Myth or Fact: Laptop Intakes Dust when on top of Surface

I just got a Thinkpad T410 and someone just told me that if I place the laptop directly on a surface such as a carpet or partially dusty table, then the laptop will intake dust from underneath and destroy the laptop in the long term.

Is this a myth or a fact? If it's true, then is the damage negligible?

 

It'll intake dust wherever it is, unless you have a clean room or something. Some places, as mentioned, more than others. I wouldn't worry about it too much - just blow some compressed air through the system twice a year and you should be fine.

 

More so than just the dust & debris that you would be getting into the laptop by having it on carpet I would be more worried about inhibiting the airflow.

Unless you have a really short stiff carpet it would block the air vents to some degree and this could lead to higher temps and even overheating.

 

never put them on a carpet or your bed etc as it blocks the intake(if its on the bottom) and it will overheat

 

Of course it will... to have airflow you need flowing air, duh. That means air going in (bringing in dust) and air going out (leaving some of that dust behind.)

 

Indeed.
Keeping the laptop on anything but a completely flat surface will likely result in faster accumulation of dust, not to mention overheating due to blocked air-vents.

There are ways to use the laptop while say lying down or in bed even.
Put a flat wooden surface on the bed, situate the laptop on the flat surface and that's it.
That way you won't be obstructing the air-flow (provided of course the indent created by the weight is small - that the bed is a bit firmer)

 

I'd be more leery about the potential of static electricity than anything else... but yeah, I would never lay a notebook on the carpet, regardless of the position/amount of fans on the laptop. It's just bad juju.

 

Actually many laptops will do fine idling on a bed if they intake a little air through the keyboard. Although thinkpads probably don't do this. I think laptop manufacturers take into account the fact that many people will put their laptop on a bed.

HAHA Umm no... Not unless you don't have a bottom cover for your laptop.

I have to ask, potential of what?

There really is no reason to worry about that at all...

 

Setting ANY laptop on a soft surface like a bed with comforter is a BAD idea unless the laptop draws its air in from the sides or top, which there are pretty much none. Laptops might only get at most 10% of airflow they need through the keyboard.

 

You shoulda seen the dust cleaned out of my notebook cooler the other day. I had been pretty lax over the last 6 months. Dropped my GPU temps by a couple of degrees just by having the cooler run optimally again. Luckily the cooler caught most of the dust and not my notebook.

 

I've just made a habit of cleaning out my fans/vents with compressed air every few months. It's amazing what can get in there.

 

I've sat my laptop on the bed for an hour or so and checked the temps, they increased by maybe 5-10 degrees over idle but nowhere near danger territory.

 

Example, what I saw yesterday:







If there's "more than enough" dust collected inside, using compressed air blows that dust carpet inside the fan and jams it. Only real solution is to remove heatsink and clean dust then.

 

My suggestion is to avoid any compressed air blow at all.
Doing this, you'll force dust in the thin spaces between components, blocking the air path and making it harder to remove dust blocks.
I agree with KLF, the only way is to disassemble and clean.
Another problem is dirty fan: in the past I saw some fans with so much dirt on blades to make them almost ineffective.
Situation like the one shown in KLF images are common, even if the notebook is used in clean environments like homes or offices.
Take your time to clean inside the blades and clean all of them, otherwise a single dirt blade could generate annoying and dangerous vibrations.
Take care also of the copper heatsink and try to free every space with a brush: even the thinnest dust mat on copper surface has a high insulation power.
Generally people get crazy to find the most exotic thermal paste to save a couple of degrees or use monster size notebbok cooler with fans large as a WW2 fighter propeller: clean heatsinks and fans could save way more degrees for free

 

I've shot compressed air through the SXPS16 on a pretty regular basis and when I had to replace the HDD recently I saw at least as much build up as shown in KLM's pics between the fan and heat exchanger. Cleaned the fan, gave the HE an electrical contact cleaner enema and wow this thing runs a LOT cooler now.

 

That, don't repaste unless you need to and a cooler shouldn't be needed either. KLF's pics seem pretty extreme. Personally, i use compressed air every month, blowing both from the air intake and exhausts in short bursts (i also prevent the fan from spinning if possible). Every 6 months or so, i open up my laptops and do a thorough heatsink and fan blades cleaning, never encountered a case like KLF's on my N50 and G73, no major dust mat, my HS fins probably need cleaning though.

 

There is nowhere other than a cleanroom that you will not get dust. Ask your * how often they have to dust the tables or that thing over the top of the door and windows. Dust. It is part of our lives.

I have made it a habit to open everyone of our computers (this includes desktops too) about every month or two and clean them out. This keeps them clean, and works wonders to keep temps where they need to be.

As several posters on here have stated, it is not good to let a running laptop sit on soft surfaces. Intakes are on the bottom (hence the laptop coolers that go UNDER the laptop. That is where they draw the most air, and comforters, carpet or blankets all have a habit of not only forming around the object on them, but also if soft enough, can be pulled in somewhat to the intake fans. This causes restricted and reduced airflow. Heat is the enemy of computers, extended heat will shorten the lifetime of you unit.

Keep them clean, use a portable laptop desk (the kind with a soft pillow like underpad) and clean them out every so often. You will be happy.

 

just don't close the lid. even when I'm using an external monitor I always have the lid open. on mine temps raise about 10C when closed.

 

Hmm, good point.

...And in some cases, don't put it on its side.
Some cooling systems are gravity driven I found out, and the temps will jump 30c in just a few seconds under load.

How old is that laptop?

I don't think there is quite as much danger... I think most anyone who has ever been on a laptop forum period doesn't overuse a really old laptop like that...

 

It was Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pa2510. Around 2008, so 2.5-3 years old. Hard to tell exactly as the serial number was worn out in the bottom and I didn't bother myself to read it from the bios.