EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
General => General Technical Chat => Topic started by: JonnyBoats on October 10, 2011, 11:52:36 pm
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This video http://hackedgadgets.com/2011/10/09/ibm-thinkpad-takes-zap-from-huge-tesla-coil-and-lives/ (http://hackedgadgets.com/2011/10/09/ibm-thinkpad-takes-zap-from-huge-tesla-coil-and-lives/)
shows an IBM Thinkpad being zapped and surviving.
Is this really as impressive as it seems?
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I can believe this.
Pretty much all electronics nowadays has some kind of ESD protection, down to clamp diodes on every pin. The only way these normally fail is due to excessive current (a few milliamps at minimum).
Telsa coils put out very little current - most top out at a milliamp or two, so no surprise that it's survivable.
The other day I had 30,000v from a TV transformer jump a sizeable gap (~5cm arc) onto the +5v rail of a board powered from my laptop's USB port. Charred the board, but the laptop didn't miss a beat (even the video it had running kept playing).
I might have to try this myself with an old laptop.
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I'm not surprised at all. ThinkPads are legendary for their toughness. This comes from their build technique perfected over the years. Probably best shielded laptops I've seen. They did this years before anyone else bothered. It would be very hard to break that Faraday cage.
On old models cases were basically metal parts covered with this characteristic rubbery plastic. From inside it looked like this:
(http://www.picamatic.com/show/2011/10/12/08/01/7940061_bigthumb.jpg) (http://www.picamatic.com/view/7940061_13N5429/)
Right now after Lenovo took over they moved many of them to plastic, but they are still well shielded. This is T40 that is being tested and most laptops are like that inside:
(http://www.picamatic.com/show/2011/10/12/08/01/7940059_bigthumb.jpg) (http://www.picamatic.com/view/7940059_t40_case/)
And something like this is behind T60's screen:
(http://www.picamatic.com/show/2011/10/12/08/01/7940060_bigthumb.jpg) (http://www.picamatic.com/view/7940060_t60_screen_case/)
Don't let me started on those magnesium frames ;)
People are right now praising shiny aluminum toys from fruit company, but IBM was making the best laptops and sending them to space years before them. Even Chinese Lenovo didn't destroy them much. It is simply business workhorse. ThinkPad is Fluke of computing world.
Since we are talking about high voltage and electronics. Check this out:
Top Gear - Richard Hammond struck by lightning in car - BBC (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve6XGKZxYxA#)
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Is that really magnesium???
And where is the "evil" emoticon?
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One of the reasons why Lenovo decreased the shielding is that metal shielding and Wifi/3G/Wimax/Bluetooth/... antennas are hard to combine.
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Also consider that now the weight is also a big feature to consider to choose a laptop. So you need to switch to lighter materials like plastic instead of metal.
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Their metal frames are incredibly light- sometimes tough to tell apart from plastic by weight alone..
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I have a t60. It's slightly amazing. Before that I had a t30. Both built like a tank.
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That laptop has all aluminum case including screen cover. Just fixed one few days ago.
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IBM/Lenovo is not using aluminum for construction of the cases or frames. Their signature rollcage is made from magnesium alloy. They used to make cases for laptops from that material.
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/What-is-a-Rollcage-and-what-does-it-look-like/ta-p/413443 (http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/What-is-a-Rollcage-and-what-does-it-look-like/ta-p/413443)
They also did something with carbon fiber (never fixed one with it) and for example Z60 is using titanium in the lid.
Aluminum? That would be a downgrade ;D
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Maybe you right! Its light anyway :)
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Its an armoured laptop.