laptop cooling - again

[sarge]

What cooling method / item do people recommend.

The laptop mat - http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/Laptops/LaptopAccessories/LaptopAccessories/NOV-LAPMAT.html

Or an actual cooling platform - http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/Laptops/LaptopAccessories/LaptopAccessories/F5L001ER.html
or
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?AKA-NBCOOL

The mat gets some good reviews on the website, whilst the platforms have not got any reviews. A few years ago i brought a platform from ebay but it never did anything.

[snakedoc]

I recommend not using them on carpet, use a desk rather than your lap and the cooling should be ok. Make sure the exhaust ports are not blocked with dust. I have seen some sucess with cooling trays but if your processor needs a new fan or heatsink needs reseating, there is not a lot you can do without taking it apart.

[sarge]

I always use a table or some kind of solid rest - i find those glass cutting boards / worktop protector from the kitchen works absolutly great. (obviously this is when i am at home. I am in the Navy and due to deploy soon, dont really want to carry one of them around with me.)

I have taken the back off regularly and cleaned out the fans. I am willing to delve in deeper and remove the heatsink and re-apply the paste if you think it might help. Does Novatech sell the paste? The laptop is a 5 year old P4 3.2Ghz so the fan is basically running continuosly(sp?) with a 128Mb graphics card. Is it relatively easy to remove / reseat the heatsinks? Should i do it on both the CPu and the GPU?

[snakedoc]

Actually stripping a laptop to that level is a total nightmare and not to be untaken lightly! I recommend taking pictures at every point you can. There can be simply dozens of screws you need to remove. Although this does depend on the laptop.

You may find you need to replace the cooling fan and reseat the heatsink. Nova do sell thermal compound and you only need a tiny amount. I personnally cannot recommend that you do this due to the above really!

[sarge]

Ok thats fine, will have to investigate if i want to do that.

What about the original question - platform or mat???

[DavidGaylard]

I have a novatech cooling mat. It undoubtedly does absorb heat and allows me to work longer before it overheats and cuts out. But recently things go so bad that I have taken to propping up the back of the laptop on a small box (or the power supply transformer) just to create an airgap - and this works better (even without the extra fan that a pukka cooling platform would provide). I can only conclude that a well designed platform would be best .....