Laptops have transitions from being a cool novelty gadget to a daily essential for many of us in living in the technology era. Whether you’re using it for work, social media, hobbies, or googling everything the world wide web has to offer — there are a lot of people who use laptops on the daily in 2021, precisely, about 76% of the public.
With such tiny gaps in between many key caps, it gives plenty of chances for grubs to slip in between the keycaps. Especially, if users neglect to give their laptop a deep-clean from time to time. While there are simple methods such as cans of compressed air, it’s essential to know how to clean a laptop keyboard without compressed air, as it’s much more efficient and hygienic. Not to mention, sometimes you just don’t have a can of compressed air lying around.
In this post, you’ll learn more about how laptop keyboards become so dirty, why you need to clean them, and how to clean a laptop keyboard without compressed air.
Why Do Laptop Keyboards Get so Dirty?
For a ton of varying reasons! If you’re someone who spends lots of time on a laptop, whether for work or personal use, it’s safe to assume that its keyboard area can become a gathering spot for dust, dirt, crumbs, spillages, and plenty of other substances. Even if you are disciplined with your workspace and opt not to eat or drink there, your keyboard frequently comes into contact with your fingers. Our fingers touch many different things throughout the day and this can provide a medium to transfer substances and bacteria.
Assuming you always clean your hands before and after using your laptop, every single time, your body secretes sweat and body oils that are then transferred to the keyboard. That’s why, it’s essential to clean your keyboard. Also, laptop keyboards tend to get a lot dirtier than conventional keyboards as they tend to come in with fixed, non-removable keys, making them less accessible and more difficult to clean thoroughly.
Can’t I Just Use Compressed Air?
You could, but it won’t actually ‘clean’ your keyboard. Compressed air is very effective in removing dry crumbs and debris from a laptop keyboard. However, it won’t get rid of liquids, sticky substances, or germs and bacteria.
The Covid-19 pandemic has made everyone a lot more health and hygiene conscious, and with this in mind, an object such as a laptop with so much human contact throughout the day must remain clean. If you’re from the era of large, bulky white computers, you’ll know full well how grubby a computer and keyboard can get.
That fresh white keyboard soon turns into a cloudy-yellowish colour, and the same thing is also happening to your laptop. Just the aesthetic masks it better, and the materials are easier to clean. So, are you now suddenly feeling a lot more motivated to learn how to clean your laptop keyboard without compressed air?
How to Clean a Laptop Keyboard Without Compressed Air
Disclaimer : It is important to note that the ideal methods for cleaning laptop keyboards differ from cleaning external keyboards. Firstly, you can often remove the keycaps from external keyboards, making them much easier to clean whereas a laptop’s hardware typically resides underneath its keyboard, the use of rubbing alcohol or other cleaning agents with high conductivity risks damage to your laptop.
Cleaning Equipment
To start, let’s equip you with the required tools to clean your laptop keyboard efficiently and so you can ensure that all germs and bacteria are removed. To clean your laptop keyboard, you’ll need the following:
- Disinfecting wipes
- Low-adhesive tape
- Microfibre cloth (glasses cloth will suffice)
- Cotton buds (optional)
- Toothpicks (optional)
Cleaning Method
Now that you have your cleaning equipment, it’s time to get our hands dirty! You can quickly clean your laptop keyboard using the following method:
- Turn your laptop off and disconnect all power supplies, such as your charging cable and removing your battery. This will ensure that any small amounts of liquid that may come through the keyboard will not short circuit any operating electrical components.
- Start the cleaning process by ridding your laptop keyboard of crumbs and other dry debris. Simply turn your keyboard upside down, brushing it off and blowing away any stubborn and visible debris on your keyboard.
- For more thorough debris removal, use your low-adhesive tape to stick to the debris and pull it off the keyboard, as well as loose debris lying within the cracks between the keys. Additionally, you can use a toothpick to get to any debris that’s trapped in the gaps and refuses to shift. Then, brush or blow it away.
- Before using your wipes, remember to note that we only want to give the keyboard a thorough clean without soaking it. Therefore you may want to wring out the wipes until damp before use. Using the wipes, wipe down the entire surface of your keyboard, paying close attention to the keys and the gaps between them.
- (Optional) We included cotton buds to the equipment list, which most people only use to clean external keyboards. However, they can prove to be handy for getting in between the keys of smaller keyboards such as notebooks or MacBook Airs. But make sure to wipe down afterwards to prevent any rogue cotton fibres from nestling into the keyboard.
Now that you know How to Clean a Laptop Keyboard
So, you now know how to clean a laptop keyboard without compressed air, but why stop there? Check out the rest of our blog, which we regularly update with informative, helpful cleaning guides for home and work.
If you require professional cleaning services for commercial or domestic properties, MGC Maintenance Services can help. Our experienced team of cleaning specialists offer a vast array of high-quality services using the most up-to-date, market-leading equipment. Get in touch today to discuss your requirements and get a FREE quote.