Opinion on Laptop Coolers?

[Mai72]

Are they worth the money? Are they a waste of money? Are they overrated?

Does anyone have one? Thoughts? Can I just underclock and get the same results?

 

[HeXen]

My wife has one. It works, not sure what else to say about it. For mine I just use 2 separate registry files that prevent my XPS from ever getting warm. Also the fans rarely kick on. One is called "Add minimum processor state" and the other is called "Add system cooling policy"

You can likely google to find those. Works great. I can still play games and do Photoshop just fine and never noticed any performance difference although i'm sure there has to be some if it's preventing the processor from going out of minimum state. But the real bonus for me is that my laptop stays silent and I never hear the fans kick on and off all the time like they used to.

 

[Aikouka]

Awkwardly, I use mine to cool my quadcopter when performing updates as the unit gets awkwardly warm when flashing a new firmware. Outside of that, I don't really use it with my laptop, but I did originally get it for that purpose.

 

[aigomorla]

depends on the laptop and the cooler.
Some work really well, others are just gimics.

IF your laptop has intakes in the bottom, then a stand type cooler will work.
It will force air under the laptop so it can breathe better, and not get stale air.

If you get the ones that clip onto a exhaust on the side or the rear (usually designed for the older laptops which are thicker) those work too.

It really depends on what laptop you have and where its drawing air from.

 

[PajamaParty]

I use one and it works decently. Especially when playing games. I barely move my laptop, though, as I have everything plugged into it so it's more like a regular PC than a laptop at this point. You'd have to take that also into consideration.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

IF your laptop has intakes in the bottom, then a stand type cooler will work.
It will force air under the laptop so it can breathe better, and not get stale air.

This.

Having my G7 on an aluminum stand, fans on or off, improves the thermals. It breathes better, and the aluminum has better heat dissipation than the wood, glass, MDF, etc. surfaces a laptop is most often placed on. Combine that with some micro in the advanced power options and you will get your best performance, thanks to minimized throttling.

Always bums me out, when I see a review of a gaming laptop where the i9 is close to the performance of the i7 in bench tests, because it is throttling so much. Many buyers have no idea they are basically wasting their money on the i9, simply because Dell or whomever, cheaped out on the cooling. Or decided they did not want the added size or weight that usually comes along for the ride.

 

[IronWing]

I have one on my work laptop and it works well. For my current HP, it isn't a big issue. For my previous Dell, it made a huge difference. One issue is that most are USB powered and the USB draw contributes to heating the laptop so if you get one, get a USB wall plug to power it. It also frees up a port.

 

[BoomerD]

I'm curious...why is this in PC Gaming instead of laptops or cooling?

 

[aigomorla]

I'm curious...why is this in PC Gaming instead of laptops or cooling?

meh i think the op is intended on asking about a gaming laptop more then just laptop in general so i left it as there is a wave of gaming laptops now which do overheat.

 

[Stuka87]

I just use a triangular piece of silicone call the 'curb' which props up the back of the laptop. My Dell 7530 workstation will ramps the fans up to full speed if I have it heavily utilized (12 thread i7-8750H in it) and sitting flat on my desk. But with it propped up, the fan comes on, but is significantly quieter. And HWMonitor shows the temps to also be much lower.

In the case of this machine, it intakes on the bottom, and exhausts out both sides and the back.

Link to the 'Curb': https://www.amazon.com/designed-many-Universal-Ergonomic-Lightweight/dp/B00IXVE5R2?th=1

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I've been thinking of getting a cooler as well. I actually play with the unit on my lap and typically not on a desk or table and the thing gets hot. I'm curious how comfortable/bulky having this and the laptop on my actual lap would be.