Are laptop cooler pads worth a damn?

atomic ferret said:

I would say they are not worth it at all. They seem to be about keeping your lap cool more than actually improving temps.

Click to expand...

They also increase battery life

you want to make sure you get a battery powered cooler, if it has to be plugged in or runs off USB then yes I say they are pointless, but a battery powered cooler with 2 large fans can keep your PC fans from going, and as a result add some battery life

My dad's laptop will idle its way up to 80C if you tilt it vertical. Any load at all is shut down point.

It depends upon quite a few parameters. If it's a well designed machine, I'd agree that using the laptop on a hard base should be adequate to allow circulation through the heat-sink baffles. I have noticed that the laptop condition reflects that of the user's surroundings. Carpets, pets, open fires all provide dust and fluff that, over time, forms a "carpet" on the fan side of the baffle which can dramatically reduce the air flow which is the principal cause of overheating. I currently use three Dell XPS machine. One for business, one for studio work and one for my laptop repair work. They get dismantled every year, cleaned out and the CPU and GPU freshly thermal pasted. Many moons ago I used a cooler to see what effects it had. One effect was that the baffle tended to fluff up quicker! However, if it works for you...

A lot of people talking about snake oil, but I've actually needed one before. While on deployment, we were in temps of around 110-120F. The only way to even turn the laptop on was to have a laptop cooler. They work, pure and simple.

Its two things

1) the coolers are usually curved to allow more air flow under neath. this is probably the biggest factor
2) the extra fans push in more air. More air = more cooling

These things are NOT expensive, and worth every penny honestly. Those saying "they don't work" probably haven't used one or haven't had a laptop that needed one (all laptops are not created equal).

If it's an older laptop try opening it up and blasting the dust out of the fan. I did this to my 3 year old laptop that's on 24/7 and it dropped temps by 10 degrees.

My experience is mixed, sometimes a baking tray or cutting board works fine, older laptops/high performance, may benefit.

The premade ones I have seen do help some, but you have to build your own if you want something that really works. A 0.25A rated 80mm works very well and can easily be powered from a wall wart.