Showerthought: I tried using a $15 thermal camera attachment on a stubborn laptop and it showed me a hot spot under the keyboard I never would have found with my usual tools.

In my experience, that cheap gadget saved me from a pointless motherboard swap on a Dell Latitude last week, so has anyone else found a surprisingly good use for a budget tool you initially wrote off?

3 comments

3 Comments

wren_walker6213d ago

Sounds cool but was it actually a big deal? Like, a hot keyboard on a laptop is pretty normal, right? What made you think it was a real problem?

christopherr951mo ago

You said "thermal camera attachment," but those are usually separate handheld units, right? The cheap ones I've seen plug into a phone's charging port. Still, it's wild how a simple hot spot finder can save so much time.

johnb951mo ago

Yeah the ones that plug into the phone's charging port are exactly what I meant by an attachment. I mean, they're not a built in part of the phone, you gotta buy it separate. But calling it a handheld unit makes it sound like a big dedicated tool, and these phone ones are pretty tiny. Idk, maybe it's just the wording, but you're right either way, it's crazy how useful they are for finding drafts or electrical issues.