Laptop running hot and slow performance: why does this happen with you? Overheating will eventually destroy your laptop. Here’s how to cool down your laptop and keep it from overheating!
Your laptop packs a lot of computing power and storage into a small package. This level of efficiency has a cost: excessive heat. Except for coffee, the most serious threat to your laptop is overheating. It has the potential to cause hardware failure and permanent damage.
Let’s look at how to prevent or repair an overheating laptop in order to improve its performance and lifespan.
The Basics of Overheating Computers
How Do You Know Your Laptop Is Overheating?
When you hear your computer’s fan running at full speed all the time, you know it’s overheating.
You may also notice lower performance because current CPUs may reduce clock speed to prevent heat stress. Furthermore, the fail-safe software may cause a quick shutdown in order to prevent hardware damage.
This may also identify which element of your laptop is overheating. Typically, the central processing unit (CPU) or graphics processing unit (GPU) are the ones that overheat the most. Onboard graphics laptops may not show separate GPU temperatures.
Why Is Your Laptop Overheating?
Because of insufficient cooling, your laptop is overheating.
Dust clogging intake grills or exhaust ports, a blocked fan, or degenerating thermal paste or thermal pad are all possible causes.
A thermal pad, also known as thermal paste, is a heat-conductive material that connects the CPU or GPU to the metal heat sink, which directs heat away from the processing units and usually to a cooling fan.
You can fix all of these things yourself, though some will be more difficult than others. Read on if you need a quick fix but lack the skills to de-lid your CPU or GPU and apply fresh thermal compound.
Can a Fanless Laptop With Passive Cooling Overheat?
To manage heat, fanless laptops employ passive cooling techniques such as dispersing heat throughout the whole metal body or lowering CPU clock speeds.
If you can’t hear a fan or see intake or exhaust grills, your laptop is probably using passive cooling. This means that your laptop will not overheat, but you may notice a decrease in performance as heat stress increases.
There’s not much you can do because laptops with passive cooling don’t have fans. However, by addressing the excess heat with external cooling, you can recover processing power lost due to CPU throttling. Skip down to the section on cooling pads.
Laptop Running Hot And Slow Performance: Here’s How To Fix It?
1. Fix Internal Cooling
When your laptop overheats, the first and most crucial thing to do is clean the fan(s) that cool the CPU and graphics card. They accumulate layers of filth and dust over time, slowing them down and blocking airflow. To learn how to open your laptop and access and clean these parts, see the handbook or the manufacturer.
However, before you begin cleaning, take the following steps:
- Turn off the computer.
- Remove all cords.
- Take out the battery.
- centre yourself
When you’re finished, take a thorough look at your laptop, both inside and exterior, and clean the following areas:
- If you can open your laptop, use a cotton swab soaked in isopropyl alcohol to clean the fan(s). Before reconnecting the laptop to the power, be sure the alcohol has entirely evaporated.
- A vacuum cleaner may also be used to clear dust and grime from the fan (s). Allowing a fan to revolve in the wrong direction can cause damage. If you want to clean a fan with canned air, stop it from spinning by holding it down.
2. Keep the Laptop on a Hard and Flat Surface
If your laptop’s intake grills are located at the bottom, uneven surfaces such as a blanket, pillow, or your lap will obstruct airflow. As a result, cooling is impaired, heat accumulates, your laptop surfaces become hot, the internal temperature rises, and the laptop eventually overheats.
This scenario is easily avoided by keeping the laptop on a hard and flat surface. You can use something as simple as a tray, or you can purchase a specialised laptop holder or lap stand.
3. Invest in a Laptop Cooler or Cooling Pad
Laptop coolers are designed to give extra cooling. Choosing the incorrect cooler, on the other hand, might exacerbate the situation. As a result, before choosing a cooler, you should be aware of the airflow into and out of your laptop.
As previously stated, most laptops draw cooling air from the bottom. This makes reasonable since hot air rises. A cooler that sits beneath the laptop and suckes air away from it, on the other hand, does not contribute to laptop cooling and instead accelerates overheating.
If your laptop has bottom intake grills, get a cooler that blows cool air upwards, into the laptop. You can also get a passive cooler, which consumes no power and only absorbs heat.
