Left my ibook in the car, got down to 27ºF

[bluemonkey]

Surprisingly, it still worked when I opened it up this morning at the office, but are there consequences to my collossally stupid action last night? The 'book was like a freakin' block of ice, and felt 'brittle' to me. I remember reading an article years ago about the durability of those toilet-seat G3 ibooks, and I was glad to see that the G4 didn't perish in the cold. Anyone else ever suffer this?

[DakotaGuy]

27 degrees is not very cold. It has been below zero here already a few times this winter. Anyhow, with that said, I don't think 27 or even colder then that would cause any damage to the laptop. Just let it warm to room temp. before operating that's all.

[portent]

http://www.apple.com/ibook/specs.html
Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
Storage temperature: -13° to 113° F (-25° to 45° C)

[rosalindavenue]

I'll bet it was colder than 27 F in the hold of the FedEx plane from China. I dont think you have anything to worry about.

[bluemonkey]

That's good news, all. The article I referred to had the writers burning the machine with a blowtorch, freezing it, sitting on it, dropping it, etc... and it booted up every time. Amazing! I love idiot-proof machines (well, idiot-resistant anyway).

[Superdrive]

I saw a laptop at work the other day that had a broken screen from being left in the car over night. It wasn't vandals, but the -15° F that took care of that liquid crystal display. It was the first time I had seen such a thing, but not the first for a few of my coworkers. 27°F is doable, just not for an extended amount of time, IMHO.

[NYmacAttack]

Surprisingly, it still worked when I opened it up this morning at the office, but are there consequences to my collossally stupid action last night? The 'book was like a freakin' block of ice, and felt 'brittle' to me. I remember reading an article years ago about the durability of those toilet-seat G3 ibooks, and I was glad to see that the G4 didn't perish in the cold. Anyone else ever suffer this?

It shouldnt be a problem sincer it is within the operating range of the laptop. I know i've mistakenly left my laptop in the car before and it does take a while the warm back up.

[ITASOR]

Huh? I sometimes leave my iBook in the car and it's probably 10F out....the apple specs say -13F, so I don't think it's problem.

Mine never felt brittle though...you should keep it a sleeve and cover it.

[superbovine]

What amsuses me about people is that they actually think engineers who design laptops don't actually take situation like these into design considerations.

[yg17]

Yesterday I got my PowerBook back from Apple repair. It has been sitting on the DHL truck for a long time until it was delivered to me and it hasn't really been above 20F or so, and the PB was extremley cold. She booted right up and was working great (and being a Powerbook, heated up in no time)

[jaknudsen]

Yesterday I got my PowerBook back from Apple repair. It has been sitting on the DHL truck for a long time until it was delivered to me and it hasn't really been above 20F or so, and the PB was extremley cold. She booted right up and was working great (and being a Powerbook, heated up in no time)

Well, that's not very clever. If you quickly heat up a cold object, the cold air around it will also heat up and thus condensate and leave moisture on the surface of the object. This includes the air inside your powerbook.

[topicolo]

Well, that's not very clever. If you quickly heat up a cold object, the cold air around it will also heat up and thus condensate and leave moisture on the surface of the object. This includes the air inside your powerbook.

You mean the hot air around the cold powerbook would cool down and condensate on the outside of his powerbook, right? The humidity generally increases as the temperature increases

[jaknudsen]

You mean the hot air around the cold powerbook would cool down and condensate on the outside of his powerbook, right? The humidity generally increases as the temperature increases

But of course! Whups :D

[Marlon_JBT]

(and being a Powerbook, heated up in no time)
:D Nice to hear these great sturdy stories, but my 12incher isn't one for durability. It's quite fragile, actually. :(

[mopppish]

Just wanted to add my two cents-
My new 12" ibook showed up last night (near 6:00) on the UPS truck, and I could tell as soon as I took the box that the back of his truck wasn't sufficiently heated. I live in WI, and it gets COLD when the sun goes down. My first thought was "those @#$%! delivery people, freezing my expensive electronic equipment," but then I lightened up and realized that this probably happens all the time. The ibook was a block of ice when I took it out of the box, but I let it sit for a few hours so that it could warm up and the condensation could dry. It was A-Okay. Like superbovine said, some of the design process takes this stuff into account.
OK, really I just wanted to post this story because I'm loving sitting in a coffee shop online with my first laptop (and a lovely one to boot) and enjoying every minute of it. :D

[someguy]

Just don't make the same mistake with your children and I'm sure things will be fine. :D

[plinkoman]

just to chime in here, it's not the temperature, high or low, that would hurt it, it is how fast it changes temperature. heard of thermal expansion? if you give it enough time, it can handle just about anything, but if you for example, take your bare powerbook thats been sitting in a car over night when its -10°F, run it inside where it's 70°F, open it up and start doing video editing, i don't want to be there to see what happens.

[Counterfit]

The humidity generally increases as the temperature increases
Not if you keep a parcel of air separated. Also, relative humidity (% of how much the air can hold) is not the same as absolute humidity (how much of the air is water vapor).

[semaja2]

with a laptop getting that low in temp i would let it wait and heat up due to the extra strain that the hdd motors might have to go under to warm it up and start moving


PS its only what ive heard

[rdowns]

My iBook was delivered and left outside my door by FedEx in 5º weather. I was too scared to turn it on for 2 days.

[Eidorian]

Just bring it back up to room temperature. I'd just leave it in the house for a few hours before turning it on.

http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=35481&d=1132930895

I had frost on the inside of my window when I took this screenshot. My iMac is fine! :cool:

[dvdh]

I have a (nearly) three year old iBook 14.1/32 and for the last two winters (in Ottawa) it has spent an awful lot of time outside in -10 to -20 (Celsius) (and sometimes colder) temperatures. So far no problems. The simple rule of thumb is that it stays in its case so the temperature swings are moderated (helps to prevent internal condensation) and don't use it immediately after coming inside.

On a similar note, most of the repair shops around here have a policy of not doing any work on computers for at least an hour after they come in from the cold.

[Dagless]

for a minute there I thought you meant 27ºC!

I've never understood ºF. now C makes sense... water freezes at 0, boils at 100. but thats just me.

[ITASOR]

now C makes sense... water freezes at 0, boils at 100. but thats just me.

You're right.

[tjwett]

yeah the only thing to really worry about in these situations is the moisture that builds up when it is warmed up too quickly. i'd probably let it sit in room temp for 24 hours before powering it on. all it takes is one drop of condensation in the wrong place to kill it. i see this a lot around this time of year. people get packages and deliveries and they bring them in from the cold and immediately open them up. what usually happens is they open the box to find everything wet. it's good practice to let a package brought in from the cold to sit for a day or two and gradually warm up all the way through. opening a cold box usually soaks everything inside.

[Mord]

puts a new meaning to the word "icebook", anywhoo once my ibooks HD failed so i put the whole thing in an insulated bag to slow down the process in the freezer and left it over night, took it out waited 20 mins and booted it up, the HD worked just long enough for me to get my school courcework off it

[Deepdale]

The 'book was like a freakin' block of ice, and felt 'brittle' to me.

It usually pays to spend a bit more to buy yourself a super cool computer. Glad it worked out well.

[zap2]

for a minute there I thought you meant 27ºC!

I've never understood ºF. now C makes sense... water freezes at 0, boils at 100. but thats just me.

Really! Our inches=feet=yards=miles is STUPID! it makes no sense i hvae no idea how many yards=a mile! its crazy there is no logical in it

!

[md11]

I'll bet it was colder than 27 F in the hold of the FedEx plane from China. I dont think you have anything to worry about.

Well that depends..
I don't think you want your horse or electronics shipped at -40°C; you get what you order, maybe if you ship some documents you don't care..

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/714546/L/
Check the coment below this picture.

md11

[dvdh]

Well that depends..
I don't think you want your horse or electronics shipped at -40°C; you get what you order, maybe if you ship some documents you don't care..

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/714546/L/
Check the coment below this picture.

md11

Even more importantly, take a look at the condition of the Logitech boxes to the left of the plane. . . . Remind me not to ship anything with this company.

[mjstew33]

This is good to know, sometimes I leave my iBook out in the car for like hours when it's really cold outside. Like -5º F outside. :o :eek:

Won't be doing that anymore...