Ultradock impedes cooling

I'm using my T440p in the Ultradock for the first time today and the fan is on med-high constantly, even for simple web browsing and word processing. The dock virtually blocks the main side vent with only a very narrow channel to disperse the hot exhaust. Within 20 seconds of taking the machine out of the dock, the fan drops down to low and then off, so clearly heat is not being dispersed effectively in the dock. Anyone else finding this? It might be time for tpfancontrol.

The design is similar to the old Series3 docks, but for some reason I never had the high fan issues when using that dock, perhaps because there's a larger gap between the computer and the dock.

 

Are you sure it's the dock, or is it just that when you un-dock you trigger different power settings and certain tasks shut down? That seems to be the case on my T440s which also runs the fan too much when docked, but if you look at the cpu usage, there are many processes running that don't on battery.

 

If you have discrete GPU in your T440p, it may be permanently on when docked, and it's a major heat source.

 

I noticed that too... I've thought about taking a dremel to the latch region of the dock to see if I can help it out at all...

as far as if the dgpu is always active, it's not... (or if it is, HWInfo is lying to me)

 

I would also check CPU and GPU (if any) temps

 

Ok, I can confirm that the dGpu is not active (unless it needs to be) meaning optimus is doing it's thing correctly and HWInfo does show the dgpu when it's actually in use..

(that's for the dock and non-dock)

 

one issue that might be relevant is that I'm not sure the ultrabay HDD is spinning down ever. I can leave the computer on for a few hours and walk away, for example, with no programs open. The screen goes off (as set in power settings) but two hours later the fan remains on and the ultrabay drive is instantly accessible, which suggests it never spun down and is happily generating heat.

How does one make sure the ultrabay drive does spin down after a set time on non-use?

 

Ok, today I looked at the dock more before I docked my notebook, the part that looks like it would be blocking the fan is actually already vented...

 

Can we get a picture of how it is blocking the vents. My docks only cover 1/5 of the vent. I am pretty sure on other models, it may cover half the vents but the docks also has ventilation ports on it.

 

@phamhlam,
It is clear why the T440p is more problematic in this case than the T440s: The air-vents of the T440s are more located in the middle of the right side, while the vents of the T440p are more in the corner, where the Ultradock may block them a bit:
T440p: http://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/_processed_/csm_links_a463c751dc.jpg
T440s: http://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/_processed_/csm_rechts_27816a6cee.jpg

 

It's vented, but not very well and so probably significantly reduces the airflow. The air now leaves the computer vent, has to turn 90 degrees, travel through a 1/4"-1/2" gap, then turn 90 degrees again to escape through a 3/4" gap at the back.

Yes, the T440p vent is about 90% covered by the ultradock so most of the air has to go through the crummy venting setup.

It's not a huge deal, just annoying that Lenovo's "engineers" cannot come up with a better design for something so straightforward.Or maybe it's harder than I think.

 

It is a shame they couldn't have done dual vents like the L440. It is hard to come up with a perfect dock design that has an eject button/lock and doesn't block any vital ports on the laptop

 

Of course the T440p has dual-vents: http://www.notebookcheck.com/fileadmin/_processed_/csm_heck_53330ebe8a.jpg

 

That second vent doesn't expel much air. The vast majority of the exhaust comes out of the side vent