How often do you clean the interior of your MacBook Pro for dust?

[Happy_John]

He's obviously new because that advice is utter BS. Laptops don't get nearly the dust towers do (and towers, even in dusty environments, are usually fine for a few months. I used to service computers in Iraq).

I honestly never really blow out my laptops, when I do open them even after years there's almost no dust in them.

The fact that they are laptops and are portable does mean a lot of dust gets shaken out in daily life by being picked up, carried, etc. This doesn't happen with towers, so they build up a hell of a lot more dust.

 

[hiterdhojery]

I didn't remember when I cleaned my MacBook. I can say Once upon a time. LOL 🤣

 

[darkpaw]

I have never opened a MacBook Pro or Air to dust it, and I've owned tons over the years.

My G4 tower and G5 tower were easy to open and dust. My Late-2013 Mac Pros are simple to open and do get very dusty.

My 2019 Mac Pro was the worst for dust, but was reasonably easy to open and dust. I think the powerful fan just pulled all the dust from the office into it, and left it there.

The bottom of my M1 Max Mac Studio gets dusty, but I can only dust the bottom; I've not opened it to dust inside.

 

[Astuces iOS]

3 times a day.

I do 5 😁

 

[benwiggy]

The only time I've cleaned the dust from inside a laptop is when I was opening it up for some other reason.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

My Apple Store tech says MBP users should be cleaning the dust from inside the laptop once a week or once a month at the worst. He says dust will eventually form and built up like cotton balls if this maintenance is left for too long (like a year).

For anyone who has had these laptops for years, can anyone confirm how much dust builds up inside these laptops over time?

The fan on the M4 Pros almost never run. Even when doing some video rendering, it may not spin up the fans. And I dont use my laptop on the carpet or in bed blocking all the vents. So I shouldn't have much dust built in I would think?

Every person and ambient condition is different, so Your Mileage Will Vary. Just do what makes sense for you.

I have had Mac laptops since the Duos and I consider them tools to be used, not babied. I eat over my M2 MBP every day and the keyboard gets lots of crumbs but I handle the MBP roughly, so maybe that shakes the dust out ;~). Crumbs do get brushed away every few days and [carefully] vacuumed every couple of weeks.

The fans pretty much never kick in on my M2 MBP, but I have 96 GB RAM so no swapping to SSD may help keep the heat down.

Lint was a huge problem for me blocking iPhone charging ports before MagSafe, but lint has never been an issue on any laptop of mine for decades

 

[MallardDuck]

My Apple Store tech says MBP users should be cleaning the dust from inside the laptop once a week or once a month at the worst. He says dust will eventually form and built up like cotton balls if this maintenance is left for too long (like a year).

For anyone who has had these laptops for years, can anyone confirm how much dust builds up inside these laptops over time?

The fan on the M4 Pros almost never run. Even when doing some video rendering, it may not spin up the fans. And I dont use my laptop on the carpet or in bed blocking all the vents. So I shouldn't have much dust built in I would think?

If you open the case once a week you're going to strip out the screws pretty quickly - if it was intended/needed to do that, it'd be designed with snaps instead.

I do open mine once a year or two, and hit it with canned air, but that's about it. Now, the gaming PC that sits on the floor and collects all the pet fur? That's once a month, but that's why it comes with a hinged door.

 

[DeepSix]

Are you sure they weren't meaning inside as in the screen/hinge/keyboard area? As far as I know Apple doesn't really even want users opening their laptops up in the first place.

The tech meant that we should be popping off the back lid to blow out all the dust balls once a week, once a month at the worst.

But if device doesnt run its fans as often as other laptops that do, it shouldn't be near as dusty inside right?

 

[Happy_John]

....

Lint was a huge problem for me blocking iPhone charging ports before MagSafe, but lint has never been an issue on any laptop of mine for decades

Lint in the lightning socket of iPhones was always a problem for me, so since iPhones started supporting wireless charging, I've put a silcone plug in the port. Don't know if lint is a problem with UCB-C ports on iPhones, as I have it covered up I've continued to just seal up the port.

 

[montuori]

I'm too busy fretting about battery percentages to worry about dustballs.

 

[GrassShark]

The tech meant that we should be popping off the back lid to blow out all the dust balls once a week, once a month at the worst.

But if device doesnt run its fans as often as other laptops that do, it shouldn't be near as dusty inside right?

Even once a month sounds excessive. I think I used to do mine (various models of intel MacBook Pro like once every 6 months at most, but more often it was once every couple of years, and even then it was never really that dusty in there.

If the fans rarely spin up, I doubt you’d ever need to do it unless you live/work in a super dusty environment.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Once a week? I find it hard to believe you got such advice.

My 2009er I'd check perhaps twice in one year as it runs hot and spins the fans constantly. But my M2 (rare fan use) I'd perhaps check it after 3 years.

 

[Timpetus]

I clean it if it's having a problem caused by dust. I might also clean it if I have to open it up anyway. Otherwise, never. MBPs are pretty well-designed to avoid dust buildup issues. I had a 2008 16" that was still working fine nearly a decade later, when I finally opened it up to install a SSD in place of the optical drive. It was nearly spotless inside.

 

[TechnoMonk]

Every time I use. Try to wax it every week.

 

[Mrbobb]

My Apple Store tech says MBP users should be cleaning the dust from inside the laptop once a week or once a month at the worst. He says dust will eventually form and built up like cotton balls if this maintenance is left for too long (like a year).

Goes to show some of these geniuses do hear-say like the rest of us.

Unless you are operating in a sand-storm desert environment, once-a-year is more than enough. I've been in this business for 30+ years.

Shame the genius, no Apple employee should encourage an end-user to open up a device unnecessarily.

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

After 14 months with this MacBook Pro, never. The fans are hardly ever on!

My old 11" i7 MacBook Air? About two or three times in 11 years.

 

[Parowdy]

Wait, so your Apple certified service provider tells you to void your warranty? Because that’s what he is doing.

Answering your question, I’ve „had“ 4 MacBooks so far. One belongs to my SO and one I didn’t use, someone in the family upgraded and just gave it to me (2014 MBP in 2020).
I have opened and cleaned all of them once. The used one was rather full of dust and cat hair, it was never cleaned before and used in a very dusty workspace with 2 cats around.
My personal 2017 MBP (had a topcase replacement in 2019) I cleaned in 2023 or so I think, it was pretty clean despite me not giving a f about the machine after 2019. My SO‘s pre owned 2019 MBP (we got it in 2024 as a Windows machine) I cleaned last year and it was pretty clean, too. My pre owned M1 Pro (2021) was probably never cleaned either before I did it last week, it was a little more dusty than expected but still not dirty.

Wether a Mac needs cleaning depends on where and how it is being used, if the environment is dusty, has fur and so on and it’s used for workloads that need active cooling via the fans.

All 4 of mine have experienced something like this though and they didn’t really need any cleaning, (the 2014 didn’t benefit, because) I cleaned them for my own sake because I kept wondering how much dirt I’m lugging around without ever knowing it.
However, too much dust can also affect the performance, MAYBE (I don’t know) even cause a short circuit.

But you definitely do not need to clean the insides of your Mac more than once a year.

 

[Parowdy]

and over time will cause cooling issues or worse

I’ve never heard of that, which doesn’t mean anything.
But having opened 4 MacBooks, it never occurred to me that dust from the keyboard could enter the fan chambers, and I still don’t think it can. Dust from around the trackpad, yes. But I assume the PCB will block dirt from getting deeper into the machine. No?

 

[Unami]

Depends on the environment. I've been using a 2009 MBP for years on stages and in clubs doing visuals all night and it was never noticeable dirty when I opened it up. Been doing IT-Desk in my youth and you should have seen PC-Towers that have been used for logistics in a warehouse for 5-10 years - you could literally grab a handfull of dust inside those. (but they still worked).

Long story short, if you're not in a particularly dirty environment for prolonged time, your laptop will probably long be obsolete (meaning: older than ten years), before any meaningful heat-trapping, vent-obstructing dust builds up, if ever. If you are, you can open it up after a year or so and look if there's any buildup. Otherwise I wouldn't worry as long as fan noise doesn't change noticeably.

 

[Parowdy]

Lint in the lightning socket of iPhones was always a problem for me, so since iPhones started supporting wireless charging, I've put a silcone plug in the port. Don't know if lint is a problem with UCB-C ports on iPhones, as I have it covered up I've continued to just seal up the port.

For your info, lint should be more of a problem with newer iPhones, as the USB C port doesn’t have as much room as the Lightning port did and it’s a more complex port with, theoretically, more stuff to break.

 

[Parowdy]

Every time I use. Try to wax it every week.

I recommend steam bathing it prior to cleaning so the dust and all are easier to wipe off.

 

[AlixSPQR]

Yes, older MBP's, for example when I've replaced the battery or upgraded the HDD/SSD, and/or RAM. Sometimes I also have replaced the CPU's cooling paste (if applicable, in other laptops). But I think the latter's unnecessary (didn't change the temperatures, anyways).

 

[kevcube]

My Apple Store tech says MBP users should be cleaning the dust from inside the laptop once a week or once a month at the worst. He says dust will eventually form and built up like cotton balls if this maintenance is left for too long (like a year).

For anyone who has had these laptops for years, can anyone confirm how much dust builds up inside these laptops over time?

The fan on the M4 Pros almost never run. Even when doing some video rendering, it may not spin up the fans. And I dont use my laptop on the carpet or in bed blocking all the vents. So I shouldn't have much dust built in I would think?

I'm guessing he meant just pulling your sleeve over your hand and wiping your keyboard/screen. I've never cleaned the fans/vents of a Mac.

 

[russell_314]

This post made me think of this.

 

[macbookj0e]

I probably just wipe the keyboard of my 3 year old M1 MBP about once a week. Machine is flawless, never heard the fans in all that time!