For most of us, the decision of buying a laptop is solely based on the performance to price ratio. While a laptop may offer fantastic performance, the way it is maintained makes a huge difference in its performance. So even though you might loosen your fist-tight budget a bit to buy a good product, to get it to deliver the same performance means it needs to be taken care of well. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to keep your laptop in a perfect condition. Just follow these few simple maintenance tips to get the maximum juice out of your portable companion.

• Keep it dust free

Dust is one of the major reasons causing failure of most electronic devices, and laptops are no exception to this. The reason is -- accumulation of dust results in poor cooling of the internal components, which results in the components to heat up and thereafter their failure. Hence whenever you see a speck of dust, wipe it immediately. It is advisable to clean your laptop before or after using it with a soft cloth or laptop cleaning brush.

• Operate with clean hands

Since we were toddlers we were taught to keep our hands clean in order to avoid falling ill. On the same lines if you don’t want your laptop to malfunction, operate it with clean hands. Though this may sound absurd, the fact is if you lay your greasy hands on the laptop, the grease accumulates between the keys and contacts leading to jamming of keys. Also this leaves greasy prints on the keys, giving your laptop an ugly appearance.

• Place the laptop on a firm surface

It’s always a pleasure to watch a movie on your laptop while lying on your bed or couch, but remember the laptop’s CPU cooling fan is placed underneath it. So if the laptop is placed on a saggy surface there would be virtually no room for ventilation and the laptop would heat up. Now you know why your laptop froze or shut down while you were watching a movie lying on your couch! Keep your laptop on a firm surface while using it.

• Keep edibles and beverages away

Never keep beverages, liquids or any eatables near laptops, for no matter how cautious you are, you might end up spilling food or drinks on your laptop costing its life. If you are unlucky, it might never recover again. So while you enjoy your meal or drinks, make sure you are far away from your laptop desk.