Cooling Netbooks

it would depend on the draw of the fans, the usb ports will support most things although if your not connected to the mains, the use of the usb ports to power items will add to the drain on the laptops battery

What possessed you to buy this thing in the first place? I don't know how much it cost but even if it increases the life of your netbook by 10 years, who cares? Your netbook will be obsolete before it dies from the heat anyway.

Unplug it and put it in the trash.

What kind of an answer is that?! ...

You are a little, bitter, narrow minded man. Should be ashamed of yourself.

It's called tongue-in-cheek. Have you never heard of it?

Sorry if you take offense.

Tongue in check or not, your probably absolutely right.

Thanks. You'll probably incur the wrath of bigheadintheass now.

My note book runs most of the time and stays around 100°F, which really isn't much as far as the materials are concerned.

I think I'll bring my Kill-a-watt home and measure the power consumption. I'll let you know, if I can remember it tomorrow.

I like your idea.

I have not yet opened it either.

I can now buy $24.14 worth of Double espresso vanilla flavored lattes.

Maybe his slacks are losing their crease.

A lot of laptops were originally created for those folks that "work" in jeans (or less)- or park in front of a desk in a docking station and constant power input.

i was also thinking of buying one of these things, but for my big laptop. It does get hot, but not so hot that my lap becomes uncomfortable (after all, a laptop is meant to be used on one's lap?)...only thing is, i start thinking of warm things that occupied the top of my lap a long time ago (sigh) and lose track of what the heck i was trying to do on the Dell. Well, this discussion has saved me some money, thank you.

You probably need 16 inches of mesh with 5 folds of about 9 inches for that big machine.

By the way- my "laptop" is a mobile workstation from HP- 17" High def screen, full size keyboard with number pad, VERY powerful processor- Without extended life batteries, it weighs about 6.5 pounds and can handle 3-D AutoCAD software that can run stress analysis (while having 8 other applications open). Because of its power, it needs a 110 watt power brick- it advises that it will run slower if you plug in a "regular" HP power brick of 90 watts.

With the "ultra-life' extended life battery- that lasts less than 2-hours- the battery (that takes up over 60% of the back of the computer) does make a great insulator for the amount of heat being generated.

I bought my 17" Toshiba laptop with the express need to run AutoDesk Inventor (and remote connect with Vault), which it does very well. The Toshiba also has integrated thermostatically controlled cooling fans that usually kick on during Inventor sessions.

Two things: I almost never bother running Inventor off the battery and I will never ever buy another laptop without integrated cooling.

Hooker

PS - most modern games kick a$$ (graphically) on this machine

Totally understand where you are. My machine was one of two specifically recommended by AutoDesk for Inventor when I bought Inventor 3 years ago. The other machine was my desktop workstation.

You definitely DO NOT want to try to run on just battery- even extra life- when running Inventor unless you just want to check a file.

Yeah, when I came here we were running Acad and Inventor on Adesk recommended HP "workstations".

When it came time to expand our operations (new computers and more seats) I convinced the boss to custom spec and build our own desktop machines and we use XII for company laptops. I prefer Toshiba for my personally bought laptops.

Nothing against what Adesk recommends but one can get a whole lot more performance for a lot less $$$$'s on the build-your-own program.

Hooker

PS - It helps that I was an AutoDesk reseller in a previous lifetime

As my business expands- very soon- we will also likely go for a custom spec machine. The HP machines meet my needs satisfactorily for now, and the warranty has been used once with no problems.

In my case- one of my sons used to be a top-quality-rated assembler of computers for a mid-level supplier and is now a systems analyst for Siemens after serving a couple years at the high end of their DP "help desk" service for large companies. He knows what is needed to run what we need to run and can put together a solid spec to get bid from.

My simple solution to keep the notebook cooler is to provide additional air flow on its bottom by raising it from the desk top with 4 "legs" made with 1.25 inch diam x 1" high plastic pipe at its corners.

However, should you work with the laptop on your lap, it's advisable to use it on a board otherwise your sperm count will be affected!

Cheers

Vince

With 4 kids- youngest 22, sperm count doesn't matter any more.

I just prop my HP Mini mod somethingoranother with a disused Zippo. It's worked for two and a half years, which the hardware wonks tell me is twice the expected span of the machine itself.

Shows what they know.

Bwahahahaha

It is my experience that the majority owners of lap top computers plug them in most of the time anyway. They own them because of the convenient size and ease of access. The heat is something that will reduce their life so your fan is not a bad idea, but plugging it into the USB port is a problem as "energygod" pointed out. If you are plugging the unit in while in use I recommend using an AC /USB adapter like the one you buy at Radio Shack for an iPod or smart phone. The adapter itself has a USB plug built into it and it will give you the rated power required to run any USB device.

You are not alone as you can see in my post. I agree with you and appreciate your answer.

What bothers me is I thought that this site was for intellectuals' or people seeking information from intellects not sarcasm, but sarcasm gets vote for a good answer. When someone answers with sarcasm it is usually an indicator that they have no answer. When a reader has no answer, don't feel that you need to indulge us with your Puffery.

I will give you a vote if you vote for answers, not sarcastic wit.

hi Coldspot,

instead of something you need to plug into your USB, try this instead.

it's a gel substance which absorbs the heat from your laptop without blocking the built-in fans of your machine. the heat "melts" it as it draws the heat from the machine. when you switch off your machine, it cools and gels again, ready for re-use.

HTH!

-- langyaw

I have used a cooling mat for a laptop and it was definatly a great buy and not very expensive, sorry but i can't remember how much.

It has 3 fans in it and is powered from the usb which as the laptop is plugged in most of the time isn't really a problem. It has worked very well and is excellent at keeping the laptop nice and cool. I would really recommend it.

Not to be argumentative, but do you feel that you will keep this laptop long enough to determine if the small amount of cooling did any good? You are just consuming more power to basically cool your counter top. The electronics inside still dissipate the same amount of power as before.

Oh, well. Enjoy your cooler lap top and counter top.

Strictly speaking it is my partners laptop but she has had it for 3/4 years now and is not thinking of changing it anytime in the near future.

Personally speaking I do keep and continue to use all of my old laptops and pc's. Why spend a lot of money on the latest machine when the old one works perfectly fine and does exactly what you want it to do.

The cooling is definatly helping the laptop and I know this because when it does get too hot it has the annoying habit of shutting down. This used to happen on a regular schedule but has only happened once since using the cooling mat. And as we are going through a hot spell at the moment I think that a single lapse can be forgiven.

There will be a slight increase in power consumption but I feel that this is a trade off that i am willing to pay.

It sounds like you are happy with the present arraignment and it seems to be working well for you. That's all that counts.

Cheers.

Thanks and you are totally right as long as you are happy with everything thats the most important thing!

In response to post AndyK post #24 as I don't think this will help the op based on what was posted.

Have you tried blowing compressed air through the cpu cooling ports? or even better opening it up and cleaning out the dust. I have a dell laptop that used to overheat. Blowing out the dust solved the problem, no matter how hot it has been lately. That and I keep it on a wood board so I don't block the fan. Here is an example of someone opening up a laptop to clean out the dust and adding thermal grease, although pressurized air can help a lot on its own.

I noticed that these devices have a certain direction of flow which may or may not be counter to the flow in laptops that have their own fans.

I have wondered at the limit to the current that can be drawn from a USB port and what kind of protection (if any) it has.

Well - airflow direction is very important... The designers have designed the 'optimum' airflow through the laptop, so if you do not have that considered... You may end up disrupting that airflow and 'burn up' the system in a 'worst case' scenario.

On many models you'll see intake vents on the bottom (very few instances [except for cpu]) some on the sides... You'll have to see where 'yours' are... I would guess that there are some that push them down (IE: Pull air from back & sides and push it down at the bottom)... So if you have a laptop that pulls air from the bottom and shoots it out the back, then you would want a fan setup that pushes air up (most do) and if you have one that pushes air down - then you want a fan with the reverse direction. Although most of these are not specifically made for any given laptop, they will work to a degree...

USB 2.0 = 100 mA to a max of 500 mA. Most of those fan units work on 100 mA or less.