Laptops (solve a dispute)

**Godscrasher** · 12th February 2004

me and the girlferiend are having a lil dispute about how long u can leave a laptop on for, iam converting something on her laptop and its gonna take 18 hours to complete, so i wanna leave it on overnight or until its finished anyway. She reckons that they should'nt be left on for that long because they get too hot!.

So question is, is it SAFE to leave it on for a good few hours maybe a couple of days if need be, or,are they not made to be on that long?

**Keva** · 12th February 2004

certainly i ust to leave mine on for AGES while i was charging it up

**Hippie on hill** · 13th February 2004

Won'tit switch itself off if it gets too hot??
Should be safe on a flat surface - I'd switch the screen off tho to avoid screenburn.

**TwoPlAnKs** · 13th February 2004

lol my brother has an old 166Mhz laptop that he never uses running windows 2000. since windows 2000 is pretty much the most stable windows, it has been running doing **** all for about 4 years now. it still works

be careful tho - turn off fancy screensavers (heard graphics cause probs in newer models) and put it on a table with the lid open. I also heard they overheat on peoples beds cos beds make them warm

**Godscrasher** · 13th February 2004

Originally Posted by Hookerman

Won'tit switch itself off if it gets too hot??
Should be safe on a flat surface - I'd switch the screen off tho to avoid screenburn.

I just put shut the lid on it, and the screen turns off, but everything runs otherwise.

So it seems like 1-0 to me then eh?
Do they ever listen!
cheers guys

**Porthos** · 13th February 2004

Yeah if you leave it on a bed the bed will absorb the heat but not distribute it that well, if you leave one on and take it off the bed will be boiling. I'm guessing the laptop (as long as its a decent build) can run fine off its fan given appropriate ventilation. If you put it on little raisers on the corners to let air circulate (although I think fans often operate from the side) I'm guessing that would help?!?

If you think how many students leave their laptops running downloading and stuff there must be a lot out there that don't have any problems working for that long.

**CON-DIGI** · 13th February 2004

Go into bios and make sure you set your power saving settings off, then your laptop will kick the fan/fans in at start-up.

Make sure the laptop is setup in a well ventilated area, close the lid to switch the screen off and your away.

**Yazmon** · 13th February 2004

Its just like a normal computer but flatter.

Run it as long as you want. Mine, which Im using now, has been on for 10 days since the last reboot. The last time I turned it off was, um, 6-7months ago when I needed to move it.

**Shotgunjim** · 13th February 2004

Leave it one... 90% of people that have laptops at work leave them in docking stations overnight and there is no ventilation. Laptops will shut down (like any PC) if it gets too hot. And most newer laptops disconnect the battery internally when you have the power attached and the battery is full so as not to damage them....