Your laptop is probably one of the most important pieces of tech in your home. It’s used for work, entertainment, and important things like paying the bills online and doing your shopping. However, laptops can be a bit of a pain to use at times, but there are a couple of ways that you can get a bit more out of your laptop if you know how.
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Common laptop issues and how to deal with them
But let’s start by tackling some of the most common laptop issues. No matter what kind of experience you have with laptops or what kind of laptop you have, there are a few very common issues that you might face as you use it over time.
The keyboard doesn’t feel right
If the keyboard doesn’t feel right then it could be a number of things. First, the keyboard itself might not be a very good one. Certain laptops have keyboards that aren’t built very well and can occasionally start to fail if you type on them a lot. A good keyboard is crucial if you want to improve your productivity because it feels nicer to type on, doesn’t cause fatigue, and minimizes your errors.
While some laptops have replaceable keyboards, a good temporary solution for this until you decide to replace your entire laptop is to have a separate keyboard. A mechanical keyboard is usually a great option as they’re durable, feel great, and are highly affordable these days.
The screen is too small
Since laptops are portable devices, they’re made to be rather small compared to a full-sized desktop. Sadly, this means that their screens are also a bit small because they need to fit within a small form factor. However, there’s not much you can do about this other than buy a larger laptop with a bigger screen in the future. 15 inches is the standard for a normal laptop, but there are some that can go up to 17 inches or more.
But if you’re able to use your laptop at home or in the office, then you could alleviate this by plugging in an external monitor. An extra monitor can be used to extend the screen space you have, or you can use the external monitor to clone your laptop screen. This way it’s the same screen but you can close your laptop lid and still get a larger display.
The screen is too low
Laptop users tend to find that their neck or back hurts after using a laptop for a long time. This is actually because a laptop screen sits lower than a typical monitor. This means that you need to bend your neck and look down at the screen in order to use it.
One of the simplest ways to overcome this is to use a laptop riser. This is a simple way to raise the screen of your laptop, but it does mean you’ll need a separate set of peripherals like a keyboard and a mouse so that you can still use the laptop itself.
The battery keeps running out
If the battery keeps running out then it could indicate that the battery itself is either starting to die or has a low capacity. Battery replacements aren’t common but they are possible depending on the make of your laptop. It could also mean that you’re doing a lot of things on your laptop and it’s struggling to keep up. Closing programs that you don’t need and turning down the brightness can be easy solutions to this, but they might not be enough for your needs.
There are two solutions for this; get a new laptop with a bigger battery or carry around a large battery bank if you need extra power. You can also be a bit smarter about when and where you charge your laptop. For example, many coffee shops do allow you to recharge your laptop if you like to work outside your office or home.
The laptop is running slow
Laptops can get slow over time much like any computer. Thanks to services like CleanMyMac, you can clear out things like malware and unnecessary files that can eventually slow down your PC. however, it’s also a good idea to try and practice better habits with your computer, such as deleting files that you don’t need and uninstalling programs if you don’t use them anymore.
Laptop ports don’t always work
Finally, failing laptop ports is an unfortunate but common symptom of laptop wear and tear. We suggest that you try to be extra careful with a new laptop so that you don’t damage the ports. This is more common with older USB ports, but can also happen with the newer USB-C ports as well. Being careful is usually good enough to extend the lifetime of your laptop, but it’s not guaranteed to ensure that your ports will always work.
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Buying a new laptop? Here are things to consider
So let’s conclude with a few tips to consider when buying a new laptop.
- Check the size of the laptop you need. This affects things like how portable it is and also the size of the screen.
- Test out the keyboard if you can. If you plan to use an external mechanical keyboard or wireless keyboard, then this isn’t as important.
- Durability tests are a good way to determine how sturdy the build quality is. Look at videos of durability tests or read reviews to see if there are any structural problems.
- The popularity of customizable laptops is increasing. This is a good way to get a laptop that can be upgraded in the future if you ever need more power or storage.
- Don’t look at the hard drive space as a huge factor anymore. Most laptops come with 500GB, 1TB, or 2TB of space which is perfectly fine, especially considering the popularity of cloud storage services that can help us store files online instead of on our computers.
- Battery life tests aren’t always accurate if they’re from manufacturers. Look at laptop and computer review sites instead to get a better idea of how long a laptop can last performing standard tasks.
