Swapped thermal paste on my old laptop after 4 years

I was about to buy a new laptop because it kept overheating and shutting down during Zoom calls... but I saw a before/after temperature difference of 15 degrees on a forum post. A $7 tube of Arctic Silver and 20 minutes of work turned my 2019 Dell into something usable again. Has anyone else tried this on a really old machine?

3 comments

3 Comments

riley_price2mo ago

My 2013 ThinkPad ran so hot it could've doubled as a space heater, and after swapping the paste it actually stayed on for more than 20 minutes without screaming at me. Guess we both kept our laptops out of the e-waste pile for another year.

hayden_rivera1mo ago

Wait, you got 20 whole minutes out of a 2013 ThinkPad before it started screaming? That's practically a record. I had a Dell from around that time that would hit 90 degrees just from opening Chrome, and I only kept it alive by keeping it elevated on a couple of soda caps for "airflow".

wright.taylor2mo ago

That's how it is with everything now, nothing built to last anymore.