Laptop cooling pad advice

[Draper Mel]

Last year I had a hard drive failure. Thankfully I back up to an external drive at least semi regularly so it wasn't tragic. I tend to use my laptop on my bed a lot, so I thought maybe it was getting too warm and that contributed to the HD failure.

I've tried 3 different cooling pads in the last 8 months or so. Each time they've lasted several weeks to a couple months and then they start making a horrible rattling sound every time I plug them in.

Now, granted, I haven't paid more than about $25 for each of them. And I'm sure that my hair + cat hair + kitty litter on the bed doesn't help matters. None of them could be opened up and cleaned, though I have used canned air. But there must be some brand out there that will do the job AND last more than two months.

And not be stupidly expensive.

[ravevolution]

My previous laptop would heat up but not too bad and I had a cooling pad for it but it would make a grinding noise if the laptop was positioned oddly on it by a fraction.

With this newer lappy I'm using one by logitech. One that has some cushion under it so it feels comfortable on your lap and I love it. Keeps my lappy cool when doing graphic intensive work.

[thehuckster]

I've got a Belkin that I've had for almost a year. Cost about $40 and seems to get the job done. Now that summer's here and the temperature is up, the laptop is still overheating every so often, though. I can see that the cooling pad itself is still working, though.

[MoonCat]

I had one by Logitech that worked fine for a while, then started making that rattling noise. Even when it didn't the computer was still getting so hot it turned off by itself.

I had to replace the laptop fan, which fixed the problem.

[Kogarashi]

My suggestion would actually be to just get a lap desk with a hard surface for the laptop, and maybe a riser of some sort to lift the back end of the laptop and allow some airflow. That's what my husband has always done with his laptops, and hasn't had any overheating issues yet (and this even in apartments with irregular or no AC in hot, humid areas).

Of course, I don't know if you're doing more intensive things with your laptop than Hubby does.

[Chromatix]

It might be better to use a lapdesk that doesn't have fans in it, but simply raises the laptop far enough for it's own fan to work correctly. It would certainly last longer.

To begin with, try using one of the old cooling pads without plugging it in.

[Naaman]

It might be better to use a lapdesk that doesn't have fans in it, but simply raises the laptop far enough for it's own fan to work correctly. It would certainly last longer.

To begin with, try using one of the old cooling pads without plugging it in.

When I only had a laptop I used the solid rubber doorstops at the corners to prop it up, about £1.50 and easy to carry around

[Geek King]

A bit more expensive, but my Toshiba came with a battery with a built-in rise for hard surfaces. Maybe you could see if there are replacement batteries for yours that have something like that? They seem to use the space for more battery storage, so it does make things a little heavier that the flat battery, but runs a bit longer.