LapWorks Laptop Legs

A neat way to enhance a laptop’s airflow, but make sure it can fit yours – Joe

SUMMARY: A neat way to enhance a laptop’s airflow, but make sure it can fit yours.

The good guys at LapWorks^TM were nice enough to send a sample of their Laptop Legs^TM product. These come in a blister pack of four legs, so if you have two laptops, you’re covered, or you can share with a friend.

As many laptop owners know, a laptop’s bottom is used to dissipate heat; in addition, some laptops have an opening for the CPU fan as well:

Getting cooling air to these areas is not helped by the skinny rubber pads commonly found on laptops – the resulting minimal clearance between the laptop bottom and the surface on which it rests is not the best situation for best cooling.

As an aid to better airflow, LapWorks^TM developed Laptop Legs^TM as a possible solution. These are stick-on legs which extend either 1″ or 1 3/8″:

The small foot has a rubber pad on it:

Each leg’s footprint is about 2 inches square and weighs 7 grams, about 1/4 of an ounce, so these will not add much weight.

To install, simply peel off the adhesive cover and stick onto the bottom of the laptop. You MUST make sure that the each leg is spaced the same distance from the edge; if not, the legs will be unbalanced and the laptop will possibly rock.

Not a bad idea – a nicer way to elevate your laptop than bottle caps or whatever else is handy (I have used pens). However, in contrast to the “make-do” solution, these are relatively permanent, so take a look at your laptop’s bottom – here is a Compaq Presario 2200:

What I found is that there are large areas where sticking something on is either undesirable (over the fan intake) or will not work (the large rectangular area outlined on the right has is a raised edge) – the legs have no unobstructed flat surface upon which to adhere.

I checked a couple of others and found on one that the RAM, battery and PCI slots just about took up all the usable space; the third one was OK.

No doubt effective airflow directed at a laptop’s bottom will result in somewhat lower CPU temps. LapWorks^TM Laptop Legs^TM can be an effective way to ensure good airflow, although check your laptop’s bottom to make sure you can glue these on unobstructed.

Email Joe