We've talked about gaming laptops and the mobile GTX 980 recently on the podcast and mentioned the fact that powerful gaming laptops need help keeping cool. One product worth considering would be the NotePal Ergostand III from CoolerMaster which has a 230mm adjustable fan covering its backside. At around $50 it is a decent price for this sort of product and worthy of consideration if you happen to be a gamer who prefers laptops. You can learn more about it over at Benchmark Reviews.
"That’s where notebook coolers come in, such as the Cooler Master NotePal Ergostand III used as our example in this article about keeping hot laptops cool and running fast."
Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:
- ASUS ZenPad 7.0 @ Tech ARP
- OnePlus 2 @ The Inquirer
- Acer Liquid Jade Z @ Kitguru
- Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Smartphone Review @ Hardware Secrets
I have ditched my laptop for
I have ditched my laptop for gaming purposes but before I did, I found that none of the add-on coolers worked *reliably* becuse they don’t account for the air intakes and exhausts; they just kind of waft a breeze in the general area. If they happen to blow air at the exhaust port, they might hurt overall airflow. For real cooling (almost 20°C) find the air intake and blow a lot of air at it. Parially opening the back panel helps. This is called with a sneer, “ghetto laptop cooling” (google it) but it works! (But don’t use a laptop for gaming at all if possible. Overpriced, overheats, not upgradeable.)
I use a laptop for gaming
I use a laptop for gaming since I am on the road over 45 weeks a year. I used to be really aggravated at my Toshiba gaming laptops because the exhaust vented to the side, almost always at my hand on the mouse.
This and my previous laptop are Asus ROG 17 inch behemoths. Great performance and I have never been bothered by heat from the laptops, other than the power brick being quite warm when I put it away. They input at the front and exhaust out the back, along with the computer thickening towards the back, which seems to me to work very well.
The only downside is this is a desktop replacement. At almost 10 lbs, you could probably beat a attacker to submission with it.
If you have your laptop on a
If you have your laptop on a flat surface and actually take the time to clean the heatsink once in a while (the heatsink on a laptop will clog faster than that of a desktop since the laptop coolers have a higher fin density), then you would not need the lazy temporary fix of a cooling pad.
Virtually all laptops, even the cheap $200 ones, go through a hot box test before release (usually 3+ days in a hot environment with a maximum system load. For laptops designed to not rely on throttling, they should handle their max rates operating ambient temperature, with a full CPU, GPU, RAM, and HDD load without throttling, indefinitely. (the goal is to have a system that will handle those conditions for the duration of the warranty.
This all assumes that the heatsink is not covered in dust.