How to maintance an high-end notebook

Hi I am going to buy the alien m9750 notebook and wondering to how take a care about it in case to get the best performance possible. I red on an forum here that most of people DONT KNOW hhow to take a care about high-end notes so pls help me and teach me how to do it. Thanks

 

Optimise your system. Still applies even though I presume you will be using Vista

See also the cooling guide. A cooling pad is a relatively cheap investment and it is not hard at all to occasionally clean out the innards of your notebook of dust. Heat is the main killer, so when it comes to gaming and laptops with all those components in a small space, every little helps

 

Thx these two pages helps me.

 

The Zalman NC1000 is the best cooler you can get for a 17" notebook - I agree that a cooling pad is a great investment.

Quick question - what operating system do you have?

 

I have the same question as I also have a new notebook; the Optimise article posted by LFC was great but I'm using Vista and don't know my way around it yet, so any help would be hot

I'd like to do like with my old XP: absolute minimum of processes, background tasks etc. It's all about performance!

 

Insert general "Alienware is a waste of money" notice here...

 

His question was about maintenence, not whether or not he purchased the right notebook.

As you said, pretty much the only way you can optimize Vista effectively right now is just to minimize processes. Turn things like Aero and Windows Sidebar off before you do any heavy lifting with the notebook, consistently de-frag, keep it spyware/virus free, etc.

 

aww man.... we got another person that needs some edumacation.

lemme give you my pre-requisites for owning a gaming notebook:

Remember these things to have your notebook be healthy for years:

1) Battery: to maintain the longevity of any rechargeable battery
- you must NEVER overcharge it [especially for long durations of time] by keeping it plugged into AC
- when it reaches 100% you should unplug it and let it discharge to 5-15%, then plug it back to power
- OR you can just charge it to 50%+ and remove the battery and store in cool place.. not the fridge [remember to use it occasionally 3-4 time a year to charge and discharge it].

2.) Heat: to prevent a healthy notebook from overheating
- ALWAYS use the notebook on a hard & flat surface
- RECOMMENDED to be used on a notebook cooler... namely the Zalman ZM-NC1000
- check your fans underneath occasionally (at least once a month) for any dust clogs [clean them out with Q-tips and air cans/compressors]
- ALWAYS monitor the temps (CPU, GPU, HDD, etc..) to watch for fluctuations, which would indicate overheating... READ THE GUIDE

By doing these simple things, your entire system will easily last for more than 3 years.

 

Dang I thought that was a no-no, that lappytops aren't meant to be run without the battery in place?!

 

Thats a myth.

Notebooks run fine without a battery.

But the battery (being stored) needs to be used occasionally (with a full charge cycle) to keep it healthy.

 

Good thread good info overall. My minor issue is the thread title, none of this for high end notebook's it is for all notebook's. Is there anything for high end specifically? And please don't say high end need coolers more than low end simply not true because high end have better built in cooling systems and all notebook's benefit from lower temps. So I wanna know “high end”? Anything diff?

 

is it possible to overcharge a battery really? arnt the laptops nowadays smart enough not to keep on feeding the battery power if still plugged into a outlet haha? =\

 

Sorry, though some think that batteries are smart... they might shutoff the power to let it discharge a couple of percents.... but that is NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Its still overcharging if the charge is 90%+ and the power is connected to it.

I have done this too long. If you continue to leave your notebook plugged in for long durations of time (regardless if you are using it, or leaving it plugged in over night) then it will wear out (damage) the battery.... rendering it useless within less than a year.

 

I don't think batterys over charge the way you say except Dell!

 

You may not think so, but its a chemical & physical science.

Any (competent) electrical or mechanical engineer will tell you the same.

Read up on Lithium Ion battery technology.

And sorry... I do not drink, smoke or do drugs... keeps me sharp... as well as not disappoint my mother.

 

I don't understand that. I leave my notebook plugged in all the time except for when storms are headed my way. When I do decide to use it on battery, I still get over 3 hours of use. My notebook is 1 1/2 years old.

 

my dell is 2,5 years old ... and it's RIP battery for some time already
never really used the battery

with the new lappies, I thought i'd simply never install the battery
apparently, that's not a very good idea either (not even when it's never charged before? just stored as it came from the factory?)

thx for the tips anyway

 

As Gophn said, that's not true

My laptop has been on AC only since last September. The battery has been in storage. Only used it for a combined 30 min in all that time to test the speed of my internet between wireless and ethernet

 

Laptop batteries will not overcharge. The circuit is smart enough. Not since the early days of laptoping when they made the switch from NiMH to Li-ions has laptop batteries overcharged. I've had a lot of experience with Li-ions in RCing, custom flashlighting. If a simple $10 made in China charger can stop charging when it's full then a $2000 laptop can. The cell itself has a overcharge and overdrain protection circuit. All it does is when your cell hits 4.2v per cell it shuts off and when it goes to about 3volts it shuts off. Most laptops use algorithms low amps initial then ramping it up then back to low towards the end to charge, which means they will be smart enough to keep it in a range that won't over charge the battery.

The reason why you would remove the battery if you're using AC for extended time is heat. You laptop can get up to 60-70 degrees celcius in some areas that's not good for the cell. Li-ions like it at about 15 degrees celcius at 40% charge. Keeping it at 90% and up degrades them 2x as fast. Higher temps also do that.

 

Are batteries easy to remove (for when I get my laptop).

I'm gonna be in college in the fall and moving my laptop around to a very different location like 6 times a week.

And if it's not too simple, then does is it hard to replace a battery?
Or just buy a spare one day and replug?

 

Easy as pie. For most college Students on the move, don't worry about the battery just use your machine. The battery is going to die one day, when it happens just get a new one.

 

Reading through this thread there's some contradictory opinions as to whether one should remove the battery or not to preserve its lifespan.

Suppose it would be a good solution to just leave it in, but perhaps take it out if the GPU or CPU temperatures get really high- I mean this thread says "hi-end notebook" so presumably one used for gaming etc, meaning high temps which can't be good for the battery

 

Thing is there's old school and a new school of thought.

Li-ion need and have a very smart protection and charging system.

This is what you need to remember, if you don't move your notebook for a really long time, you should remove the battery and keep it some place cool.

For most college students this isn't a problem because they move around a lot from class to class desk to desk. So they really don't even need to think about their battery.

Why you should remove your battery is always going to be heat. Think of your desk as a heatsink as your use your laptop the desk is gonna spread the heat and there's a really good chance it'll get to your battery.

 

Yep same here.

Plus, I can specify that "charging will start at __% and stop at __%", always plugged in, always with battery, never let it gratuitously cycle; never "overcharges" lol.

In fact, I don't think I'd want to be on AC without a battery in if the power goes out. But whatever works for you, ymmv.

 

I know. Have to have something to do when the power goes out.

 

Or even just blips out while I'm working on it, with the abrupt loss of power.

 

I'm a little surprised. You guys are spending what? From $2000-$5000 on these top end laptops and you're not willing to spend $100 on a UPS? I got like 5 APCs, 2 APC Smart-UPS 1250, 1 Back-UPS 350, 1 Back-UPS 1250 and a Back-UPS 1000XS.

Given most of these I found(salvaged from the dump) $200 worth of batteries for all of them but it was well worth it when you consider that at one point all these would have cost around $2000.

Even the crappiest APC will give you enough time to pop in a battery when the power goes out (if you opt to remove the battery) or give you some surge protection from lightning. I actually did a claim once with APC for some storm damage.

 

Yeah I use one. So does that protect my work when the power goes out, or just protects it from surges?

 

surges aren't a big threat though, never had one nor knew anyone that suffered one.

theres no difference in maintaining a high end of my cheapo laptop.
my guide to computer maintainance(been a long time computer users, my 1st PC was a 286 lol)
1) If you get an email titled "anna kournakova naked" or something like that,,, please!! don't open the attachment
2) buy a can of compressed air or if you are cheap use your lungs, and blow into whatever opening you can find in your laptop to get rid of the dusts on your heatsink ( don't really improve performance, you just get lower fan noise)
3) defrag once every 3-6 month, no point doing it any more than that.
4) do a virus scan every 1 or 2 month, a spyware scan every week or two.
5) if possible, leave your boot sector as empty as possible, leave all your multimedia in a different sector or a different HD.
6) don't mess with the registry or start deleting files from the system32 folder unless you know what you are doing.

 

Surges are just the tip of the iceberg. Brown outs and sags are just as bad, your AC adapter just pulls more amps through to compensate.

Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it won't.

 

If you're going to be using your notebook as a notebook, I wouldn't fret about battery wastage. Unless you're gonna throw it into a bonfire, which I sincerely hope you don't, just save up $100 to buy a new battery in 1.5~3 years.