# Cooling pad for gaming laptop? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 12, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465 "2010-11-12T19:27:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/1 "2010-11-12T19:27:08Z")
I have once again crossed over to the dark side and started playing World of Warcraft. This time, I’m doing it on my beloved MacBook Pro - my first time ever using this thing for gaming. It gets HOT. HOT HOT HOT HOT. Not only that, but the heat degrades performance. If I’m sitting with this thing on my lap, I can watch my framerate gradually decline from 75 fps down to 12-15 fps over the course of a few hours. If I adjust how I sit so that the underside of the laptop is in midair, then it can cool off and my performance returns. This is uncomfortable, though, so I want to get a cooling pad. I didn’t even know these existed until today so I’ve never shopped for one before. Something like this: > **[Amazon.com: ThermaPAK Laptop Cooling Heatshift Pad : Electronics](https://www.amazon.com/ThermaPAK-Laptop-Cooling-Heatshift-Pad/dp/B001IZLGCW)** > > ThermaPAK’s Patented HeatShift Laptop Cooler is the most effective solution against laptop heat. In a recent CNET study the HeatShift Laptop Cooler was proven to lower laptop temperature by more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit and significantly... looks cool because it’s not a fan that’s going to blow crap into my computer and it won’t be another thing to plug in and make noise. But the reviews seem to say that it’s not great for long-term use: > [@some reviewer](#): > > The creators claim that even after the solid has turned to gel the pad continues to cool, this claim is false. The pad simply heats up and makes the laptop even hotter. If you use your laptop for long periods of time or if it generates a lot of heat, this product is only effective for part of the time and is not for you. So, do you guys know of any good cooling pads for my Mac? Need answer fast - 12 fps sucks and I’m pretty sure I’m sterilizing myself. (Also, I played in Vanilla WoW since before BGs came out and quit right when the original Naxx came out. I picked it up again briefly when BC came out but left soon thereafter. Holy crap, a ton of stuff has changed!) ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/2 "2010-11-12T22:30:51Z")
Laptop cooling pads are pretty much all terrible. Your best bet is to blast out as much dust out of it as you can with a can of compressed air and then use it on a tabletop in the future. If you must use it on your lap, try using a cutting board with a handle-hole that lines up with the macbook’s fan port. That’ll be about as effective as a cooling pad, plus cost 1/10th as much, and you can use it as a cutting board. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/3 "2010-11-12T23:01:34Z")
When I use our laptop for extended sessions of WoW, I put it on a kitchen cooling rack (like you cool cookies on). It raises it about 3/4" off the table and allows for some air flow. ---
**Author:** ![mil0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mil0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mil0)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/4 "2010-11-12T23:21:47Z")
Put your laptop atop a cereal bowl and direct a fan on it. It’ll be nice and cool. (requires external keyboard, mouse, and monitor) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/5 "2010-11-15T11:40:57Z")
What I prefer to use is something that was sold, not as a cooling pad, but as a rising base for monitors (yeah, it’s that old: I bought it in 2003 and you will pry it from my dead fingers). It’s all aluminium, no need for fans. When I can’t use that one, I use another one which was already sold as a cooling pad and which, again, is metal: no fans. I’ve also used metal baking trays with good results. The notion of using something that’s plastic (i.e., not good at conducting heat) and which has fans (i.e., additional motors generating additional heat, d’uh) which are going to have their airflow basically blocked by the table and the laptop itself seems contrary to the laws of Thermodynamics… ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/6 "2010-11-15T11:57:27Z")
IMO, that reviewer is bonkers. I have a ThermaPak and while it does cool less effectively (by a little bit) when it’s gone to gel, it certainly doesn’t increase heat. In fact, I’d say that there’s a significant and noticeable increase in heat after a short while if my laptop’s been running for a bit on the pak and then (for some reason) I have to move it/take it off/whatever. I’ve had it for years, and especially for extended gaming sessions, it pretty much rocks. Although I would add that I also run it on top of a fan that sits at an angle, so there’s some convection going on under the pak while the actual vents and such under the laptop don’t risk getting dust and grit blown into them by the fan. YMMV, but I like my pak lots. ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/7 "2010-11-16T02:58:12Z")
It’s really your only option. Macbook, particularly the Pro, are notorious for having significant heat issues. Getting some fans beneath it might help a little, but that unvented unibody chassis will make its effectiveness questionable. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/8 "2010-11-16T18:32:57Z")
I have a Zalman laptop cooling pad with fans built into it, which I make sure to use any time I’m using my laptop for anything processor or graphics intensive. I know by using SpeedFan that this makes a noticeable difference in the temperature at which the computer runs. The cooler I use does have feet which hold it up at an angle so that air can flow from underneath and blow across the bottom of the laptop. It is still quite possible to accidentally block the flow of air, so I do have to be careful with what I seat the laptop on or next to. Before I had the cooling pad, I used to use a 11 pound slab of scrap aluminum (left over from another project years ago) as a base for my previous laptop. This also seemed to help it run cooler, although I wasn’t using SpeedFan at the time so I don’t know for sure. Even a passive block of metal will help your laptop run cooler - the metal will act like a heat sink and increase the area out of which heat can radiate. Fans make it work even better though. I don’t know how effective the gel pad cooler in the OP is. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/9 "2010-11-16T20:03:12Z")
Back when I played WoW on my old laptop, my ghetto solution was to sit it on top of **a Ziploc freezer bag filled with ice**. The ice usually took well over an hour to melt, and it kept the underside nice and chilly. Just be sure your freezer bag is water-tight … . (The low humidity in L.A. also helped. Minimal external condensation and all that … .) ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/10 "2010-11-16T20:41:40Z")
I have [this](http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Targus+-+Laptop+Chill+Mat+-+Black/Gray/9427042.p?id=1218103734860&skuId=9427042&st=cooling%20pad&cp=1&lp=10), and I use it on a laptop stand. It seems to do a pretty good job on multi-hour WoW sessions, but I doubt my laptop had quite the problem with overheating that the Macs seem to. ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/11 "2010-11-16T21:22:06Z")
Do you play tennis? I actually use my old oversized tennis racket as my laptop pad for when I use it on the bed, and it works great. Lots of air flow and only slightly uncomfortable… ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/12 "2010-11-17T05:42:42Z")
I have a MBP and use a metal stand (made by Rain? I think) that doesn’t provide any active cooling, but I can jam an ice pack under it that works tolerably well when I need to cool it off. I’ve actually considered trying to make something like the thermapak by getting some Glauber’s salts (sodium sulfate decahydrate), which is essentially all that that is. I’m trying to come up with something that would be have decent heat transfer and attach to the underside of the stand. ---
**Author:** ![Scatterklysm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Scatterklysm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scatterklysm)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/13 "2011-11-02T05:08:39Z")
of course laptop cooling pads are a good idea, It takes no time at all for a laptop to start filling up with various particles, with a laptop cooling pad, even though its blowing dust ect. up into your laptop… what its aslo doing is working with your interior fan to create a current of air which will pushes the particles back out, and to cooler your laptop stays, the longer life expectancy it has (heat hinder your laptop more than dust) so go buy a laptop cooling pad, their dirt cheap these days ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooling-pad-for-gaming-laptop/560465/14 "2011-11-02T22:01:39Z")
I know this is a zombie, but: > [@](#): > > Even a passive block of metal will help your laptop run cooler - the metal will act like a heat sink and increase the area out of which heat can radiate. Shiny metal (which your block of aluminum probably was) is terrible at radiating heat. But you would get significant benefits from it as a reservoir. If it starts off at room temperature, it’s going to take a long time to get much above room temperature (11 pounds is a lot). This won’t change the maximum temperature the computer will eventually reach, but it will make it take a longer time to reach that maximum, probably longer than you usually use it at a sitting.