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How cold is too cold?

Mrs HBF

Mrs HBF

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 27, 2010
162
11
We're buying a new Macbook Air on Friday en route to a weekend in Maine. We don't trust a room safe so if we take the new MBA with us each day of the weekend still in its box and leave it in the trunk of our car, will temps in the 30s fahrenheit damage the laptop? We will bring it with us each night into our hotel room.

Thanks.
 
from the tech specs of the current MacBook Air:
  • Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
  • Storage temperature: -13° to 113° F (-25° to 45° C)
the one thing to be aware of is that if it is cold and then you bring it inside, you should let it warm up to room temperature before turning on. that could take a few hours.
 
That is very helpful, thank you. We won't turn on the laptop until we get home. So maybe we'll wait until the next day. I'm glad to know that we won't come near to the low temp barrier.
 
Just to add to @thats all folks advice -- this includes the battery, so don't plug into the mains to top it off, while you're waiting for your Air to reach room temperature.
 
Brammy said:
What about buying en route to the way home?
Click to expand...
We're going to be at the NH mall at the Mass border to take advantage of Black Friday deals from other stores. We don't want to go there both on Friday and then Sunday for the MBA.
 
Haha, where's your sense of adventure :)

You're probably ok. Like you said, the temps aren't going to be that bad this weekend. (I'm in central MA).
 
You could wrap it in a blanket or something to provide a little insulation. But, as posted above, you should be well within the temperature specs. I'd think that computers would regularly be subjected to this kind of temperature during shipping anyway. If you're really concerned, put a thermometer in the trunk and see what the actual temperature is.
 
I've recently had this concern as well. My MBA is with me all the time, and I am often outside for 30mins or so in cold temps. I would want to take the computer out in temps down to 5 degrees or lower. I carry it in a bag that provides some insulation, but not much.

Is there any worry in transporting it in sleep mode, or should I shut it down when transporting it in these temps? Is 30mins long enough to cool a computer down?
 
One thing to add for Brammy, I want to buy the MBA this Friday because of BF deals.
 
It is too easy for any employee to get into a hotel safe. At least our SUV alarm would scare the crap out of any thief. LOL
 
Sure, if it were just lying there for all to see. You haven't seen the inside our trunk! We would bury it way under the full-length cover below coats, blankets, etc.
 
Brammy said:
Just out of curiosity. how did y'all make out this weekend?
Click to expand...
We will be going home tomorrow. We bought the MBA 13" 256GB laptop for $999 on Friday from Best Buy. The weather has been relatively warm Friday, yesterday and today (in the 40s) so hopefully bringing it inside our hotel room each night wasn't too much of a change. We bought AppleCare today at the Apple Store. I got the educational discounted price of $183 as I work for a university. I hope the setup goes easily next week. I've backed up everything from my 2010 MBP on to an external hard drive so I hope plugging the hard drive into the MBA will help set everything up. I've never done this before. Thanks for asking.
 
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