Is it safe to leave a laptop unused here?

[Hal65 348]

I'm in pattaya and want to store my laptop in a drawer as I'm getting a new machine. It's cool now but the usually weather is around 88-90F at 70% humidity during daytime, 95% at night.

 

This laptop has needed a change of screen and maybe one other thing in 7 years. I'm curious if non-use makes it more vulnerable to heat and humidity.

[chrisinth 9,231]

2 hours ago, Hal65 said:

I'm in pattaya and want to store my laptop in a drawer as I'm getting a new machine. It's cool now but the usually weather is around 88-90F at 70% humidity during daytime, 95% at night.

 

This laptop has needed a change of screen and maybe one other thing in 7 years. I'm curious if non-use makes it more vulnerable to heat and humidity.

It would depend how long you were to leave it in an enclosed space. In most cases, ambient heat shouldn't affect your machine however humidity might. One thing you could try to source is some form of VCI capsule and put one of these inside the drawer you use for storage. Zerust (a product we use all the time for the inside of control panels, junction boxes, etc for packages operating in offshore salt-laden environments) is one such product as below:

 

 

[fdsa 330]

No, it's not safe to leave electronics in the dark area, expect mold on rubber parts and rust on metal parts.

I'd suggest leaving the laptop on the table, so it would get a bit of sunlight.

[cucme 97]

Perfectly safe to put it in a drawer.

Detach the battery, which should be charged 60% to 80 %.

Put everything in a plastic bag and seal it air tight.

Once a year bring it back to life, uncharge the battery to about 20% and charge it again to 60 - 80%.

Put it back in the plastic bag and seal it.

A vapor capsule or some simple silica gels will help for sure.

Should work forever.

Edited January 26 by cucme
++

[tonray 13,822]

29 minutes ago, cucme said:

Once a year bring it back to life, uncharge the battery to about 20% and charge it again to 60 - 80%.

Rinse and Repeat until obsolete....then donate to museum

[oporhatch 16]

why leave it in a draw ............recently bought a new laptop , repaired the charging problem with the old one. Old has a screen issue .

 

I now have the old laptop connected via HDMI cable permanently to the TV and store  any films I have on it.  It is also useful for watching streaming websites that will not mirror (inbedded streams).

Some people may say use Mirroring or an App and I do this also with a Andriod box and Firestick connected to the TV - but still find the laptop connected as an  extra add on a benefit

Also do not have to connect and disconnect the new laptop from the TV  - if you use your laptop currently with your tv.

 

I still find there are things that stream better  through websites running on my laptop potentially being a more powerful device for me. It can be a bit tiresome to boot up etc , but it does also keep my laptop  up to date with the latest maintenance.

 

There are other options you can use your laptop similar to this  - using it as a plex server, host Kodi from it etc and serve content to your tv and other devices,  

 

Just something for you to consider 

 

 

[rosst 1,114]

Yes, charge the battery and then remove the battery put them both in a sealed plastic bag with a small bag of sillicajel. 

[The Theory 674]

Safe as long as it is away from ocean breeze. 
I used to work for Canon and Sony dealers in CA, I have seen damages by salt even during warranty period (only ocean breeze). 
 

[brianthainess 1,984]

It would also depend on the make, ACER is made for the tropics/ high humidity.

[seancbk 2,801]

On 1/22/2021 at 12:38 PM, fdsa said:

No, it's not safe to leave electronics in the dark area, expect mold on rubber parts and rust on metal parts.

I'd suggest leaving the laptop on the table, so it would get a bit of sunlight.

 

In over 40 years of living in Asia I've never experienced this with any electronics that were left in drawers or cupboards. 

The only think I've seen is standard AA or AAA batteries that have leaked after a few years.

 

[natway09 5,283]

Laptops in my opinion degrade pretty quickly if unused for over 6 months.

Harder to reboot, slower, difficult to bring programmes up to speed again etc,as not updated along the way, but as to the actual hardware no problem just left where there is at least some airflow.

Why not let someone just use it once a week or so

[xtrnuno41 783]

WHy keep it? You get new machine. Erase all your personal stuff (files) and just give it way to a school or so.

[fdsa 330]

2 hours ago, seancbk said:

 

In over 40 years of living in Asia I've never experienced this with any electronics that were left in drawers or cupboards. 

The only think I've seen is standard AA or AAA batteries that have leaked after a few years.
 

I got rust on metal ports (USB,HDMI,etc) on daily use laptop after 2 years living close to the sea, and mold on the rubber lid of another laptop that stayed one year in a dark closet.