At 6:49 PM -0600 11/30/05, Howard Katz wrote: >I'd have no qualms about that, but the adapters I've seen, both the >Apple-supplied one and the replacements on the market only have 2 >prongs. :)
True of older models, but my new PowerBook (purchased in July of this year) has a genuine case ground. If you just plug in the white power brick, you only have two prongs, but if you use the longer cord you get the case ground as well. So touching your PowerBook's case and discharging won't cause damage if you're plugged in with the cord. That said, static is deadly to modern silicon chips with their very small device dimensions. A person can easily build up a static charge of several kilovolts, and while the amount of energy is small, when it's focused in a small area, it can easily destroy the nanometer scale components on ICs. Somewhere here I have an old HP magazine that has scanning electron micrographs of transistor junctions destroyed by static - before and after images. Once they are damaged the chip is useless. We were running a new Van de Graff generator in the technician's shop about a year ago and ended up destroying the MoBo on a nearby computer. The Van de Graff generator we had builds up about 200,000 volts, and the compyter was only 4 or 5 feet away, and something in it got damaged. We are more careful with them now. - web -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:G-Books@mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
