Extend your laptop's life! Clean the dust out of its heat sink.

Step 3 Vacuum!

Here's what the inside looks like after I vacuumed it. I wish I had taken a before and after shot! The area on the copper sink where the arrow is pointing was covered in about 1 mm of dust in the middle, up to 3 mm toward the sides. The exit area off to the right was covered in about 1 mm of dust the whole way across. In other words, they were both completely blanketed. There was also a lot around the fan blades.

I used a small attachment on my regular vacuum cleaner to get most of it, and then a brush attachment to get some of the stickier pieces off. I didn't try to completely clean the fan blades or the bases under the fans.

This amount of dust collected after about 2.5 years of everyday use. Based on what I saw, I'd recommend doing this cleaning at least once a year to enhance cooling of your laptop.  Keep it clean!

Comments

[TOCO]

good instructable. I always heard that vacuming electronics could give them electrostatic shock.

[MumblingTuna]

I just blew compressed air up my computer heat sink from behind, and watched clouds of dust rise from the fans.

[pellepeloton]

Looks like other fan blows and other sucks if the rotation is to the same direction. I have found that some people use their laptops in a couch and when going away for some time leave the laptop in the couch blocking the airvents. This would cause overheating and shorten the life of the laptop.