Can external speakers damage laptops?

I have a pair of speakers and I put it beside the laptop I use. Does it damage the laptop especially the monitor??? Do laptops have magnetic protection?

 

No, you won't kill your laptop.

 

If you put a really powerful speaker near a CRT monitor, the image will be distorted. Since CRT monitors have been almost phased out, you don't have to worry about anything.

 

If your thinking about the screen your fine, it could hurt your hdd though if it was close enough to it and a strong magnet (not little computer speakers but manly speakers could do it )

 

The only problem you need to really worry about are vibrations. If you have a massive subwoofer next to your laptop or on the same table, the vibrations will be transferred through the medium, and will shake your harddrive, and could cause it to die.

K-TRON

 

Thanks for the fast replies. I just bought these, I'll probably put the subwoofer on the ground but do you think it can damage the HDD from the bass??? http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10093051&catid=#

By the way, LCDs don't get damaged by magnets?

 

Nope, the screen itself is immune. If you wanted to be technical some of the components that make up the screen could be damaged by a really strong magnet though (like electro magnet or medical magnet)

 

Why is that CRT's get damaged and LCDs don't??? Is it because CRT's fire electrons but the magnetic field can cause the electrons to go different directions causing it to cause distorted images??? Whereas LCD's is just liquid crystals shifting to produce images?

 

inchyfingers, the degree of deflection of the electron through the air, by a magnetic field is directly responsible for the formation of colors you see on the screen (i.e. 'electrons that deviate from a straight line produces photons, similar to how lasers work). So as a result direct manipulation of the electron trajectory, by an external magnetic field will cause distortions in color. Also prolonged exposure of the screen to a magnet will cause permanent magnitization of the screen causing the persistent color distortion.

in contrast, in LCD, the image you see on the screen is independent of a magnetic field, the color is formed by a beam of photons being passed through crystals suspended in a liquid. These crystals refract light to produce different colors when electricity is passed through them (not magnetic). Hence the color you see in LCD monitors cannot be distorted very easily using magnets, unless it is strong enough to impede electron flow through a liquid medium (which is very hard).

PS: Is this correct? given what I know of the screens this is my interpretation.

 

Yea, mikebob pretty much covered the reason why LCDs won't be hurt by speakers.

The other thing that's good to know: most 2.1 speaker systems have magnetically shielded smaller speakers (since these go directly next to your computer), leaving only the subwoofer unshielded. They warn you not to put credit cards and things on the sub, and keep it ~1 foot away from your computer. The risk of damage is small as it is, the distance is more a precaution than anything so they can't get sued for breaking your computer

K-TRON pointed out the main danger: vibrations. Basically, don't put your laptop right on your sub with the bass cranked up all the way lol. If it's under your desk you're fine, that's where I have mine and the vibrations aren't nearly strong enough to travel through the desk and into the computer to any real degree.

 

If your subwoofer is on the ground, there's really no danger at all. Heck, I've been keeping my 200W Logitech Z-2300 subwoofer on my desk right next to my notebook (barely room to move a mouse between the right side of the notebook and the left side of the sub) for about 5 months now, and nothing's happened. Mind you, both the notebook and sub have been on 24/7 almost constantly.

You can break out your tinfoil hat if you want, but there's really no danger of damage to your notebook from your subwoofer, unless it were to physically vibrate so hard it falls off of your desk.

 

Thanks guys! I hooked up my new speakers today, they are amazing for only $100 CAD.

 

Good to hear (no pun intended). What did you get?

 

the only worry i only ever have is my huge speakers connected to my laptop and desktop. sometimes they send a lot of static/energy input back into my machine..but yeah.

 

Its a fact that vibrations will lower your hard drives long term lifespan.

The gap between the platter and head is a fraction of a hair strand.

 

Totally agree on that, vibrations can be dangerous to the hard disk... Sub-woofers can be very shaky when the bass is amplified really high.

 

Somewhat right. The damage done to COLOR CRT displays by magnets is due to the magnet shifting the shadow mask or aperture grille inside that allows different electron beams to reach different bits of the phosphor - in some cases stronger magnets can permanently deform the shadow mask. (Note: while magnets can temporarily distort the image on a B&W CRT by deflecting the electrons, the effect only lasts as long as the magnet is there - B&W CRTs have no shadow mask or aperture grille to shift or deform, since they only have one electron gun instead of three.)

And an LCD doesn't use an electron gun at all. (Which is why they're so much thinner.) The crystals generally act like little filters to block/pass different colors (or in some cases polarities) of light when turned off/on. (Generally three layers for color LCDs, and one polarity layer for monochrome LCDs.) Most use a backlight (like a monitor or TV), but some simply have a reflective back layer to bounce back ambient light (like a gas pump, tamagotchi, or most calculators).

As for a badly messed up CRTs, I've read of DIY 120VAC line-powered super degaussing wands, but I won't linmk to that since it IS potentially dangerous to mess with line voltage/current if you don't know exactly what you're doing.