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. Read more »
Posted in Apple, Notebooks, PC vendors