Why does nobody talk about how thermal paste dries up way faster in laptops than desktops?

I pulled apart an old Dell Latitude from 2019 last week and the paste was basically dust. Caked and crumbly, no conductivity left. Meanwhile my home desktop hasn't been touched since 2017 and it's still goopy. I think it's the constant flexing and heat cycles in a thin chassis that does it. Has anyone else seen this difference in their own machines?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant.parker1mo ago

I've definitely seen the same thing with those thin laptops. The heat cycles and flexing in a cramped chassis just cooks the paste way faster. I always use a thicker paste like Thermalright TFX or Gelid GC Extreme on laptops now, that stuff holds up way better than the stock goop.

andrew_sanchez941mo agoOG Member

Is it really that big of a deal though? Most people just use the stock stuff and their laptops run fine for years.