I was a little unhappy with how my Dell 9550 had aged. It’s 2.5 years old, but it was really seeming like it was rough. The trackpad was being finicky, it was having a hard time registering right clicks. Additionally, it was getting super hot, having trouble sleeping, and the battery life was almost nonexistent. Dell had shipped me a new battery a few months earlier, but I never got around to swapping it out.

I sat down to finally do it and looked for the instructions. Turns out the trackpad issues were exactly why Dell sent out the new battery – the battery swells up and presses on the underside of the trackpad. I opened up the back of the laptop and the heat issues immediately became clear…

First impression – it’s super gross. Have you noticed the trouble spot though?

That’s where the air is supposed to go in…

Pulled out as much as I can get, pretty damn gross…

Turns out that dust clogging fans causes overheating issues, which cause both performance problems and does terrible things to battery life. No idea how much of the difference was from replacing the battery and how much was from unclogging the fans, but it’s night and day. I haven’t heard the fans come on since and the battery life has moved from ~45 minutes to >6 hours. Worthwhile to not be lazy. Thanks Dell, it was nice of you to send out the battery unsolicited!