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In 2020, I was doing a lot of video encoding on my Surface Book in India in ambient temperatures in the range 25–35°C, and I found that lying its heat source down on a marble floor sped it up by 60% within a minute or so, the floor acting as a large heatsink.

(I also learned that the Surface Book has a dedicated “I have shut down because I overheated and must cool down before I will start up again” screen (an illustration of a thermometer), which I wouldn’t expect most computers to have, though I think I’ve only caused thermal shutdown one other time; during Hyderabad summer, recording in the late afternoon in an upper room, the ambient temperature got as high as 45°C, and there wasn’t enough thermal headroom for throttling to save it, so it needed extra makeshift external heatsinks. I quoted 25–35°C in the first paragraph because I was doing the actual editing overnight when it was somewhat cooler.)




where were you working that had a marble floor?


Marble flooring in homes is quite common in India.


Its very common in loads of countrys - or at least terra-cotta tiles: Spain, Mexico, Italy, Greece. Its a good way to keep a house cool in summer.


terracotta tiles is a different matter from marble


Why? It occurs naturally in italy and some other country. Its just a material. One that is easily damaged by accidic cleaners, so not the luxery it sounds.

Marble ground down is even in toothpaste..


because marble is an expensive luxury and terracotta is not




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