Laptop stickers are a unique and interesting way to personalize a laptop computer – they are cheap and easy to use, and the diversity of what’s available makes them unique. Many people put stickers on their laptop lid, and sometimes the body, as a way to make it truly unique. Some only use one or two, while others cover their entire machine. Despite the uniqueness of putting stickers on a laptop, there is one caveat – value. When you cover your notebook in stickers, it’s value goes down. No one wants to purchase a laptop full of worn stickers that have no personal meaning for them. The only way to make the value go back up is to remove the stickers – unfortunately, if you remove the stickers incorrectly, you’ll have a mess of adhesive that will leave you worse off them before.
If you need to remove the stickers from your notebook without leaving a mess of goo behind, follow the next steps to get started.
Items Needed:
Notebook with stickers on it
Tweezers
Duct tape
Paper towel
Abrasive
Step 1: The first thing to do is try and remove the top layer of stickers using a pair of tweezers or your fingernails. These stickers are the newest, and will likely peel off fairly easy. Be sure to peel slowly, and to peel evenly – if you put to much strain on one area, it will eventually break free of the adhesive.
If you’re lucky, all the stickers on the notebook will come off this way. If not, proceed to step two.
Step 2: If there’s a bottom layer of stickers, they may be older than the previous ones, and won’t be in the right condition to be pulled off. If that’s the case, you will need to take them off in two steps – top layer of sticker first, adhesive last.
Take a paper towel or two and make them wet. Wring them out so that they are damp, with just a little extra moisture to spare. Place them over the top of the stickers and let it sit there for an hour or so – make sure your computer is off so that so water accidentally runs into the motherboard and fries it. The stickers will dampen and become soft.
At this point, take your hand and start rubbing the stickers vigorously. The paper will start to roll and peel off. Brush it aside and do this until all the paper is gone. All that’s left is adhesive.
Step 3: Take a dry paper towel and start rubbing at the edge of the adhesive while it is still wet. It will start rolling and peeling off, though with more effort than the paper. You will likely be doing this for an hour or more, so be patient. Don’t rub in the same area too long or you’ll scratch the lid.
Step 4: If you can’t get the adhesive off with rubbing, you will need to use a chemical component, which is the extreme last step, as it can damage the plastic. Goo-be-gone is a fast option, though you have to be exceptionally careful with it. You can try using nail polish remover with very minimal exposure to the plastic – it will corrode the plastic if exposed to it, so be careful.
