Your laptop might not be very “lappable:” is it too hot?

A few weeks ago, reader – and now first-ever TechNest Weekly Report (TNWR) podcast participant – Lizette Gagne asked me to find a solution that would work to cool off her laptop.  Lizette has a last-generation MacBook Pro and (as you might have heard on the latest TNWR #4), the notebook’s temperature gets so hot that it’s unusable on the lap.  On top of that, the heat causes the notebook to perform erratically: the Mac begins to – all of a sudden – zoom in on whatever application is open.  This tends to happen when Lizette is running just a few apps.  To prevent this from happening, the geekanista has resorted to a DIY cooling method that she calls “icing” – it involves placing zip-lock bags filled with ice on the underside of the Mac, which cools the notebook enough to turn off all fans (check out the gallery below to get the full effect of Lizette’s MacBook Pro on ice).

That is a rather extreme solution to decreasing the temperature of a notebook and one that isn’t sustainable in some instances (try placing ice cubes in zip lock bags under your notebook at an office meeting and see how many “weirdo” stares you get).  Thankfully, a few companies have realized that notebook heat can be a big problem and have created a series of products that help with the issue.  The products in this market go by many names, including “notebook cooling pads” and “laptop coolers.”  The folks over at NotebookReview.com have recently posted a review of just such a product from Belkin that has effectively decreased all temperatures of the tester’s machine by at least a few degrees all around.  Hit the Read More link for the bigger picture in notebook heat.

The bigger picture

Fact: notebook sales exceed desktop sales.  This trend will continue as more and more people switch from desktop computers to the more portable notebook computers. This simply means that more people will own a laptop.  Duh!

I see a problem when thinking about the fact that some notebook owners (like Lizette) simply must use an accessory to cool off their machine.  The simple fact that a market exists for such devices brings me to the conclusion that some notebook manufacturers aren’t doing a good enough job in designing the cooling aspect of their products.  To top it all off, the market for these notebook devices doesn’t simply “exist,” but is growing quite rapidly.  It seems that every company that makes some kind of an accessory for a notebook computer has released a “laptop cooler” of some sort.

In my experience, Apple is the biggest culprit in this area: the company makes extremely sexy, slim, and visually-appealing notebook computers, but having such characteristics sometimes leads to a huge downside when it comes to the operating temperature of such devices.  In some cases, notebook computers aren’t “lappable” – a term I coined that simply means that laptops can’t be used on a lap (for the simple reason that their temperature is too darn hot to the touch).  Apple might not be the only culprit here, but in my experience, it seems to be the biggest.  I think I can speak for everybody when I ask that:

1. notebook manufacturers need to design better mechanisms for cooling their products
2. a new standard in measuring the desirability of a notebook computer should be it’s “lappability factor” (as I’ve coined it).  After all, a laptop should be able to be used on the lap (comfortably).

In retrospect, laptop heat is really getting to be an issue that will need to be addressed sooner rather than later.  Some use their notebooks on surfaces that don’t allow for very efficient or effective cooling (such as a bed sheet) that prevents a notebook from being cooled properly.  In those cases, education is the best solution.  It’s like driving your Lexus into a lake: people know better and don’t do it.  But for those rare instances that notebooks overheat on normal surfaces (such as tables), notebook manufacturers need to up the (cooling) game.

Anyone with me?  Let me know in the comments.  I promise to respond to every single one.

Posted in Apple, Notebooks, PC vendors