Dust inside the laptop

[cliff320]

Do laptops get dusty inside like normal PC's (or do they have a filter installed since you really can't open them like normal PC's) and if so, is there any way I can clean it out? I have a t23 specifically. Thanks!

[BillMorrow]

good question..
i rather imagine it has been addressed when the fans were designed..

dust filters tend to get clogged with.. dust..!
and once clogged the cooling effect is obviously diminished..

might be that a vacuum applied to one end or the other will clean out dust..
but my experience with dust is that unless vacuum is applied while brushing the dust loose is the only way to get it all that might be adhearing to the surfaces of the fan and so forth..

take a look at the "in" end and see if there is any dust accumulqated there..
that'll be indicative if there is much or any dust further in..

[the.vert]

I opened up my T30 to repair a cracked bezel around the LCD screen and it was filthy inside and that was with only a little over a year of usage, the HS on the CPU was coated with dust. You can get the manual for you laptop and it will show you how to open up your thinkpad, ofcourse only do that if you are comfortable doing such an operation.

[Cavorite]

I've taken to opening up a laptop to clean out dust before, usualy when its not under warranty anymore. On my old Sager that used a P4, it pulled a lot of air through it's heatsink and would get dust collected in there and had overheating problems from the start, so I would pop out the heatsink and clean it well every month or so.

Usualy though, latpops don't have a big issue, and to keep accumulation down, just use compressed air to blow it out.

-C-