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

[Sinfonist]

When I cracked open my 2012 Mac mini to upgrade the memory last year (first time ever), there was a very thin layer of dust on some of the components (barely visible). I was expecting to see the same horror story as your laptop (it lives under the desk in my study, and the environment must be dusty!). I cleaned it out anyway, of course, but I was pleasantly surprised.

On the counter-side, I once drowned a MacBook - spilt some coffee over the screen and the fan sucked it in - the insides were pretty unpleasant after that (including visible holes in the SSD chips!).

 

[diggy33]

In the years I worked on the Help Desk at my company, I saw this way too often. Its one of the reasons why early in my career I started wearing nitrile gloves when dealing with a users machine.

 

[sgtaylor5]

… then there was the time I had to remove and replace a floppy drive because it was totally full of cat hair. (The lady who owned the desktop also had three long-haired cats.) Oh, and desktops used on farms usually have a lot of dirt in them, too.

One of my friends gave me a reverse vacuum cleaner, an air blower, so I wouldn’t have to spend so much on canned air. That really helped over the years.

 

[ilikewhey]

don't forget to place the TIM, when i cleaned mine the paste was like chalk at that point.