Any tips on how to prevent dust build up on the fan(s)?

This might seem like an awkward question to put in the gaming board, but I only did so because people that game on their laptop would likely be the people who would struggle with this problem the most.

Here's the problem: my appartement gets pretty dusty. I'm a clean person , but its because of the type of carpet that my girlfriend picked out. Not only is it ugly, but it also creates quite a lot of dust. I game on my laptop quite a bit, and during gaming the fan is almost constantly running at its max speed, sucking up air on the bottom of my laptop. The problem is , it also sucks up quite a lot of dust. The "grill" in front of it even gets covered with dust after a day or so.

I still have warranty on this thing till december 2010, so I cant open it to remove any dust (or else I'd lose warranty). How do you guys handle dust build up? Do you somehow prevent it (is there a way?), or do you open up your laptop/ blow it out with compressed air? Would a docking station or notebook cooler help?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Not sure if there is a lot you can do about this.
You can clean up the grill with a Q-tip or just a clothe.
A notebook cooler might help, maybe the dust will get stuck on the cooler's fans and that would be easy to clean with some compressed air.

 

As long as you contact tech support and have them walk you through it, opening up your laptop to get dust out shouldn't void your warranty.

Otherwise, modern DESKTOP cases sometimes have dust filters in front of vents (I believe the Antec P180/P182 have these) that can be washed out in the sink. You might make your own personal dust filter by taking a swiffer sheet, cutting it into a square a little larger than your vent, and taping the edges down to create a seal so that air only goes through the swiffer sheet. Throw away the swiffer sheet and start again every couple of weeks or so. As long as your laptop has capable enough fans, this should be the ideal solution (This worked to great effect on my old Alienware 7700).

What really suck is that my Macbook Pro intakes air from the keyboard instead of an underside vent, it really isn't feasible to put a dust filter on the keyboard...

Otherwise, yes, the best way to remove dust is to open up your laptop and spray compressed air through the inside out. You clean fan blades by using a Q-Tip, etc. The most important component to clear out is your heatsink, again, preferably blowing air inside out.

 

thanks, that is actually a great idea stormeffect. i might try something like that. Rightnow, all i do is clean the desk my laptop sits on (most of the time) everyday with a wet cloth. That already makes a huge difference.

Also, is it bad to blow the dust off from the outside in? I know its not optimal, but it beats having to open it up.

 

It really depends on how much dust is in there and how wide the vents/heatsink blades are. You might actually get a bunch of dust out by blowing into the intake because it will force it out the exhaust vent. You might end up just blowing the stuff around inside the case. Worst case scenario, if there is a HUGE amount of dust, you might end up blowing it further into the heatsink blades, blocking your heat exhaust entirely (very unlikely).

Honestly, I'd give it a shot. Odds are you'll see dust shoot out of your exhaust. I doubt there is that much in there anyway, considering how clean you keep your desk. Still, if the fans are always running high, you might have a bit of blockage...which is hard to get out unless you open up the case. If it gets bad enough just call tech support and have them walk you through a cleaning procedure, which will prevent you from voiding your warranty.

 

You're not running it right on the carpet are you? I would think that keeping it up on a hard flat surface would be the first step. All you can really do beyond that is take it apart and blow the dust out, making sure you're not moving the fans with the canned air ( block them from moving with a toothpick or something ) and ruining the motors. Blowing the dust back in will only cause problems. I would also think that putting a swiffer sheet in as a filter would decrease the efficiency of the cooling system.