Melted coating, possible?

I am a rather paranoid individual so here goes nothing.

Is it possible for the heat generated from my laptop to melt the glossy coating off my screen if I leave the laptop closed (lid down) while it is still running? I want to leave my videos encoding while I go to sleep or something and don't want to wake up to a screen with melted blotches everywhere.

I have a v6va and since the palm rests and bezel above the function keys are metallic, it can get pretty warm. My temps right now are ranging in the 54-58C for CPU.

Or am I just too paranoid?

I don't know the heat tolerance of these screens amd screen coatings and they are usually cool to the touch, so...

Someone who knows about them, do tell!

I IMPLORE YOU! As a fellow laptopizen!

 

You could just set it to turn off the screen after like 5 minutes or something.

That's guarantee nothing bad happening to your screen.

 

if you were downloading off the net, I would say put it in quiet office mode and close the lid, but if you are video encoding, I would use your Fn keys to turn off the LCD and leave it open.

 

My notebook is at 51-55 degrees when doing basic tasks like video watching and surfing the web. If you must leave your notebook off, just turn off the LCD using the DN command. As well, investing in a cooler is a good idea.

 

I doubt it would melt it, but it would probably trap waste heat for no reason.

If you plan on doing video encoding on a laptop, you might want to get a desk fan and keep it pointed at it while in use so that it has a constant flow of fresh cool air. Laptops aren't quite made as well as desktops for that sort of sustained use. That sort of temperature makes me uncomfortable on a desktop, but it's somewhat "normal" for a laptop...

Just as a reference, most current desktops with decent cooling tend to hover around 35-40 idle, 50 under load. Older Intel Prescotts (last generation socket 478 P4s, first generation socket 775 P4s) used to idle around 50-60C, then reach 70C under load with stock fans. It should be noted that the power regulators were under more strain with Prescotts since they had a higher-than-normal power draw for the time (which soon became the norm or "low" compared with Pentium D processors). Meanwhile, later Northwood P4s (predecessors to the Prescott on socket 478) used to idle around 45C, then go up to about 50-55C under load. All of this can be made lower by about 5-10C with an exotic cooler like a Zalman or Thermaltake and the like (too bad they don't make these for laptops ).

 

Yes, you're just being paranoid , but that isn't such a bad thing when it comes to protecting expensive tech investments, and the simple answer is no, it won't. One thing to keep in mind is that most hard plastics and coatings have a fairly high melting point, certainly higher than would ever be expected through regular environmental exposures (i.e. you don't hold a match or lighter up to it). Another thing is that the CPU temp is what the chip reports at that location, and while internal temps will tend to *warm* up palmrests etc you are never going to get into surface temps in the 55C+ range (130F) at the point of external contact. You'll know this because at this level it starts to become painful to the touch (unless you have an older MacBook Pro like my mother-in-law as the underside, but not the interior, actually does have that happen).

Still, just as easy to leave the screen up so there's no contact with the aluminum palmrest, turn off the LCD and let the encoding run its course so you feel better .

 

Why do you have to close the lid? Why not just turn the LCD off using Fn + F7 and then maybe close the lid 3/4 of the way... but you don't have to close it completely.

 

Funny thing is, I've only really seen Dells operating with the lid shut, but mostly because they can use a docking station. I suppose other dockable models would support that as well, but I don't think that would be a desirable feature on a non-dockable model. Imagine having it turn on by accident in your bag and you later open it to find that the batteries are depleted...

 

Yeah thanks for all the help. This is also because I want to download while walking around campus with it still in my notebook backpack. I might want to encode on the go to.

So I need this clarified:

"NO YOUR LAPTOP'S GLOSSY COATING WILL NOT MELT IF YOU LEAVE THE LID CLOSED WHILE KEEPING THE LAPTOP RUNNING BECAUSE THE GLOSSY COATING HAS A VERY HIGH MELTING POINT. EXTENDED HEAT EXPOSURE WILL ALSO NOT GRADUALLY MELT IT INTO A LESS VISCOUS SOLUTION."

Right???

 

Do NOT run your laptop while it's in a bag. That's completely different than just having the lid closed.

 

I'll second that, especially if you have a padded laptop bag. It will act as an insulator keeping all the heat inside. Also, the effectiveness of the shock protection inside laptop hdds become significantly reduced while operating. Another reason not to carry your laptop in your bag while it is running.

Edit: A simple solution to your problem could be a desktop, maybe an older one you have lying around. I use my 4yr old desktop for downloads and light encoding. You can use remote desktop or some other application to remotely access your desktop from the internet to manage everything.

 

Umm... just how much did you spend on that laptop? Aren't you the least bit worried that it would get damaged that way?

 

Yeah I second that, I was using an external HDD when the neighbours dog ran through and caught the HDD as it was copying and it landed on the floor, 3 months later it failed and had to go through expensive data recovery.

I would not carry your laptop while it is on and the HDD is spinning, if you drop it, the risk if damaging the HDD is much higher than if it is off.

Mind you I used to use my old Compaq Armada on the train and then walk for 2miles with it playing music in my bag (with headphones of course) bit of a large mp3 player but it only had a 300mhz processor so didnt really get that hot, however I would definately not do the same with my W3J.

Its up to you, but unlike IBM, Asus do not use motion sensors for HDD protection