Machstorm Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Just a small rant, they are not laptops (Argh!). They are called portables (As in portable computers) or notebooks. Laptop is a hard to get rid of marketing term which I cannot remember where it came from. How do I know this? I just happened to use to work for one of the biggest manufactures. Laptop is a dangerous term to use legally because of the number of bad things that can happen. Things like being burned by some notebooks because of the heat they generate or the battery that has a good chance to burst. Yes it still can happen. Portables were made to be put on a desk or a table (a flat surface). It is a mistake to put it on your lap because for one as mentioned above you cloths could cause the CPU and other components to overheat and after a while of the heat being applied and reapplied it will cause components to fail. Not only that the battery that you happen to be charging has a small chance of bursting if any internal damage in the cells causes a condition called a runaway. Some may argue that it hasn't happened to me me so it's no big deal, no worry. While that may be true the conditions described above can happen to any portable. That's it for me I'll get off my soap box now I would put more information forward about which manufacture and notebooks that are most prone to these types of failures, but unfortunately I am under a 2 year nondisclosure agreement until May 29th. Just be a little more cautious when putting your notebook near you lap. This has been eating at me for a while and I figured I would not be doing my job as a professional (and as a HAK5 fan) if I did not warn you guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seshan Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Notebook on lap = You should be going to jail for murder :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machstorm Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 Yah, the implication is is that if a salesmen or a tech imply that you can put it on your lap and you do and an injury results the company can be held liable for the injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vector Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 ok so who cares if people call them laptops or not? calling it a portable or notebook or anything else is still not going to change the amount of heat it will generate, and it certainly wont stop people from putting them on their laps, if people wanted desktops then they would buy desktops, and people arent going to only use a "notebook" computer sitting upright at their desk just because its been relabeled from laptop to portable computing machine. a simple laptop cooling pad will prevent overheating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machstorm Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 Here's a good example of what could go wrong if the conditions are right (albeit rare): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeWq6rWzChw and here to: http://dvice.com/archives/2006/06/laptop_a...notebook_ex.php You can argue semantics all you want I was just ranting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Wasn't that due to metal shards in the battery which caused a run-away failure? I doubt sitting on a sofa with a laptop on your lap will cause a fire, given that most computers these days will shut down well before the thermal failure point is reached. I physically disabled a fan on a D620 and ran Prime95 for a couple of hours, the CPU temperature never exceeded 80C, same with a D610. The CPU just scaled back and in the case of the D610, it just shutdown and refused to boot until it had cooled down. Plus, no matter what you say, sitting on a sofa or in bed with a laptop is 90% of the reason more laptops ship than desktops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machstorm Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 That's if the sensor is working and not damaged or turned off. But in most cases it will not burn or explode. Yes, I know that's the marketing potential of notebooks that you can take them almost anywhere. All I am saying is just be careful. I have had some business clients abuse theirs until the damn thing over heated and almost burned their lap. And that notebook did have a temperature sensor in it. About the metal shards. That was referring to the one that exploded in Japan? I take it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Well, if you treat your laptop the way most sales people i've seen do, then anything is possible. As for the shard argument, it was the root cause of many lines of Sony made battery's going boom back in 2006. Crappy quality control is a recipe for disaster when dealing with very dense storage of energy in a chemical form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonen Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 lol holy crap, you wouldn't want one of those exploding laptops anywhere near you down stairs area (their goes fathers day). Agreed, more than half the time I use my laptop laying in bed or placed on my lap while relaxing on the couch, I am not a huge fan of doing things at a desk. I do that all day in class and your back tends to tense up and become rather bothersome. You wouldn't think their would be to much of a difference from having your notebook on your lap or sitting on a table. The vents on the bottom are usually not even half a cm from being covered from your working surface. Moral of the story is when your notebook or any other computing device starts to heat up, turn the shit off and give it a rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nullArray Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I've been using the "notebook" for a very long time. Using computers on one's lap is uncomfortable anyway..., (oh but I do it all the time!). It's even better with Macs,... I use the blanket term "MacBook" and everyone understands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3%5kr3w Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 It's even better with Macs,... I use the blanket term "MacBook" and everyone understands. c'mon, when did this happen?! j/k. My LAPTOP get's hotter than shit on my lap, but um... thats kinda the point of my 'portable computer' is to sit on my lap. The laptop WAS only made origionally to be a space saving alt. to the desktop, BUT it has turned into the LapTop, weather anyone wants to agree or not. But even still it is pointless to blah blah about legalities and etc. as far as legalities anyway, all a company has to say for the most part is you must have 'misused' your equiptment, and have something to back it up and they win. So who cares? My laptop get's super hot in my lap. It's an AMDX2 1.9ghz, of course it's going to get hot. Battery stays cool as a cucumber. I think china may have been the bottom line to the issue with the blowing up battery (as is most of the time, for lead based, and carcenogen based products in plastics and etc). But of course I DO take very much care of my laptop, and ALWAYS give the vent fan space (and it's easy enough to do, just keep it on the rt. side of my lap :D). Makes me wonder... Are MacBooks really super sturdy and reliable peices of eq. or is it just that since it costs 2 arms and a leg to buy one, that people are afraid to even look at it wrong :P... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Probally, PC's are used to death and often given a kicking. Macs always tend to look fairly nice still after a year of ownership. However, at my old uni the loaner Macbooks often died after a couple of terms, bits falling off, cracked screens etc. Most people who own the things seem to love them a good deal more than PC users love their kit, so it would be likely that Macs are better cared for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicatronTg Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Exploding laptops are bad. This is why my desktop is my buddy, not my 2 year old laptop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machstorm Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 c'mon, when did this happen?! j/k. My LAPTOP get's hotter than shit on my lap, but um... thats kinda the point of my 'portable computer' is to sit on my lap. The laptop WAS only made origionally to be a space saving alt. to the desktop, BUT it has turned into the LapTop, weather anyone wants to agree or not. But even still it is pointless to blah blah about legalities and etc. as far as legalities anyway, all a company has to say for the most part is you must have 'misused' your equiptment, and have something to back it up and they win. So who cares? My laptop get's super hot in my lap. It's an AMDX2 1.9ghz, of course it's going to get hot. Battery stays cool as a cucumber. I think china may have been the bottom line to the issue with the blowing up battery (as is most of the time, for lead based, and carcenogen based products in plastics and etc). But of course I DO take very much care of my laptop, and ALWAYS give the vent fan space (and it's easy enough to do, just keep it on the rt. side of my lap :D). Makes me wonder... Are MacBooks really super sturdy and reliable peices of eq. or is it just that since it costs 2 arms and a leg to buy one, that people are afraid to even look at it wrong :P... Well at least you take care of it. Most of the users that I had to deal with when I worked for an insurance company treated the company notebooks like crap. Missing keys, food spewed all over the screen and palmrest, cracked LCD Bezel. Some of them put their notebooks in there bags and treat them like a diskus and end up breaking the screen. I think that they should have to pay for the repairs fir treating them so badly, but thats just my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazaruswws Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I think consumers should have a reasonable legal expectation of their notebooks not catching fire under any circumstances. Heat damage and abuse is the consumers fault, i see friends just throw their notebooks down on their bed with no ventilation and its amazing they don't have more problems with hardware failure but then they set it down on its side ripping the power off the mother board and want me to fix it. (I kinda wish that one would catch fire.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3%5kr3w Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I Fully agree with both of you. They should have to pay, and it makes me soooo mad because of the fact that they just act like it's a toy. It's a computer, it can do within seconds, what you cant your whole life and it does it millions of times per second.... PC PANTHERS COMPUTING POWER!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will-wtf Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 HAHAHA, making a joke of the situation... And another one! And yet another pisstake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razor512 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 most people refer to it as that but i'm not sure who would want to use it on their lap, unless your sitting on a low chair, you will be in a very uncomfortable position to keep the laptop there, and in almost location there tables to use most companies are working on the overheating problem os people putting them on their lap by using heat pipes and moving the vents to the side of the laptop so it pulls in air from 1 side and shoots it out another side instead of pulling it in through the bottom but theres still not much of a solution for the heat your body will apply to the battery, the hotter the battery runs, the more ware and tare it gets and the shorter it will last Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 So you never sit on the sofa with your lady watching a movie while browsing the web or doing some work on a laptop? Its far better than sitting at a desk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razor512 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 well new laptops are becoming more lap friendly, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psydT0ne Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I have a range of bedtops, benchtops, countertops and trainseatop computers. laptop is in common usage....just like a car should always be called an automobile. no one gives a crap...really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3%5kr3w Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 dude, trust me, you haven't lived to you have recliner surfed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machstorm Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 dude, trust me, you haven't lived to you have recliner surfed! Ock! that's way too lazy for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3%5kr3w Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Ock! that's way too lazy for me. "BUT IT'S SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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