Hello, Here is an interesting question from a friend. He has a laptop, which he wants to use outside in our Canadian winter for astronomy (hobbies), as winter is a good time to view the stars. Can a laptop operate fine for.. let's say 2-3 hours outside (in reality it might be 1-2 hours), with temperature of -15C to -20C. I think it's fine, as I used my MP3 players outside for far cooler temperature, and people use their phone. But do you think a laptop, which is warmer then those devices, might create condensation and freeze inside, and conducting electricity, in <3h? Of course, assume your average laptop, not the Panasonic Thoughtbook, or Dell Latitude XTR, where if a tank rolls over them, the tank will break, not the laptop. And of course, the system won't be on snow, and probably be in a carrying case, but open and operating with a telescope. Thanks.
Living in Finland I have seen alot of dead phones during the wintertimes allready when people forgot their phones for an hour on a table outside. So I wouldn't risk using a laptop, which is even more prone to condensation and frost due to it's higher operating-temperatures. Most electronic devices like phones or laptops read in their manuals: Operating temperature = 5-55°C for a reason
My intuition tells me it would be fine as the laptop woul act more like dehumidifier than a condenser. And then blow out that air. But im tired and not thinking the best so im sure someone else will jump in.
I'll jump in on this. He should be fine as long as he keeps it running. If condensation forms, it will be while the laptop is off and colder than the dew point. If your friend then turns on their laptop, then it might short and kill it. The issue with cold is that it can freeze some types of batteries and make them not work until they heat up. As long as the laptop isn't the coldest thing around, then condensation will want to form on the colder things first, and if it's at a higher temperature than the dew point than there's really no worry at all. TLDR; he should be fine as long as he keeps the laptop on. To be safe he could keep it plugged into AC.
Condensation I am pretty sure works the other way and forms on surfaces that are 12 or 13 degrees lower than the ambient temperature. So - if he turned the laptop off then took the laptop straight inside and turned it on in there, thats where you might get some condensation. It's why extreme overclockers have to insulate so much, as they are causing everything around their pot or evap to get a lot lower than the ambient temp and then condensation forms and freezes over and over again. EDIT: that answer was to OP, d_stilgar is about on the money with condensation
Know of many astrophotographers that image in those sort of temperatures often for periods much longer periods than your friend is proposing and have seen no mention of cold issues with any of their plethora of electronic devices. Usually its the observer that suffers rather than the equipment! If your friend does find his computer is having problems then a couple of inexpensive dew heaters would probably raise the laptop temperatures up enough to alleviate those issues. If you want I can ask on the astronomy forums I use what they do? Edit: Have done some hunting around and it turns out most of the guys are running boosted extension cables into their house or car so the laptop isn't exposed to the extreme cold. The guys who do keep their laptop outside are either using cheap reconditioned units which they don't mind replacing regularly or devices designed for cold temps such as the Panasonic ToughBook. They are only using these machines for capturing anyway. Laptop costs pale into insignificance when compared to the rest of the equipment needed for an astrophotography setup anyway.
Its going to depend on the laptop, they will have operating specs in the manuals, a friend was supporting some Apple machine ( might have been desktops) and kept getting called out to this barn studio to non working machines, turns out over night temps drop (below 0) so low that they took a while to get going, he looked in the specs it had an operating temp of something like 10-60 degrees. Most electrical devices come with this info as mentioned above, don't know if you will find consumer device for much below 0.
Many HDDs and SSDs have operating specs of 5to55oC or 0-60oC and operation outside these temperatures could cause a lot of instability and has the potential for data loss. Phones and mp3s do not necessarily reach the ambient temperature as they often stored in warm pockets, but laptops are a little big for this...
panasonic toughbook and similar are the only notebooks i know of that will work properly at that temp
I will enquire for you with some of my work's customers. We sell satellite equipment. Pretty much the only device that you can take to the poles is an OpenPort. Although the reality is, that is because it is a truly global service due to the way the constellation works. I'm sure if I ask some of our sales people, maybe some of the customers I know to have visited the poles and Iridium themselves, we'll have a good reference. Personally I've not seen much equipment that works past -20c. Storage can be as low as -40c. As for laptops though, only our customers would really know though.
Going by the thread the condensation is not going to be a problem so maybe he should just do a good back up and give it a whirl and see how it handles. Maybe he could run some light benchmarking software in the background to keep things warm if necessary.
Quick google came up with this. I wanted to try and find a tech spec with a operating temp range but couldn't. My Nikon camera for example says its operating temp range is 0 - something, so I didn't take it out in the winter.
I just watched a video where they put normal laptops in a - 20c freezer and then used them afterwards, every single one was absolutely fine!
It's probably a bit marginal for all components, but I'd be most worried about the mechanical components. Basically the hard drive). As I recall (and it seems to make sense) SSD have a wider operating range. A cheap SSD transplant may help. If it's an expensive laptop I wouldn't risk it, but if it's cheap and old you might as well suck it and see. You'd be unlucky (imo) to do any lasting damage.
That's what rugged laptop are for .... extrem temperature Here is an example or rugged laptop spec : Environmental Specification Operating temp: 32°F to 140°F / 0°C to 60°C (Optional low temperature: -4°F/-20°C) Storage temp: -40°F to 158°F (-40°C to 70°C) Humidity: 5% to 95% RH, non-condensing
I've been informed that on trips to the poles they all want Toughbooks... not much info other than that. Guess they just want high IP ratings.
I have not tried working on my laptop outside at cold, but relying on what I have read that should be not an issue, but not for all laptops. People on astronomy forums speak about Panasonic Toughbook as a very good variant for working outside at cold. And speak about HTC contradictions. So, you see, it depends on the laptop you have. And do remember about the battery. It will not work so long.
