Laptop Cooler

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Anyone have much experience with laptop coolers? Do they help much?

I have read that they help. I am looking at Zalman Notebook Cooler (they have a couple of different models but they look about the same). They are kind of expensive though. Is there one just as good (not flimsy and quiet) that is cheaper?

Thanks

I've never used one but this one was made by Langly from The Lone Gunmen (aka Dean Haglund)

http://www.chillpak.com/

The main problem with laptop cooling is that the ABS plastic tends to insulate the heat very well. The temperature given to the laptop will need to be very low. Otherwise it becomes pointless

I've never had to use one. I have put the laptop on a cooler surface when I felt it warming up, but in 18 years of using laptops (my first was a Powerbook 170, and since I've had Mac, PC, and Linux laptops) I've managed to use airflow and simple materials like my jacket under the laptop to keep the things from overheating.

Yeah, I looked at one at Target today and didn't understand how it really could help much. There doesn't seem to be any air flow (in-flow/outflow) on the bottom of my laptop. It all comes out the sides and the back. I don't understand how the cooling of the plastic surface on the bottom is going to make that much of a difference.

My laptop has never shut-down from overheating. It's more of an issue of having something hot in my lap.

I will read about the chillpak.

i bought a plastic one with a fan , the fan broke within 2 weeks. I would recommend just getting the cushioned one that way its comfortable and you don't get burned by your laptop. (and it won't break)

I use one with my laptop and it helps.

You see, inside the shell of the bottom of most laptop is a large piece of metal designed to conduct heat from various components that don't have a fan directly over them. So blowing air there actually does a very good job of lowering ambient temperature. And that indirectly lower the temperatures of components that do have fans. The most noticeable difference on my laptop is the harddisk, not the CPU or GPU.

The problem is that the fans in those cooler usually aren't very good quality. When I have to buy a new cooler next time, I'll definitely look for one that use standard sized fan that are replaceable.