First: I'm not sure if I'm in the right section for this. Could also fit into "Laptops" or "Gadgets" - imo.
So, I'm trying to keep my laptop as cool as possible, especially since the max. temperature where it should be used at is 30°C (or 86°F) and this week we have ~34-37°C. The tower-fan in my room helps a little but doesn't bring the temps under 30°C.
I already did my fair amount of research but Amazon doesn't seem to have any where I think "yep, that's it". The reviews on them are also not the least bit informative ("it looks nice" and most lack temperatures for comparison). So I don't know anything about how well any of them actually helps the laptop staying cool. Another thing is that while many of them are labeled as 'for 15.6" laptops', many would be a tight fit for my laptop (380 x 260mm). Even some laptop cooling pads labeled for 17" are quite small.
Then there's the priorities: number of fans vs size of them, position of the fans vs. size (e.g. 5 small fans vs. 1-2 big fans) ? Some have crucial features missing, like stoppers to keep the laptop from sliding down when the pad is elevated at an angle (and I would very much like to use it elevated since it allows more air to be sucked into the fans more easily).
The brands mostly differ from what is offered in other countries, especially the cheap, lesser known ones (Thermaltake, Cooler Master and Enermax are here too, but either have bad/no reviews or are insanely expensive), so the names won't tell you anything (like "yeah, I've heard of those, they are terrible"). unless you live in Europe (Germany or surrounding countries). For reference -> Amazon.de Cooling Pads because that's where I intend to buy, preferably with Amazon doing the shipping.
So, has anyone of you any experience with cooling pads? What are some things I should consider? Or should I just leave the laptop turned off and use my desktop PC when it's that hot?
I have one from Zalman, did exactly nothing tempwise (got a indicator that shows up whenever 70+ occurs but my laptop is already 4+ years old and was a daily driver for two years so that is kind of okay). Really close inspection reveales a 2°C temperature drop but that also occured with the pad fan off and the laptop on the pad so mainly unrestricted airflow). A friend of mine has the same Zalman cooler and his laptop has (except for heavy gaming loads) a complete fan shutoff once the fan of the cooler is spinning.
So the experience you are getting depends on your laptop and on the cooling pad. I would first try to get some airflow going under your laptop, meaning you place your laptop on two pencils or something along those lines (Yenga bricks, Books whatever works).
If the ambient temperature is above the limit recommended by the manufacturer I would honor that limit and use the Desktop if possible. I find my Atom based Tablet (intel not nuclear that is) getting uncomfortably hot while normal use in this weather.
Looking at the weather forecast (living in eastern Westphalia) I would say your problem is short lived. It's currently raining and temps are dropping.
That's exactly what I'm criticising on those reviews. The majority lacks essential details for a decent comparison (what laptop is it used with? model, brand. what are the temperatures with/without the cooling pad and what does the scenario look like? idle, load, what programs/software is used while under load? where are the air vents located on the bottom of the laptop?). Those are the factors I would like to know but many people don't write them in their reviews :/
Already did that. Took two small pieces of plastic and put rubber feet on them to keep them from sliding around. The plastic thing on the back of the laptop is a bit higher. Plus; when it's that hot, I place my tower-fan right behind the laptop so it blows a bit of cool air underneath it (and it cools me too :P). (sorry for potato quality)
Switching over to desktop then. Laptop consumes less power, though.
We have the biggest heat still ahead of us. Today 35°C, tuesday 36°C, then it cools down. But I'm sure the heat will be back again shortly after that.
Hmm, you could make friends with someone in an Office with AC. Sadly the combination of a vaulted cellar with thick walls and wifi is too rare.
I would harvest the fans the stock cooler you might have lying around and then fashion some kind of air funnel blowing air under your laptop. I have some two spare AMD cooler fans and tried them out recently, they are crazy powerfull for 5x5cm fans (6Watts each) but quite loud but do serious volume. They should run on any 12V source you can find (you can hotwire any computer PSU).
Or you could just order a laptop cooler (I'd recommend Zalman) and send it back if it does not perform good, Amazon is your friend ;)
Ha! I might actually get a better wifi signal in the basement of the apartment complex than in my apartment xD It's terrible. I get a good connection when I'm two stories down at the entrance of the house but in my room it's hella slow (and no connection at all on the toilet). That's why I use a switch and cables ;)
Unfortunately I only have one AMD stock cooler fan laying around. I thought about making my own cooling pad but the price for the parts (and the resulting quality due to my lack of skills^^) would be put to shame by almost everything you can just by from Amazon.
It is perfect for me because I have a gaming laptop and it gets pretty hot and I need it to be thin, powerful and ultra portable so I can bring it to college with me and fit in the laptop pocket in my backpack with my laptop. I haven't received it yet but as soon as I do I will let you know how I like it and how well it performs.
I'm pretty sure I watched a review of this specific cooler. This is also one of the cooling pads I have in my narrowed down list.
You don't happen to know if those are just rebrands of the same product or if there are any differences in the quality of the parts?
They look identical with just the brand logo being different and a different price. (the last one is the one by Havit)
I've also read some reviews on Amazon.de about those cooling pads which state that the metal mesh bends quite easily and touches the fans (while the guy in the YouTube video states that it takes a lot of force to bend it and he couldn't make it touch the fans).
You don't happen to have any temperatures (with and without cooling pad) at your hand? Also, what laptop do you have?
No I don't have temperature but they will be quite easy to get. But like I said I am still waiting to for the cooling pad to come in the mail as soon as it does I will post before and after temps and I will do some stress testing temps just for fun. The laptop I have is the MSI GE60 Apache Pro, I upgraded it to 16Gb of RAM and 256 Gb SSD. The rest of the specs if you are interested are listed on my profile just click my picture. The temperatures aren't bad when idling or doing normal things like web browsing it is when gaming that it gets pretty hot I currently have a laptop cooler that the fan doesn't work that my mom got from a thrift store. I also have a an turbo button on the laptop which is nice but does make it quite a bit louder.
I guess my laptop runs a little cooler than yours (i5 vs i7, 15W vs 47W, iGPU vs 760M) but I hit 60°C too, especially when gaming (only light titles that aren't really graphically demanding like Shadowrun or Cthulhu saves the World), but also when I have Firefox open and a movie running in the background with MPC-HC.
Already considered that but since I would need to buy fans (fan-to-usb converter, maybe a speed controller, etc.) for that (don't really have any laying around), the total cost and effort would be higher than just buying a cooling pad.
It certainly seems like a lot of fun but the parts are not really cheap. Good, cheap fans, preferably for static pressure and as silent as possible for sp fans, the fan-to-usb adapter (~10€ incl. shipping), a speed regulator for the fans (10€+ depending on brand, type and if I was to use one for 5.25" bays). 1 fan and the two other parts would cost me as much as a complete cooling pad. But definitely a fun project for the future (maybe even with more stuff built into it and a seperate power source).
