Tips on Extending the Life of your Notebook

Good suggestions. I am particularly anal about opening & closing the lid of my Macs as I don't want to wear out the lid mechanism. My 2 Al PBs are in the clam shell mode almost all the time (except for OS update, in which case, I open the lid and take off the firwire drivers before updates). I have kept my 4 year old Ti PB mostly open position (I was able to change the HD by just flipping the PB with the lid open). This is important for Ti PB as many people reported broken hinges.

So far, my iBook is more subject to open and close cycle as I take it out with me on the road a few times a week.

Regarding #4, for some people (a lot of people where I live in NY metro, in my opinion), they are born with stupidity. So, I doubt they can change it. I think it is genetics.

 

Wash the LCD often. Those screens get stained with fingers. My dell laptop was stained and I'm gonna make sure it doesn't happen with my iBook.

 

I don't believe in owning a computer and getting a full enjoyment out of it if I have to be careful how many times I open/close the lid. I paid $1200 for my computer, I should be able to open and close the lid however many darned times I would like. To me, this is a sense of poor quality control. I probably open/close mine about 5 times/day. I opened and closed my iBook G3 500Mhz probably about 25 times/day and I never had a problem for the 5+ years I owned it, so I'm not really worried about opening/closing this one.

 

Not at all! This is ridiculous - you should be able to use your laptop, as the previous poster said, for as long as it has a useful life. It's called being fit for purpose. Don't make excuses for shoddy workmanship, for God's sake, otherwise it'll grow exponentially and become the norm.

 

I'm with you, although I paid $2700 for mine. In the first 3 months, I babied it like you wouldn't believe.

18 months later, I close and open without thinking twice if it gets dusty or not. Everyday I take risks moving my cup of hot coffee over the keyboards ~ will I spill it today? Hmm... let's find out!

And I throw it on my bed from several feet away, because I'm too lazy to take the last extra steps to put it down gently enough.

I am a ruthless person when it comes to taking care of my things.

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​

 

I second that recommendation of adding more RAM. It really does pay off, both right now and in the future when it comes to performance.

I also second that recommendation about calibrating the battery each month. I've killed batteries on other laptops in the past by not doing so because I was using them primarily with AC power. Then when I needed/wanted battery power, it just wasn't available any more. I have learned THAT lesson!

A suggestion I will throw into the pot: if you can afford it, pick up an extra power adapter if you're someone who uses your machine primarily with AC power. Had a dead unusable laptop one time because the battery was defunct thanks to my not being careful about calibrating it regularly and then the power adapter went on the fritz. Ack! Machine was totally useless until I could get ahold of a replacement power adapter, which wasn't easy since by that time the machine was older.

Keeping the machine clean and dust-free is important. If dust gets on the outside, on the LCD screen or on the keyboard, you KNOW it's got to be getting inside as well, and dust is not your computer's friend. I bought the Radtech Screensavrz for my PB's keyboard and I use that when the laptop is closed. Protects the LCD screen from the keyboard and any oiliness from my fingers that might be on the keys. I don't like things like the iSkin so don't have that on my keyboard. Periodically I wipe down both the LCD screen and the keyboard as well as the entire cover with the Screensaverz cloth -- it's soft and does a great job. I also do the same with my iMac, wipe off the LCD screen and the entire machine.

I'm careful with my PB and treat it gently, but I don't worry about how many times I open/close the lid. I do open it and close it with care rather than banging it, of course. When going out with it I use a protective sleeve or I use a protective carrying bag.

OTB

 

They're all good suggestions, however, I think that the hinges are designed to be opened and closed a large number of times, so it's fairly safe to do so (gently ).

 

I don't know if it was just a stroke of bad luck, but my hard drive failed after I started running my powerbook in clamshell mode. Since then, I have avoided it, though I think the failure is not specifically related.

 

Same thinking here. Paid a lot of money for mine and I feel that I should be-able to open and close a "laptop" as many times as I want.

I try to be careful with my PB but, sometimes the unexpected happens such as having it in my bag, not in a protective sleeve, while waking up some concrete stairs and Oops! banged it against a sharp corner.

 

I agree. And if iBook hinges were designed and made properly you could. But they're not, especially when they're overtorqued by Apple - the stiffness off the hinge assembly shortens the life of the polycarbonate 'clutch cover' so that it cracks. Apple call this failing 'Customer Abuse' and deny its their problem. Well, its certainly customer abuse, but not in the sense they mean.

 

There is nothing ruthless about it, it is the same basis behind why owners of new cars will be so obsessive about washing it every now and then... or how owners of new ipods will try to baby it so much... or even how newly married couples just seem more loving compared to a married couple of 20 years with 3 kids.

It's called the novelty factor, once it has worn off and that new item sunk from "new and exciting" into the background of "ordinary" you just tend not to give two hoots about it anymore.

 

Another vote for "open and close as many times as you want." They are laptops, for crying out loud. If they break when you open or close them then you should send it back to Apple and demand a replacement. That's just silly for an expensive laptop.

 

The only thing I'll say about opening and closing is to make sure that you don't do it from a single corner which does put undue stress on the hinges.
If you're opening/closing it one-handed, then do it from the centre.

Otherwise, since most of the 'OMG, my PB is dead' threads involve liquids spilling into or laptops being dropped, I'd say that general common sense is the prime way to extend the life of your 'Book

 

Yeah, I know what you mean. However, I tend to use my PC for like 2 hours straight on purpose so I can feel the "new and exciting" feeling again when I turn around and wake up my iBook. . Oh yeah, and when I turn around and wake it up, I open the lid like a true dare devil would do!

 

Good advice. I hadn't given the 'lid closing' tip much thought. Maybe I'll be more stringent about it now.

Is there ANY solution for problems with the hinges on a Powerbook? Can they be replaced on one's own or is it an Applecare remedy?

Furthermore, this would be a great addition to the Guides section (unless one is already present).

 

I have had hinge problems with my last two notebooks (Inspiron + TiBook). I don't think it's so much a design flaw, as a technical challenge - it's just difficult to make a hinge that works reliably for years. That said, I do expect to be able to open and close my lid as much as I want, and if a hinge fails in the process, I expect Apple to replace it. (Which they did, thanks to Applecare.)

And yes, definitely upgrade the RAM. I used to have a bad habit of buying $2500 computers and then crippling them because I don't put more RAM in. Then I finally upgrade and I'm kicking myself for not doing it the day I bought it. Listen to me now and hear me later, don't wait ten years to correct yourself of this bad habit like I did.

Other notebook tips: Don't ever let it touch anything while you're carrying it in a bag. It will likely scuff and scratch. Also, remember that plugs can bend as laptops move. Shove your laptop aside without thinking, and you could end up bending the power connector, headphone jack, printer ports, etc. My power connector is bent because I moved my laptop carelessly a few months ago. It still works, but its annoying, and it could have been a lot worse.

 

my 5 yr old Titanium Powerbook (Onyx) has recently broken its hinges. The hinge part got too stiff and the metal part just decided to snap. The wires still work, so now it's the world's thinnest desktop computer

Another tip, if your doing tasks like GarageBand or Logic, don't be scared to pay more to get a 7200 rpm HD. If that's not an option, plug one up with FireWire. FW800 is much better than 400. This takes away the annoyance of getting HD read errors while recording.

 

I agree with you here as well. When i first bought my laptop, I got those rubber stickers for the corner of the screen, and a keyboard cloth to stop marks getting on it. Both eventually began to annoy me. I just treated it far too delicately. Obviously it's not like you can throw it about but you should be able to use it within normal operation without it falling apart.

Just make sure it's in a good case when you're travelling.

 

I still use the screen protection cloth every time I close it. I have the iBook, so it already has the rubber nubs on the corner of the screen. I feel for all the screen protection cloth is saving the screen, it's worth the little effort of sticking it in there.

 

A laptop hinge (like the latch) is a mechanical component, and like any mechanical component it will wear out eventually. Obviously, it should be designed and constructed to survive some minimum amount of time, on average, before it fails.

If you buy a car, you can extend the life of the car by accelerating gently, not slamming on the brakes every time, and not riding the clutch. No matter how well engineered and reliable a car is, it will last longer if you drive it gently.