Worth having cleaned?

[Squirrelflight]

So my warranty is still up. I had to get a new charger recently and while there they told my parents who went to pick it up they could clean out my laptop for me. My parents will pay, but they said it's good to give it a cleaning. They will clean the system and clean the fans and all that. They said to back everything up just in case.

Having owned my laptop for 2 years, it's still very fast. However I do notice it overheats quicker when on certain websites.

So just wanna ask - is it worth having them clean it? They'll have to send it out and it could take a week or two. I have another computer so I'll be okay but is it worth it? Best Buy is doing it, if that helps.

 

[Mrbobb]

Dunno. Sounds like a gimmick. If they throw in a new fan I'd do it.

 

[ideal.dreams]

I had a 17" MacBook Pro for 4 years and just recently took it apart to install more RAM. There was BARELY any dust on the inside and the fans were still 95% clear. I don't think it's worth it since your MBP is only 2 years old, but it's up to you.

If you really want to have it "clean", do it yourself...take off the back cover and GENTLY clean it. Use compressed air or a vacuum of some sort, but make sure to be gentle. This way you don't have to send it out and can know first hand what kind of shape it's really in.

 

[GGJstudios]

So my warranty is still up. I had to get a new charger recently and while there they told my parents who went to pick it up they could clean out my laptop for me.

Like ideal.dreams, I recently opened my non-unibody MBP after 4+ years of intensive use and travel. There was barely any dust inside... certainly not enough to affect performance or temps. Unless you routinely work in a dust storm, cleaning it would be a waste of time.

However I do notice it overheats quicker when on certain websites.

That likely has to do with the content of those sites. For example, sites with Flash content can place a higher demand on your system, driving up temps and fan speeds.

 

[Mrbobb]

However I do notice it overheats quicker when on certain websites.

Is a conspiracy.

Vendors sell us expensive hardware upgrades, websites make their pages more complicated requiring further horsepower - vicious cycle repeats. Wallets suffer.

 

[Queen6]

Entirely depends on your environment, i have lived and worked in areas with fine dust and high ambient temperatures, after a couple of years dust etc does accumulate, and eventually the fans failed on my Early 2008 15" MBP (2.4 Penryn). If you observe dust in your living/schooling environment, run a lot of intense apps and the fans spin up regularly to high rpm`s, does your Mac show any indication of running hot: if so i would say yes it`s worth it.

Those who are arbitrarily reject this need to consider more than there own environment, as with many things in life all is not equal...

BTW, dont use compressed/canned air on your Mac, the fans are very delicate and the air blast can damage them, it`s fine if you have the knowledge and technique.

 

[Squirrelflight]

Hmm you all make some good points! I called and asked Best Buy some questions and it does seem like a lot of trouble - even for the cleaning they likely wipe away everything on your mac. I can back stuff up and put my stuff on memory sticks but still it's kinda of a pain. If my parents are willing to pay I'd be tempted to do it...but ugh it seems like a bother to lose it that long, and it does seem kinda of like a scam but other people have said getting a cleaning really helped. Hmmm..

 

[Queen6]

Hmm you all make some good points! I called and asked Best Buy some questions and it does seem like a lot of trouble - even for the cleaning they likely wipe away everything on your mac. I can back stuff up and put my stuff on memory sticks but still it's kinda of a pain. If my parents are willing to pay I'd be tempted to do it...but ugh it seems like a bother to lose it that long, and it does seem kinda of like a scam but other people have said getting a cleaning really helped. Hmmm..

I don't see any reason why you will loose your data, you want them to "physically" clean the machine. They have no reason to access your data. You can achieve this by opening a guest account so the tech can check the functionality of the system afterwards. All companies want to cover themselves in the event of data loss.

To me the wires are definitely crossed, from your description BestBuy are offering to clean up your hard drive which i would not recommend unless you are 100% backed up. You can always ask them to clarify exactly what they plan to due for "cleaning" better still speak with Apple OS X rarely needs attention by the average user, or the Geek Squad

 

[Mrbobb]

I don't see any reason why you will loose your data

Because I used to work in tech support...

Is a SAFEGUARD. Most likely it'd be OK, but &^@($ happens, things get dropped, and wrong power connector blah-blah and we'd hate to lose your irreplaceable wedding pictures, not to mention u'd be high-hell mad and we like to keep dramas to a minimum.

 

[ideal.dreams]

Personally, I wouldn't let Best Buy come within a thousand feet of my rMBP...they're ripoff artists. The geek squad is a joke. You have to pay out the ass for debug information and then to have them fix the issue it will cost you a second mortgage on your house. How much are they charging you (or rather your parents) to "clean" it?

Honestly, if you think the inside is that dirty, then clean it yourself! It takes a minute to get the back off, 3-5 minutes to blow away the [small] amount of dust that will be there, and then another minute to put the back back on.

A 10 minute job certainly sounds better to me than sending my computer away for two weeks at the risk of data loss...but that's just me.