. I hope they cleaned things up in there.
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Battery replacements often mean a whole new top case, so it could be a factory new unit apart from the display and logic board...
 
Falhófnir said:
Battery replacements often mean a whole new top case, so it could be a factory new unit apart from the display and logic board...
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Yup. The cost was $200 per machine so they replaced the top case. I just hope that they blew air through the fan(s) and in other nooks and crannies.
 
Do you leave your computer running while it is lying on the bed? I know that my bed top accumulates tons of dust just from the breakdown of the fibers. If you do run it directly on the bed rather than on some hard surface above the bed, then the dust buildup might come back pretty quickly.
 
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rgarjr said:
I run my 15” MBP on top of my bed and don’t see much dust whenever I pop the lid off.
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I suppose it can vary depending on the materials of your blanket or comforter.

Certainly if you are laying your laptop directly on a fluffy surface, the outlets for airflow can get covered. The advantage of that is that limited airflow would limit the amount of dust getting in. The disadvantage would be ...
 
I bought a M1 MBA mainly because of passive cooling. But even my older machines with fan never got so dirty inside (dirty, but not THAT dirty).
 
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Yarp, that's pretty dirty. Not trying to one up you, but as a former computer tech, I've seen worse. I'm sure anyone who's done computer repair have seen worse as well.

I can only assume the fan is blowing a lot for that much dust to be pulled in through various cracks/slits in the case. Obviously it doesn't come in through the fan vent. [Nerd Rant]🤓Unlike Star Wars, exhaust vents blows stuff out, not suck them in. How the hail did Luke shoot 2 proton torpedoes into the exhaust vent of the Death Star and not have it blown back out by the exhaust gas?🤓🤓[/Nerd Rant]

Makes me wondering about the of work environment where you're using your computer. You're breathing in those dust particles as well.:oops:
 
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Mousse said:
Yarp, that's pretty dirty. Not trying to one up you, but as a former computer tech, I've seen worse. I'm sure anyone who's done computer repair have seen worse as well.

I can only assume the fan is blowing a lot for that much dust to be pulled in through various cracks/slits in the case. Obviously it doesn't come in through the fan vent. [Nerd Rant]🤓Unlike Star Wars, exhaust vents blows stuff out, not suck them in. How the hail did Luke shoot 2 proton torpedoes into the exhaust vent of the Death Star and not have it blown back out by the exhaust gas?🤓🤓[/Nerd Rant]

Makes me wondering about the of work environment where you're using your computer. You're breathing in those dust particles as well.:oops:
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No, a regular apartment without carpet in Miami. I do not smoke or anything. The computer is from 2014, I assume that after 6 years that should be the normal accumulation of dust because I do not take it around that much. I am 46. So it makes me think that the average computer should have at least the same amount of dust inside.
 
If that is the first time you have opened the 2014 Mac, it doesn't look outrageous to me. In fact, it looks how I would have expected it to, even though you keep your place clean. Unless you use a lot of Heppa filtration, devices get a lot dirtier than most people think even with keeping the room clean as one normally would.
 
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R.T.J. said:
No, a regular apartment without carpet in Miami. I do not smoke or anything. The computer is from 2014, I assume that after 6 years that should be the normal accumulation of dust because I do not take it around that much. I am 46. So it makes me think that the average computer should have at least the same amount of dust inside.
Click to expand...

That would be true if the average computer is being run lying on a bed or close to the surface of the bed. That is a dusty spot. You did say that most of the dust is from your "bedsheets / cotton".

In the past I have reprimanded my daughter for running her computer with it lying on the bed. I'd come into her room to hear her computer fans just screaming! I hadn't really considered to additional negatives of close proximity to a dusty surface.

This is also a common problem with computers running on carpets.
 
Do you know what the major component of dust is? Human skin flakes. Sitting on your bed is a prime spot to pick that up.
 
Going back twenty some years now, but I used to install cable modems for the local cable company, and at that time there was a good chance your computer didn't come with a network card, USB network interfaces were spotty at best, and since the cable company was paying for the cards, we had a bunch of ISA/PCI cards to get installed on people's computers.

Smoking is by far the worst. Swear I could take a teaspoon and mock use it like a shovel on some people's motherboards and power supplies.
 
jicon said:
Going back twenty some years now, but I used to install cable modems for the local cable company, and at that time there was a good chance your computer didn't come with a network card, USB network interfaces were spotty at best, and since the cable company was paying for the cards, we had a bunch of ISA/PCI cards to get installed on people's computers.

Smoking is by far the worst. Swear I could take a teaspoon and mock use it like a shovel on some people's motherboards and power supplies.
Click to expand...

A question I always ask when looking at a used system.
 
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