How to Cool a Laptop

The most uncomfortable thing about a laptop is that it really isn't cool comfortable to put on your lap. The insides of your gadget may be cool, but the heat just goes to the surface. This is one of the main reasons in favor of NOT having a laptop - the cooling system can be ineffective, thus greatly reducing the overall longevity of the CPU, hard drive, motherboard and battery.

But the good thing about modern technology is that modern inconveniences (like laptops with bad cooling systems) are inevitably being tried to solve by one IT company or another.

Take, for example, the case of Intel. You can expect to have "cool" ultra-thin laptops in 2009 with Intel's intelligent solutions. Intel recently unveiled its new set of processors that uses jet engine cooling technology called laminar flow.

When it is on, a jet engine heats up to 1,000 degrees, not Fahrenheit, but Centigrade. The wall of the jet engine, however, must be kept cool at all times since it connects to the wing that contains the fuel. To keep the heat away, air flows in parallel layers at the wall.

In the case of laminar laptops, fluid flows in parallel layers. The laminar flow keeps the heat off the laptop's casing. Intel is licensing this technology to its customers. In the near future, you can expect to find thinner and thinner laptops.

Currently, laptop users have to make do with laptop fans to cool their gadgets. Not all laptop fans are created alike. Some fans draw heat down and push it out of the unit. On the other hand, some fans take advantage of heat's natural tendency to rise upward and takes the heat away from your laptop through a channel.

Some manufacturers are now hyping the concept of water-cooled laptops. While this may be cost-effective, the fact is, laptops that use a water cooling system still need a fan to cool their radiators. Water-cooled PC systems also tend to be dangerous because of the risk of leakage.

Still, the best way to cool a laptop is to open it up and clean out the dust. Over time, dust can accumulate inside your notebook. This will lead to your unit slowing down or stop working completely. You can tell if your laptop needs help with cooling when its fans get too noisy. Accumulated dust does make your laptop's fans very noisy and reduce the airflow in the unit.

But even if your laptop is dust-free, you still need to supplement its cooling with a laptop fan, and there are many of them that you can find in the market today. The cooler your laptop is, the faster it will work. And the cooler your laptop is, the longer it will live. So, go ahead and buy a secondary fan for your laptop or some other cooling system. Don't wait for laminar laptops to replace your old unit. Save yourself the money.