ThermaPAK

I use one of these with my MacBook Pro. They work great - no heat transfer through the pad. They are a bit thicker and heavier than you expect. The material inside is kind of "crunchy" and stiff when it is cool. and then it softens when it heats up.

I wouldn't want to carry one in my laptop bag, but for home use, I just keep it under my MPB all the time, and it works great.

 

Seriously? This seems like a lot of bother for the amount of heat these machines put out...

 

I don't think you need two. Even when it heats it doesn't go through the pad. I can use my MPB all day long, and it still doesn't heat up my legs much at all...

 

do external coolers actually have any effect on internal components? I kind of doubt they would unless the chassis of the macbook is acting as a heatsink by making direct connection with the components. can anyone confirm?

 

2011 MBA runs cool, product not needed.

 

False. No it doesn't. Try YouTube, and if your '11 MBA doesn't heat up to 170-180F, then you either don't have a MBA or have a counterfeit one.

 

Or use the metric system In all fairness...if the machine heats up to that temperature you have a problem with the individual machine, with Flash, your webbrowser, some kind of setting, etc.

 

I notice that when I'm watching flash videos or playing games my processor heats up to 180 but amazingly my legs don't have 3rd degree burns! In fact, they don't even have 1st or 2nd degree burns! That is because the aluminum case gets warm (even a little hot) but it is well within what I would expect from any laptop. The only area that gets hot to the touch even with the processor at 100% is the area above the esc key, and I try not to rest my hand there. While the laptop gets warm to the touch it is never uncomfortable to hold, unless you have a really low tolerance for heat or something.

If you want a cooling pad for comfort go for it, but it isn't "necessary" to the operation of the laptop and you won't do any damage by having the laptop on your lap or in a case while it is running. Heck, my Android phone gets a lot hotter than my MBA and it only has a 500MHz processor!

 

When i watch youtube vids it shoots up to 180F and fans kick in, so i'd like to reduce the fanspeed....

By how many degrees can i expect the ThermaPAK to bring the temp down by for a MBA?