Laptop lid cooling returns
5 Apr 2008 | 11:37 BST
IDF Spring 2008 Want an Air II preview?
SEVERAL IDFS AGO, COMPAL was showing off lid-cooled notebooks. Intel has taken it a step forward and shown off a lid cooling mechanism with a vapour chamber cooler on the back of the screen.
It doesn't look like much, just an anodised aluminum case lid, and that is the point, you don't notice anything. The hinges are the tricky part, they transfer heat from the computer to the back of the screen. From there it is just a big thin vapor chamber, pretty standard fare for cooling.
Two lid cooled laptops
If it is as ready as it was portrayed at the show, expect it to show up in the MacBook Air sooner rather than later, and expect Apple to claim all the credit.
Once this tech catches on, it will radically change how notebooks are constructed, making them thinner, lighter, and fan-free. This means more reliability and better battery life, kind of hard to argue with either of those ideas. µ
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