[TAG] averatec laptop review

[Ben Okopnik]

On Sun, Nov 07, 2004 at 03:38:20PM -0500, Brian Bilbrey wrote:
> 
> Admittedly, it was a busy beaver, recompiling all of KDE (gentoo) at the
> time. Ended up I used some canned air and blew out the fan from both
> intake and outlet sides a couple of times each. That dropped the CPU
> idle temps down 15 degrees to ~ 40C with X and KDE running (it's still a
                  ^^

For those who are not yet convinced just how critical and touchy cooling
in PCs is, this is Godzilla-sized hint.

> P4-2.4G non-M), mid to high 60's, maybe low 70's when it's running flat
> out. So, keep those intakes and outlets clean.
> 
> Mostly, though, running here in the upstairs office, summertime about
> 80-85 F ambient makes a big difference over temps here now. Higher
> ambients make everything work harder, and Ben's salt-water environment
> can't be helping anything, eh?

Actually, on this boat, it's not a problem; steel boats are notoriously
dry (whereas fiberglass is definitely not.) As to the effect of "salt
air", all my years of experience with electronics aboard - even those
that are not made for marine use - say that it's a damned myth. Dampness
will kill'em pretty quick, but here in Florida and in the tropics, there
isn't very much - consequently, electronics aboard tend to be quite
long-lived (as long as they survive the weird power fluctuations,
hurricane damage, and so on.)


* Ben Okopnik * okopnik.freeshell.org * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette *
-*- See the Linux Gazette in its new home: <http://linuxgazette.net> -*-