Asus waves farewell to (laptop) fans
'Thermal holes' demoed on concept 'folding' notebook
Asus may launch a laptop able to cool its technical innards without a fan, if the firm’s latest concept is anything to go by.
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Peter Clark, a Senior Designer at Asus, today demoed a prototype notebook to Register Hardware that he said could “potentially” run without a fan inside to cool the processor, motherboard and so on.
The unnamed notebook – which looks similar to Asus’ concept origami laptop – has a hinged keyboard that arches upwards as the laptop is opened.
This arching mechanism creates a gaping hole behind the keyboard which Asus has filled with “thermal holes”. These draw cooling air into the machine, doing away with the need for fan.
The PC would – as a result of the fan being dumped – also be less power-hungry and thinner - or that’s the theory, anyway. ®
COMMENTS
Apart from all of the previously mentioned flaws...
... that creaking squeaking sound it makes when opening or closing the hinge is simply ridiculous! Hardly fits with the futuristing image they're trying to give it.
Bloody inadequate engineering...
hmmm
wouldn't look out of place on the set of battle star galactica.
the 70's version. athena ftw :)
@Ian Michael Gumby
486's 386's P1 (w/o mmx) were able to run fanless... So I agree that it was possible. But this is a modern processor we are talking about. Many more hertz's and celsius's in these badboys.
Jobs, because the flaming devil must be in my apple laptop, its burning my legs.
Vents / air-moving?
If they want to get the air to move, shouldn't they make the back of the screen into a chimney-effect environment? Suck hot air up from the bottom by convection?
Spilled coffee on any notebook lately
Sure those holes will let coffee in. So will the gap around the keyboard and speakers on your current notebook.. I haven't seen any consumer equipment that likes a bath. If these guys can use convection to cool a modern CPU (CPUs in 83-84 didn't even have heat sinks) with less power and no noise I'll buy one.
