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We’ve all been there: you’ve been marathoning a TV series on your laptop, or maybe playing a game for way too long, and now your fans are going haywire and the whole computer is hot to the touch. What are you supposed to do? Put your viewing on hold and wait for your computer to cool? No way!
Thankfully one Japanese Twitter user has another solution: cover your computer in 10-yen coins.
Here’s the tweet that has been blowing (and subsequently cooling down) Japanese netizens’ minds:
▼ “If anyone is having a problem with their MacBook Pro getting too hot and not cooling down, try using some 10-yen coins you have lying around the house. The copper in the yen is a better conductor of heat than the aluminum of the computer and is good for getting the heat out.”
It may sound a little strange and look even stranger, but apparently it works! Someone else gave it a try:
▼ “The temperature on mine went down too. Thanks!”
Of course not everyone has a bunch of 10-yen coins lying around, or might find it a little awkward to be seen at the cafe or library placing yen all over their computer, so other options were suggested as well:
▼ “At my house I put my Mac on top of a fan that’s blowing upward to cool it off. It’s like the fan is a table lol.”
Well I don’t think putting your computer on top of a fan solves the awkward-in-public problem, but it’s certainly another option.
Who knows, in just a few months maybe having a laptop covered in yen will be the next big thing, and you can say you were doing it before it was (wait for it…) cool.
_Source: Twitter/@akinorisuzuki via Togech
Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Why does the fifty yen coin have a hole? And other fun facts about Japanese coins -- The little test that’s blowing Japanese netizens’ minds -- Rodin’s “The Thinker” goes thoughtless in Japan
© Japan Today
12 Comments
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25years in Japan
I have a Japanese Fujitsu laptop which does not overheat with all day use. Last 2 laptops that I had and both failed were HP and Dell. I used to use a computer fan set up behind them. Answer, get a Japanese computer.
shonanbb
Get a Mac
ZombieNemesis
Most Apple computers have fans more than capable of keeping the computer cool. Unfortunately Apple has chosen to er on the side of a quite computer over a cool computer. The MacOS rarely spins those fans up to high speed.
There are several very effective free software tools that will allow you to control the speed of the fans in your Mac. If you have an older iMac, getting a tool like this installed is critical to the longevity of the Mac. Simply search for Mac fan controls. Hard drive, video card and display failures are all to common on computers that are allowed to run hot.
HongoTAFEinmate
If you are that much of a heavy user, buy and assemble your own custom-made computer. Although not a geek, looking around stores like Yodobashi, I've seen some massive fans for custom-made desktop models. For laptops as well there are things like cooling plates, etc.
nath
Usually I'd agree, but for gamers, Macs generally are not the better option.
ZombieNemesis
Seriously, I've managed more than a thousand Mac desktops, iMacs and laptops at work. You can make your Mac's fans push so much air past the CPU, HD and GPU it will sound like a leaf blower using free fan control software. You can easily increase minimum fan speeds with software. Just increasing it a bit will dramatically lower the operating temp. Even a MacBook Air has a powerful fan inside, you simply need to instruct the Mac to use it a bit more than Apple thinks it should. The problem is Apple thinks all their users want a completely silent computer, that is why Mac owners rarely hear the fans and they run hot.
Kobe White Bar Owner
I hated computers as a kid so as a non tech person macs are great for me and im currently typing on a macbook pro 15.4 1tb. That said the main reason macs can get toasty is the using Abobe Flash with such LOW res pics actually makes the systems work really hard, sounds weird but its true. My old macbook which the wife now uses was having this issue even after i instated a free bit of fan control softwear. after a bit of a search i found an alternative to flash which is working fine and checking temp now and the average sensor is at 42 even as she watches stupid stuff on youtube. I wish i stayed at 42 degrees when i hear the trash she is watching.
Kristianna Thomas
Does the stack of ten yen coins act as a heat sink, drawing the heat away from the computer's core? What are the coins made of? If the ten yen coins are acting as a thermal heat sink, could you design a external heat sink for a lapdog (laptop)?
sighclops
@25years in Japan
PC laptops by and large have the same hardware, which is mostly sourced from China. It's really the software that makes a difference, and Windows is terrible at both power & resource management. Macs on the other hand have the upper hand with both the hardware & software being designed for each platform (iMac, Macbook etc.). You just can't top that.
bogva
Hmm, gold or silver is even better conductor - I'll just use some Napoleons lying around in the house...
FightingViking
Now where can I find all those 10 yen coins ???
Triring
These days liquid cooling is a lot more sensible.