Laptop cooling pads...

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Mine has just died unexpectadly (after two glorious years of work) and I am in need of a new one. I have tried the cheaper ones ($11) and they didn’t work well and this one was more expensive ($40), but i think i’d like a bit more.</p>

<p>I think my last comp died because the HD died (melted most likely, it used to get really hot).</p>

<p>Soooo, suggestions?</p>

2

<p>I use this but my laptop doesn’t get that hot. I use my iPad most of the time.
[Amazon.com:</a> Neo LapSaver Laptop Cooling Pad for Macbook 13" - Smoke (LN14A): Computers & Accessories](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Neo-LapSaver-Laptop-Cooling-Macbook/dp/B004JU0E0I/ref=sr_1_15?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1341088856&sr=1-15]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Neo-LapSaver-Laptop-Cooling-Macbook/dp/B004JU0E0I/ref=sr_1_15?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1341088856&sr=1-15)</p>

3

<p>Laptop cooling pads can be helpful, but like the CPU fan(s) in your laptop…will require some maintenance cleanup of accumulated dustbunnies after a few years…or sometimes even months if you’re in a real dusty environment. Failure of this type of maintenance…which will often require taking the notebook/cooling pad apart will eventually result in overheating issues and then failure. </p>

<p>Overheating issues in most laptops tend to either be due to poorly thought out cooling/ventilation design of the notebook concerned and/or clogged/dying/dead CPU fan(s). </p>

<p>Also, unless you’re running a very unusual notebook, most notebooks don’t run hard drives hot enough to cause them to melt or overheat even figuratively. </p>

<p>Well…not unless you run your notebook 24/7 and use it for a medium/high-demand web server…which I don’t recommend for this and other reasons.</p>

4

<p>My last one had a bad design for the vents and such. It couldn’t keep up with the demands i needed it too. </p>

<p>For this one, I’d rather be safe then sorry. I blow the vents out every month or so.</p>

5

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<p>While that helps, that won’t help much with slow accumulation of dust in the interior of the notebook around the fan area/blades. Unfortunately, to clean out those parts, you need to be comfortable with taking apart your notebook to get at the CPU fan assembly. </p>

<p>This is especially important with poorly designed/ventilated notebooks.</p>

6

<p>Mrs. and Ms. Turbo’s Thinkpad T420’s are kept cool with Cooler Master coolers. They work pretty well…</p>

7

<p>My daughter loved this one I gave her and she used it for a year before getting a new computer. Her sister uses it now (hers is overheating, same Dell model)
<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032ALZIQ/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032ALZIQ/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I paid 75.00 at the time…it might be cheaper elsewhere, but it worked very well.</p>

8

<p>I use the Cooler Master too for my MacBook Pro. Mac laptops tend to run hot because they are designed to be quiet so the fans don’t come on as often. That is what I read - who knows.</p>

9

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<p>You actually can alter the default settings within OSX or if that’s too complicated, download smccontrol. </p>

<p>It’s a free fan control utility which also reports the RPMs of the fans and CPU temperature. The default is an improvement over the default…though you can have it spin the fans at a max of around 6000 RPMs if you’d like. It’ll just be a bit more noisy…though IMO…better a little more noise than a burnt out computer.</p>

10

<p>I use this one and its keeps my laptop’s temperature down considerably.</p>

<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Cooler Master Notepal U2 Notebook Cooler with Two Fans R9-NBC-8PBK-GP: Electronics](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Notepal-Notebook-R9-NBC-8PBK-GP/dp/B002NU5V4A/ref=zg_bs_3011391011_8]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Notepal-Notebook-R9-NBC-8PBK-GP/dp/B002NU5V4A/ref=zg_bs_3011391011_8)</p>

11

<p>I use this brand’s lapdesk <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=logitech+lapdesk[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=logitech+lapdesk&lt;/a&gt; and love it! Actually, I use a lapdesk, not a cooling pad, but I’ve never had any overheating issues.</p>

12

<p>Another vote for Cooler Master</p>

13

<p>My MacBook Pro is 4.5 years old and I’ve never cleaned it and it runs just fine, even when I am doing video transcoding on it. The only cooling “devices” that I’ve used in the past are four wooden spools, about two inches high that you can get at Michaels or an unfinished wood furniture store for about 75 cents each, and a USB fan. I tried the USB fan for a while but don’t bother with it anymore.</p>

<p>My personal opinion is that if you need a laptop cooler, you should consider getting a laptop that is designed in a way so that you don’t need the cooler. Those designs tend to be thicker or have lower-powered CPUs/Graphics.</p>