Author Topic: Cooling Pads for Laptops (Read 752 times)

abc cuz · « **on:** February 23, 2012, 01:30:29 AM »

Hi, i looked around but couldn't find anything specific for this, i use a cooling pad thing under my laptop thats usb powered so it fans the bottom of my laptop to keep it cool. It works perfectly but it tilts my laptop on an angle, so i was wondering if it is alright for it to be like that all the time. Laptops are made to be moved around and not sit flat, but obviously that would be the best position. Would having it tilted cause any harm to my laptop?

Pharismo · « **Reply #1 on:** February 23, 2012, 01:59:49 AM »

i think the answer is no.
Also this topic would go to technology.

abc cuz · « **Reply #2 on:** February 23, 2012, 04:10:42 AM »

o i didn't even see the technology part sorry.

fohfoh · « **Reply #3 on:** February 23, 2012, 05:35:57 AM »

It's fine to be tilted. But don't bash and move it around a lot.

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #4 on:** February 23, 2012, 08:49:11 AM »

It's fine. You can hold a laptop at any angle and move it between different angles during operation.

Laptop cooling pads are generally not that great for cooling, though. Do you notice significantly cooler temperatures?

abc cuz · « **Reply #5 on:** February 23, 2012, 08:56:25 AM »

^ it doesn't really make a difference when running normally but i do find that when i'm playing games or using big programmes like photoshop it doesn't get extremely hot anymore like it used to. good to see that everyone thinks it ok, thanks guys.

EDIT* Thanks for the move Sashamaru!

Sashamaru · « **Reply #6 on:** February 23, 2012, 09:04:36 AM »

I use a mesh platform rather than a cooling pad. I find it allows for better cooling through greater air flow without adding any more fan noise. But in any case, it can be adjusted to position the laptop at a higher angle for better visibility and still always sits it at a slight angle even at the lowest position, so no, the angle won't hurt it.

kitamesume · « **Reply #7 on:** February 23, 2012, 03:54:02 PM »

its perfectly fine, laptops should even stay put the longer the better because you're limiting the possiblity mechanical failures, specially HDDs which aren't built to be moved around while it's disks are spinning, you might induce a headcrash.

also the "is placing my laptop in X position bad", its not bad at all, heck even the tiny desktops thats meant to be on your desk's top tends to be mounted at the back of the LCD displays with virtually any position depending on the LCD.

Edit: theres another question that you should ask "is placing my coffee/juice in X position near my laptop bad?", yes its bad, spill = screw your keyboard! its gonna be one sticky day.

Lupin · « **Reply #8 on:** February 23, 2012, 04:23:39 PM »

Contrary to what others have posted...

Quote from: abc cuz on February 23, 2012, 01:30:29 AM

Would having it tilted cause any harm to my laptop?

Short answer: Yes
Long answer: Yes but...

There's a reason drives, both optical and hard drives, have only two possible orientations (perpendicular or parallel to ground): Any form of tilt causes the disk to wobble more. The wobble adds unnecessary stress to the drive motors since it won't be operating at constant speed while doing something. Wobbling can cause your drive heads to crash into the disks. Even though drives are designed with this issue in mind, this is still a possibility of failure. Is this probability big? No.

abc cuz · « **Reply #9 on:** February 26, 2012, 07:02:09 AM »

thanks lupin, no offense to the others that commented but i'm believing your advise more at the moment since it comes with a decent tech explanation and i couldn't fully understand kitamesume's explanation due to sentence structure (sorry)

kitamesume · « **Reply #10 on:** February 26, 2012, 10:50:29 AM »

^ i was saying laptops can be stationary for as long as you want it to, plus it benefits itself by being stationary because you're limiting the possibilities of mechanical failure of the laptop, to be precise it's the HDD's platter getting scratched by the heads while spinning.

tilting them shouldn't be a problem, well most of the time. as i've mentioned, theres a couple of desktops small enough to be mounted at the back of the LCD, these things tends to be tilted to various angles depending on the LCD, and these things are stuck mounted for months and aren't breaking down.

and as you can see, english is not my forte, well on general, i suck at grammar on any language.
oh and i just got the wrong thoughts from the title just now, an image of a cooling pad used for fevers attached onto a laptop popped into my head.

abc cuz · « **Reply #11 on:** February 26, 2012, 07:49:02 PM »

thanks that was much easier to understand, so just avoid moving it around a lot. and yea, i be extremely careful with my hardrive because i'd probably shoot myself if i lost all the anime on that. your imagination is extremely random lol

krumm · « **Reply #12 on:** February 27, 2012, 03:35:54 AM »

Quote from: abc cuz on February 26, 2012, 07:49:02 PM

thanks that was much easier to understand, so just avoid moving it around a lot. and yea, i be extremely careful with my hardrive because i'd probably shoot myself if i lost all the anime on that. your imagination is extremely random lol

back it up then

If data is important to you, keeping it on a laptop is the most stupid thing you can do with it. Hard drives die all the time and yours could die in the next week with no signs before hand.

lapa321 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 27, 2012, 10:27:04 AM »

Laptop harddrives lack the mass of their 3.5" counterparts so they're actually pretty resistant to damage when in motion. Last week, my harddrive docking station fell slipped off the table with the 2.5" harddrive in it, and landed on the harddrive onto a tile floor. Did a full test on it, no problem.

My laptop has a cooling pad but the fan is unplugged. All it does is elevate it and give the underside room to breathe. Every few months (or when i notice the idle temps going really high), i unscrew the bottom plate and hit the exhaust port a blast of compressed air (insert hose inside fan grill, dust goes flying out the big hole at the bottom). You won't believe how much dust accumulates in there.

krumm · « **Reply #14 on:** February 27, 2012, 05:04:22 PM »

Quote from: lapa321 on February 27, 2012, 10:27:04 AM

Laptop harddrives lack the mass of their 3.5" counterparts so they're actually pretty resistant to damage when in motion. Last week, my harddrive docking station fell slipped off the table with the 2.5" harddrive in it, and landed on the harddrive onto a tile floor. Did a full test on it, no problem.

Did you just use resistant to damage and hard drive in the same sentence? You just got lucky

metro. · « **Reply #15 on:** February 27, 2012, 05:20:48 PM »

Don't shake it.

Otherwise, you should be cool.

lapa321 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 27, 2012, 05:58:11 PM »

Quote from: krumm on February 27, 2012, 05:04:22 PM

Quote from: lapa321 on February 27, 2012, 10:27:04 AM
Laptop harddrives lack the mass of their 3.5" counterparts so they're actually pretty resistant to damage when in motion. Last week, my harddrive docking station fell slipped off the table with the 2.5" harddrive in it, and landed on the harddrive onto a tile floor. Did a full test on it, no problem.
Did you just use resistant to damage and hard drive in the same sentence? You just got lucky

I certainly wouldn't want to try that again. But the lower mass and rpm certainly would make it less susceptible to damage from being jostled. I wouldn't want to move a 3.5" harddrive while i'm using it (really strong gyroscopic effect would play havoc with the drive head) , but a 2.5" on a netbook has no problem being flipped around.

abc cuz · « **Reply #17 on:** February 27, 2012, 06:13:18 PM »

all my stuffs on my external not my laptop but yea if that broke, i'd be screwed

fohfoh · « **Reply #18 on:** February 28, 2012, 05:25:42 AM »

Quote from: abc cuz on February 27, 2012, 06:13:18 PM

all my stuffs on my external not my laptop but yea if that broke, i'd be screwed

Always keep at least 2 copies of stuff. I learned that the hard way when my dog broke my external.

abc cuz · « **Reply #19 on:** February 28, 2012, 05:50:37 AM »

i don't have a dog but i've got plenty of fellow raging drunk students around me so that might be a good idea when i get a bit more cash