Today we want to help you with these tips on how to clean your laptop keyboard. And the products will inevitably get dirty. No matter how much you take care of your equipment and your peripherals, they’ll eventually get dirty. Most of the time we will deal with dust or some minor residue; but, at other times, he would wreath to get to work.

On a traditional computer, cleaning is key. We recently published an article guiding you on how much you should perform this ritual; but, if you’re using a laptop, you’re more limited in performing regulatory cleansing.

Why Clean My Laptop Keyboard?

For a laptop, the keyboard is an integral part of its structure, as well as one of the pieces that give identity to this device. The greatest quality of a laptop is to be able to use it autonomously, without peripherals or paraphernalia; therein lies the importance of the transcription keyboard. Being attached to the device itself, and this is seen in such diverse situations, it is normal that this piece is dragging debris after a while.

If these accumulate, they can hinder the use of the device and even spoil it. A “recent” case is found on Apple laptops and its dust-derived keyboard problems, but that’s just one of the possible cases we can find if we’re not careful.

In this way, and following the recommendation of our special on the maintenance of our equipment, we should take a look at this integral part of the laptop every few months; these devices tend to accumulate dirt faster due to their use. Let’s try to give you some procedures that you can always use; regardless of the source and state of the keyboard in question. We invite you to continue.

Before We Get Down To Business

Before we start working on the laptop keyboard, we must turn off the computer and subtract the battery (if possible). In this way, we will not damage the equipment accidentally and operate on it with the greatest possible safety and lightness. How we will continue this process depends entirely on our disposition and time; as well as the state of the keyboard itself. Most of the time a quick pass of an air disperser will serve to keep our keyboard; but, at other times, it may be a better option to remove it completely from the casing. That choice is entirely yours.

Disassembling The Equipment

The procedure we will follow for most of the time. For cases where there is only a little dirt accumulated, an air gun (or use-and-pull spray) and a little bit of stun is enough to remove the debris. Using this method not only do we not have to subtract the keyboard to clean it, but we can also do it quickly and easily in a few minutes; well it is true that its effectiveness lies in the removal of dust and exposed debris, it will not do us much use if the keyboard is not in good condition.

We recommend that after you turn off your laptop, place it open upside down, with a slight tilt. In that state, a few centimeters away, it gives gentle passes of the air gun back and forth, so that all the debris embedded in the sides falls by their weight after moving them through the air. Repeat the process from various angles until you are satisfied, and don’t forget to do so in an area where it is easy to clean any debris that falls from the equipment.

Alternatively, there are gel bands that allow us to remove waste comfortably. These gelatinous bands last a few uses and are affordable; but, if we don’t want to use them, we can also use some duct tape. The procedure is simple: place the laptop on its back and apply the gel band gradually on its surface without excessive pressure.

Clean Our Keyboard

If you have decided to disassemble the keyboard, your weapons will be fine tweezers; the classic screwdrivers; gauze that leaves no fibers and isotropic alcohol of more than 96% (or similar products). Before you get into it, it would be advisable to check if your keyboard allows you to subtract the keys or the keyboard itself from the case. Cases such as Apple’s aforementioned MacBook, as well as most market notebooks, do not allow it for its construction; performing this task on them can be dangerous to the integrity of the keyboard itself. We recommend checking on sites like iFixit or similar to how to do so.

In any case, if it is possible to perform this procedure, check if it is possible to lift the keys from your keyboard with the tweezers before carefully subtracting them, one by one, and remove debris through the gauze slightly moistened with the product (it is alcohol or the like). By the time you finish this tedious process, let the product dry, as well as the keys, before proceeding to its positioning in its natural position.

Thanks to this procedure you can remove larger residues, such as liquids, or food scraps; as well as those that have prevented the correct use of a particular key. If your keyboard allows it, you could subtract it completely without going key to key for better cleaning; the model we use in our article on SSDs on laptops, to give an example, allows it.