5 Super-Helpful Laptop Hacks and Tips for Maximum Efficiency

Laptops are loved by everyone. Their portability, power, and productivity make them valuable. We can't all afford to upgrade our laptops every year. The majority of us hold onto our laptops until we wheeze our last breath. We still try to squeeze as much use as possible from them even after that.

What are some ways to extend the life of your aging laptop? What are some ways to save money when you buy a new laptop? How can you keep your laptop running smoothly if you know a few essential tips and tricks?

In this article, we'll show you five easy ways to keep old laptops running a little longer. To keep your laptop in top shape, follow these tips:

1. Expand Storage with Cards

A sleek new UltrabookTM is on your wish list, but you're tight on cash. There is no doubt that different models are priced differently, mainly because of their storage options. Here's a tip: don't buy an expensive laptop just to make it more expensive. You can expand your storage by using SD cards or an external hard drive instead of a large hard drive. An example would be a laptop such as the Acer Aspire Switch 11 with a 128 GB SSD. You can find a similar laptop with a 512GB SSD for about $300 more. However, you might want to consider this instead. As long as your device has an SD or microSD slot, you can add up to 128GB of additional storage (it must be able to handle SDXC or microSDXC cards) and if it has a USB port, you can add up to 128GB of Flash storage via a USB stick (buy low-profile micro transceivers so the card does not interfere with normal everyday use). A 256GB memory upgrade would cost you about $100. In addition, these drives can be swapped out easily, so why pay for a larger drive?

2. Your Pets Could Be a Problem

We know you love them. I love working on my laptop while H.R. Fluff'n'Stuff curls up on the desk next to you, or when we play tennis ball boogie with ChihuahuaSaurus Rex. There is, however, a place where all that pet hair ends up (along with dryer lint, loose hair, and old dirt), and that is usually on the side, bottom, or wireless speakers of your laptop. Unlike older laptops, newer Ultrabooks and laptops of their ilk have unibody designs to keep out fluff. Nevertheless, if you have pet dander in your home, you want to occasionally shoot compressed air into those vents. The accumulation of pet hair and other dirt particles causes havoc on a laptop's innards, leading to short-circuits and heat flares. Heat flares are much harder to overcome than H.R. 'Fluff'n'Stuff's disappointment glare.

3. Kitchen Hacks

The Internet is full of life hacks that show you how to stay organized with everyday objects. You can label your cords using the plastic squares on bread packages, or use the sticky side of a Post-It® to clean your keyboard, but the one I find to be most useful, and you may find it as well, is to use large industrial-sized binder clips to keep your cords attached to your desk. What is the point of this hack? It's because I hate taking peripherals off my laptop and having the cord for that peripheral slide down the back of my desk where I have to retrieve it when I get home. This is an annoyance. This is a hassle. It's frustrating. You should attach the large binder clip to the desk, and then run the cord through the metal loop. You can protect a beautiful desk by putting a piece of felt around the edge of the desk where the clip will be. You should also buy clips that fit USB and power cables. This trick may not work for all cables, but oh, the backaches I've spared by not searching behind the desk for lost cords.

4. Save Your Battery

An underrated battery life on a laptop is the worst. How can you work half a day on it? Long-lasting batteries are a must. I wish you the best. A laptop's battery life should always be checked before you purchase it. Here are a few tips to get the most out of your current laptop.

Battery-saving mode should always be on. It should be buried somewhere in the programs or apps that come with your laptop. Most of them can be customized as well, so you can combine practicality and energy-saving measures.

The display should be dimmed. It drains the battery. Consider dimming your display on a cross-country flight if the cabin is sufficiently dim.

Disconnect wireless devices and peripherals. They will drain the battery unexpectedly. You may not realize it, but external peripherals, such as USB flash drives, can drain your battery.

Turn off the Wi-Fi. Wireless (including Bluetooth) devices will drain your battery as well, so if you don't need that mouse, use the trackpad instead. Business travelers traveling cross-country should make sure the wireless device is turned off, even when stowed in their bags. Continually searching for the paired signal will drain your laptop. If your laptop doesn't have a hard switch, you can always turn off the Wi-Fi signal.

Invest in an SSD. Replace your spindle drive with an SSD if you can afford it. Traditional hard drives require a lot of power to spin, and all that searching on the disk wears down the battery in a short amount of time. SSDs typically use less power when accessed, so if the budget allows, consider replacing it. It will also benefit your system.

5. Don’t Eat or Drink Near Your Laptop

You're thinking what I am. There's no need to tell me. But we forget so quickly. When you go to a coffee shop, how often do you see people tapped away at their laptops while sipping a half-caf double soy protein sponge latte and eating a giant blueberry muffin? The keyboard on a laptop is integrated and sits above several fairly crucial components, as opposed to the keyboard on your desktop computer, which can be easily replaced. Add your half-caf, and you'll be paying full price for a replacement laptop, not just a keyboard.

Here are five quick laptop tips and tricks to help extend the life of your laptop, or consider when buying one. Those tips might not save you a million dollars, but they're still good advice to give to someone using their first laptop, like your new college student or your tech-illiterate parents. Best of luck!