iPad beyond 10k feet

[Winterherz]

Environmental Requirements

Maximum operating altitude: 3000 m (10,000 feet)

usually a 747 cruises at 35k feet, why is there a limit where ipad can be operated? what happens if they're used beyond 10k?

 

[s3rius]

Hard drives can fail at this altitude. Not only of iPads but of basically everything that uses a hard drive.
In a hard drive, the heads do not contact the recording surface. They float above the surface on a small cushion of air, produced by the spinning platters. If the air is too thin to create this cushion, the heads will contact the surface, which is bad.

But you don't have to fear using your iPad on a plane.
Airplane cabins are pressurized to an altitude of about 7000-8000 ft generally.
If they didn't do that we humans would have some trouble too

I only flew 4 times in my life, but every time I've happily listened to songs from my mp3 player (which has the same altitude limitations).

 

[Whitesock]

Yeah don't worry about using it on a plane. Unless the cabin depressurizes you'll be fine, but I mean if that happens you have more important things to worry about anyways.

 

[Ioannes]

Yeah don't worry about using it on a plane. Unless the cabin depressurizes you'll be fine, but I mean if that happens you have more important things to worry about anyways.

Wait, so if the cabin depressurizes will the hard drives of any laptops fail in the same way? And what will happen to the data?

Also, any idea if it's safe to transport a laptop in the baggage that you checked in (as it stays in the plane's cargo compartment)?

 

[Slapshot136]

Also, any idea if it's safe to transport a laptop in the baggage that you checked in (as it stays in the plane's cargo compartment)?

the hard drive heads usually "park" during storage, such as to prevent this issue while not in use

also, does the ipad really use a mechanical hard drive? I would expect it to be SSD-based

 

[Ioannes]

I've heard that the hardware inside the Mac is kept under vacuum - no idea if that's true or not. So maybe Macs at least will be immune to that

 

[s3rius]

Wait, so if the cabin depressurizes will the hard drives of any laptops fail in the same way? And what will happen to the data?

Also, any idea if it's safe to transport a laptop in the baggage that you checked in (as it stays in the plane's cargo compartment)?

Baggage is fine. The drive will only be damaged by the pressure while it's spinning. If you happen to have it running in such an environment then it'll probably destroy the platter - which means good bye.

And - if the cabin depressurizes while the plane is above 10k ft you have other things to worry about

the hard drive heads usually "park" during storage, such as to prevent this issue while not in use

also, does the ipad really use a mechanical hard drive? I would expect it to be SSD-based

Yea, quick googling tells me it's actually a flash drive. But at least some SSD drives still seem to have the 10k ft altitude limitation. Maybe it now affects other things.