apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

In the space of a couple of weeks I ruined two laptops by spilling water on them (fortunately for me, they were work computers and I wasn't charged for them). In both cases, the hard drives survived but the rest of the computer was shot. I really believe an ounce of prevention is worth 7 pounds of laptop in this case. Some suggestions:

- Drink your beverage from a heavy-bottomed glass or mug to lower its center of gravity and make it less prone to tipping.

- If you're drinking something in a paper cup, make sure it has a cover so the liquid will dribble rather than gush out. If you're at home, pour coffee into a travel thermos or water into a water bottle with a sports cap. It's not glamorous, but it's safer.

- If you can, place your beverage on a surface that's lower than the level of the computer. Keep your computer slightly elevated on a small platform, or place your drink on a small end table near the work table.

One fateful, sleep-deprived night a couple years ago I dumped a bottle of water on my laptop. I followed the instructions above (I was just guessing). Miraculously, only the keyboard had to be replaced. The hard drive was fine.

My advice: Have a baby or go to law school, but not both.

i am amazed you spilled water TWICE on a laptop?
i guess if you had been charged the first time, you would have been more careful?

Well, for the sake of brevity, I took responsibility for both spillings. In fact, my husband spilled the water the first time. I guess I could have said that "two laptops assigned to me had water spilled on them within a two-week period," but that seems unnecessarily wordy and even a little evasive.

Having just recovered from spilling water on my 3 week old Mac BookPro (I almost had a heart attack) I can back up this advice. I turned it off, let it dry open and upside down (over the edge of a table, keyboard down on a towel) for 24 hours, then hit it with a blowdryer on very low heat on and off, for over an hour total. In the end, the keyboard was fried, but it was a $150 fix as opposed to another $2500 for a new computer.

I've heard that if I'd left it to dry for a week I probably wouldn't have even had to replace the keyboard, but I was such a nervous wreck that I just felt better taking it into the store, thoughts of rogue water droplets making their way towards my hard drive were starting to give me panic attacks.

I learned my lesson, and now am a big supporter of the sports bottle.

What does "posted anonymously" mean, when followed by a name?

Joan A.-

I think it's how comments from the old system are incorporated into the new comment system. The older comments were posted before we launched the new system last night. We shouldn't be seeing anymore of the "posted anonymously."

That makes sense, kelly, thanks. So much sense that I've been feeling kind of like an idiot for asking the question...