leaving a laptop in a car during work hours

January 19, 2007 7:28 AM

How bad is it to leave a laptop in a car during the workday?

I'm currently working in a cubicle environment with no security and a fair amount of newly-hired temporary workers walking around. I usually don't go home immediately and use a laptop after work. So while I'm working, the most convenient place to leave my laptop is in my car. How much damage am I doing leaving my laptop in my car during work time? I'm in an area where the temperature doesn't get below freezing. How much damage will I be doing in summer when the weather gets hotter?

posted by realpseudonym to computers & internet (15 comments total)

A few years ago I drove across country during a summertime move with my laptop in the trunk. When I got where I was going -- after a couple of very hot days -- the laptop acted finicky, then died. YMMV.
posted by Robert Angelo at 7:34 AM on January 19, 2007

Another worry is theft. Buy a $20 laptop lock cable and take it into the cube with you.
posted by mrbugsentry at 7:34 AM on January 19, 2007

The only laptops I've ever had to replace have been those that my users left in their cars and which ended up stolen.

If you must leave it in your car in the summer, lock it in the trunk. It won't get as hot and it won't be out in the open for thieves to see. I'd be leery about leaving it out there in the winter (even if it doesn't get below freezing) unless you allow it to warm up to room temperature before turning it on.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:35 AM on January 19, 2007

As other have said you're probably doing damage to your car. As in the windows that the thief will break to steal it. Which of course would also mean a complete loss of the laptop as well.

Letting electronics get cool is bad mojo. You need to do more than bring them to room temperature because they can get condensation on them and short out when power is applied.

Regular temperature changes are mad too. Expansion and contraction will dislodge components, and in laptops there is much less tolerance for it.

If it's important to you, keep it on your person or keep it at home. Or keep it in your cube with a cable lock.
posted by Ookseer at 7:46 AM on January 19, 2007

I second the concerns about theft. I would warn against being too dependent on a laptop lock cable though. They're good added security, but it's not at all uncommon for them to be just ripped out of the laptop. It's possibly safer hidden away in the trunk in a reasonably secure carpark than it is on a desk in plain sight with a laptop lock on.
posted by edd at 8:00 AM on January 19, 2007

Do the drawers at your desk not lock? I used to bring my personal laptop to work and stow it in a locked drawer until I needed it.
posted by FlamingBore at 8:10 AM on January 19, 2007

Another worry is theft. It's not just another worry - it's the major worry. I can't count the number of times I've read of people's laptops (or purses, or cameras, or Stradavarius violins) being stolen from cars, and every time I wonder why anybody would leave something of considerable value in a car.
posted by Neiltupper at 8:25 AM on January 19, 2007

How about some contraption including an insulating box inside the car, with a locked lid?. I'd use a cooler (without ice, obviously), but there are probably better options. Put one of those in the trunk, put the laptop inside, lock the lid, perhaps lock it to the inside of the trunk as well, and you have something a little bit safer than just leaving the laptop inside the car. You'll be protected from the cold and/or heat, and a cooler isn't quite as appealing to a potential thief as a laptop.
posted by cgg at 8:25 AM on January 19, 2007

A coworker's laptop was just stolen from his car this week.
posted by loiseau at 8:48 AM on January 19, 2007

The heat is a definite potential killer of LCDs, though you probably would be okay in the trunk of a medium to light colored car. Personally I'd rather put it in a locked drawer or back in the corner of my cube. There's plenty of more easily concealable stuff to steal in an office if you just make it less a target of opportunity (not by the opening to your cube, etc).
posted by phearlez at 8:55 AM on January 19, 2007

I've left my Mac Book in the trunk at the office many times. It doesn't get too cold but it does get pretty hot in the summer. But the trunk stays relatively tolerable. See your notebook's user guide for the min/max storage temperatures to be sure.

As others mentioned, it will be theft bait if someone sees it through the windows of your car. And in the summer, it gets too hot. Like 160f inside the car.

I often leave my work Windows notebook in my trunk over the weekend and it still works. [sorry boss]
posted by birdherder at 8:56 AM on January 19, 2007

it's not at all uncommon for them to be just ripped out of the laptop


Exactly. The lock can be made of super-duper-mega titanium and it doesn't really matter that much when it attaches into the flimsy plastic body of the laptop.

Locking drawer is best- keeping it out of sight is 90% of the battle.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:17 AM on January 19, 2007

Another worry is theft. Buy a $20 laptop lock cable and take it into the cube with you.


OR you could do what my brother did: send away for a bunch of Lojack brochures and then keep one in a very viewable area of his car. He lived in San Francisco's Tenderloin with a very nice BMW, and it get even got a scratch.
posted by parmanparman at 11:21 AM on January 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

it's not at all uncommon for them to be just ripped out of the laptop

The standard "Kensington" locks go into the metal chassis of the laptop, not that easy to just rip, let alone to rip and still have a saleable product. However, the usual ones are vulnerable to the ballpoint pen method of opening locks.
posted by Idcoytco at 2:17 PM on January 19, 2007

@parmanparman: Lojack (real or percieved) ain't gonna help you with a smash and grab. (Sorry, off topic...)
posted by chalupa at 2:52 PM on January 20, 2007