i've seen this talked about a few times on other forums and i wanted to clear the air on this.
i've never seen a laptop that draws it's intake from the keyboard. the problems with this concept are so obvious that i'm surprised people still talk about it.
if your laptop draws air in from the keyboard, then anything that goes into the keyboard (flakes of skin, dust, dirt, occasional coffee spill, etc) would be pulled into the laptop. ie, it's a dumb idea.
second off, heat travels less in a vacuum. air is a good thermal conductor. the idea that you must have a air intake on a computer is silly. some designs rely on air intake, but it's really not a necessity. it's not like you're going to exhaust enough air to make the computer (laptop or desktop) implode on itself.
having fans exhaust hot air does not really mean that you HAVE to have a air intake. infact negative pressure inside a computer is a good idea.
this has come up when discussing keyboard skins, and i've seen it mentioned on youtube videos and the like.
the thing that bothers me most is when people talk about the G51-G73 series. if you've ever seen the back of the backlit keyboards, you'd know that to draw air in through one would be impossible. around one, yes, but not through it. behind the keys is a solid LED panel, that is sealed around the edges. no airflow getting through.
ok, had to rant a little bit, not at anyone in particular but at the notion that air is coming through the laptop's keyboard.
this was a topic when discussing macbooks as well. most of them have vents in the small area between the bottom of the lcd panel and the top of the base of the laptop. hard to see unless you've disassembled one.
just to clarify my talking points.
* air intake does not occur from the keyboard.
* keyboard skins (TPU or the silicone kind, although i suggest the TPU kind) are a good investment
* a laptop cooler is always a great idea (heat plus time kills all computers). it doesn't have to be a expensive one. the targus chillmats you see at walmart for $15-20 are perfectly fine.
i just wanted to take a moment to clear that up. seems to be on a lot of folks minds, and i really don't know why.
edit: i was reminded of this shortly after posting. most of the HP/Compaq laptops i used to service were actually designed with plastic along the top of the base part. that way if something was spilled on the laptop or keyboard area, it wouldn't simply drop down to the motherboard and fry it. engineers are smart like that, despite what most people think, they usually try to anticipate things like the infamous coffee spill. most of the time there's a kind of spill guard there to try and stop moisture from reaching the motherboard.
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dstrakele wrote:
I just blow the flames out and keep playin'....