Is cold weather harmful for a laptop

safe to keep it in the car for a few hours

[sadelb]

I was just curious if it could damage a laptop if i kept it in my car for 4 or 5 hours at a time with the cold weather... can cold weather harm the laptop?

[moltar]

You should check out your instruction manual, I am sure they would mention it if it would a problem.

[luckychucky]

I don't really know whereof I speak, but common sense says: If there's any moist air trapped in your laptop (and it will, unless you're in the Kalahari) cold weather's going to make it condense, ie: form condensate water. That water can freeze into ice. I can't imagine any good ever resulting from that scenario. Can't you just take your laptop inside with you?

[supermanjnk]

Cold is very good for your laptop, Condensation isn't, If you live in an area that has a lot of humidity and or rain/snow ect then I would sugest you not keep it in your car. Recently I had a friend who lives in Illinois take his computer outside (in -20 degree weather) to see how high he could overclock it. He was us ing a 2200 mhz chip and i believe he got it to 2600 with it still working, The colder your computer is, the better it will run (because the fans don't really have to do anything if your case's ambient temperature is in the negatives and your cpu is at +5 (which is what my friends was) all in all cold won't harm your laptop, but moisture will.

[freeflight2]

well if it's too cold plastic might break, I'd definitely would keep it above the freezing point.

[mole]

Don't get it cold unless you have to.

If you do get it cold then let it warm up again slowly, inside its case.

The worst thing you can do is open up a freezing cold computer in a warm (and humid) environment - that's when the condensation will happen, and that's when problems may occur.

[crashomon]

I agree with mole, let things warm up/cool down before subjecting to extreme temp changes. I store my laptop in trunk of my car during chicago winters and have never had a problem, but always wait 15 minutes before firing up a PC from the cold.

If you must store in cold, just wrap your bag in a warm blanket and you should be fine.

[topr8]

i'm with supermanjnk

cold is fine.

what is much more dangerous is heat!

[evinrude]

Tips from an Alaskan. :)

If your laptop has frozen, don't take it directly into some place warm. I've seen the screens shatter from thermal shock. *grin*

We have had people leave laptops outside at subzero temps. Even if thawed nicely, it usually results in some dead pixels. Conversely, I left a cellphone outside for an entire winter and when it thawed out the next spring, it worked great when recharged...

Sooo... your milage may vary, I guess. :)