Protecting Your laptop from Extreme Cold Weather

[dmill1220]

Hi Buldric,

No need to apologize, I understood you completely. I am impressed with that tough-book. It must be expensive.

IF I were to just drop my Toshiba accidentally, It would be trashed instantly!
My screen isn't a LCD either, Its a TFT flat screen TFT (thin film transistor)

Way back when on my second go around in college, I started my computer classes for Network Administration, and Mechanical Engineering, back then we were dealing with the old 386 and 486 processors, by the time I finished the two year computer course we were into the Pentiums, by the time I finished my 4 year engineering course it had changed dramatically again.

I can't help but remember my professor telling us to be careful with condensation in the hard drive and cigarette smoke.

Whats next fiber optic based mother boards and buses? maybe even Quantum tunneling technologies, Man do I have a lot of catching up to do!

Dennis

[dpab]

Im out in minus 15 to minus 20 celcius.It gets to be a bit much with the fingers and the ears for me after that even with protection.
I always put the dew caps/dust covers on before bringing in ,
In the cold I run 20 foot cables and keep the laptop in the car, beside me in the passenger seat.

[dmill1220]

Well Folks,

Here is an update, A couple of nights ago I used my laptop outside without its enclosure that I had made for it, Humidity was pretty severe that night but I was only out for about 2 hrs time.

I shut down my system and decided that the skies were not going to cooperate, so I packed up everything and headed back inside, that was 2 days ago.

Today I tried to use my laptop, and now my keyboard needs replacing, all the keys on the right side of the keyboard are acting up. When I press any key, I get that key, plus any key immediately to its left.

After removing and re-installing the drivers and checking with Toshiba, They said the keyboard needed replacing and that something must have shorted out that particular area of the keyboard.
I suspect that the likely culprit was the humidity, After speaking with tech support I ordered a new keyboard and more memory.

Its a Toshiba Satellite, I usually dont use the keyboard very much at all, I only use this machine for astronomy, the only time I usually type anything at all is when I have to name and save files or folders while I am imaging.

Well at least now I know just how susceptible this machine is to dew and with this new upgrade I will now have just slightly over a gig for RAM and a new keyboard.

Next time I get some money I may just have to splurge and get a decent laptop that is more moisture friendly, I like the Dell that was mentioned in this thread, but for now I'll keep using my enclosure.

Dennis

[dpab]

I just got a newer keyboard for 1 of my laptops from Laptopaid shipped to my door in Canada for 25 dollars.It was a Toshiba satellite.
It is easily removed and replaced.
Dave

[dmill1220]

Hi Dave,

Thanks For the Info! I paid Just a little bit more than the price you were given for the keyboard, and your were quite right it was very easy.

Well I have finally finished upgrading my Toshiba, I now have a 40 gig hard drive with a whopping 1-1/2 gigs of SDDR2 for ram,and everything is working just fine.

Recently, my Meade DSI-1 one shot color camera got dropped by my wife by accident, and it was rendered hopelessly useless.

So to complement my new Upgrades to my laptop, I checked into the newer versions of the DSI. I almost ended up with the DSI-3 Pro but at $1,399 that's just too high for me right at the moment, even though it boasts a 1.4 mega pixel chip, I opted for the cheaper DSI-2 Pro with the filter set, at $749.00 from Adorama in New York.

I should have the new camera by the end of this week, now if I can only get the clear sky Gods to cooperate come time for the New Moon and, Mr. Murphy doesn't pop up again, the quality of my images should show much more improvement.

One thing for sure With a 1.60 GHZ processor and 1-1/2 gigs of Ram this laptop now rocks!

Dennis