Laptop, TFT & Monitor Cleaning Guide
After you have read our guide please have a look in our laptop cleaning shop.
Ever heard the expression, "use a soft, non abrasive lint free cloth"?
Ever been into a computer store and asked for one? Well if you have you
probably remember the blank look. I have contacted many laptop
manufacturers and there service departments and or instructions all
seem to say the same thing. "Use a soft, non abrasive lint free cloth".
Without exception all the companies(5 in total) I contacted when asked
to recommend a particular cloth or specific store where this magical
cloth could be purchased where unable to tell me.
What is happening is the laptop manufacturers/retailers are unwilling
to take responsibility for reccomending anything. A quick google
for one will turn up page after page of car cleaning cloths. Could a
cloth used to clean a car really be suitable for your precious laptop?
I am guessing you dont want to chance it and I don't blame you.
What Is Lint?
So what is lint, how do we know the cloth is lint free, and where do I
get one? Web definitions for lint are as varied as they are numerous.
They range from "Small fuzzy particles in paper", through, "Particles
of short fibers that fall off a fabric product during the stresses of
use", "Absorbent fluff that has been incorporated within a
textile", "cotton fiber" , "fine ravelings of cotton or linen
fibers" up to "cotton or linen fabric with the nap raised on one side;
used to dress wounds".
So we can probably arrive at the assumption that lint is a part of,
bi-product of, discharge of or even a type of material. Simply speaking
it is present or part of just about all fabric products. Check out the
filter of your washer/dryer sometime.
What Doesn't Have Lint
So what we can deduce from this is that we need a cloth made from a
material that is 'pure'. I.e. has no lint, produces no lint and not
made from anything that has/produces lint. A range of man made fiber
types collectively known as 'microfiber/microfibre' is just such a lint
free product. Now dont rush out and buy the first microfiber thing you
find.
Microfiber can be coarse as well as soft. The grade of microfiber can
very much determine the uses it is suitable for. If it is fairly coarse
it is great for cleaning surfaces like stainless steel. If it if medium
coarse and arranged in loose strands it is perfect for dusting
household items and if it s soft and ultra fine it is perfect for
cleaning laptop screens or if you are a forgetful killer - the trigger
of murder weapons should you forget to wear gloves.
Ordinary Cloths Don't Work.
Very simply it is all down to the particle size. If you wipe, say a
mirror with a regular cloth then some of the marks are gone, some of
them get moved about a bit and smear and some simply stays put. The
strange thing is that it doesn't matter how hard you wipe it still has
the same effect. This is because the particle size in a regular cloth
prevents it from making contact with the mirror consistently.
Basically if you could zoom in with a microscopic movie camera it would
be like dragging a fork through some sauce on your plate. It
doesn't matter how hard you do it you cant move the sauce in between
the prongs.
Microfiber Cloths Will Work
Wipe a hard surface with microfiber and it will make complete and
consistent contact withe the surface. Not only that but anything
absorb able on the surface like finger prints or a bit of a sneeze
(yuck) will be absorbed into the cloth in the same way that water is
absorbed into a regular cloth. They also wipe away regular stuff like
dust etc. Sometimes if a finger mark or something similar is old it
leaves a dry hard deposit and additional techniques are required to
shift it. This is often the case when you use a microfiber cleaning
cloth on a screen for the first time.
If you have a laptop with a smooth and/or shiny lid the same cloth will work wonders on that too.
Techniques For Using A Microfiber Cloth On A Laptop Screen.
The first time you use the micro-fiber cloth and spray you might need to 'focus'
on individual marks or smears that may have been there for a long time.
Squirt the spray on the screen and wipe all over gently. Once you have your screen gleaming and new a regular 'quick wipe' will
be enough to remove all finger prints and dust.
Turn the screen off to create a totally black surface. Next position
the screen with a gentle (preferably ambient) light source shining on
it. This will show up every single speck of dust and all the
marks/smears etc. Now clean as described.
How To Get Rid Of Muck Around The Edge of Your Laptop Screen.
Easy. Wrap your credit card up in the cloth. Make sure you wrap it
round several times to 'blunt' the edges. Now wipe with the covered
credit card edge from the screen edge towards the center of the screen.
You can quite easily wipe up what was stuck at the edges.
Laptop Cloth Maintenance
The cloth can be washed in a machine at 60 - 90 degrees. Wash
separately or in a wash bag with a very small amount of detergent. Do
not use fabric softener. Tumble dry or hang dry. Wash the cloth without
detergent occasionally.
Precautions
Never leave any Moisture On Screen
& never use your cloth when it is dirty, remember it can be washed
in the washing machine.
