It’s going to be a hot couple of days in many areas that don’t normally see temperatures in the upper 90s and 100s. Locally it will get hot, but it usually is warm this time of year. Anyone working out in the heat or in areas that can’t be cooled very well may not enjoy these hot days and nights. Those who have access to some cooling will likely fare a little better, but there will be a lot of equipment that may not function properly when temperatures go above normal. The power consumption during these heat waves will spike and cause a potential for support systems to overwork and overheat to degrees that often cause system failures. Yes, the electric grid gets all the attention from the media during these events. Still, there are a lot of devices in service doing many jobs that don’t function properly or at all when internal temperatures spike to or above designed limitations.
Your laptop, phone, or tablet may get hot at any time of year, but days like these out in the sun can cause your devices to shut down to protect their internal systems. You wouldn’t want your computer to turn itself off while you’re in the middle of doing something important. I use a laptop with no internal fan for cooling the CPU. I have a Pixelbook Go that has an Intel 8th generation core i5 that tops out at 1.3 gigahertz. It doesn’t even get warm, but I mainly use it to write. My other laptops are more powerful and have internal fans, but they are not as light and power efficient or as portable as the Pixelbook Go. I won’t use them much today, so I don’t expect too much of an issue.
A few other things to consider with the possibility of any power outages is the available battery time of these devices should you find yourself without power for a long extended period of time. The portability of the equipment design could come in handy if you need to switch locations or head back out onto the road. These are all things to consider when there is a potential for limited power availability. These may seem like insignificant annoyances, but if you depend on your equipment to work you should consider what it would take to continue being productive if you switch to backup power supplies or need to relocate for power, Internet access, or both.
No power can also equal no Internet access if your power outage is widespread enough. The outage may not even be in your immediate location. It could be at the location of the network provider or where the remote services you interact with are located. I think this is where the ability to change locations quickly and efficiently can heavily influence the equipment you use. For the most part, my iPhone 13 max has become my most relied-on piece of computer equipment, but it has limitations – one of them being screen size, but its screen is usable for most tasks. Combine this with my Pixelbook Go, an iPad, or some other lightweight laptop and there’s a lot I can do even at some very remote locations on the road.
My generator is fueled up and ready to go, so if we do lose power all I need to do is fire up the generator until grid power is restored. So keep cool and hopefully these next few days won’t be too bad.