Laptop users say devices can become too hot to handle, survey reports

Nov. 10, 2010 10:46 AM PT

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Laptop users have been known to go without food or sleep to stay plugged in. Apparently, being wired is also worth some scorched skin, according to a study by Wakefield Research for Logitech International released Wednesday.

Laptop users reported facing consistent issues with heat generated from their computers, which some researchers have dubbed ‘toasted skin syndrome.’ The study interviewed 594 adult Americans who regularly used a laptop.

Nearly half of the users surveyed had to temporarily disengage from their computers because the heat became too much to handle, while people eager to stay connected have tried lap barriers like a pillow (27%), a towel (19%) and a magazine (15%) -- to little effect, according to the research.

And for the creative cooks out there: 62% also said that the bottom of their laptop overheats so much that they could fry an egg on it. We don’t recommend you try this at home, but please, send The Times a picture if you do.

Logitech recommends getting a lapdesk to protect yourself.

Apple shows off new MacBook Air and Lion operating system

-- Shan Li

Technology Blog

Shan Li

Shan Li covered the retail and restaurant industries for the Los Angeles Times. She previously reported on the California economy and the technology sector. A Texas native, she graduated from the business school at New York University, where she decided journalism was much more interesting than a job on Wall Street. She left The Times in 2017.