Alienware Laptop Ventilation

I have a rather obscure question.

How exactly does the fan/cooling system on these laptops work?

The reason I ask is because I overheated an old acer laptop a few years back. Granted it was my fault because I was watching movies while laying in bed. In other words the external portion of the fan was sealed off so it stopped cycling air.

Anyway it just shut off (kind of like just yanking the battery out of a laptop while not plugged in). I boot it up about 20 minutes later and it still functions for the most part, but it hasn't been the same since. It now heats up very quickly and the battery only lasts 15 to 20 minutes at best. I've burned out other devices (without ventilation) in a similar fashion. Most recently a kindle fire.

I've noticed my current laptop get's hot (probably not enough to melt anything but still quite hot) and don't want to risk overheating it.

As a precaution I have positioned an ice pack (not actual ice but those things in plastic containers that are used in coolers) right behind the air intake. Curiously the air even without the ice pack seems cooler than ambient air. It's quite chilly with the ice pack.

Anyway, I'm just interested in info about how the ventilation works in general so please help me out.

 

The air intake is at the bottom of Alienware laptops. The fan takes in the air and blows over the heatsinks (for the CPU and GPU) and then expels the hot air out from the rear vents.

It is important to keep the air intakes at the bottom clear so that cold air can be brought in. It is also important to keep the rear vents with enough space for the hot air to go to and not be blocked.

If you are concerned about overheating, I recommend looking into laptop coolers that typically lift the rear of the laptop to provide better ventilation for the bottom.

 

yup these laptops need the back end propped up and you shouldn't ever have a problem like that. I use cheap water bottle caps for this as it's very cheap and works just about as good as any laptop stand without the fans on.

 

In addition to the above 2 posts, if you still want to watch movies in bed, a flat laptop cooler may help you out. Look for something that's hard, has a flat surface, and is big enough for the laptop. I have a targus cooler, and it is useful for just that purpose. It enables me to sit the laptop on soft surfaces, such as the couch, without blocking airflow. Of course, I wouldn't turn on the cooling pad when on a soft surface, though.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

The ventilation system seems to actually pull air from the back of the laptop (at the hinge of the screen and the keyboard) and exhale out the bottom. I haven't taken it apart and inspected the actual fan, just felt the air blowing out. This would seem to make the most sense because the air behind the laptop would be room temperature and the air below would be warmer (especially if sitting flush on a surface).

On my desk I have it propped up by 2 text books hanging off to the left to breathe easily.

In any case, from the replies here it sounds like overheating is not a likely scenario unless the air flow is restricted or completely stopped.

The reason I ask is because the apparent temperature of air coming out. It doesn't just feel cool like holding your hand in front of a fan due to convection. It really feels significantly cooler than surrounding air. Is there a stock "laptop cooler" already installed like m11xdude mentioned?

Also, I read somewhere that it helps to remove the battery while you're plugged in. I've never tried it myself.

 

Then you aren't any good at 'feeling air' As you were told, the air is pulled from below the laptop and then 'exhaled' to the back. It works in the very same way in all AW laptops.

To keep the back of the laptop lifted, you may try something like this:

 

I always wish i was rich and could design a much better cooling for gaming laptops. The air should be taken in from almost the whole sides of the chassis (big and effective cooling). and blow it out from the back. Never from the bottom of the chassis.

 

Where would all the ports go then? To the back as well? IMO M14-18x are fine the way they are. It's not an issue at all to lift laptop's back a bit, plus that gives you a better typing angles so I'd be doing that anyway.

 

Yep. You have to think about fan design, too. You cant just move the holes. The fans have to able to pull air from there, and that's not how fans work.

Plus, you don't have to be rich to design something. You just have to be better at it than the people currently doing it.

 

With my M15x I chose the 9-cell battery, for me I believe that it elevates it enough to allow for enough air ventilation.

 

I wish there was a 12 cell battery option for the M17x that would help elevate the back off the ground. It would probably also add an hours worth of (non gaming) battery life to it.

From there you might even be able to contemplate a 15 cell battery for the m18x... (do they even make 15 cell laptop batteries?)

 

The limitation on the battery size is due t the FAA. They limit the size and power of batteries that may be carried onto airplanes.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

I wonder why that is... Guessing it has to do with batteries being able to be made into bombs or something...

 

Well. Almost all the ports are useless anyways . But still, they would fit on the side, and maybe put some on the back that arent used as much. And no i dont like the idea of putting something under the computer to lift it up because i want to have my laptop on my lap. A great air intake from both the sides and blow it out from the back as usual would be much much more efficient than having the intake on the underside.

Also it really takes lots of money to design good cooling. What i would do if i was rich, would be to build a laptop that uses its own whole chassis as passive cooling alongside with the regular fans.

 

My idea for the perfect laptop cooling system is add little flip down legs. Just like how a keyboard has those little legs that flip down to prop up the keyboard.

http://www.ideastorm.com/idea2ReadIdea?v=1344432643401&Id=087700000008ihFAAQ

You could design laptops with these feet mounted in there. When you game, you flip them down, when you pack up and put the computer in your bag, you flip them back in.

There is a company that does make something like this, its a add on for laptops, but they stick out, are big, and pretty ugly too.



Laptop Legs 2-Pack