Having an overheating laptop nestled on your legs isn't exactly the most comfortable way to work, but even if your Li-ion doesn't
erupt on your mid-section, other forms of damage can still
ruin your day life. In an effort to quell the
scalding that so often occurs on today's lap-burners, Intel has issued a patent application "which uses light to sense when a computer casing is
getting too hot, and automatically throttles back the power" to cool things off. Considering that hot spots emerge in various locales on the casing, a light sensor would be used to detect changes on an internal thermochromic coating, which would then relay a signal to the processor to clock down a bit in order to keep the temperatures within reason. Of course, we fully expect a taskbar icon to disable this CPU-limiting procedure for those rocking flame retardant pants, but this should work just fine for those who prefer not to dress accordingly while computing on the go.
[Via
NewScientistTech]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Speeddemon2008 @ Feb 19th 2007 9:23PM
this kinda reminds me of amd's cool n quiet technology. I have a desktop so why do i want it cool n quiet when without it i feel cold air coming out of my system and the loud part is the hard drive though that isn't that loud. i just dont like things that limit my daily use.
Mike P @ Feb 19th 2007 9:48PM
That's the picture Future Shop uses for its storefronts... well, at least the one at Coquitlam Centre near where I live.
Talk about the phone being outdated, eh? They use a picture of an MD player, too...
Shane @ Feb 19th 2007 9:49PM
Why use a light sensor looking at a thermochromic coating? Couldn't a standard temp sensor mounted to the case (or several of them) do the same thing just as effectively? Or am I missing something here?
Maybe there are advantages to this aproach but it sounds a bit like reinventing the wheel...
Mike P @ Feb 19th 2007 10:01PM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the temp. sensor is more a representation of the temperature of the sensor itself, rather than the environment and objects around it. With a thermochromic coating, it'd be a more accurate representation of the case ITSELF.
John @ Feb 19th 2007 10:02PM
Um, not to rain, but I just use SMCFanControl to adjust up the fan speeds on my MBPro - runs nice and cool at 3000 rpm (double the stock speed).
Jim @ Feb 19th 2007 10:29PM
I8fanGUI works for me. Even under SETI load, my CPU won't go past 50degrees F, and I could have it set lower if I wanted.
Jane @ Feb 19th 2007 10:38PM
That will be a great thing to have on a laptop.
http://www.thedessertcafe.com
Lokheed @ Feb 20th 2007 1:35AM
What a backward way of working around the problem. I would rather see a solution to the overheating that reduces the heat, and doesn't underclock the CPU.