Cooling my laptop

Is it wrong to hold up my laptop bottom side facing an air conditioner? I hate it when it heats up cause i would feel hot too and it gets irritating, so i either hold it up against the AC or the fan. Is that ok or does it cause any damage to the notebook?

 

If it causes a rapid cooling, like for example, you're notebook being really hot, then is near that AC blowing extremely cold air against it.. It'll likely cause some physical issues.

Wash a glass with really cold water, then once it's really cool, put hot water in it, it'll crack. This applies to computers to. That's why when using compressed air, shoot in bursts not just holding it down it will crack things.

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but if you're distant and not doing what I think you are (holding the laptop right up to the AC) then no harm should come.. lol

 

Honestly, yes, i held up the laptop right infront of the AC. Fortunately nothing happened to it. Thanks for telling me!

 

And yeah i thought about the glass thing, but didn't know it applies to laptops as well.

 

not to the casing, but to the like, motherboard for example yes. I never will forget the day I cleaned my desktops mobo with compressed air; held down the thing full blast and my chipset on the mobo literally shattered like glass...

I almost wanted to cry.. the friggin mobo with 330 bucks.. lol

Live and Learn I guess.. just wish the lesson wasn't so harsh..

 

I ruined a notebook one hot summer when I was using it in a room that was near a 100 degrees and took it into an air conditioned room, about 60 degrees and turned on the notebook before letting it get use to the temp change... so yes, it could happen.

I use a base that lifts the back of the notebook and a small fan blowing fron the side under it and it stays cool to the touch. This is a $6 Wal Mart fan.

 

^I don't know if i wana carry that thing around everywhere with me, kind of a hassle, i think?

 

Make sure you take a look at the cooling guide if you havent already-it has some helpful information.

 

WHy don't you just buy a cooling pad?

 

A couple things you can do to help cool your notebook:

-Get a laptop chill pad. There are a lot available, just search the internet.
-For the CPU, you can replace the stock Thermal paste with Arctic Silver 5.
-For the CPU, you can undervolt it so it produces less heat.
-Search the forums and you will find many people posting on how to undervolt.

 

A couple years ago, a techie at a local computer repair store told me NOT to use the cooling pad with the usb power, but use ac power. The Techie claimed it put too much stress on the notebook and would eventual crash it. I can't remember the specifics of what he said would quit working.

Any truth to this?

 

Putting too much stress by drawing what? A watt? That's like saying your laptop will crash because you use a wired mouse.

 

Poor comparison

Think about it... a mouse takes very little power, but running two fans would be altogether a different load.

 

Dude, use some logic on this one. A laptop can power a CPU, GPU, Mobo, Internal Fans, DVD Drive, Screen, Webcam, Touchpad, Wifi, Bluetooth, all sorts of LEDs, and the keyboard - all at the same time. Don't always believe the techies at your local computer store.

 

That was exactly what the techie said now that you jolted my memory... because the notebook is already powering a CPU, GPU, Mobo, Internal Fans, DVD Drive, Screen, Webcam, Touchpad, Wifi, Bluetooth, all sorts of LEDs, and the keyboard - all at the same time.... powering two fans constantly over time place too much stress on the notebook.

Now... I hope your right as I WAS going to buy a cooling pad that had ac power as well as usb.

 

Well, the techie is wrong. The max output of a USB port is 500 mA, a drop in the bucket for a laptop. A computer isn't like a human. They don't get fatigued over time. They either can perform, or can't. 1's and 0's, black and white.

 

I agree with Lithus on this. Simply drawing out a little more power will not harm a computer.

 

Could have been a Toshiba problem too as he was talking about Toshiba and I had one at the time.

The guy is no longer in buisneess so maybe he didn't know what he was talking about either....

 

Here is how I'm currently cooling my notebook. Without the red fan, the notebook underneath and by keyboard is quite hot... with fan it is cool to the touch. I have an elevation pad, plus the 12 cell battery to elevate it even more, then the fan blows over/under it. Works good for me. I may get a cooling pad that I can take with me in the notebook backpack.

 

Cooling pad seems to work fine for me so far. Im running my phone charger, Keyboard, MS blue light mouse, external HDD and a USB flash drive off my HP quickdock. Looks awesome aswell as everything just lights up in blue

I have a pretty good setup for cooling as the cooling pad cools my AC power brick and External HDD because it sits below the pads fans

 

The problem was (is?) in regard to whether the circuitry could really handle the rated power amount under constant use and whether the USB device really draws and amount safely within the limit. I know on *some* older PCs, the USB circuitry really wasn't robust enough to power USB devices at the maximum rating over time. This led to motherboard failures. Hopefully motherboards today are more robustly made. Also, there were (are?) some cheap USB devices that actually drew over their stated amounts and thus exceeded the specification and caused motherboard failures (can't blame the motherboard for that though).

 

To everyone who suggested a coolpad: I rarely ever use my laptop on a desk, it's either on the couch, on my bed, my lap, or my chest (while laying down). Is that ok?

 

As long as it's not overheating.

 

Oh no, i meant with the cooling pad, won't it be heavy, or just not as comfortable as without?

 

If your doing that with a coolpad, it would be okay, but if you put your laptop on your bed, lap or chest... your notebook could overheat.

 

this is true, you need to make sure there is enough space behind your notebook for air to get out. and enough space for air to get into the fans.

 

The only bad possibility of putting a "hot" notebook to an air conditioner is condensation. But then again it dissappears quickly. The best way of cooling is a cool pad and setting your laptop to power saver if you're not gaming or watching videos. Balanced power is okay but it get warmer than the power saver mode.

 

I tried power saver but it sucks! Heck, without that the screen is too dark, what if i put it on power saver?! I think i'm gonna get a cooling pad. Thanks for the input everyone!

 

You can always adjust the screen independently. Yea cool pad da best.

 

That could be very well what the techie meant. It was 2-3 years ago when he told me that using a usb coolpad over time would could the notebook. I'm sure he meant well as he was't trying to sell me something, (he didn't sell coolpads). The notebooks today are so well made, I imagine there wouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for taking the time to explain... your the first to do so.