My question is a bit specific. I'd really like my laptop to NOT die until I can sell it back and earn a half-way decent buck off it. So to preserve it further, I was wondering: is it a good idea to leave it on Standby and carry it in a bag? I'm not talking about several hours, maybe for 30 minutes at most.

Will it overheat because it's kept in a bag with no holes for ventilation?

I'd turn it off completely, except I don't think it's a good idea to shut it down for a 30-minute transport, then turn it back on. Or maybe it's even worse to leave it on constantly?

I have no idea. Anyone willing to help an electronic n00b?

(And if anyone else has good idea on how to prolong our laptop/PC's lifetime, feel free to share. :D)

According to this website:

There you go.
For safety reasons, just shut it down even though it's only a 30-minute travel. Hope that helps. :gift:

Yeah... I almost never turn off my laptop. If you're going to use it for extended periods of time I can suggest a few things. Never keep your charger plugged into your laptop for too long when it's on in order to preserve your battery life. Also remember not to keep your laptop on soft surfaces like a rug or your bed for too long as the fan and holes in your computer for cooling purposes are usually at the bottom. So the laptop should be kept on a hard surface. A laptop cooling fan also helps alot.(Basically a sort of pad you put your laptop on with fans built in to cool the bottom of your laptop) And of course certain brands of computers tend to last longer than others. My Vaio that I got in 2000 has lasted a very long time without signs of slowing down even with a close to full HDD or whatnot whereas my new Dell Inspiron can't handle all my anime. >_> Never blue screened with my Vaio and I've blue screened quite a few times with my Inspiron.(Can't really handle multiple programs I guess)

Anyways, yeah... just keep it cool and you should be good. Also the obvious stuff my keep it away from moisture and such, but you should already know about that.

turning it off is the best option for any computer really unless it's a internet server which have to stay on for years at a time due to our demand for forums and other sites like these, turning off a pc for a short period of time and turning back on does not hurt a rig at all believe me your hard disk will thank you for the break they run at 7200 to 10,000
rpm,s from the time you turn it on till the time you turn it off.

some good advice for laptop users is to turn it off every 6 hours to let it cool down your eyes probly will enjoy the break too

here's a link to a forum i use it's a custom computer company"s forum but their very helpful to everybody even the ceo of the company won't hesitate to answer your questions if you ever need help your sure to find it there sometimes it might take a little while to answer you because their quiet busy folks. hope you enjoy it though

http://forums.pugetsystems.com/


also here's that pad that MCS spoke of their fairly cheap and you can buy them anywhere from wallmart to the internet

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/ind...roducts_id=2482

Wow, thanks guys! :huggle: Well, guess I'm never dragging my Standby laptop in bags again (it seems so obvious now...). And I got useful links outta it too. XD

:o? So you mean that if my laptop is fully charged, and I want to use it-- I should NOT plug it into the wall? I should actually run the laptop on its battery until it's almost outta juice, then use the power outlet?

From my experience, keeping a battery charged in a laptop can drastically lower it's life. Lith-Ion batteries already have pretty short life spans as it is, but yes, keeping it plugged in can shorten it faster. Although many computer companies say that if you plug in your AC adapter the battery will stop charging when it's full, you have to remember that the batteries charge lowers every so often even without use so it'll overcharge the battery more often and thus shorten the life. Again, this is only if you're going to use your laptop excessively, like me. >.O;;

Take for example, my laptop now... I've had it less than a year and now my battery life is down to 25 minutes(full charge) from the 2.5 hours it was when I first got it. Of course battery life doesn't matter as much as the computer itself since you can always buy a new one. =) But yeah, money is money. >_>

I just wish I would have known this when I first got my laptop. Or better yet, I would rather have a decent PC in my room so I could abuse that instead. =) Wouldn't have to worry about batteries or anything.

that is true mcs for most laptops i have a IBM thinkpad and that thing is awesome it has the ability to run with the power cord in without the battery inserted as soon as i found that out i took the battery out and never put it back in again i basicly turned a laptop into a desktop i even had another monitor to use for it and i ran it lid down on a cooler pad nowdays that comp is a old relic but i kept it because i'll never sell it because of how much it cost it's just a reminder to me everyday to always go desktop their cheaper faster run cooler and easily upgradeable who cares if i can't take it on a plane or too the cafe i don't drink coffee anyway lol.

and yes laptop batteries are expensive as hell i think the last replacement one i ordered for a friend was like $80.00 or something and i only got him like 3 hours of use before another charge

and when i said desktops are faster i mean by performance to cost ratio other words you can make a $500.00 desktop just as fast or faster than a $1200.00 laptop. laptops high prices come from that their small and include a lcd screen

i'm not saying that laptops suck they have their purpose in life mostly in the buisness world but for the average home user or extreme gamer the desktop is still the way to go

I turn my laptop off anytime I'm not using it. I don't go out of my way to care for it extra carefully, but I don't think I really need to since I don't risk taking it anywhere it could be damaged. I have one of the newest MacBook Pro laptops and I haven't had a problem yet.

Hmm... maybe we can turn this thread into something where we can ask other members for advice on laptop or computer care or troubleshooting tips.

Anyway, I have a question...
My cousin's laptop is showing this message at times when it's booting: "Operating System Not Found". What do you think is the problem?
I researched about it and the only solution I found is to fix something in the boot master sector thing and the installation disc for the operating system is needed to accomplish this. However, we don't have the disc as of today since it's not with us.

...WOW. I had no idea about that. NO idea. Geez! Shouldn't the user manual talk about stuff like that?! >_<

Anyway, thanks guys, I'll keep that in mind from now on. I don't usually leave it on super-long (by that, I'm thinking 12 hours straight/a whole day/several days) but every little precaution helps.

I also prefer desktops anytime (honestly, I barely remove my laptop from my room anyway, it may as well be welded to my desk!). But I'm living in my uni's hostel so it'd be annoying to always have to pack up my desktop each time I shift rooms.

That's exactly what I was hoping this thread could be used for. ^_^ Anyone who has questions is free to use this thread!

i've seen this before mine does it sometimes when i don't press the power button in all the way not sure why that would effect it but it does make the difference when that happens i have to press and hold the button and cold shut down the computer but your cousin is likely having a problem with boot order what you need to do is.

boot the computer and hold F2 on most computers that will bring you to the bios screen it's blue and show's you info about your computer on the first screen it should have what operating system is on the computer if there is one listed there it's most likly not damaged

now if you scroll over on the top menu you'll see under the system tab most likly something called boot order now this being a laptop it most likely has only one hard drive
if the computer has something called boot cards or something like that listed in the first spot leave them there if it has them in another spot move them to the first spot and then make sure the hard drive that contain's the OS is in the second spot then any other hard drives after it then the disk drives after those. now if the pc has worked is the past this shouldent be the case it's probly a corupted OS and needs to be reinstalled. and if it only does that sometimes it might be like mine with the power button

i hope this helps it's kinda confusing i know also i would like to know weather it's a mac or a windows based machine and what year and model can help me to thanks

It's Windows. XP to be exact.

Anyway, I'll try to help her troubleshoot it later when she gets home. Thanks! ^_^'

your welcome

*is confuzzled by all the technical talk*

I'm suprised I haven't blown up my laptop, I'll try and help though. My dad is good with this stuff.