Overheating in laptops is a common phenomenon that numerous laptop owners have experienced at one point or the other. In most instances, laptops overheat because their huge processing powers and storage are compressed into little spaces. Consequently, using your laptop for high-powered operations, such as playing video games, streaming TV shows, etc., can cause its temperature to increase substantially.
While your laptop has an internal fan that works to cool every increase in temperature, it is not always effective. As such, your device can still get too hot and malfunction.
If you feel your laptop getting hot, react quickly. If you fail to do so, your device can begin to suffer permanent damages. Things can be as bad as it catching fire or burning you.
Some of the signs to watch out for to detect an overheating laptop are:
- Your programs and applications start to freeze
- Accessories like mouse or keyboard stops responding
- The device completely shuts down without coming on for several minutes
- The laptop takes a longer time to perform basic tasks
- Error messages that warn you about your laptops condition starts to pop up
- And of course, the heat coming out of your laptop.
Tips to Prevent Your Laptop from Overheating
There are different measures you can employ to ensure that your laptop doesn’t overheat. These include:
Elevating Your Laptop
You can raise your laptop and placing it on a book, desk, straight and hard surface or simply over turning it while the lid is shut.
Control Fan Speed
When your laptop’s processing unit works hard, the laptop usually overheats. Also, when there is constant airflow within your laptop, your fan would not work at full speed. You can control your fan speed by installing programs like SpeedFan on your computer.
Avoid High-Powered Programs
Overheating can be caused by conducting high-powered operations. By avoiding these on your device, you are sure to keep it cool. For instance, using browsers that require program flash will subject the laptop’s processing unit to intense pressure. This will cause it to become much hotter, and as such, it will slow the fan speed. For this reason, avoid using high-powered programs.
Note: Endeavor to use a FlashBlock in your browser as it will prevent flash videos from coming on when you don’t need them.
Keep Away From Heat
Finally, your laptop can overheat when you expose it to high temperature like hot sunlight, hot cookers, etc. The reason for this is that high temperatures expand your hard drive and damage your battery. As such, you should ensure to shield your laptop from areas with high temperature.
Tips to Cooling a Laptop
Unfortunately, you can’t always prevent your laptop from overheating. There are a few ways you can fix your already overheating laptop. If the problem is because of a faulty fan, you can do the following:
Step One: Stop using the laptop immediately
Immediately you notice your laptop overheating, the first thing to do is to stop using it. Then, turn the machine off, unplug all attached cords, and remove the battery (if it is removable) and overturn your laptop so it can cool off from below quickly.
Step Two: Inspect & Clean
Inspect the fan vents for particles or other forms of blockage. Bear in mind that these components are usually situated underneath or at the sides of the machine. If possible, open the machine and clean up the fan vents.
Step Three: Change Fan or Its Settings
If your laptop runs on Windows, you can do this in the BIOS menu. You can also use third-party power management apps. If the fan needs a repalcement, contact any local dealer so he can replace it with a new fan
How to Cool a Laptop
Buy a Laptop Cooling Pad
If your laptop is overheating, an effective way to resolve it is to use a laptop cooling pad or a laptop cooler. These devices do exactly what their names describe: they cool laptops. They do this in a variety of ways. Some of the them suck warm air away, some blow air into your laptop system, and others simply absorb heat.
This method is handy, and you should consider it. You can go through the laptop cooling pads available on local shops or you can buy directly from Amazon or the likes. on offer here to find one that suits your needs. And if you would rather have a laptop cooler, we recommend this cooling device which we ourselves tried from Amazon. You can check out more of them from here.
Use a Desk
Further, placing your laptop on a desk is guaranteed way to improve ventilation in the computer. The reason for this is that the desk provides a flat and even surface. This makes it easier for the laptop to maintain constant airflow, thus preventing overheating and ensuring that the laptop is kept constantly cool.
Move the Laptop Away from Corners
While this may sound silly, but you need to move the desk of your laptop or the laptop itself, away from corners. The science behind it is simple, the machine needs ventilation and just like the fridge and microwave are kept a little away from corners and walls, so should the laptop.
Conclusion
Overheating is an awful thing for a laptop and it should be avoided at all times. With the steps above, you can prevent it on most occasions and also fix it when it does occur. Fair warning, our tips on this subject are not infallible. So, if you find that your laptop is not responding to your efforts, take it to a qualified repairer.
