Laptop cooling pads/fans: Do they work?

[Shatnertage]

I'm thinking about getting a cooling pad for my Dell laptop, which gets incredibly hot at times and slows down to a crawl. Do these things really help performance and extend the life of your laptop? I've been poking around (mostly reviews for products on Amazon and Newegg) but haven't been able to separate fact from hype.

I'd appreciate any informed perspective TBBSers can provide. Thanks.

 

[Mr. B]

A laptop should be perfectly capable of cooling itself given proper ventilation... any flat surface to rest on should further than end.

 

[RoJoHen]

I'm thinking about getting a cooling pad for my Dell laptop, which gets incredibly hot at times and slows down to a crawl.

If this is the case, I'd say your laptop isn't going to last long anyway.

I've had my MacBook for the last 3 years, and the worst it ever gets is lukewarm.

 

[Amaris]

I owned an Xpad [link] when I had a laptop, and it kept my system's internal temp about 5 degrees cooler on average.

 

[scotthm]

I'm thinking about getting a cooling pad for my Dell laptop, which gets incredibly hot at times and slows down to a crawl. Do these things really help performance and extend the life of your laptop?

If you work with your laptop actually sitting in your lap I think you'll like it. It may not extend the life of your laptop but it will likely make you more comfortable.

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[Jetfire]

I have had my laptop for 3 years now with no extra cooling and it is fine...it never gets hot...unless the room is hot.

 

[Yoda]

Short answer, yes cooling pads work, especially if you do CPU intensive stuff and/or have a tendency to block the laptop's vents. Even just a flat piece of hard plastic might help if you actually keep it on your lap (a lapdesk if you will).

Sometimes finding a cooling pad that's the right size is harder than it should be. My Logitech is just about perfect for my crappy Dell laptop, but the fan on it died and it is no longer anywhere near as effective. I'll have to take it apart and see if the fan will be easily replaceable. My friend got a pad from Coolermaster I believe. It was definitely more solid, fan still works, but the top panel's glue gave out so it's loose.

And those two were fairly heavily researched and looked like some of the better options. So when you do buy one don't be surprised if it goes to hell after a few months

 

[Jadzia]

The most important thing is that there is a way for air to circulate to the underside of the laptop. A specially made tray with fans will do that, but so will supporting the laptop in such a way that air can circulate beneath it naturally. eg, adding some chunky rubber feet (adhesive) that raises it a couple of centimeters from the table, or some kind of skeletal support frame that holds the laptop in a similarly elevated position.

(good) Tray with fans > Exposed underside > Flat hard surface > Lap > Soft surface (bad)

If the fans are switched off, or they are just pathetic fans, then your laptop tray is essentially just a flat hard surface, which may be less effective than the exposed underside option.

 

[WillsBabe]

I have one but use it very occassionally. I use it in winter from time to time if I have a rug over my knee and the laptop on that. Sometimes it gets hot because the vents are covered. I find it works a treat.

 

[STR]

I use a cooler, as my notebook has far too many high performance parts crammed into a 15" frame (which is probably why they only sold it for a year, then again, it might have to do with some of the defects in that particular line of nVidia GPU's. Hard to say). It will put out enough heat to noticeably warm the room I'm sitting in when I'm doing something that uses all the CPU cores and the GPU. In larger rooms it will create a heat island. Fun stuff.

The key thing with an active solution (one with fans) is to make sure the airflow matches with your laptop. Many laptops have an intake on the side of the casing and an exhaust on the bottom. Others, like mine, intake from the bottom and exhaust out the side. This made finding a proper cool a pain, because a standard one would be fighting against my air intake.