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I will be going on vacation in a couple of days to the beach. I plan to leave my computer (a mid 2012 Mac) in the car, which will possibly be exposed to the sun.

It will be exposed between 14:00 and 20:00 and during this time temperatures can get as high as 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit). Will this be a problem? Will I risk ruining the battery / computer?

What precautions can I take? For example, is it better to leave in the trunk or in the back seats? Should I turn it off? (usually I just close the lid)

Thank you in advance!

Tim G.
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Ant
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  • I would leave it in the trunk, and turn it completely off. If you have a case or bag to put it in I would do that also. – Tim G. Aug 07 '16 at 15:44
  • Is the temperature the actual highest local temperature reported by your weather service or the temperature you expect the inside of the car to get to? Cars act like greenhouses and can seriously get a lot hotter than local area. – Mokubai Aug 07 '16 at 15:47
  • @Mokubai That is what I was worried about. that is the highest temperature reported by the weather service, I have no idea how hot could the inside of the car get. – Ant Aug 07 '16 at 15:49
  • Depends on a lot of factors such as shade, angle of car, window tint and so on but apparently some anecdotal evidence suggests 20 to 30degrees above ambient is not unexpected. That would put your car temperature up to somewhere in the late 60s to early 70s. That would be okay-ish for storage temperatures, but not operating as they would further heat up above that. Many devices list their max operating temperature as 85 but a CPU can easily get 25 above ambient. Absolute minimum you should do is fully shut down the machine. The battery isn't going to like long periods at that temperature. – Mokubai Aug 07 '16 at 15:56
  • It's not a very good idea, especially considering that some laptop batteries have a tendency to explode. You should probably consider placing it in a ice box with a few ice packs. – Julie Pelletier Aug 07 '16 at 15:57
  • If you left it visible on the back seat it might get stolen. You should always leave valuables out of sight (and not just under a blanket, which might tempt a thief to see what is under it), so in the trunk is pretty much the only option for location. – Andrew Morton Aug 07 '16 at 15:59

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If it's 38°C ambient, then a hunk of sheet metal sitting in the sun will get considerably hotter.

If you even want to risk testing it, I'd start by buying a 'maximum temperature thermometer' - few bucks on eBay.

Put it in the car boot/trunk with [or better without] the computer on day one.
If the maximum temperature reached anywhere close to the advertised maximum storage temperature, then you don't want to do it again... Taking this Mid 2012 MacBook Pro as an example - max storage temperature is only 45°C - I probably wouldn't even risk it on the first day, I'd find somewhere indoors to store it.

Tetsujin
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  • It might be worth putting the computer inside a waterproof plastic bag then putting that and a few frozen blue-ice packs inside a cheap styrofoam cooler. Or an expensive one if you already have such a thing. I'd also take care to put the computer in the truck and THEN drive to wherever you plan to park it. Don't risk letting thieves see you put it in the boot/trunk. They're better at opening those than you might think (says the guy who lost an expensive laptop this way). – Steve Rindsberg Aug 07 '16 at 16:41
  • @SteveRindsberg - possible risk of condensation; though maybe less risky than just a car boot in direct sunlight. Frankly, it's a situation I'd try to avoid rather than mitigate. – Tetsujin Aug 07 '16 at 16:45
  • Good point. I'm working on the assumption that the situation might not be avoidable, though, so the lesser of several evils might be the only, if not best, option. Moisture absorbing packets inside the plastic bag, would be a good bet. Or using one of those plastic bags you can hook a vacuum cleaner up to so as to suck out all the air possible. If nothing else, putting the PC in an insulated cooler (w/o the blue ice) would at least protect it from heat for a few hours. – Steve Rindsberg Aug 07 '16 at 16:51