Are cooling pads useful
On the topic of cooling pads…
Do they help? sort of. Are they worth it? Not particularly since they do not supply enough air in terms of CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute), which needs to be greater than that of the laptop fans, usually CFM of minimum 70 is needed to provide any kind of improvement in cooling, but most of the coolers nowadays attribute only 35-55 CFM.
How does cooling work?
Cooling works by mixing hot air with cold air. Heat is transferred from CPU and GPU, via heat sinks, towards the internal fans. Those push cooler, room temperature air through the heat sink, where the heat mixes, and achieves the cooling effect.
How can cooling be improved?
Make sure the intakes for the internal fans are unobstructed, as well as the exhausts. In case of any laptop, slightly raising the back side of the laptop can lower the internal temperature by several degrees, as well as lower the fan noise.
So why don’t cooling pads help?
Cooling pads, in general, blow room temperature air, at the bottom plastic of the laptop, which isn’t that much hotter than the room temperature (it can’t be, due to safety standards and tends to be decently isolated from the hot components). Cooling pad can bring down the heat somehow, but it is achieved also partially by ensuring the previous point - that the laptop is elevated and the intakes have enough room for air to reach the fans in high enough volume.
But won’t cooling pad mean the internal fans have to work less?
In some cases, blowing cooler room temperature air on the intakes can ease the workload on the internal fans. The issue is, that the point of the cooling stand is to cool down the laptop, so the temperature and noise get lower. Usually, the overall noise gets just as loud due to the added fans, and temperature drops by few degrees at most. In the end, usually not worth it at all.
What is the general recommendation?
A good laptop stand, that raises the laptop to your eye level, while also promoting better airflow. Cooling pad might be worth it, if you intend to use the laptop on bed and just need a flat surface to place it on. If there is a real need to ghet a cooling pad, make sure the cooling pad has a CFM rating of at least 70, only then it would be able to cool the laptop.
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