Comments on: Laptops and Water Do Not Mix: A Cautionary Tale

By: Tough Laptops

Tough Laptops — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 01:48:18 +0000

Rugged laptops are becoming more commonplace as people find out about them. These are computers built around the military standard known as Mil Spec 810F.

Your example of the repair costs involved make the extra initial expense well worth it.

By: Queercents » Blog Archive » Are You Held Hostage By Technology in Your Business?

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:33:40 +0000

[...] my life satisfaction but a lot to do with my business success. Samuel seems rather complacent in “Laptops and Water Do Not Mix: A Cautionary Tale”: The more years I use computers, the more times I learn that in the vast majority of computing [...]

By: Rugged Portable Computers

Rugged Portable Computers — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:02:12 +0000

You guys that saved your computers are so lucky I have known tons of people who ruin their computers everyday.

By: Breaking Murphy’s Law » Blog Archive » The Weekly Might Have Missed List (11/09/08)

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:56:21 +0000

[...] Worker Daily: Laptops and Water Do Not Mix: A Cautionary Tale — “This past weekend, I was on the web and doing some writing on my beloved Lenovo [...]

By: Chuck Rosseel

Chuck Rosseel — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:25:50 +0000

I am looking into expensive laptops and a spill is one concern I never considered. I should have for I have ruined a cell phone (water) and an expensive office copy machine (can of root beer) with accidental spills. I'm happy your quick thinking and response saved your laptop. Thanks to Samuel Dean's article I will also include spill resistant keyboard covers and spill resistant technology while shopping for my new laptop. Thank you. Chuck Rosseel Cash Gifting Cabbie

By: Sandro

Sandro — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:57:22 +0000

Rugged Laptops such as the Toughbook are said to resist coffee spills. I have an old Toughbook which I use for some of my work but its not even half as comfortable as my Macbook.

By: Christie Adams

Christie Adams — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:28:56 +0000

*Moves wobbly coffee cup further from MacBook*

Glad to see the tips; if I made such a mistake I wouldn’t have the know-how to pull apart a laptop.

I wonder when schools will start adding basic laptop repair to their prereq curriculums?

By: Dominic Taverniti

Dominic Taverniti — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:19:52 +0000

The horror! Samuel, for a moment I thought you were writing about my misfortune.

My ThinkPad T40 took a bath in a 20oz. raspberry Italian Soda. Perhaps due to the conductivity of the syrup, I couldn’t even reach the power button before it flickered and went out. With no life in the machine at all, I had nothing to loose by breaking it down and attempting to revive it.

With my precious ThinkPad completely disassembled, I poured rubbing alcohol over the motherboard to dissolve the raspberry syrup. I did the same to most of the other parts (spare the hard drive and optical drive). Then I took an alcohol soaked cotton swab to the stubborn sugar deposits still in the nether regions, until it appeared to be pretty clean. For good measure I did another alcohol shower. And then finally, I set all the parts in front of a hair dryer on low heat for about 30 minutes.

I reassembled the machine and hit the power button . . . and to my delight, I also got the little beep. I haven’t had a single problem since.

Of course, the value of the machine was at stake, but I was more concerned with the integrity of my data. To that end, I use a back plan or system that would have gotten me through if my ThinkPad didn’t come back to life. Read more about my home office backup plan

By: jonpeltier

jonpeltier — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:50:28 +0000

Last summer, my daughter left the water running in the upstairs bathroom, it overflowed, and flooded the kitchen. My wife’s laptop and my old laptop, both Compaqs, were on the kitchen table, and the light fixture over the table was a fountain, with water coming out of the ceiling and streaming over the fixture’s curvy metal segments. Both laptops were inundated.

I retrieved the laptops from the water and removed their batteries. Fortunately both had been closed and unplugged. When the recovery company came, I commandeered an extra industrial fan, stuck the laptops in a corner with their lids open, and kept the fan directed on them for around four days.

I crossed my fingers, held my breath (both crucial steps, I’m sure), reinserted the batteries, and hit the power buttons. Both turned on as if nothing had happened. Cynthia’s was completely fine, while mine made funny noises from the speakers. The damages exceeded $10k, but the laptops were not part of it.

By: Sérgio Carvalho

Sérgio Carvalho — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:35:03 +0000

Quickly flipping over is a big no-no: http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=62

Lenovos have drain paths, so you should let these work.