What about a turbine that gets pushed by the exhaust heat venting out that's linked up to the cooling fans? It's not as good as these thermoelectrics, but we can sure make them now.

Ethan Allison

I fail to see how cooler laptops that also have longer lasting batteries would be in any way beneficial. I, and I'm sure most others, are always looking for a laptop that has just enough charge to generate massive amounts of heat and roast a single hot dog.

Because really, when I'm on the train or in a meeting, I'd rather have a hot and juicy ballpark frank than get work done.

mhlaxp

@Ethan Allison:

Well, the thing is, airflow is crucial to the survival of a laptop. And a turbine would restrict that flow, making things even hotter and causing the fan to work harder, therefore using even more energy. So no, that would not work. Excess heat, on the other hand is simply excess, it's not doing anything.

sluissa

How about Solar panels that gather energy from your computer screen! lol..

Anyways, I don't see why this technology is so far away, when we have the materials to do it, and the tools to create it.

Kakkoister

Seriously, energy reclamation from heat is one of my biggest wishes (for real! you can look at some of my comments from long ago). That we spend so much energy cooling ourselves off when it's hot and then warming ourselves up when it's cold is pathetically hilarious to me; props to that tech center that took the heat generated by their servers to warm a local pool. Now let's see my sweltering iMac warm up my shower!

p.s. - I'm saying this while it's been mid-90's in October in Los Angeles... high even by our standards.

Arvin Bautista

whos andi wang... no intro or anything...

purple-pillows

@Kakkoister: I'm pretty sure that actually would work, though I'm not sure if it'd be worth it.

Ethan Allison

lol at the photo. On the sign in the photo, it states " do not touch with bare hands".

poisonfist

@Arvin Bautista: Must be Global Warming.

GadgetPlay

So only 10 years before somebody figures out how to make a perpetual power laptop?

Super Sonic

@Kakkoister: "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him, we have the technology..."

J. Nadeau

@GadgetPlay:
must be more like Local Warming, seeing how it's 41 here in the Mill City.

godwhacker

@Super Sonic: Nope. Just an efficient one. You'd still lose energy from the screen's light and the LEDs, and the heat thing isn't 100%, anyways.

Reilaos: Reading Comprehension is your friend!

Perhaps a suspicious pseudonym, considering the title.

EricAlder

@mhlaxp: HHHahahahahahahhaaa. Oooh god that was great.

kaiz3n

Looks like these guys just bought an ecofan and hooked it up to a laptop.

wezelboy

Better off just making the silicon & hard drive more efficient to reduce heat output. Where are the quantum computers?

brutek

So I guess that tiny fan has to be inserted into the laptop user pants, yes?

MarlboroTestMonkey7

@sluissa: ur so negative...

giyad

what!? Then I can't use my laptop can't cook sandwiches. My laptop + ffmpeg = 90 degrees celcius out of the vent. Easy enough to heat up a cold sandwich.

Daniel

The "sweaty nutsacks" part totally put me in elementary school mode and i didnt understand what u guys were talking about anymore in the article.

o0adam0o

I remember seeing something like this a few months ago. It's a fan powered by a stirling engine that's attached to the processor. So when your processor gets hot, the fan turns on and blows air over the heat sink.

In all fairness, I like my little leg cooker the way it is. The heat keeps me regular.

greimel