Stand by for liquid-cooled laptops – San Francisco-based Aavid Engineering Inc, which specialises in fluid cooling systems has just introduced a device that it says will enable manufacturers to put Pentium or Alpha chips in laptops without toasting their users’ trousers. The system, code-named Oasis, uses patented technologies that vaporises fluid and condenses it in a flexible heat exchanger that fits either inside or outside the computer. The company says that the beast only needs one quarter inch on top of the microprocessor, and therefore can be sandwiched between boards if necessary. Apart from the novelty of having high-powered laptops, it should enable manufacturers to retrofit 80486-based machines with Pentium microprocessors reliably. Aavid describes the flexible subsystem as robust, light and filled with an inert, non-toxic, non-flammable and non-ozone-depleting liquid – oh, and the thing is described as leak-proof…
