Notebook Cooling Pad

Over the last decade notebook computers have been fast becoming more and more powerful. Unfortunately the technology that cools these regularly overheating notebooks has been stagnant since the first notebooks were released. Fortunately a notebook cooling pad can help reduce overheating notebook issues, and help provide a faster, more reliable, error free, notebook experience.

Using a notebook cooling pad might help you fight off the problems caused by overheating, but how do you choose the perfect notebook cooler for your needs, and how do you know if a certain type of laptop cooling pad will be powerful enough, and what if you want a quiet notebook cooler?

To find the perfect notebook cooling pad you have to look at the different types of notebook coolers out there. Some of these are not technically notebook cooling pads, but rather fan based notebook coolers. I will however be including them in this article so you can choose the best solution for your notebook cooling needs.

Notebook Cooling Pads

• Gel Filled (ie Thermaltake iXoft)
• Metal (ie Xpad Slim)

Gel or Crystal filled notebook cooling pads tend to have a heat absorbent compound in the inside. This provides basic notebook cooling for around 4 hours, after which it becomes next to useless.

Metal notebook cooling pads on the other hand provide consistent cooling for the entire duration your notebook is switched on, however they are not really very effective, and simply allow a more efficient airflow to your notebook's fans.

Fan Based Notebook Coolers

• Quiet Notebook Coolers
• Powerful Notebook Coolers
• Business Notebook Coolers

Each one of these notebook cooler types has a fairly similar design, however tehre are some key differences which are important to your buying decision.

Gel and crystal notebook cooling pads are a simple and perfect solution for people who use fairly basic notebooks, for fairly standard tasks. If you like to sit in the chair with your notebook computer on your lap, then a gel notebook cooling pad can give you a comfortable notebook rest, as well as a laptop cooling pad.

Heat absorbent notebook cooling pads are simply perfect for those of us who just use our notebooks for an hour or two at a time, and only have mild overheating notebook issues.

A metal notebook cooling pad helps to absorb and dissipate heat, rather than just absorb it from your overheating notebook. While the cooling capability of a fanless notebook cooler is mild, it is consistent. This makes a metal notebook cooling pad ideal for anyone who has slight overheating notebook issues, and works on their notebook for long periods at a time.

Most metal notebook cooling pads can be comfortably rested on your lap, and allow for greater airflow to your notebook fans.

If you use your notebook for work then extra noise is simply something that you do not want. A quiet notebook cooler such as the Zalman NC2000 can keep your notebook cool even under load, without making more than a whisper fo a sound. Quiet notebooks might not always be completely silent, but you can hardly tell the difference, and they are much more effective than fanless notebook coolers.

This makes a quiet notebook cooler perfect for anyone who has an overheating notebook, but doesn't want the extra noise. Quiet notebook coolers tend to be more expensive than generic notebook coolers, but the difference is notable, and a quiet notebook cooler will last for years, generally longer than a notebook cooling pad.

If you have a high powered notebook, whether it is a gaming notebook or otherwise, you will definitely have noticed the heat coming from your notebook computer. This can damage your notebook's internal components, and you do need a powerful notebook cooler to offset this heat.

Powerful laptop coolers such as the NZXT Cryo LX provide a huge amount of notebook cooling power. This is enough to keep even the most powerful notebook cool, even under high loads. The downside of this is of course noise, if you need to crank a powerful notebook cooler up to full speed, you will be able to hear it.

Business notebook coolers are a great way to protect your companies tech investment, and reduce maintenance costs. These are usually not the quietest or the most powerful of notebook coolers, the only real specification is that they look good.

Business notebook coolers carry a certain style, while providing a little extra cooling. Since business notebooks are generally fairly low spec, then only need a little cooling in any case.

I have given you plenty of styles of notebook cooling pads here, and you might want to check out my Top Ten Notebook Coolers to see some more options. Whichever notebook cooling pad or notebook cooler you decide to buy, you can feel safe in the knowledge that you have made a sound investment which has made your notebook more reliable, and your data a little more safe.