Laptop Coolers
 

My laptop has started to have overheating problems. The thing just cannot get cool with the fans built into the system. I've come up with a makeshift system of balancing the computer on stacks of poker chips with a regular house fan blowing across my desk, but that solution isn't very elegant and I'm looking for something specifically designed to deal with the problem.

I've been checking out several on newegg, but since I've never been in the market and don't know anyone in the market, I'm not totally sure what I'm supposed to be looking for. If anyone has any advice on models or features that are musts or are busts, please let me know. I'd very much appreciate it.

Clean the fans and filters in the laptop. Turn it off, flip it over, and inspect the fans and vents, see if you can clean them. if you are going to use compressed air, make sure you jam the fans with a toothpick, if they spin to fast from the compresses air, it can burn out the mother board (they turn into generators basically). If that does not help, look online for the instructions on how to open your laptop and do a thorough job at cleaning it. No matter how much extra air you get going through it, if it’s clogged with dust, it won’t matter

I've had this Targus Chill Mat and it worked sufficiently enough but I'd definetly be sure to go through with Dilberts advice.

How old is it? Fans will eventually die. If you notice evil imbalance or struggling noises it may be that time.

That's another reason to be careful spinning up the fan with compressed air. It's okay to do it briefly, with bursts to get out the dust, but you can easily spin them beyond spec and shorten their life.

As for feet, I use self-stick rubber feet from hardware stores. It sounds like yours may be beyond that stage though.

I've used a cheap laptop cooler stand and it makes a big difference. It was like 20 bucks on sale at CompUSA. Right away I noticed that the laptop fans didn't kick on very often and the wrist rest that holds the battery was much cooler.
My laptop has a fan on the right side next to where my mouse is. Before using the cooler it was hot on my hand, after using the cooler I never felt hot air off the fan.

I built one from some offcuts of timber and so forth, and it's very effective.

When my laptop was over heating I ended up taking it apart, because the fans looked fine from the outside... It turned out the the Side of the CPU heat sink had a nice accumulation of dust... It was better once I cleaned that out... But I decided to get a cooling pad just to be on the safe side. (I bought a Dekcell cooling pad. It's aluminum and has 3 fans... It works well and was under $20 bucks.. :)