Notebook Cooler Recommendation? (1 Viewer)

[Rob Landolfi]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a notebook cooler? My Dell 600m runs pretty hot, and I'm looking to try and reduce the wear and tear on it. I think the heat issue caused my first battery to die on me (thank you warranty), and I'd like to prevent this from happening again.

I've seen the kind that plug into the usb port and run fans, and I've seen some that raise it off the desk to allow airflow underneath. I've also seen one or two that provide a bit of a raised barrier between the bottom of the notebook and one's lap. I'm not hard over on any one form factor, and wanted to see what others' opinions are. Thanks for any input.

 

[DaveNel]

Just about any cooler will work. Most of them run off the USB ports. But remember that this use will cause the battery to run down faster.

Do a search on Targus laptop coolers that is what I have on mine..

But when I am in my truck I have AC power in my truck, So I never really have a problem with battery issues..

 

[Gary->dee]

I also have a Targus Chill Pad and it works great as far as I know. Luckily my Toshiba notebook was designed by people that were smart enough to allow good ventilation with the help of two fans(or three perhaps?). The cooler slightly raises my notebook so I don't have to worry about blocking the computer's fan when I set it down. And with the 2 fans in the cooler it supplies an ample amount of cool air to my notebook's main fan at the bottom. I wouldn't consider getting the type that simply raises your laptop up a few inches without fans because you can essentially have the same thing but with 2 fans, making sure there is proper air flow.

Recently I saw at Circuit City that Targus came out with a new Chill Pad that is slightly larger to accommodate laptop/notebooks with a 17" monitor. I was interested in possibly getting it because my current Chill Pad is just a tad bit small for my notebook, but not by much. The problem I found or at least the thing I wanted to avoid with the new Chill Pad is that it comes with an AC adapter so it's powered electrically instead of through a USB port on my notebook. Strictly speaking for myself, I don't want to have to plug in an additional AC adapter into a power socket for the cooler because between the computers AC adapter, the telephone cable and the occasional mouse I use there are too many wires going on already. Although to be fair there is the advantage with the new Chill Pad in that it has (I think) 4 USB ports build right into it. But see I don't need that feature because my computer already has 4 USB ports and at the most I use 2 of them.

At any rate if you haven't fallen asleep yet from reading my lengthy post I would highly recommend the Targus Chill Pad.

I would go so far as to say it's a critical purchase.

 

[todbnla]

Um, not sure if this will help or not, we have an older dell notebook and we found a program online called "fangui" that is a freeware app that lets the owner customize the way the fans run, yes, ours has two cooling fans. This app lets you set the temp the fan come on and go off at. Works great and we have never need an external cooler.
See the link below:

http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/index.html

And it does look like yours will work with this...

 

[Rob Landolfi]

Thanks for the inputs... exactly the info I was looing for, both with the ChillPad and the fangui freeware.