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Here is a care list that I wrote up when I had my laptop shop in Australia during my convalescence. Many people had no idea how to clean the screen, how to look after the battery, they did not know about shocks and bumps and the hard drive damage.
In effect I wrote a brief on how to care for your laptop and the most likely troubles they could avoid if they were careful...
1.Moving your laptop / notebook while it is running
Pretty rugged when it has been completely shutdown
When it is on treat it like a baby – the hard drive
(which is what stores your information) is spinning at around 4000
revolutions per minute, similar to a very fast record player.
Bumping (or dropping) it causes the 'needle' to hit the platter
causing data loss. This is the most common cause of laptop failure.
2. Packing and travel with your Notebook / laptop
The second most common cause of laptop failure is through
cracking the screen. These cost minimum $2000 to replace, this will
effectively render your laptop as worthless
Avoid overpacking your laptop carry bag
When carrying it as luggage place a large notepad or hard
cover book directly on top of the laptop to prevent any mishaps
from cracking the screen.
Never slam the lid shut.
Dropping the laptop is also a common cause of a broken
screen.
3. Cleaning your Laptop / Notebook
The screen is best cleaned with some toilet paper or tissue,
dipped in warm water with a small amount of vinegar added. Squeeze
the excess moisture from the paper then proceed to clean the
screen, taking care not to allow any water to run into the edges of
the screen – this can cause screen failure ($2000+)
Case & keyboard – test your cleaning solution on a
small section on the base to make sure it does not cause any damage
to the plastic.
DO NOT use kerosene, methylated spirits or any other
alcohol based cleaning products on the laptop.
A paint brush or toothbrush is ideal to clean between keys
or in cracks/crevices.
4. Laptop / Notebook Battery Care
Charge your battery fully the first time, and then proceed
to discharge it fully (until the laptop shuts off). Do this 3
times. Apparently this does not make a difference with the newer
Li-Ion (Lithium Ion) batteries – but my laptops always get better
battery life and performance than is usual and I always do this
with a new laptop.
Every 3 months it would be advisable to repeat this cycle to
'condition' the battery (This is what battery reconditioning shops
do. They put the battery on a fast charge/discharge cycle for 24
hours)
Changing the voltage worked for me on a trip to the USA one
time. (Australia is a 240v power supply, on arrival in the US
(120v) I was able to charge my laptop and the battery was able to
hold a charge for almost an hour – up from the previous 5
minutes)
To store a battery for a long time first discharge it
5. Most Common Freeze problem in a laptop
REMOVE BATTERY AND REMOVE cmos battery, remove power cord. Let
laptop sit for 3 days, plug in power cord – does it start? No?
Then leave it for another week. I have a had a laptop come back
after 1 month like this. It is caused by the suspend/shutdown
failing and sending hte4 computer into a shutdown state, the only
way to get around this is to replace the mainboard (ie 90% of your
laptop internals or to follw the above procedure)
Difference between a Laptop and a Notebook computer
In the old days Laptops where the first "truly portable" computers to enter the market, they were so big you would put them on your lap and work on them, putting them on a table would have the keyboard sitting so high as to be unusable.
A notebook computer was a term coined much later. It refererd to the modern slim and small style of portable computer, it was approximately the size of a large notebook.
These days the terms tend to be mutually interchangable as the original differences have gone - nobody sells Full sized old style laptops anymore.
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