minicar: I have just bought a USB mini vacuum cleaner for my laptop so that I can clean under the keys. However I was wondering it it could be dangourous to use it while the laptop is turned on?Are USB mini vacuum cleaners for laptops safe to use while the laptop is on?How else are you going to get the power to run the thing? If the computer is off there is no power to run the vacuum cleaner, so they won't work at all if the laptop is off!|||as long as you don't open the computer you should be fine, and careful you don't break any of the keys, also how are you suppose to run a usb laptop with out power going to a usb outlet???Are USB mini vacuum cleaners for laptops safe to use while the laptop is on?Well how do you expect to work it if the laptop is turned off? The hoover requires power from the USB ports to work, when it's turned off there's no power. So yes, it is safe!|||If it`s working on USB,it can`t work while is your laptop off - It must to be turned on.....Are USB mini vacuum cleaners for laptops safe to use while the laptop is on?Safe? Yeah! Bit of a gimmick. All it does is take power to the devise.|||Being USB powered it probably won't work when the laptop is turned off! However, I would be wary of plugging any non-"smart" USB powered device directly to a laptop's USB ports, by which I mean devices which just have an electric motor driven from the USB power pins and have no power management features. This would include USB fans, vacuum cleaners, massagers, etc. If you want to use this type of device, plug it into a USB hub that has its own power supply.