[urrl78]

Since I live in a somewhat high crime "hood" with the Homies I am always paranoic about leaving my bling bling fly 17" PB in my room. Luckily it is the same width as my little mini fridge tray. This evening I just popped the 17" into the fridge and placed mustard jars and other light items on it. I was so pleased it looked just like an aluminum fridge tray with the little fridge food items on it, especially after covering the Apple logo with a ketchup dispenser. After I got back I was surprised how ice cold it had gotten. I mean this Biggy Book was freezing my hands off. It was like it absorbed every degree of cold in the box. Like a real idiot I was itching to use it to get my email so I plugged it in right away and fired it up. When I saw all the different whacky screen colors shifting around I was somewhat alarmed. I then shut it down and waited for it to thaw. Note to self; wait at least ten minutes for the unit to thaw at room temperature before using. Sure enough the screen looked normal. Well that's enough idiocy for one night. Remind me to kick myself in the morning. Oh and by the way, what is the minimal temp to operate your Powerbook? I thought it was fridge temp; about 32 degrees? Guess I should have looked that up huh?

[spatterson]

Bet you wont do that again...eh?

[KBFinFan]

Ya, I noticed the same thing on the LCD on my T68i cell phone after leaving it in the freezing cold car for a few hours.

[chrisutley]

I would think the humidity in the fridge and the cold temps could cause condensation to form inside the PowerBook, which might not be the best thing for it.

How cold do you think you fridge gets in there? Bother to check the operating temps in the manual? Use your head, sounds like the plot for a sitcom!

[dialo]

Originally posted by urrl78:
Since I live in a somewhat high crime "hood" with the Homies I am always paranoic about leaving my bling bling fly 17" PB in my room. Luckily it is the same width as my little mini fridge tray. This evening I just popped the 17" into the fridge and placed mustard jars and other light items on it. I was so pleased it looked just like an aluminum fridge tray with the little fridge food items on it, especially after covering the Apple logo with a ketchup dispenser. After I got back I was surprised how ice cold it had gotten. I mean this Biggy Book was freezing my hands off. It was like it absorbed every degree of cold in the box. Like a real idiot I was itching to use it to get my email so I plugged it in right away and fired it up. When I saw all the different whacky screen colors shifting around I was somewhat alarmed. I then shut it down and waited for it to thaw. Note to self; wait at least ten minutes for the unit to thaw at room temperature before using. Sure enough the screen looked normal. Well that's enough idiocy for one night. Remind me to kick myself in the morning. Oh and by the way, what is the minimal temp to operate your Powerbook? I thought it was fridge temp; about 32 degrees? Guess I should have looked that up huh?

You might want to consider moving if it's that much of a problem.

[Robertk2012]

Im calling child services. I cant believe you did that. Stick it under your bed or in the bathroom, anything but the fridge. No wonder why people have trouble with computers. lol

[forcelite]

32 degrees is freezing, so if it was a fridge then it wont be that, more around 38,

if it was a freezer, then it will be colder then 32, cause that would be border line of freezing, around 29-30 degrees

[Fillman]

This is the funniest thread I've read in a long time.

We Mac users like to think we are a notch or two above the users on the Dark side but it's great to see that there are times when we get just so close to the opposition.

Thanks for sharing that with us.

BTW, water does freeze at 32F or 0C last time I looked in my text book. You have to chuck a lot of salt or antifreeze to drop that number. Water vapour, by definition is going to be the real thing, so 32F is when it will freeze.

However, you could offer your services to Apple as a Beta tester for G5 Powerbooks since you have the right environment available to keep the prototypes cool. You should talk to this guy.

In a wide-ranging interview with Computerworld, Russell also said Apple "would like" to fit one of its powerful new G5 processors in a PowerBook -- if it can figure out how to keep the machine cool enough to operate reliably.

http://www.computerworld.com/softwar...,86802,00.html

[Spheric Harlot]

As mentioned: C O N D E N S A T I O N .

Stupid stupid stupid.

Oh, and from http://www.apple.com/powerbook/specs.html :

# Operating temperature: 50� to 95� F (10� to 35� C)
# Storage temperature: -13� to 140� F (-25� to 60� C) (12-inch model)
# Storage temperature: -40� to 116� F (-40� to 47� C) (15-inch and 17-inch models)
# Relative humidity: 20% to 80% noncondensing (12-inch and 17-inch models)
# Relative humidity: 0% to 90% noncondensing (15-inch models)
# Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 ft
# Maximum storage altitude: 15,000 ft
# Maximum shipping altitude: 35,000 ft

-s*

[urrl78]

Oh, so that's why the LCD kept fogging up. The whole Powerbook looked like it was sweating after I took it out of the fridge. I kept having to wipe it down with a towel. Well at least I have proof that the 17" can take a temperature lickin and keep tickin. That and the fact that I am a stupid fsck.

Off topic, my Sager 750 Mhz P-III 15" PC laptop finally gave up the ghost after almost three years; the LCD would not come on 2 weeks before the warranty expired. The good news is I just received free a replacement; a 2.4 Ghz 15" with firewire, DVD and CD-RW. The bad news is this HP is almost 2" thick and is FULL of indicator lights, including loads of PURPLE ones. I can't believe these things are on the market today. The Pavilion ZE5375 is the ugliest laptop I have ever seen! Now THAT BELONGS in the refrigerator. It looks like a blinking Christmas ornament when you boot it up. Some of us Aluminum PB users are finicky dopes. If you want REAL vacuum cleaner fan noise fire that thing up. Unbelievable. I just gave it away to my God Daughter.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by urrl78:
Oh, so that's why the LCD kept fogging up. The whole Powerbook looked like it was sweating after I took it out of the fridge. I kept having to wipe it down with a towel. Well at least I have proof that the 17" can take a temperature lickin and keep tickin.

Unfortunately, you had no way of towelling down the insides. Just hope that running it after taking it out of the fridge heated it up fast enough to evaporate the condensation before it could do any corrosive damage.

These things can come back to haunt you later.

*Don't* do it again.

-s*

[jasong]

Well, after putting it in the fridge, you could always warm it up in the oven.

See these links for instructions on how NOT to do this.

http://homepage.mac.com/aaronsteele/Personal8.html

http://homepage.mac.com/aaronsteele/PhotoAlbum9.html

http://homepage.mac.com/aaronsteele/PhotoAlbum6.html

Disclaimer - I am joking, do not cook your PowerBook.

-- Jason

[beefstu01]

HOLY FARK!

That reminds me of Salmon Days (the video version of our favorite sys admin, Simon, the Bastard Operator From Hell, aka BOFH), where some exec called up Simon and asked him some question about a laptop. Simon answers "Just warm it up, it'll be fine." The exec then says "ah, a couple minutes on high should be enough," and throws the laptop into a microwave oven. Insanely hilarious. I should go watch that again.

Anyway, yes, condensation is going to be one of the major culprits in your case... that and probably the essence of mustard. Your fridge is usually kept at around 40* F, which is a bit below the operating temperature of your computer. From what I understand, the temperature does not affect the computer itself as much as it does the LCD. The funny colors you saw probably were the liquid crystals trying to realign themselves after moving into a semi-solid state.

The temperature shouldn't affect the processor or memory too much, I believe. I do not remember what the temperature is, but there is an absolute minimum operating temperature for silicon based chips. Below that temperature, the electrons won't be able to jump the band gap/move to/from the Fermi level, because they just don't have enough energy. (Pretty spiffy, eh? One semester of Nanotech with a cool prof teaches you some stuff).

[surfimp]

I suggest you call AppleCare and tell them what you did. While you're at it, ask them why Apple got rid of those handy cupholder thingies. Mention that the new slot-loading drives just don't work as well for a 64oz. Gutbuster, you know?

[danbrew]

I'd nuke it in the microwave on 1/2 power for 30 seconds - that should clear up the condensation.

[cdhostage]

The temperature of the case might have gone well below the fridge's set temp if your minifridge is anything like mine - the heat is stolen from the icebox setup and cools everything else peripherally. The temperature control and thermostat are on the other side of the interior, and the fridge turns on whenever the control's temp rises above whatever I've set it to (it's not by degrees but an analog dial 1-9 ) and runs for a while. The freezer compartment becomes covered in frost immediately (I live in a humid place), and the overall effectiveness of the fridge/freezer is reduced because ice conducts poorly compared to the aluminum freezer tray. The refrigeration setup keeps running as long as it needs to bring the temp controller back to an acceptable temp, and the aluminum tray gets much colder than freezing.

Not sure what telling y'all makes a difference, but the comp might have been much colder than freezing if it was interfering with the temp controller getting cold (<edit>cold doesn't migrate AARG changing words around)

[SEkker]

Being in Minnesota, it's good to know my 17PB is safely stored in my car overnight in all but the coldest of nights!

[PER3]

I just slide my TiBook under the sofa when I leave my flat. Mostly thieves are working fast to get what's visible. If they are confident to have the time to trash your flat and overturn all of your furniture, the time delay factor will probably not help prevent then getting hold of the 'Book. If they are serious, they will find everything anyway, especially if they know what they are looking for, ie., your 'Book, but any small hindrance will disturb their schedule.

Better to just leave a little cash in an obvious place so they can feel that they have done a good morning's work and get the hell out of there.

[ASIMO]

Buy a decent-sized safe. Then hide your PB somewhere else.