Do you need a Laptop Cooling Pad?

Most have also seen the viral videos circulating that show laptops exploding and completely melting down to a pile of twisted metal and plastic because they were not properly cooled. These dramatic images are usually followed by the advice to the viewer to use a cooling pad to prevent this fate from happening to them. Everyone knows about the laptop cooling devices that are on the market. They go by many different names such as notebook coolers, cooler pads, cooling pads / stands, and so on. They all are supposed to do basically the same premise, which is to reduce the operating temperature of your computer to a safe threshold preventing damage. The main question is however, do you really need an external cooling device for you portable computers or are these just functionally accessories, but not necessities.

1. What do they do and how do they work?

As started before, cooling pads perform the function of lowering the temperature of your laptop computer by creating airflow beneath the laptop where the vents are located. The created airflow is supposed to push more air through the intake vents and out the exhaust areas. This is achieved by the use of electrically powered fans built into the pad’s surface itself.

2. Is using one necessary?

This is a difficult question to answer, but I will attempt. First let’s look at the results from the testing I performed.

Location

Hard Drive Temp.

System Temp.

CPU Core Temp.

On regular desk surface

56^o C

40 - 45 ^o C

64 ^o C

On bed (idle)

55 ^o C

55 - 60 ^o C

65 - 67 ^o C

On bed (working)

55 ^o C

55 - 61 ^o C

68 - 69 ^o C

With Cooling pad (idle)

53 ^o C

55 - 60 ^o C

58 ^o C

With Cooling pad (working)

54 ^o C

55 - 60 ^o C

59 - 60 ^o C

On top of lap

56 ^o C

41 - 44 ^o C

63 ^o C

From the data above, we see that there is no significant temperature difference from regular usage on various surfaces. However, I do want to point out that prolonged usage of a laptop that is sitting on a bed could result in overheating. The thing most don’t realize is that coolers simply increase airflow below the machine near the intake vents and cool this area. Most of this cooling never actually reaches the internal components of the machine to be effective.

3. My conclusion

My thoughts on the matter are as follows. If you are using your laptop for gaming or intensive applications where it would continually running non-stop for hours at a time at full performance then the drop in temperature offered by the cooling pad would be of benefit. However, if you are an average user who is not demanding a constantly high level of performance from your machine, then you don’t need to buy into the propaganda that you laptop will overheat and blow up in your face if you use it without external cooling. What is important to note is that all computers have active monitoring systems in place that would shut them off long before any explosive situations could even have a chance to occur.