[gamehead200]

Hey guys,

Here's my situation... I'm going to be gone for the next couple of weeks (on March Break) and since my neighbourhood has been a bit too burglar-friendly in the past, I've decided to put together a cheap-o surveillance system.

I haven't had any problems with keeping a desktop on for a long period of time... However, I'll be placing a webcam attached to a laptop in the back of my house which will take shots every 10 seconds or so, which will be uploaded to a web server in my basement WIRELESSLY.

My question to you all is the following...

Considering that taking a picture and uploading it wirelessly to a server every couple of seconds isn't too processor-intensive, will the heat generated by the laptop (which has fans, duh, lol) be a bad thing over the course of two weeks? The laptop will be placed on a wooden table and will be within a few feet (say 3 or 4) of a room heater.

Thanks.

[ripken204]

well it also depends on how old it is... if its a newer one, you'll be fine. if its like 5yrs or older, im not too sure, but it should be fine.

[gamehead200]

ripken204, on Mar 5 2007, 04:58 PM, said:

well it also depends on how old it is... if its a newer one, you'll be fine. if its like 5yrs or older, im not too sure, but it should be fine.

Yeah, it's about 5 years old, but still in pretty good condition. Hasn't been used too much, actually.

[ripken204]

well its not about how much its been used. my 5 yr old laptop gets really hot, even idling. so its your call, depending on how hot yours gets...

[Kelsenellenelvian]

Just place some little spacers under each corner (like 1/2 to 1 inch tall) and you'll be good...

[IcemanND]

run it for a day, you should know by the end of 24 hours how it would go over 2 weeks unless a fan fails.

Just be sure the fan and heat sinks are clean and it should be fine.

[nmX.Memnoch]

gamehead200, on Mar 5 2007, 03:28 PM, said:

The laptop will be placed on a wooden table

You might want to rethink that bit as well since it's an older laptop.

[nitroshift]

gamehead200, on Mar 5 2007, 09:28 PM, said:

The laptop will be placed on a wooden table and will be within a few feet (say 3 or 4) of a room heater.

Just place it on a ceramic tile with 4 spacers on its corners.

[3aces]

or depeding on how your laptop is built, if you can unscrew a plate which covers the heatsink and fan from underneath take it off, and place it about a inch or 2 above the table service so on spacers as such, i find with my A6Q laptop, if i take the plate of the bottom, the temp is roughly 17 degrees cooler during idle and 8 degree on a full load.......that way i can leave it running over a few days if i have to, i havent really had a problem.

[Jeremy]

Put a couple of fans around or under it if you want.

[3aces]

Jeremy, on Mar 6 2007, 02:17 PM, said:

Put a couple of fans around or under it if you want.

yeah thats an idea lool...look at me gettin all complicated LOOL

[ripken204]

haha, yes you are. but how about we just take out the keyboard
then you can get plenty of airflow

[3aces]

not neccesarly..........on my A6Q my processor sits on the bottom of the laptop hence why i have to remove the bottom plate so the heatsink and fan are open

but my Inspiron 5150 if i remove the keyboard then the heatsink and fan have open air access

[amocanu]

if you have a battery made by Sony, just make sure you take it out of your laptop.....accidents happen............

[techywiz2007]

ripken204, on Mar 6 2007, 06:56 PM, said:

haha, yes you are. but how about we just take out the keyboard
then you can get plenty of airflow

try just taking out the keyboard, it seems the best way to keep it from overheating
it's pretty difficult to do if you haven't done it before, but it can be done
i am working on a old fijutsu e4010, it's like 6 yrs. old, whenever i would boot up, it would make it's fans run like crazy, very loud, you could tell just by listening to it, that it was already getting hot inside...
but i had to take out the keyboard anyway because it was bad, (someone at work spilled soda on it at one time or another) and when i did, it didn't even have to run the fan at all
cooled it down immediately, almost to room temperature

and charging the battery for two weeks isn't a good idea anyway, you should take it out and just plug in the laptop directly,
otherwise it could shorten it's life

[gamehead200]

My March Break has been over for a looooong time now... My summer vacation starts tomorrow!

[Zxian]

It's interesting the note about raising up the laptop. I've seen so many laptop stands that have built in fans that just do absolutely nothing. The fans are there, whirring away, and my temperatures stay the exact same.

On the other hand, I have an aluminum stand that simply raises the laptop away from the table surface. Voila! Hard drive goes from 40-50 C to 30-40 C. Yes, it's that much of a change.

I was hoping to make a slightly better version myself in the machine shop... something that's tailor made to my laptop.

[ripken204]

ya it was definatly nice when i figured to raise it up. even on a wooden table if i use the laptop for an hour, the table would be insanely hot. but since this is like a 5yr old laptop, i guess it would make sense.

[nmX.Memnoch]

ripken204, on May 17 2007, 03:57 PM, said:

but since this is like a 5yr old laptop, i guess it would make sense.

It happens even with new laptops. My work laptop (HP nc6400 widescreen, Core Duo) does it too. The problem is that most laptop manufacturers point the cooling fan down. They do this because people want more and more USB ports, ethernet, wireless, etc, etc so they run out of room to run the cooling system out a side or the back like they used to do.

[ripken204]

but older cpus also run alot hotter. my grandma has a dell laptop, about a year old, core duo, and the fan barely ever goes on. and its so cool.
mine i cant even keep on my lap without it burning me.

but ya your right about the fans