alt Hacker NewsSpeaking of cold weather and warming up computers... I've had my fair share of long bicycle commutes during cold winters and I always wondered whether booting up the laptop right after arriving has any effect on the long-term reliability? Like, are there any components which suffer from being activated when they're really cold?
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The battery might need warmup, but it would have to be significantly below freezing outside to affect it.
Electrolytic capacitors can freeze up but again, you'd need a Yakutia-like environment for it to actually pose a concern.
Lastly I've heard of circuit boards warping from going from really cold to really hot, but those were power components.
At the first half of your comment I thought you would suggest using laptop as a back heater during cold weather rides!
I always leave the laptop untouched for at least 10 minutes when coming in from the cold. Don't know if it helps but it makes me feel better.
It increases the chance of solder cracks, which is one major cause of failure. Thermal cycles in general will do that, however, and home computers are designed to survive a lot of them.
So overall it’s not something I’d worry about.