How cold is too cold for a laptop??

So I am having this party tonight in northern lower Michigan. Right now it's over 60 degrees outside. I want to put my laptop (IBM Thinkpad) and Logitech Z-2300's outside to play music, as we will have beer pong and a bombfire going.

My only concern is that tonight it's supposed to drop to the higher 30's.

Will everything be fine or is that too cold, 30+ degrees??

Thanks!!

 

lol, you'll be fine!

just make sure no one drops beer or pushes it over!

 

It will be fine. The laptop will keep itself warm enough to operate properly.
You only need to worry in far below zero temperatures anyway.

 

Hrm... interesting question. If it's just for music, I would say yes, you should be fine. I mean, there's nothing that could really be negatively affected by 30 degree weather, other than the screen maybe. The only reason I say this is that your notebook monitor is an LCD, and the crystals inside of it might be slow to respond because of the cold and cause a smearing effect (much like ghosting) on the screen.

 

The only issue you'll possibly have to worry about is moving the cold laptop into the warm house immediately while it's on - that could cause condensation issues. Once you're done, put your computer into hibernate and move it inside, let it sit for 10 minutes, then use it. Other than that, you should have no issues. Computer hardware prefers cold as opposed to hot.

 

BTW the component you have to worry about most is the hard drive.
Most have a minimum operating temperature of 0 degrees C. I know you're going to be below that, but with the system running you won't have a problem, it will still be a minimum of 5 degrees C or so above ambient.
I don't remember CPUs exactly but it's low, something like -25 degrees C.

 

30 degrees Fahrenheit should be fine. Computer parts function better in lower temperatures than high. As mentioned before, the hard drive and display are the two parts to watch out for most, but the hard drive will be moving a lot, so it will probably stay a few degrees warmer than the ambient temperature.

And those are excellent party speakers. It's looking to an awesome party already.

By the way, Ohio was here - Michigan sucks!

 

Great! Thanks guys. All good advice and facts!

Rep added to everyone, well except MIDNIGHTSUN, only cause I gave out too much today! I'll get ya tomorrow though

 

Yes indeed! Only had them since Wednesday! They need some breaking in tonight!!

That's it! NO REP FOR YOU!! haha

GO WINGS!! hehe

 

I'll give you a tip I always use with my DSLR; put the electronics in a plastic bag before you enter warmth when going from cold, this way the condensation will occur on the inner surface of the plastic bag and not inside the computer. You do not have to worry about such things when going from warm to cold, however.

 

I believe most processors have a hard time starting when they are subject to less than 0C temperatures.
If your system is on, its warmth will keep it going despite how cold it is.

Make sure to close the lid of your laptop when you are playing music. That way the wind doesnt potentially knock the system over.

K-TRON

 

Condensation will form on any cold surface, inside a bag or not, because there is already air with moisture in it inside the computer. Putting it in a bag will help though because you're not going straight from warm to cold, you're keeping a bag of cold air around the laptop to allow it to warm up slowly.

 

Haha, I couldn't really care less about hockey. I'm a student at Ohio State, so please understand my irrational Michigan hatred. It just can't be helped.

 

If what you say is true about irrational hatred, please understand my extreme displeasure of all things Ohio State as I am a Penn State student.

BTW, how about them Nittany Lions in October of 2008, eh?

 

Exactly. There will be much less condensation inside the computer because of the slower warming process, however, there will be a lot of condensation on the inside of the plastic bag due to the sudden temperature change in that area. The whole point is to not expose the laptop directly to the heat but have an intermediate that can take up the most of the moist.

 

I've fired my Dell Latitude up at -40C temperatures (cold soaked, in a car, overnight, in Northern Canada). The main issue I ran into was that the battery would not run the system at all, but when connected to AC power on the airplane, it fired up just fine. Screen took a bit longer to warm up (but the WUXGA kicks out a lot of heat....so it warmed fairly quickly)..

Don't worry too much about condensation at those temperatures. When it gets that cold, the air can't really hold any moisture anyways...

 

I'm sorry, but I thought I would point this out just for future reference.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bomb fire

 

just be carefull not to move from a very hot place to a very cold one , as some drops of water will be formed on the laptop which i think may damage its components

 

No it wont. This only happens the other way around.