Laptop coolers

After going through burned out fans and unexpectedly short lives on my last few laptops that I use for Photoshop, I've decided that laptops just don't have robust enough cooling systems for image editing and added a cooler, and after a few months of using it, I'm really pleased. I don't feel like I need it all the time, so if I need to travel with the laptop, I leave the cooler at home, but just using it whenever I'm at my desk, which is 85% of the time, is a big improvement. These things are mainly marketed at gamers, who also suffer overheating problems. I've been using this one with one fan--

NotePal U1 - Cooler Master - Leading Provider of Computer Case, Cooler, Power Supply, Laptop Cooling, Gaming Peripherals

It's aluminum, so it dissipates heat fairly quickly, and you can adjust the position of the fan to wherever the computer gets hottest. It runs off the USB port and has a pass through connector, so you can still use the port for other things.

Funny but I've made several of these over the last 5-6 years from IKEA bookstands--both metal and plastic. Started playing with the idea after my kid burned out a pricey Dell laptop. Though it's cooling system was under-spec'd, it's radiator became totally bunged up with dust and lint sucked in by the fan. Easy preventative maintenance is to get at the fan and the air path to make sure it's free from blockage. Still, most laptops are used on surfaces that obstruct or plug the fan intakes on the bottom of most machines. It's a lesson most old hot rodders learned the hard way: big, hi-perf. engines need big hi-perf cooling systems.

I used an aluminum stand (no fans) for my laptop that seemed to keep it cooler. When I had it driving a 2nd monitor and doing ps and especially illustration it would get very warm. I used an mStand by Rain Design. I can recommend it, but I suspect that it wouldn't be as efficient as the cooler-master.



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