Ask HN: Do fanless laptops have a shorter life? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Do fanless laptops have a shorter life?

6 pointsamichail11 comments

Anyone know?

My Acer Aspire S5 laptop fan failed, and its replacement fan also failed within days. After that I ran it fanless for ~3 years without problems. Actually, the machine crumbled apart mechanically, but it was probably not caused by the extra heat.

The extra heat may have some impact, but I think it will be negligible. Other factors like overall laptop quality will probably have more impact.

I always install tpFanControl, which effectively reduces my CPU fan speed to 0 RPM unless there is a lot of CPU load.

My laptops have lasted well beyond the 1-3 year warranty periods:

- Current T480s is nearly 6 years old. Used every day; powered on almost 24/7.

- Previous X1 Carbon was given to a friend, still working after a decade. (10 years + 10 months)

I've seen old spec laptopts used daily for 10+ hours for ages with no issues. They have protections or should have, depends on what brand you go for. Stay with known brands and you should be ok.

generally no, but the performance tends to be more inconsistent due to their typical reliance on throttling methods to control thermals.

Especially depending on the environment. A fanless machine in a building with no AC will also just suck to use as it makes everything so hot.

How? Fans don't get rid of the heat, they merely exhaust it outside of the laptop. In fact, fanless machine is probably producing less heat (as it does not require a fan), so it would be better with no AC.

On a laptop specifically, the fans can at least blow the heat away while a fanless machine just distributes the heat though the laptop body, so you have to rest your hands on a heated keyboard. Having fans doesn't always make for a cooler body (looking at my early 2013 Macbook Pro, even with fans on full blast, the aluminum body gets quite hot) but it can definitely be reduced with intentional design. During the winter a warm laptop can be nice, but if the environment is already hot it would be less comfortable.

> looking at my early 2013 Macbook Pro, even with fans on full blast, the aluminum body gets quite hot

I have the exact same laptop. Opening it and thoroughly cleaning huge amounts of dust that gathered inside over the years changed it into a different machine.

I picked it up on eBay recently and had to add an SSD, so I did a bit of cleaning on it then. Most normal usage is not bad, it makes for a great "document typing machine" and it still powerful enough for everyday use, and best of all - the previous owner had the battery replaced in 2021 so it only has about 350 cycles on the battery. If I do anything intensive with it though, it needs to be on a desk rather than my lap lol

I have a fanless Asus ZenBook from 2014 that I use everyday and still works flawlessly.

What do you think the life of a laptop with a fan is?

I’d bet that the M-series MacBook Pros will have a slightly longer useful lifespan than the M-series MacBook Airs, but it’s just because they probably have more RAM, etc.

That said I think my M-series Air will last longer than any computer I’ve ever owned in my life before.

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