The expert spoke about the risks to the laptop when using it in the cold.

Carrying a laptop in a backpack in winter and storing it in a cold car is fraught with serious damage due to hypothermia and subsequent condensation inside the device. Artem Pishchulin, brand communications manager for the Russian computer equipment manufacturer iRU, told Izvestia on February 7.

According to the expert, when a laptop is exposed to the cold for a long time, the physical properties of the materials change: the battery efficiency decreases, the brittleness of the plastic increases, and the grease in the fans thickens. However, the biggest danger lies in wait for sudden temperature changes.

"The main problem arises when the cooled device immediately gets into the heat. This transition creates conditions for abundant condensation to form inside the housing. If you turn on the laptop at this moment, moisture can settle on the motherboard and other components, which leads to corrosion and short circuits," explained Pishchulin.

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He strongly recommends allowing the device to "acclimatize" after being outdoors — to warm up to room temperature when turned off for at least an hour.

According to the expert, it is especially risky to leave a laptop in the car. The temperature in the cabin can drop significantly below zero at night, and the morning warm-up creates an extreme drop. If the equipment has been in the car for several hours, do not turn it on immediately after entering the heat. Gradual warming and time—keeping are necessary," the specialist emphasized.

He also warned of alarms that indicate damage has already been sustained.

"Difficulties with switching on, spontaneous shutdowns, charging problems, fan noise, or, most obviously, fogging of the screen from the inside — all this is a reason for immediate diagnosis in the service," said Pishchulin.

He added that the consequences in the form of corrosion may not appear instantly, but several weeks after the incident. To prevent problems, the manager recommends using insulated bags or moisture-proof covers during the cold season, which will mitigate the temperature shock for the device when moving from the street to the room.

On August 28, Pishchulin told Izvestia how to upgrade home computers for educational tasks. The expert calls replacing the HDD with an SSD one of the most effective updates — many users can perform this upgrade on their own.

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