My laptop overheats a lot, so I was looking for a little desktop fan, but ran across laptop coolers, which I didn’t know existed. Like these: Computing Peripheral Reviews | Top Ten Reviews
Anyone have experience with these things? Recommendations? Advice?
I thought about putting this in the games forum, since it seems like something gamers use, but wasn’t sure.
At my worst, I had to use both a cooling pad like the ones linked as well as a small fan. if I didn’t, my laptop would overhead.
However I bought some air in a can, sprayed it in the vent where the fan is and ever since then my laptop doesn’t overhead.
Do you have software like speedfan installed?
No, but I was looking for software that would tell me my laptop’s temp.
If the laptop is overheating, the cooling system has been clogged with dirt, animal hair, rug fuzz, etc. I don’t recommend canned air mostly because it can come out extremely cold and you can risk damaging the chips inside with thermal shock. If you do as Wesley Clark recommends, make sure the laptop has been off for a while to cool down, then use a short burst and let the can warm back up.
But you really ought to have someone go in there and clean it out. Here’s an image from a laptop I took apart. There was a 1/8" thick mat of fuzz between the fan and the cooling fins.
Heat is the #1 killer of laptops in my experience. If you can keep them clean, they can last for years and years.
Aside from making sure it’s clean, and if you use it with a keyboard, what you want is one of these babies.
Plastic cooling bases are an oxymoron, as plastic is an insulator. If they have fans, that means noise and also that you’re using energy for the fans (always more than the amount equivalent to the heat the fans draw away). A base which leeches the heat away by simple thermal conductivity makes no noise, doesn’t spend energy and these particular ones leave the laptop at a better height than having it on the table. If you’re picking one from your list to use with the laptop’s own keyboard, make sure it’s metal (I have a Zalman as well as the one I linked; I use the Zalman when traveling and the higher one at home).
When I first went to a laptop,I also had overheating anxiety. I was told not to worry. I live in south Texas, my summer thermostat is set at 86, and my machine just hums along, more than two years now. Even live-streaming 3-hour sports events, if never complains.
I do have it set on a rack, about 3/4 inches above the desk surface, which I think helps a lot, too. Make sure you’re not using it on a bed or upholstered surface, which will shut off the underneath circulation completely.
