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LCD heatsinks

 Dissipate laptop heat from the LCD instead of into your lap
  (+14, -1)(+14, -1)
(+14, -1) 		  [vote for,
against]

Whoever decided that laptops should dissipate heat mostly from the bottom surface of the computer should be smacked.

Some good solid heat-conductive connections should be made between the metal air conduits around the processors and heat should be pumped into a finned heatsink on the back of the LCD screen. You know, that part with a large surface area that's always exposed to the environment and doesn't ever contact the user? Also the part that contacts the lap should be thoroughly insulated.

This thing has been slow-cooking my left leg without me realizing it. It just felt warm for a while, but then it hurt for a few days. Is it possible to get a mild RF burn from a laptop? It feels like a sunburn but deeper. Now I am only using it with a pillow in between...

—omegatron, Apr 16 2005

Finally it's here http://www.windowsc...d.jpg?itok=1TKA7ujV
[sdk16420, Feb 21 2016]

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       [Ian Tindale] Well, it's almost a good idea. Unfortunately, your saying it would protect the laptop would only work if it's on the floor or a table. It would be top heavy, so if you have it on your lap, it would fall to the ground. It would also be kind of ugly.
—-----, Apr 16 2005
   

       SOunds like a good idea to me.
BTW, I'm pretty sure you can't get an RF burn from a laptop.
—Basepair, Apr 16 2005
   

       Hmm, I suppose you're right about the battery.
—-----, Apr 18 2005
   

       Hmm. Many laptops use the keyboard as a heatsink. I don't think it's by design that the bottom gets so hot as it's a poor channel for heat egression.
—bristolz, Apr 18 2005
   

       Instead of a heat sink, you could just have vents at the top of the lcd, like the Imac. A air passageway from the circuit board beneath the keyboard would be connected when the laptop is opened, and a vent on the front edge would draw in cold air. The system would work much like a chimney, needing no fan.
—Cedar Park, Apr 18 2005
   

       Just be careful when you close the laptop that you don't burn yourself by grabbing the heat sink.
—ywong, Apr 18 2005
   

       [omegatron], I think your laptop is telling you that the circulation in your legs is suboptimal. I suggest you obtain a Thighmaster and use it vigorously when you use your laptop. By increasing lap blood flow, you will have less prblems with heat buildup there.   

       It occured to me that there are other things one might do to improve blood flow in the lap, but these would no doubt distract from the task at hand.
—bungston, Apr 18 2005
   

       [Bungston], not if the task at hand is... nevermind.
—5th Earth, Apr 18 2005
   

       The mouse should be the heatsink. I dunno if I have poor circulation or if this is a general problem, but my mouse hand gets awfully cold and stiff after prolonged sessions. A heated mouse would be great.
—moomintroll, Apr 18 2005
   

       My fingers freeze and go clammy if I'm playing anything stressful, like a first-person shooter.
—david_scothern, Apr 18 2005
   

       Ok. I guess they're biased, but the Coolpad site that sells the little holder thing that sits on your lap says:   

       "Most laptops dissipate heat through the bottom and the more air that's allowed to flow under the bottow, the better chance that heat will dissipate. As you know, if you place a running laptop on a bed it will probably overheat as air will not flow under the bottom."   

       And I know that my stupid laptop actually has several rubber feet on it, implying that they want you to put it on a flat surface and the feet will provide an air passageway. (I've never done this.) If you look at pictures online, they all have this.   

       //the circulation in your legs is suboptimal   

       The circulation seems to be ok. Perhaps I should replace the coolant with something more efficient...   

       //cold mice and hands   

       That is bizarre.   

       Man, it's even heating up my leg through this pillow.
—omegatron, Apr 19 2005
   

       It _likes_ you!
—bungston, Apr 19 2005
   

       //Now I am only using it with a pillow in between// Bad idea, since the vents are supposed to have a clear intake, not be stuffed up with pillow.
—pooduck, Aug 14 2005
   

       I'm late to this party, but how does the heat get to the LCD panel so it can be disipated?
—phoenix, Aug 14 2005
   

       Heat pipe?
—bristolz, Aug 15 2005
   

       Plastic? With a concertina section to make it bendable? Maybe, but I wonder how many open/close cycles something like that would survive.
—phoenix, Aug 15 2005
   

       Perhaps a forced circulation water cooling system, using flexible hoses rather than rigid heatpipes. The back of the LCD panel is then the radiator for the water system.
—BunsenHoneydew, Oct 21 2005
   

       the next generation of processors are gonna have liquid cooling between the silicon and the normal finned bit with the fan. Perhaps this could be extended into the LCD. But then that adds pumps and weight and size and would make laptops less sexy and cost more.   

       ALL laptops have manuals with big warnings on just about every other page about the low heat burns that you get if you use it on your lap....partly why it's more PC (politically correct not the other PC)[haha i crack me up!]to call it a notebook rather than a laptop.
—lau03205, Oct 21 2005
   

       // Bad idea, since the vents are supposed to have a clear intake, not be stuffed up with pillow.   

       The vents are on the sides.   

       I've been using binders lately, anyway. I think I need to make or buy something especially for this purpose...
—omegatron, Oct 23 2005
   

       Y'know, using laptops on your lap decreases fertility. Just a thought. Maybe you'll want to add another cushion.
—rubyminky, Oct 25 2005
   

       //Y'know, using laptops on your lap decreases fertility.   

       1. That's not necessarily a disadvantage...   

       2. I read that they did an experiment where they had men balance a laptop and another group of men hold their legs together *as if* they were balancing a laptop, and both produced the same results.
—omegatron, Mar 09 2006
   

       Curses - thought I might be able to enter this one myself.   

       Features I'd considered:   

       * Move CPU to lid if possible * Add "heatpipe" (thermally-conductive fluid-filled pipe) to a large thremally conductive panel on the outside of the lid (possibly aluminium). This probably wouldn't need to be finned as the surface area + vertical orinetation (convective accelleration) would probably suffice for most sub-Prescott CPUs. * Peltier element between CPU and heat-pipe/heat-sink * fluid pumping inside heat-pipe * If the CPU remained in the main case, flexible heat-piping could be used inside the hinge (but I suspect you'd want to keep this as short as possible).
—rjfarquhar, Sep 29 2006
   

       Rather than a flexible heatpipe, use a solid rotational coupling on the same axis as the lid hinges.
—BunsenHoneydew, Sep 29 2006
   

       Cars allow you to choose whether the hot air blows out towards your feet, your face, or the windscreen.   

       Maybe laptops should have a similar setting?
—Wrongfellow, Feb 26 2016
   


 

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