Cleaning Inside a Notebook computer

[kahuna]

Just finished doing deep cleaning my desktop computer... don't know how it gets so grubby... I go down and remove the heat exchange unit, clean, and reinstall with new heat sink compound. The computer has always been on a shelf on the wall about 5 feet off the ground. And I clean it every six months. But it sure gets dirty (it's not near any heating vents etc etc.)

With that said... I have purchased my first notebook computer... it's not going out in the "field," but considering how dirty the real desktop gets... I'm wondering if anybody has done any internal cleaning of their notebooks?

[PCInk]

Buy an airduster - they spray air at high force, point in into the vents and regularly push out the dust. Much easier than taking a laptop apart. I have only ever cleaned out laptops when they get to about 2 year old, but every couple of months give it a good air dust. If you have never used an air duster on your computer before: be warned - if you are asthmatic, run away! otherwise make sure you have a hoover nearby!

[kahuna]

I have seen air-blaster type devices but have always been worried about shoving the air in as compared to sucking it out with a vacum cleaner device... maybe blast the air in at one end and suck it out with the vacum cleaner. I am also thinking about placing/taping a filter over the intake fans on the bottom. Obviously not a very dense filter, just something similar to the very cheap furnace filters you buy at the hardware store. Thanks for your input :-)