All of us have had problems with our devices getting hot from time to time, but desperation to ease or solve the problem may lead to some unorthodox solutions. With that in mind, today’s SuperUser Q&A post has the answers to a worried reader’s questions.
Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites.
Photo courtesy of rust.bucket (Flickr).
The Question
SuperUser reader kenorb wants to know if placing a MacBook in a refrigerator to cool it down will damage it:
Will placing a MacBook in a refrigerator to cool it down damage it?
How safe is it to put a laptop in a refrigerator? Is keeping it in a sleeve case or a plastic bag enough to protect the laptop? Does the temperature and time spent in a refrigerator also matter (i.e. half an hour is an optimal time)? Is it a bad idea overall and can it quickly damage the laptop (assuming it is in Sleep mode so that it is basically turned off)?
The Answer
SuperUser contributors Cand3r, Peter, and mycowan have the answer for us. First up, Cand3r:
Followed by the answer from Peter:
The other concern is, depending on the temperature difference you are “creating”, some extra wear and tear on the components due to the expanding and contracting of parts.
The only thing I can think of to recommend is getting a laptop dock with fans built into it to help move air around the laptop.
And our final answer from mycowan:
You say the laptop is still under warranty. Use the warranty. Use bottled air to clean the fans without opening the laptop up (and voiding the warranty). Search Google for laptop cooling pads. The ones with larger fans make less noise.
Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.
After a few minutes, the fan stopped and my MacBook was happily cooled.
