Any way to keep dust out of the SP3?

[jnjroach]

Before this gets into a Geek Slug Fest....

The SP3 is designed as a disposable machine, with 3-5 year shelf life with proper care, it is a closed system and you will not be able to do traditional maintenance, those who are used to user serviceable or even neighborhood computer repair shop help are out of luck.

The good news for most of us we will buy the SP4 and the SP5, etc... so we will never experience the long slow death of our machines.

All of the Surfaces that are repaired are repaired in Clean Rooms using very specialized equipment and then are sent back out as refurb units....

 

[kundas1]

seriously I'm not going to get into a tennis match about this, but suffice it to say yes smokers are the worst as all that smoking turns into not dust but SOOT.. I once had to replace a power supply because it was so full of smoke soot and crap that it caused a bridge and shorted out the P/S! plus it stunk to high heaven.. but again you keep comparing the SP3 to your desktop or using the desktop as a reference and and the desktop is a totally different beast when it comes to dust and debris build up... yes smoke can get into the vents of the SP3 and clog it up, but we aren't talking about smokers... thats a whole other ball park

 

[Liam2349]

There's nothing you can do short of covering the vents with a filter, which would probably look pretty weird unless done from the inside.

 

[bluegrass]

The simple answer to the Ops legitimate question is, that dust accumulating inside the Surface, isn't something you need to be worried about. Period.

 

[GreyFox7]

There's nothing you can do short of covering the vents with a filter, which would probably look pretty weird unless done from the inside.

Any convenient filtering device that would filter dust would restrict the precious air flow achieving in advance what dust would ultimately achieve much further down the road and be self defeating.

After three years IF you can see dust bunnies hanging in the vents you could try vacuuming or blowing the unit out although you would risk damage by doing so. A case of, if its working its probably best to leave it alone.

 

[kundas1]

simple answer to the OP question, that I was trying to convey is there is absolutely nothing to worry about regarding any dust getting into the Sp3... that's it, that's all...IMPO I think it's silly to worry about something like that UNLESS you bring the SP3 into a work environment that is laden with dust or work in a wood shop and have to deal with saw dust! other wise just enjoy the device... I see so many people posting about stuff that shouldn't even worry/think about... like one person posted that it was bad to plug the charger into the Surface when it was already plugged into the wall.. wait, what? and the person was worried that they would ruin the device... and that's just one example of many things that people obsess over little silly things... anyways this is the last I'm going to comment on this the OP can do what ever he feels necessary to protect his SP3... have a good day all

 

[ipaq_101]

Dust is a part of life, it gets into everything and anything, but you shouldn't be so concerned about it damaging your SP3, we aren't living in the dust bowl era.

You can always leave the SP3 in a sleeve when you aren't using it if you are that concerned about it.

 

[GreyFox7]

Stay out of coal mines while using your SP3.

 

[Liam2349]

Any convenient filtering device that would filter dust would restrict the precious air flow achieving in advance what dust would ultimately achieve much further down the road and be self defeating.

After three years IF you can see dust bunnies hanging in the vents you could try vacuuming or blowing the unit out although you would risk damage by doing so. A case of, if its working its probably best to leave it alone.

If he cares that much about it, there's his solution. I'm not recommending it.

 

[Geek.Verve]

Perhaps some sort of posted list of acceptable topics would help for those of us less in tune with the status quo. Then no one would have to be bothered to read (and respond) to such inane questions.

 

[note3]

Nice video.

If my SP3 fails or gets broken I will take this piece as a work of art and place it onto my wall.
1000 € is not to bad for a nice work of art

 

[OwenM]

I've had my SPro3 for about 20 months - and the air intake for the fan on the top right side did get very dusty (my apartment is constantly dusty, lots comes in through the ventilation system :/ ). The fan was running loudly ALL the time - docked, undocked and on power, and on battery.

My fix: turn surface off (so fan is off), gently blow into the air OUTlets (right hand side, not top) - LOTS of dust came off. Also removed some by carfeully levering wads out of the inlet vents with a pin - never going more than 3mm into the vents to avoid shoving the dust further in. Turned surface on again - fan still running, but not as loudly. Alternated between blowing gently into the inlets and outlets, after a few minutes, fan speed decreased a huge amount. Tested running fan at full speed by running Simulink simulations, running code in Visual Studio, and streaming a video while reloading all my tabs. Fan speeds up, then slows down as processes finish and tablet cools down.

tldr: SP3 fan inlets were dusty and fan was really loud. I cleaned it. Fan runs quietly again.