[ale] A modest proposal for the times

[jon.maddog.hall@gmail.com]

There is another reason for not having a lot of fan noise....fans are one of the things that break first in a laptop, especially in hostile environments such as salt air.  The last time I did a study on this, a fan lasted about 1.5 years in a salt environment.  Then (and particularly before sensors were put in to cut back on CPU cycles when the CPU got so hot) the CPU would burn up.

A lot of this also depends on the temperature of your environment.  In Northeastern Brazil the ambient temperature in a room can often go above 40 degrees C.

Trying to dissipate heat without fans, or using components that are less affected by heat, means the laptop lasts longer.

md
> On 04/07/2025 9:22 PM EDT Ron via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
> 
>  
> William Bagwell via Ale wrote on 2025-04-07 17:47:
> 
> >> The main time the
> >> fans come on is when I am updating the kernel.   Otherwise it is
> >> completely silent.
> >>
> > Same with the wife's budget PowerSpec, very quite and never notice it.
> 
> It's been a focus for a while now to make computers quieter, and I 
> didn't really get it - who cares about a bit of fan noise?
> 
> 
> After a recent upgrade though - it's nice upon entering the office to 
> have to do a double-take look at the computer to ensure it's on since 
> it's so quiet.
> 
> 
> > And when did they drop
> > optical drives?
> 
> Optical drives, bays for 3½ inch HDDs, *reset* buttons,...
> 
> 
> I thought some of these were deal-breakers when I began researching that 
> recent upgrade, turns out "how many times do I press reset?" is 
> vanishingly close to zero, and "how often do I want to read an optical 
> disk?" is even less.
> 
> 
> So, I'm on board with these changes despite initial hesitancy.
> 
> 
> 
> > BTW your long post below was an interesting read!
> 
> Damned right!  Thanks, Jon, the story was fascinating and the 
> story-telling makes me want more.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
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