There was a point where Watney took a portable computer outside and the LCD was instantly destroyed. The assumption being it was permanently destroyed.
But after the HAB accident where it was opened to the extreme cold and near vacuum of the Martian environment, wouldn't the computer screens in the HAB also have been destroyed? But I'm under the impression that he continued to use the computers in the HAB.
Please let me know if I skipped over something or there might be other explanations.
LOG ENTRY: SOL 98 (2)
Each crewman had their own laptop. So I have six at my disposal. Rather, I had six. I now have five. I thought a laptop would be fine outside. It's just electronics, right? It'll keep warm enough to operate in the short term, and it doesn't need air for anything.
It died instantly. The screen went black before I was out of the airlock. Turns out the "L" in "LCD" stands for "Liquid." I guess it either froze or boiled off. Maybe I'll post a consumer review. "Brought product to surface of Mars. It stopped working. 0/10."
Chapter 15:
[09:31] WATNEY: Duh. Oxygenator functioning perfectly. Water reclaimer is completely offline. Best guess is water froze up inside and burst some tubing. I'm sure I can fix it. The Hab's main computer is also functioning without any problems. Any idea what caused the Hab to blow up?
