How to maintain your new laptop

[Shadowsnake]

Hey everyone I bought a new thinkapd t490 and for college and light retro gaming and I'd like to get advice on maintaining it so that it lasts for a long time. I'm total tech noob with a very rudimentary understanding of electronics and software and all so guys what can I do to make this laptop last for as long as possible?

 

[Oussebon]

Have a look through this thread:

I have a new gaming laptop. What housekeeping should I do to start?

Hi everyone, First of all, I have joined the community today and already started contributing. I may even subscribe to the magazines. Apologies if this is posted in the incorrect place (I really did look around) but I am hoping an active and lively community can help. I have a new gaming...

forums.pcgamer.com

From a software side it doesn't need much maintenance. It's tempting to think you need to tweak it constantly, but the reality is that will probably do more harm than good. Driver updater and any kind of so-called system management software will at best do very little and often do more harm than good.

You might periodically update your graphics drivers yourself and that's about it. Only get BIOS updates if they offer features or security updates that are important to you, and even then be careful when doing so as you can 'brick' the laptop. In general, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

You'll see all that discussed in the thread I linked.

In broad brush strokes:
- you might want to do a clean Windows install now to clear off bloatware if it has a lot
- you may periodically find yourself wanting to do a clean Windows 10 installs down the line, especially if Windows 10 upgrades (the major update patches) cause the laptop to behave goofy.
- periodically monitor temperatures - the laptop may eventually want repasting if they are high.

If your Thinkpad only has a -U series CPU and integrated graphics though, it hopefully won't run all that hot (at least for a while unless/until the thermal paste degrades)