[SGVLUG] Burning laptop anyone?

[Dustin Laurence]

On Tue, Aug 29, 2006 at 04:35:03PM -0700, Todd Cranston-Cuebas wrote:

> shag rug and it literally burned up! I called the company, Fujitsu, and they
> claimed that everybody knows that a laptop will trap heat if left on a shag
> rug and that the heat will continue to rise until the system melts.
> 
> Anybody else find this to be "new" information? It literally left a burn on
> the rug and the plastic door where the memory card goes literally melted
> like a limp potato chip. The system is just toast and won't even boot. I

Hmm.  I can't say I thought of actual damage to other things, but I'm
very careful about blocking the exhaust and (mostly, due to my laptop's
design) intake vents for fear of damaging it.  I use it in my lap
whenever convenient, but I'm careful to support the right side just on
the edge to minimize my leg blocking one of the intake vents.  I also
have gkrellm monitoring the motherboard temperature sensor too.

It never occured to me that it might start a fire, but that surely
depends on whether it's intended for the mobile or desktop replacement
niches.  If it contains a desktop chip I can easily see how that could
happen, but I'm skeptical that a Pentium M or Turion would.  Of course a
Via or (pricey!) transmeta chip may be still better if you can take the
performance hit.

> BTW: As you might guess, I'm looking for a _really_ basic laptop to replace
> this unit that has a bit more memory, so my kid can install a standard full
> distro of linux, firefox, and open-office for school. Nothing fancy, in

I'm quite happy with this 'built on Asus' laptop, but it isn't basic.
However, they sell lower-end models.  One thing I like is that I've been
using it constantly for a desktop and it has no trouble doing multi-hour
builds in the dead of summer, something I gather el cheapos tend to
suffer for.  I was looking for a quality laptop for hard use and I think
I got it.

Dustin
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