Gnomie Ryan Krizan writes:

1. Do not leave your notebook running on a poorly ventilated surface, such as wood or metal for too long. Once the wood or metal heats up from the heat of the laptop, it will retain the heat and not allow your notebook to cool properly. You might as well toss your notebook into a hot furnace.

2. Learn how to manage hard drive spin cycles as pertaining to your operating systems. Most hard drives are only rated for around 50,000
   spin cycles before they wear out, so managing spin cycles can greatly increase the life expectancy of your hard drive.

3. Try not to let heavy power cords, USB cables, or any other cables that are plugged into your notebook hang. Over time, it could damage plugs in your notebook that could result in costly repairs. As is very common with Dell notebooks, the AC power adapter — which is soldered directly to the notebook’s motherboard — can get damaged, and render a motherboard useless if unrepairable.
4. Tap the keyboard and touchpad lightly. Notebook keyboards and touchpads are not built as heavily as desktop keyboards and mice. Keeping the keyboard and touchpad clean and lightly tapping instead of “punching” the keys or touchpad will help increase the notebook’s life expectancy.
5. Try not to fully discharge your notebook battery. Adjust your power management settings to shut down the computer when the battery charge reaches 15 to 20 percent rather than 5 to 10 percent. Rechargeable batteries can become damaged if fully discharged too many times. Battery life is generally determined by charge and discharge cycles around 300 to 500 cycles. Also, if storing a battery, do not store the battery fully charged for more than a couple of days as many notebook batteries are designed to be stored at around 40% charged.