Notebook Buffer Laptop Pads Review

Now the Notebook Buffer Laptop pads struck me as a rather cool as seen on TV item when I first saw it because it followed the tradition of a being something that solved a specific problem and was pitched to us in a ridiculous way. Which means I loved it.

I hadn't had a lot of experience with cooling laptop pads and I certainly didn't know if this would be the best notebook cooling pad but it certainly looked intriguing. Being an As Seen On TV junkie, of course I bought one because even if it wasn't that great, I could still use one.

I've only been using laptops for a couple of years and the heat build up after use is really noticeable but I never saw it as much of a problem until recently. I have a desk at work and when I leave for the day there's a nice warm spot where my laptop was but it hasn't been an issue.

I tried a laptop pads for awhile but one of the fans broke and it slid around a bit, which annoyed me. But, a warm spot on the desk didn't bother me. What has changed and made me think more about the subject was my sudden addiction to Hulu.

I've developed a horrible habit of watching Hulu on my laptop when I go to sleep and end up dozing off my laptop right on top of my stomach. I usually wake up after a couple of hours due to the heat build up and I know it's not good for me or my computer.

I thought of getting another traditional laptop pad but I hadn't seen anything that looked like it would be actually comfortable on my "lap". Well, until I saw the stupid Notebook Buffer Commercial.

The notebook buffer looked ok but this As Seen on TV commercial is an instant classic because of the new catch phrase "My Legs are so Hot". Nice thinking whoever came up with that one. Let's watch the Notebook Buffer Commercial, have a laugh and then talk more about this silly thing.

Ok, now that we've seen the commercial let's actually talk about the product itself. Whether its the best laptop cooling pad, I can't be sure because I haven't tried all of them and don't plan it.

Here's what I like about it. When the notebook buffer arrives the first thing you notice is that it's so slight you immediately feel ripped off. But it's actually pretty cool. (pardon the pun) There are no fans like most other popular cooling pads and you can smoosh this up without hurting it. It's completely portable. You can roll it up and put it in your backpack's water bottle holder or if there is room in your carrying case, you can wrap it around your laptop to help protect against shock from bumps. I really didn't expect it to be as light and functional as it said in the commercial.

So now let's down to the nitty gritty. I've used this thing and it solves my problem. It does a good job of dispersing the heat created by my laptop. Supposedly if you lay your notebook on a flat surface there is barely any room for the heat to disperse. The theory is that this causes your laptop to heat up and over work itself. I have no idea if this is harmful to your computer or not.

What I am sure of is that using the notebook buffer on a flat surface lifts the computer what seems to be about a half inch off the surface and allows the hot air to disperse nicely. On my lap it does the same thing but it's obviously not completely flat. I still feel the heat but it is greatly diminished with this laptop pad.

One thing I noticed which will be helpful to Mac users, is that there are no vents on the bottom of Macs so you may not think this product would benefit you. Just to be sure I checked out what the MacBook Pro user's guide had to say on the subject and look what I found.

“Do not leave the bottom of your MacBook Pro in contact with your lap or any surface of your body for extended periods. Prolonged contact with your body could cause discomfort and potentially a burn.” MacBook Pro User’s Guide, Appendix B, Page 107

Ouch! That sounds worse than what I experience with my laptop. My PC, and I'm assuming most others, do have ventilation underneath so the heat build up is common. So what I'm saying is that if you have a Mac, don't bother. If you have a PC you might consider the Notebook Buffer.

Probably the coolest thing about the Notebook Buffer laptop pads and why I'm thinking my Notebook Buffer Review is going to be a positive one is that the thing won't break. If you look the best laptop cooling pads, you will notice that they all boast about their usb powered fans. Well, those things break and are not as easily transportable as the notebook buffer which has no moving parts.

Speaking of its parts the Notebook Buffer seems to be made of some coiled up fishing line material. It's nothing special but it does the trick. It's flexible enough to smoosh around but when you press on it's surprisingly sturdy and doesn't compress hardly at all. This pretty much guarantees there's enough room to disperse the heat that builds up.

What I can't figure out is that if heat build up was bad for your PC, then why would they put vents on the bottom of the laptop? My guess is that the vents on the bottom are not actually to allow heat to escape but to suck cool air into the unit and cool laptop and allow the heat to escape from the side vents or keyboard vents we see on a lot of models.

Either way, the notebook buffer may serve to all more cool air to be sucked in, or allow the hot air to disperse if it is actually trying to escape from beneath the notebook. The fact is, no matter how it's happening, we know our laptops get pretty hot underneath and a flexible cooling pad is helpful.