lap top cooling pad

[ljbirns]

Are these cooling pads effective ?  My wife's laptop died after 5 years.  Motherboard failure.  It is plugged in  from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM every day.  Would a cooling pad have prevented this ?
I notice that the cooling pad plugs into a USB port - are there ones that just plug into an electric plug ? 
If they are effective is there a brand you would recommend ?

Thanks

[yksyks]

I was quite skeptical about these devices, but my laptop, which I seldom switch off, was constantly overheated (Dell, of course), so I decided to give this a try. To my surprise the CPU temperature dropped down by 15 to 20 °C. This sure prolongs the motherboard life.

Besides, it contains 4-port USB hub with an external power supply, but can run without it, should you prefer. It's Belkin. I expect it could run by itself with its power supply solely, but I can't verify it at the moment, as I don't have the power supply with me.

[ljbirns]

Thanks

That information is what  I was looking for. 

[barney]

While I cannot speak to the efficacy of cooling pads, I can speak about an alternative ,

I had a laptop, a WinBook, that I bought in 2000 ... it died earlier this year.  For nine (9) years, it has been powered up around the clock, used as a desktop machine.  Shortly after I bought it, I hot-glued four (4) plastic bottle-caps, screw-off caps from beverage bottles, to a piece of cardboard from a furniture box, cut to just larger than the WinBook footprint.

Considering the price of cooling pads as opposed to my impromptu riser, you might try that, see if the temperature drop is similar to the change yksyks saw.  As an alternative, it's green and free.  If it doesn't seem to work, you can always go the cooling pad route.

[app103]

I had a laptop, a WinBook, that I bought in 2000 ... it died earlier this year.  For nine (9) years, it has been powered up around the clock, used as a desktop machine.  Shortly after I bought it, I hot-glued four (4) plastic bottle-caps, screw-off caps from beverage bottles, to a piece of cardboard from a furniture box, cut to just larger than the WinBook footprint.

My daughter has an enormous beast of a laptop containing a desktop processor (HP NX9600). It's a desktop replacement model with a full sized keyboard w/numeric keypad. And it runs very hot, too hot to use as an actual laptop without cooking yourself.

Someone bought her a cooling pad for it, but it's too small and the fan in it spins in the wrong direction, causing the laptop to run hotter than without it.

So my daughter keeps it on her desk, elevated with 4 empty tuna fish cans, wondering if she were to slide a baking tray under there, if she could bake cookies with it. 

[ljbirns]

now I'm confused  

I installed  Speedfan on her computer  .  It reads 26 C  for Core 0
                                                                        29 C  for Core 1

What are the safe parameters ?  I tried googling  " Safe Temps ' and found a range of 20 to 65 C.  Seems pretty big spread to me.

[Lutz_]

These super-simple stands look practical for desk usage:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32410#open%20full%20view

[Shades]

now I'm confused 

I installed  Speedfan on her computer  .  It reads 26 C  for Core 0
                                                                        29 C  for Core 1

What are the safe parameters ?  I tried googling  " Safe Temps ' and found a range of 20 to 65 C.  Seems pretty big spread to me.

I have no trouble reaching the high temperature extreme here in Paraguay where ambient temperatures of 50 C (or higher, in the shade) are quite common throughout the year (in case the airco doesn't work, because the grid station for my neighborhood has 'melted'...again).

[mrainey]

What are the safe parameters ?  I tried googling  " Safe Temps ' and found a range of 20 to 65 C.  Seems pretty big spread to me.

I think the max temp varies with the processor model.

Make sure you don't put your laptop directly on your lap or on a cushion - either can block the airflow.  I think a riser is essential, not so sure about the extra fan (though I do use one).

[mwb1100]

wondering if she were to slide a baking tray under there, if she could bake cookies with it. 

If nothing else, you'll save yourself $30: http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/ezbake.shtml

[Cpilot]

Funny you should bring this up.
I wrote a little tray app for the heck of it that sits in the tray and monitors the CPU temperature using the MSAcpi_ThermalZoneTemperature wmi and displays it in a tool-tip along with the critical trip point temp.
You can choose degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius.
MSAcpi_ThermalZoneTemperature is supported on all machines but not all cpu's have a temperature sensor.
So it may not work on some computers.
There's no error checking basically because I wrote it for myself, I've been using it for over a month on my WinXP SP3 just to see how it does.
But I intend to get to that and add the option of displaying the temp in the system tray.
Anyway, if anyone would like to try it out and let me know how it works I would appreciate it.
If it's something folks would like to have I'll enhance it.
Source is included.

[app103]

wondering if she were to slide a baking tray under there, if she could bake cookies with it. 

If nothing else, you'll save yourself $30: http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/ezbake.shtml

[barney]

If nothing else, you'll save yourself $30: http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/ezbake.shtml

I want one!  Conquering hunger, one nacho at a time.

But I'd have to get a new box to hold it  .

[MerleOne]

My daughter has an enormous beast of a laptop containing a desktop processor (HP NX9600). It's a desktop replacement model with a full sized keyboard w/numeric keypad. And it runs very hot, too hot to use as an actual laptop without cooking yourself.

Someone bought her a cooling pad for it, but it's too small and the fan in it spins in the wrong direction, causing the laptop to run hotter than without it.

So my daughter keeps it on her desk, elevated with 4 empty tuna fish cans, wondering if she were to slide a baking tray under there, if she could bake cookies with it. 

I have a Zalman Cooling pad used under a Dell Laptop 1536 or something that had T° issues (CPU gettings as hot as 80° Celsius).  Since the cooling pad, no more brutal poweroff and T° never goes above 70°C, average being 50-60 °C.  Still hot but working so far.

[OldElmerFudd]

My laptop doesn't run all the time, so I elected to use a passive Targus folding desk than can be used either in your lap or folded to prop the laptop. The angle is perfect for me and enough air circulates underneath to keep the machine cool.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5210385&CatId=3486

If you run your laptop longer every day, I'd suggest getting an AC adapter powered pad to avoid possibly burning out a USB  port.

[fk]

This is the best laptop stand and cooler I have used.  The fan speed is adjustable, the angle of the stand is adjustable, and the fan has an off-on switch.  You no longer need worry about the laptop getting hot on your lap, or a pillow/cushion blocking the vents.  

Newegg has a $10 rebate which makes it the lowest price I've found.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997818

COOLER MASTER NotePal Ergo Stand Model R9-NBS-4UAK Notebook Cooler  

  $34.99
($24.99 after $10.00 Mail-In Rebate)   $4.99 Shipping*  

[Midnight Rambler]

Have been using Targus Ergonomic X-Stand for Laptops AWE09US with good results.  It's sturdy, raises laptop enough for effective cooling, sets nice angle, and draws no power.  Look for under $20 shipped.

[siouxdax]

I've always been skeptical about these pads, so not long after I purchased my laptop I picked up a Targus laptop stand. It's just a little four-armed adjustable stand that raises the laptop a little over an inch in the rear, slanting downward toward the front. I've never had any heat issues, and I've had this laptop for nearly six years.

[cchian]

Before investing in a cooling pad you may first want to find the root cause of the overheating, after time dust can build up on the cooling fan and vents raising the system temperature.  With most laptops you should be able to use a can of compressed air to blow off most of the dust without opening the laptop.  Keeping your work area clean and/or the laptop raised will also lessen the amount of dust that will get sucked into the system over time. 

[mouser]

very good advice about dust in the cooling fan and vents.

but be very careful about this step:

With most laptops you should be able to use a can of compressed air to blow off most of the dust without opening the laptop.

i think we have had some threads in the past about how easy it is to destroy a computer when blowing compressed air into it.  in fact i destroyed one of mine in exactly that fashion, and it wasn't pretty (the thread is still on dc somewhere about my ordeal).

do look for dust and see if you can remove it with tweezers, then look around the web for other ways to clean the fan.  that really goes for all fans on all pcs, not just laptops.

[ljbirns]

Cpilot:

I bought a Belkin pad for my wife's laptop.  Puts it at a nice angle .  Speedfan consistently shows the core temps between   25 and 34 C.

She had an old Dell Inspiron 2600 from 2001 or 2  HD  fried . I put in a new HD and reinstalled XP.  Speedfan only shows the HD temp on this one so I tried your  cputemp.
It shows temp of 0 C or 32 F which I don't think can be correct.  

[Cpilot]

Cpilot:

I bought a Belkin pad for my wife's laptop.  Puts it at a nice angle .  Speedfan consistently shows the core temps between   25 and 34 C.

She had an old Dell Inspiron 2600 from 2001 or 2  HD  fried . I put in a new HD and reinstalled XP.  Speedfan only shows the HD temp on this one so I tried your  cputemp.
It shows temp of 0 C or 32 F which I don't think can be correct. 

That means that it doesn't have the sensor needed to return the values from MSAcpi_ThermalZoneTemperature, like I said, I didn't include any error checking in the script because I basically just wrote it for myself.
I just thought it might be useful to some here considering the title of the thread.
When you google "cpu temperature monitor" there's all kinds of freeware utilities out there you can download and try, most of them rely on the MSAcpi_ThermalZoneTemperature instance to operate.
If Speedfan only shows the HD temp then it relies on MSAcpi_ThermalZoneTemperature instance also and confirms the lack of the cpu sensor.
You could try Motherboard Monitor which installs a driver to read info from your BIOS I believe.
Other than that I really haven't looked to hard into the other alternatives to return thermal information from the system.
When I have more time I may read up more on it.

[ljbirns]

Thank you, Cpilot