how to keep your lithium-ion battery in
tip-top shape the very best way to clean
the outside of your macbook pro and just
what do you do with all the stuff that
we've torn apart i've got all those
answers and more on our very first ask
MJ episode hi I'm MJ with iFixit and
recently I asked you to submit your
burning questions about self repair or I
fix it in general for a new segment
we're doing called ask MJ we got a ton
of responses so many that we can't fit
them all in just one episode so I picked
my favorite questions and we'll go ahead
and tackle those now I've got a lot to
say so let's just get started the first
question comes from max from Canada max
asks hey this might sound stupid at
first but what's the best way to clean a
MacBook Pro because everything seems to
leave residue or spots on the aluminum I
figured out the isopropyl alcohol works
best but it still leaves some marks I
love this question because I often see
people cleaning their computers or their
electronics in general really
haphazardly and when you spend like a
thousand dollars or even a few hundred
dollars on something
why willfully destroy it there are rules
for this kind of thing and we'll talk
about a couple of them here at I fix it
we use Omni cleans which is basically a
solution specifically designed for
cleaning electronics you can use it on
the outside on the screen on the
trackpad and the keyboard even on your
flat-screen television at home I've also
heard that people will make a 50/50
solution of isopropyl alcohol and
distilled water and that works well too
I've also had problems with my stuff
streaking when I'm cleaning it and
that's probably to do with the towel
that I'm using it's usually been used
about a thousand times and has all the
grime from previous cleaning still on it
so if you're really serious about not
leaving streaks you need to use a clean
towel and when I'm talking about towels
I don't mean like a bath towel that you
wash yourself with I mean one of those
little microfiber cloths that you can
clean eye glasses with they even sell
them at like Staples I think the reason
you want to use those is because they
don't have any rough fibers so after
cleaning something several times you
won't know this little fine scratches
starting to develop so in a nutshell you
want to use a cleaning solution and a
clean
cloth and lots of rubbing our next
question comes from a viewer named
Michael Michael asks I have read a
variety of different facts and myths
about preserving the lifespan of
lithium-ion batteries of course most of
our mobile devices including the iPhone
and iPad use these batteries what should
people do to extend the life of their
batteries should the battery die out
completely should only die out sometimes
does any of this matter Michael I am so
glad you asked this question because
I've heard so many myths about battery
preservation and I feel like it's about
time for us all to get on the same page
a lot of what people think they know
about battery preservation was accurate
about a decade ago when most batteries
and digital cameras and cell phones were
nickel metal hydride or nickel cadmium
the nickel based batteries did have a
lot of particular rules about how you're
supposed to charge them and discharged
them but today's lithium-ion batteries
don't have the same kind of rules you
don't have to format them or train them
and the whole thing about like charging
it up for eight hours is actually pretty
old-school and you can you can ditch
that knowledge about now that all being
said there are a couple of basic rules
that you can follow to keep your
lithium-ion battery in the best
condition possible the first rule is to
discharge it as much as possible but not
till it totally dies at least once a
month it's important to keep the
electrons moving around inside of it and
while it might feel right to leave it
plugged in all the time it's actually
not good for the battery and you do need
to exercise it at least once a month the
second rule is to keep the battery cool
you want to keep air circulating around
the battery isn't much as possible so
even though it's called a laptop you
probably don't want to use it on your
lap or even worse with like a pillow on
your lap because that prevents the air
from flowing around it you want to use
probably one of those little laptop pads
or like a cookie cooling rack if you
have one at home
heat is like the number one killer of a
batteries so don't leave your laptop in
your car on a hot day and try to keep
the air circulating around it if you're
interested in the science behind battery
depletion you can go to Vetter
university comm and they've got more
information than you could ever want to
know on to our next question Robert asks
being a viewer of almost all the iFixit
videos
always come across two huge questions
first of all after your tear downs do
you put all the parts back together or
do you just throw them away if you do
fix it up do you get to keep it my
second question is how the heck can I
fix it for to buy all this stuff I wish
I got to keep everything that I put back
together we definitely don't just throw
things away when we're done with them we
keep stuff around either for testing our
own parts on or from making repair
guides for the devices and we can afford
to buy all this stuff because we're a
business and I don't mean to sound
sarcastic when I say that but a lot of
people don't know that we actually sell
repair parts and tools to people all
over the world it's actually part of our
goal to teach everybody how to repair
everything and that's not possible if
they don't have parts for tools so
that's how we make our money our last
question is from a viewer named Martin
Martin says I wanted to ask if you could
do some video game console repairs for
example the Xbox 360 ps3 and the week I
love your Apple videos but could you do
some console stuff as well love your
videos Martin well Martin we love you
and because we love you we filmed a
PlayStation 3 yellow light of death
repair video I will put the link
somewhere in this spot right here also
if you check out our YouTube channel
there is an Xbox 360 red ring of death
repair video as well we haven't done any
whe videos yet but if and when we do I
will absolutely let you know that is all
we have for our first official ask MJ
episode please email your questions to
ask MJ at ifixit.com for a chance to get
your question answered and to get some
free stuff from us here at iFixit make
sure you subscribe to our youtube
channel for all the latest tear downs
and repair videos and of course if you
do the Twitter thing you can follow us
on twitter at twitter.com/randymckown
thanks