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cooling pad for macbook pro

My friend, Cooling pads do not work, they're just a waste of money, no matter how many fans it has, It won't change even 1° of your temperature, i bought a Three Fan one that looked like a Super Turbo thing and i even think it got hotter, i can't say they don't work at all, but not on macbooks, some older laptops have vents and fans on the lower side of the computer so a cooling pad could blow some air in it, but the macbook is a flat thing, you can even change the direction to the air because macbooks blow out air from the hinge too

One thing they do is offer you a flat surface if you are in bed or something so they can breath a bit, but even a 1$ Tray does that and even better since it can't fall off it so easily
 
My experience differs considerably from yours, but hey, YMMV and all that.
 
tekchic said:
I use a small, no-fan, no power raised laptop pad made by Targus. All it really is is a thin swivel base of two pieces of plastic with rubber feet on the top back part to raise the back of the laptop just a little for airflow. Makes me feel a little better when I plop my MBP on the couch.
Click to expand...

This is the one I have. I love the thing. I only use it on the desk. One thing I've found is that you need to not use it when burning or reading CD/DVDs, so the drive won't be at an angle. But I love being able to swivel the machine.
 
MrCheeto said:
I think the only time a chill pad makes a difference is when we have these cheap off-the-shelf Dells and Gateways where the intake is on the BOTTOM of the notebook. The most asinine of designers, they are.

Using one of these notebooks on a table top with only 2mm of clearance or on your lap with zero clearance is going to starve it of fresh air, however, placing it on a chill pad will either directly move air into the intake via the pad's fans, or create a large enough gap that the intake can actually catch a breath.

What is it with other laptops, though? I mean, any time I work on ANY notebook that isn't an Apple, it feels and sounds like a hairdryer is blowing out on your hand! With all of my Apple experience, the fans are SILENT when idle and the air moves like a whisper. And yet the Apple notebooks remain cooler, in more ways than one :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yes, a standard notebook has a fan intake on the bottom. But I removed the bottom panel of a unibody MBP, and the fan was able to do a better job. Instead of 6200RPM with temps at 190F (under full load) with a bottom panel on, I was able to get to 177F and fans at 4553 RPM. Both tests had the CP{U under full load. AND I put tape over the intake of my Dell. When its idle, temps are 90F-110F and fan is off. Underfull load its 192F with fan at 4200 RPM. Wit tape off, under full load gives you fans at 2200 RPM, and temps around 170F-180F. So if apple made a hole on the bottom, the mac would stay cooler.
 
Alvi said:
My friend, Cooling pads do not work, they're just a waste of money, no matter how many fans it has, It won't change even 1° of your temperature, i bought a Three Fan one that looked like a Super Turbo thing and i even think it got hotter, i can't say they don't work at all, but not on macbooks, some older laptops have vents and fans on the lower side of the computer so a cooling pad could blow some air in it, but the macbook is a flat thing, you can even change the direction to the air because macbooks blow out air from the hinge too

One thing they do is offer you a flat surface if you are in bed or something so they can breath a bit, but even a 1$ Tray does that and even better since it can't fall off it so easily
Click to expand...

As a mechanical engineer I have no idea how blowing air across something that is above room temperature could not lower the temperature even 1 degree. just physically does not make any sense unless there's something else going on, like the fans adding heat to the unit.
 
I was riding in the courtesy limo from my hotel in NewYork to the airport. A guy sitting across from me had an Xpad. It's only 0.5" thick, super light and best of all it has a thin grippy rubber bottom that keeps your laptop from sliding on your legs. It's so good in fact that you can balance your laptop on just one leg if you like. Being well made and inexpensive, I didn't buy mine to cool the laptop, but rather to make it more comfortable to use in my lap. Since MBP's are so thin, this base fits in with my laptop in the padded sleeve of my briefcase with room to spare. It's traveled all over the globe with me.

http://www.xpad4laptop.com/index.html
 
When I play STO, I sit at my breakfast island. Since our countertops are granite, they are cool to the touch. My fans don't even kick on when sitting there, heat is dispersed very well by these counters.
 
I use an ancient Targus Traveler Coolpad I've had for about ten years. It's just two pieces of plastic with a screw underneath to let it swivel if you want to turn your laptop during a presentation. It has two "nubs" like footpads in the back part of the pad to elevate the MBP about 1/2 an inch and the front footpads are much lower.

The only thing I use mine for is to give it a little more airflow in the back when I'm working in bed or on a desk. Not sure how much it drops the temperature, but I can be coding in XCode and Interface Builder and not top 60C. (Maybe my code is not so taxing on the MBP, haha) :)
 
I'm using a passive cooler to lift the machine a bit, it's a MacAlley i"something" pretty much the same effect as an iCurve, but a bit more customizable.

IT does help a bit and it elevates the machine from desk to work better with external screen and I can safely drink coffe without being afraid of spilling on my machine!
 
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