Hays High School's Official Student Newspaper

The Guidon Online

Hays High School's Official Student Newspaper

The Guidon Online

Hays High School's Official Student Newspaper

The Guidon Online

Having issues? Laptop tips for those in need

With only a semester left until the lease is up, students are becoming restless with the numerous problems that the school laptops pose.

“Four years is a long time for a laptop,” CCU attendant Aaron Shapland said. “By the end of four years, computers that are used heavily everyday begin to have problems.”

Students agree that their laptops have begun to have several problems.

“I don’t even know where to begin when talking about all the problems my laptop has,” junior Jake Nelson said.

Sophomore Gabriella Zimmerman agreed.

“I just have problems with everything,” Zimmerman said.

Many students agree that one of their worst problems is dealing with the life of their battery.

“My battery says that it’s full and 10 minutes later it says it has an hour and 45 minutes left but it will be flashing red and just die,” Nelson said.

Shapland had an answer to the problem.

“Batteries have a definite lifespan, and they don’t last forever,” Shapland said. “What you can do to help lengthen the battery life is to lower your screen brightness and not run programs that require your computer to do a lot of work.  These programs drain the battery.  However, if your battery is bad enough, just bring it to the CCU and we can replace it.”

Another problem that the CCU deals with is laptops overheating.

“One of my fans broke and so my laptop overheated,” sophomore Christopher Rooney said.

Shapland agreed that overheating laptops are a common problem.

“One of the main reasons computers overheat is because the back vents get covered and pieces of whatever is covering the vent get sucked into the vent and clog it,” Shapland said. “Students tend to use their laptops on their beds.  When your laptop is on your bed the blankets or pillows fluff up and cover your vent and lint gets sucked off of the pillows and blankets into your vent.”

The slowness of the laptops also upsets students.

“Basically the problem with my laptop is that it is really, really slow,” sophomore Amber Wooldridge said.

There is one quick step students can do to solve this problem.

“The best thing to do for a slow laptop is to restart it,” Shapland said.  “Don’t always just put your computer to sleep.  It is best to restart it at least once a week. That will really help the speed of it.”

Along with wearing out the battery on their computers, another part of the laptop that students wear out easily is the keyboard and mouse.

“My mouse is horrible,” Nelson said. “It just doesn’t work the way it should.”

Overuse is the main reason for many clicking and typing problems.

“Many students type or click too hard or overuse their keyboard and mouse,” Shapland said. “Another thing they do is eat over them and the food falls between the keys and they can pop loose. Don’t eat over your laptop.”

Possibly the most dreaded thing for students is having their hard drive crash and losing everything saved to their laptops.  This can cause big problems when there are projects or big assignments due for a class.

“I know students are hard on their computers, and when the laptop gets banged around or bumped then it could cause a screw inside your computer to put a scratch on the hard drive, and too many scratches will cause it to crash,” Shapland said. “Your computer is very sensitive.  The hard drive spins around at thousands of revolutions per minute and when a screw hits it, it can cause some serious damage.  So, don’t throw your laptop against the wall, kick it, or slam it down hard.  These things could also cause the screen to crack, which is never good.”

Shapland recommends always putting your laptop somewhere where nobody will step on it or kick it.

“70 to 80 percent of the repairs we do are all for misuse reasons,” Shapland said.

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

The Guidon intends for this area to be used to foster healthy, thought-provoking discussion. Comments are expected to adhere to our standards and to be respectful and constructive. As such, we do not permit the use of profanity, foul language, personal attacks, or the use of language that might be interpreted as libelous. Comments are reviewed and must be approved by a moderator to ensure that they meet these standards. The Guidon does not allow anonymous comments, and The Guidon requires a valid email address. The email address will not be displayed but will be used to confirm your comments.
All The Guidon Online Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *