This was so mundane I would have put it in MPSIMS but it’s still GQ-ish:
A few hours ago, someone accidentally pressed a very heavy weight onto my laptop computer (a Toshiba Qosmio, for what it’s worth.) I’ve been able to turn on the computer with no apparent issues (except that it kept trying to resurrect some old Microsoft Word docs for some reason), but was wondering which components of the laptop were most likely to be broken/damaged by someone applying a heavy force/weight onto them.
The LCD screen seems like it would be fragile; would it be possible for it to be damaged internally but not show any signs of anything wrong on the outside? (the screen looks fine)
What about the internal fan, circuit boards, hard drive, battery, etc.?
If it didn’t damage the screen, it’s unlikely anything else got damaged. After that, I’d worry about the fan if it has one, and the battery cells. I’d check all the ports to make sure the solder connections to the board weren’t broken.
Ah OK, thanks, so the screen is the most fragile part? Is there such a thing as a screen being damaged but not showing signs of it?
I had also wondered, if there were damage to the circuit board or other components, the ventilation fan would start blowing bits and particles of stuff outside the computer.
No, if it is damaged, it will show fairly quickly. I have a Macbook Air that was damaged in that way, and it has a big blotch on the screen where the liquid crystal cells were crushed. I got it for free as a result.
The fan, if were damaged, would likely be scraping.
If it was a really old laptop with a fluorescent tube backlight, it’s possible for that to break without the screen itself actually cracking - this would result in black screen on boot, but lights and other activity seeming to work. Most laptops have been LED backlit for a while now, so it would have to be an older model for this to happen - like one of those old Dell Latitude bricks.
You may see “more subtle” failures caused by the flexing of the case under stress dislodging the numerous ribbon flex connectors between circuit boards, which could manifest as any number of kinds of failures (depending on which cable came loose). Typical flex cable failures include graphics glitches or display failure, keyboard inoperable, touchpad inoperable, unable to turn on (because power button is on an independent board from the motherboard), etc.
(“more subtle” because it’s not like a cracked LCD or a dislodged cooling fan; nothing overtly busted, just not working.)
The issues listed by gnoitall can definitely occur, but most of them are relatively easy to repair yourself if you have the part and soldering iron at the ready. As long as the breadboards are not cracked, it pretty straightforward. That being said, if you don’t notice any damaged to the LCD or if it is working just fine, you’ve got nothing to worry about. I’ve sat on my laptops before (as in, plop my ass on couch with laptop on it) and they’ve been fine. I’d be more worried about the impact of something dense and heavy hitting it, like a thrown weight or something. If it’s working fine now, it should stay that way. No worries.
Thanks. That’s good to hear. I’ve also had instances of dropping my laptop from a height. Is that the same principle (if the LCD is fine, or no apparent issues, it’s fine?) The difference being that in those instances it was the bottom of the laptop that took the impact, as opposed to the top (LCD screen) of the laptop bearing the brunt.
I have plenty of obsolete laptops come through my office. I have stood on them with the cover closed and most of them didn’t break (they were going to be recycled anyway). Dropping is a very different story. You can easily break one by dropping it from just a few feet high and you are almost guaranteed to if you drop one from stepladder height. It is the g-forces combined with the impact at an odd angle that does them in.
We have some ruggedized laptops at work that can be dropped from 4 feet without damage (I love to demonstrate that suddenly to people without explaining it first) but they will break if you drop them from much over 6 feet. Regular laptop won’t survive that type of drop onto a hard surface unless you are really lucky.