In the earliest days of personal computing, excess heat wasn’t a problem; any heat that was generated by the computer dissipated safely into the surrounding air. Even in the 1980s, a single fan was all that was needed to ventilate the entire inside case of the computer. However, as faster computer processors continued to develop, fans were no longer enough to maintain an ideal operating temperature. By the 1990s, processors needed heat sinks, metal components large enough to conduct heat away from the sensitive electronics as fast as possible. Eventually, little fans had to be installed directly with the processors in order to prevent them from burning out.
However, the recent introduction of thin, powerful tablet computers has signified a change in the thermal regulation and management industry. The new tablets are smaller and more energy efficient than desktop computers and are able to complete the same tasks while generating less heat. Engineers have also developed the capacity for modern tablets to scale their power use moment to moment depending on what load is placed on them, a change from the older concept of running all computer systems at full capacity. Together, these developments enable powerful tablet computers to function without the need for numerous large fans and heat sinks, and may foreshadow a potential change in the development of future heat sink and fan technology.
