Nasty rash on your thigh? That’ll be the erythema ab igne…

Some of you may have seen the recent articles about ‘toasted skin syndrome’; the effect of repeatedly perching your laptop on your thigh for long periods of time. Here at CRM Laptop Repair, we were interested to read more about this potential injury from too much net surfing.

According to researchers at the University of Basel, repeated contact between a warm laptop and your thigh can result in the discoloration associated with a poor fake tan job. While the damage isn’t permanent, the immediate effect can be slightly alarming.

Keeping your laptop cool will ensure you don't end up with Oompa Loompa coloured thighs...

In the BBC article, 6 hours per day was quoted as being necessary to create the syndrome. We were interested to test out how long it would take for the discoloration to appear, but unfortunately we don’t have 6 hours to spare. Instead, we thought we’d give you some advice about how to reduce the heat of your laptop.

You might be asking yourself why overheating is such a big issue. The thing is, it’s not just your thighs that a hot laptop can damage; it’s also the motherboard, graphics chip and hard drive, to name but a few parts. When these components overheat, you could be faced with a hefty repair bill. For example, repairing a graphics chip on an HP motherboard could cost £125 +VAT. Because overheating can cause so many problems, regardless of the fault on your laptop we always give it a good clean to help protect it against overheating.

So what can you do to keep your laptop cool?

Because laptops are so compact, the space between the components is incredibly small. This isn’t a problem until your laptop fills up with dust, but your laptop can be a haven for pesky dust mites within weeks of purchase. The key to keeping it dust free is to follow these three simple steps:

1. Don’t use your laptop on a bed or sofa
Using your laptop flat on a surface such as a duvet means your laptop can’t breathe. The suction fans will take up all of the dirt and dust from the sofa or bed, filling your laptop with harmful fluff. Instead, place it on a hard surface such as a tray or even a purpose made laptop tray, which are available from places like Ikea for under £10.

2. Use a can of compressed air to get rid of any dust build up within your laptop

You’ll be amazed how much cooler your laptop will be once you give it a good clean. As soon as you get rid of the dust, your laptop will be able to breathe again, with adequate fresh air circulating around the hot parts such as the graphics processor and CPU.

3. Invest in a cooling pad

For gamers and other performance users, investing in a laptop cooler can keep your laptop working at optimum efficiency. These pads are normally USB powered and start from £10. We don’t stock any of these items, but places like Amazon are a great place to start.

For more information about maintaining your laptop, or if you need your laptop repaired, visit our website.