Laptop fan - Can it wear out if it's used too much?

[RabbitWho]

So HP have released a bios update for a lot of their Pavilions because of faulty nVidia graphics cards that melt over a certain temperature.. all the update does is keep the fan running all the time on high.
I know in that case it's worth it so your laptop won't break, but in normal circumstances, why don't fans run more by default? Is there a disadvantage to having them on all the time? Because Desktops run them all the time, and those are big fans fanning spaced out hardware, while a laptop only has little fans running and a lot of things in a small space.



(If you've a HP or Comaq laptop check here to see if you need the bios update:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01087277&lc=en&cc=us
)

[sideaway]

all bearings have life span. They're rated for lifetimes longer than a laptop will generally last however. The main thing I'd be concerned about is power consumption and noise...

[RabbitWho]

cool! Thanks. So why do they run so little by default? My laptop gets to 60 degrees before it turns on.

[cmay]

I was asked to fix an old Desktop once. I had to give because the inside was simply full of dust and hair and what not and that had stuck in the fans of both power supply and the ones on the motherboard it self. when i cleaned the one on the motherboard i found that it was worn so much it was too loose to spin around anymore. I guess same thing can happen on a laptop just as well.

[Skripka]

cool! Thanks. So why do they run so little by default? My laptop gets to 60 degrees before it turns on.

Because spinning fans eat electricity. Many CPUs have crit temps in the 70C-90C range, so they put the threshold on the HSFs high to conserve power.


Unfortunately, running fans on high all the time as a fix for crappy solder bumps on Nvidia GPUs is kind of like putting a band-aid on a broken arm. Yea it is a nice thought--but it does not fix the problem, heck it doesn't even really address the problem.

[ddrichardson]

Its too late for mine it died earlier this year. HP denied this issue for ages, despite it being admitted for the dv9000 series.

[pasti]

the reason fans on laptops run so little by default is as sideaway said to do with power consumption and noise, laptops are supposed to run on their batteries, and as a fan is a moving part it will draw quite a bit of power, and reduce the amount of time you can use the laptop off mains power, plus they can be annoyingly noisy!

[hellmet]

The fan on my thinkpad is unusually silent. I've seen Dell D series latitude fans grinding away to glory..
But, yeah.. since some of us do use our laptops as a replacement of desktops(mine is almost always plugged in), manufacturers should give us the option of choosing more fans for the system.

[tom66]

I can hear my laptop fan run occasionally, when I start calculating primes or playing a game. But otherwise, it's almost silent (very low speed).