Best way to protect Laptop display when not in use

I have the sense that some warmth percolates from the keyboard so if the lid is closed while running intensively it may feel like it is not cooling.
There are no intakes in either the palm rest or lid assembly so it isn't that it is not cooling properly but maybe a latent heat feeling surrounding it.

 

Good morning everyone.

I will continue the discussion here, but moderators, please feel free to move this message to a separate thread if required as this is a somehow different question than the one I originally asked.

I will soon replace my old Windows XP desktop machine with a Latitude which will therefore be running for 9-11 straight hours, almost every day.

I was considering changing the Power Options to "Do Nothing" when I close the lid and indeed close the lid as the laptop will be connected to an external monitor.

Quoting what Nankuru said, is this something you would indeed NOT recommend? I ask because I searched the forums and many of you guys confirmed Nankuru's theory, that by closing the lid you deny adequate cooling to the machine but these are threads from 3-4 years ago. Did anything change? And if no, how open shall I keep the lid?

To give you a short background of my environment, the Latitude will be the E5530(so no gaming GPU inside) with the room temperature in winter as low as 17C and never higher than 23C and always 26C in summer because the room is AC-ed.

And finally, I read about Windows 7's "WindowsKey + P" and then "Projector Only" functionality. When applied, will this turn off the laptop monitor or it will still be on even if the display was shifted to the external monitor? This is because what I am after is to turn off the laptop display(to avoid dead pixels) since of course I will be using an external device.

Thank you.

 

I don't think closing the lid really affect cooling if at all and I don't know why people think so ~~ It is like saying desktop user should all remove their side panel for proper cooling.

If you worry, try temp monitor programs and check the difference.

 

Laptops do not cool through the palmrest and keyboard, so I don't know what the theory is about. Keeping the lid may help dissipate heat, but if the laptop is properly designed, this is by no means necessary.

I've been using Latitudes with docking stations and external peripherals for years, and 12+ hours a day is not unusual. Right now, my E6410 has been powered on for 14 hours, CPU temperature is 115F, GPU temperature is 130F, and of course, the lid is closed.

BTW, have you considered the E6530 or E6540? The E6000 series is a higher-end model with better chassis materials.

If the lid is closed, the internal LCD will turn off and the main display will default to external. No need to manually switch to Projector Only.

 

I didn't know there was an ongoing 3 year discussion about this.
There are many a Precision owner who never open the lid and have external monitors attached. They run at full power intensively throughout the day.
If you touch the lid of one of these under those conditions it will feel warm but it won't get hot. Latent heat builds up in the chassis regardless of whether the lid is closed or not.
As well, a LCD lid, open with a lot of full screen pixel switching activity will warm up quite a bit too.

Some older laptops had a couple air intake holes in the lid. My former Inspiron from 2005 did. But it wasn't a WLED backlit LCD. The purpose for them would have been to allow air flow while the lid was open and the LCD being used. Closed, it would NOT have needed even minor cooling.

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Incidently, that Inspiron LCD lasted only 6.5 years of 16 hr. a day use as my primary monitor, never attached an external, and never ran it with the lid closed.

I think the idea that keeping the lid closed while the system is running hurts the longevity of any components - is bunk, bogus. Urban legend. Superstition.

 

Very interesting, thank you as always for the kind replies.

Yes, Robin, I did consider the 6xxx series but I opted for the E5530 mainly because I already own one and I love it; it doesn't get hot even when the AC is off and the room temperature is 30+C and also, silly reason I know, the ports are just where I want them for my setup

Also, it will be connected to an external keyboard/mouse/monitor so I'm not really interested in the built quality. Not to mention that the E6540 - according to http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-Latitude-E6540-FHD-HD-8790M.98101.0.html - runs hot because of the AMD GPU.

By the way, is CPUID HWMonitor - http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor-pro.html - the only tool I need to measure temperatures? And also, where can I find a guide to help me understand when a temperature is higher than it should be?

Thanks!

 

You guys got me curious so I performed a small benchmark on my E6410 to understand more about the close lid urban legend

I didn't have an external monitor to use so the tests were quickly performed as the below:

1. Room temperature 26.2C
2. Scenario A, open lid
3. Scenario B, closed lid and max CPU temperatures checked seconds after I opened the lid(again, because I had no handy external monitor to use)
4. The test was to play this video at 1080p/full screen in Firefox, without Flash, so using Firefox's native video player, which of course stresses the CPU more than Flash : The 7 Wonders of Crysis 3 - Final Episode: "End of Days" - YouTube

The results were a bit funny, but maybe it's because they only lasted a couple of minutes.

Basically, when I played the video with the open lid, the temperatures went as high as:

Scenario A - Results:
CPU Core 0 Max Temp - 80C / 176F
CPU Core 2 Max Temp - 84C / 183F

I then re-started the video and closed the lid(Power "do nothing" of course). After 3 minutes I opened the lid and the results were:

Scenario B - Results:
CPU Core 0 Max Temp - 59C / 138F
CPU Core 2 Max Temp - 58C / 136F

I re-tried Scenario A immediately after an temperatures stayed below 60.

Not sure what to make of these results, maybe I'll try it again letting it run for 15 minutes, at least.

 

Not much, since these are unscientific results. And since it is an unscientific test, the results are spurious at best.

Next time at least let the machine cool to its original starting temp before conducting the second and/or subsequent tests. Even so, just because there was a measured temp increased via lid closed, does not necessarily indicate its in the danger zone.

Granted, those temps are high, but my HP has operated with those same scenario A temps for over 4 years with the lid open.

Incidentally, when my unit is performing a backup or virus scan I place it on its cooler. In addition, the unit is directly beneath an A/C vent, so I'm even less concerned abut heat build-up. I suggest anyone that my be concerned, take the same precautions.

 

I agree Krane.

But for the record, the 80C was registered when the lid was open.

My wild guess is that when I started the video the first time with the lid open, Firefox's CPU utilisation was so high that the temperature did indeed go up.

Then the internal fan kicked in, temperatures started to go down and when I performed the 2nd test, with the lid closed, the fan was doing its job, hence the -20C difference.

By the way, I did some Googling around and I read that a laptop going past 70C is a big no-no. Is this true? And when we say a laptop CPU temperature should not go beyond nnC, are we saying it never should or it can for a couple of minutes but not more?

Thanks.

 

As far as I know max temp is 100C. On approach safety throttling will kick in.

If you're going to try testing something at least be consistent with it. Maybe this example:

Day 1: Cold boot in the morning and run an XTU stress test with the Lid Closed. Temp monitors active.
Day 2: Cold boot ......with the Lid Open. Temp monitors active.

You might want to run the test twice back to back for each day.