do you use a laptop cooler?

[OBLAMA2009]

do they serve any real function, such as making your laptop last longer? for some reason i bought one yesterday and im wonering if i shoudl use it

 

[corkyg]

Never used one. If you have a hot laptop, it can't hurt. Siince 1994, I'm on my 6th laptop - none have run "hot." Current one is Lenovo T-510. It is going on 2 years old now.

 

[Zap]

With my gaming notebooks I just prop up the back. The reason is that the fans are sucking in air from a 1/4" gap between it and the desktop. Just doing that decreased temps quite a bit. A "laptop cooler" didn't help past that, because it basically does the same thing.

See how small the air gap is underneath the notebook?

I used this piece of angle aluminum.

Red line indicates where the angle aluminum sits. See how the three fans all suck in air from the bottom (exhausts are in the rear).

Voila! Instant 5°C lower temps.

 

[sunzt]

With my gaming notebooks I just prop up the back. The reason is that the fans are sucking in air from a 1/4" gap between it and the desktop. Just doing that decreased temps quite a bit. A "laptop cooler" didn't help past that, because it basically does the same thing.

See how small the air gap is underneath the notebook?

I used this piece of angle aluminum.

Red line indicates where the angle aluminum sits. See how the three fans all suck in air from the bottom (exhausts are in the rear).

Voila! Instant 5°C lower temps.

slick. very engineery

 

[corkyg]

Another thing to keep in mind is that fresh air for many laptops comes into the case through the keyboard. Therefore, the lid should not be closed when the system is on. That cuts off a part of the fresh air supply.