We’ve touched on this briefly before, but we figured there should be some more elaboration on just how to go about keeping this important piece of tech safe and long-lasting. Laptops are among the most used items in college. They are now the center of most research, storage, and distribution of study materials. They even serve as entertainment in between studies. As students, one scenario everyone wants to avoid is having a laptop malfunction and stop working. This could mean losing important information, documents, projects, and communications. Some routine actions on our part can prevent this from happening and extend the life of the laptop as much as possible.

Speed and Functionality

The first signs of trouble in a computer is the speed. As soon as you suspect a slowdown, it is always good practice to head to the activity monitor to see which application is hogging the most RAM, and therefore, causing your computer to crawl. In most cases, it will turn out to be a dispensable application, and the best advice is to remove it so as to find some sort of alternative. If it is something more necessary to your everyday life, consulting the internet on how to tinker with the application to make it work more efficiently is recommended.

Antivirus Protection

A virus scan is always a good practice as well. Some websites come with well hidden viral payloads that can shut down computers forever. A daily or weekly scan will help prevent this and if the persistent scan mode is turned on, you will receive warnings when something odd happens. You should pay even closer attention to virus and malware scanning if you use your computer for non-education purposes. Many entertainment websites are riddled with virtual traps. When using on-campus wifi be sure to keep your antivirus software and firewall updated so as to prevent identity theft and other online threats.

Choose the Cloud

Storage is an essential part of computing. When possible, storing files in the cloud can prove to be a lifesaver. Computer systems that have less free hard drive space tend to run slower than computers with adequate space. There are a few solutions out there for online storage that can be used for free. This can even help protect your projects and documents against laptop erasure or failure.

Upgrade Storage

With time, you may also find it essential to upgrade the RAM of the computer to meet up with the needs of recent software updates or new software altogether. This hardware solution will also reduce the stress on the computing resources, thereby making your computer last through your entire college experience.

Get a Warranty

Some computer manufacturers will offer free replacements of parts of the computer or even the entire system through their warranty offer. Take advantage of this as it becomes an option in case the computer fails in a way that cannot be easily repaired. The manufacturer will first try to repair in most cases, and then send a replacement computer as the next option. This is also the case if you buy a refurbished laptop. At some computer repair stores, you also have the option to trade in a model for a newer one. Ask to see if your warranty covers any of these issues.

You will learn as a college student, that your laptop is your lifeline to school, projects, research, documents, and friends and family back home. Be sure you have a protection plan in place to secure your computer against hacks, failures, or crashes.

Our Top Pick

We absolutely LOVE the Lenovo Yoga series. Paired with the Lenovo Active Pen, this laptop is unstoppable. Students can use it like a laptop for fast-typing ability, or a touch screen! It comes with Windows 10, including one of our favorite software - Microsoft OneNote. Never use paper again! Students can directly upload PDF files and using the pen, handwrite directly onto the document. Make a mistake? It's easy to erase. Now you have both the benefits of hand-writing notes, and digitally saving them!