Heat Insulators for Laptops

Alex Bischoff writes "The Gadgeteer has a review of a product called LapPads from LapLogic. They're heat-insulating pads to protect you from cooking your lap when using your laptop. Depending on the model, they apparently provide up to 57 degrees (F) reduction in heat transfer. Why didn't someone think of this sooner?"

Hot indeed...

[ack154]

I'm sure this [theregister.co.uk] guy [wired.com] is really wishing this would have been made sooner...

Then again, if it were out at the time, would he have used it?

Where does the heat GO?

[YankeeInExile]

The first thing I thought on reading this headline was, Where does the heat that used to be dissipated in the user go?

It appears that there is a textured surface on the pad, one might assume to allow SOME airflow. However, the reviewer was using it wrong:

Early on I realized that I was actually testing these LapPads wrong when I visited the LapLogic web site and happened to see a picture of one of the pads in use. The bottom of the laptop is supposed to rest on the grippy surface, no the colored canvas surface.

(Of course, any hardware that uses the operator as a heat-sink is ASKING to lose.)

Effect on laptops

[Rufus88]

Has there been any investigation into the effect this has on the laptop computer itself? After all, you're keeping in the heat that the laptop was trying to dissipate.

Use a cookie sheet

[Red Snertz]

I use one of those cookie sheets with the insulating air space between two sheets of steel/aluminum/whatever. Provides a big dissipation area, the underside is warm but not roasty-toasty, and it cost about $4...

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Why not reclaim heat energy?

[scorp1us]

With a 57 deg gradient, I have to think that a pad that size should be able to reclaim some energy, a la peltier effect. With todays tech, it might not be much, maybe enough to extend battery live a minute - but it is a start.

I firmly believe that devices of the future will attempt to reclaim whatever energy they can, which would go a long way. I forsee our kids looking back and thinking how wasteful we were, we would just let heat go off into the atmosphere without converting some of it back to usable energy.

Yes, but how do they affect heat dissipation?

[bourne]

Cooler laps are well and good, but I note the reviewer didn't do any analysis of what happened to the CPU temperature when using these pads. If the heat is being redirected right back at the laptop, it may be defeating the coolant systems on the laptop.

For example, Dell Inspirons have a fan on the bottom that blows straight down. Not bad on a hard desk where the air will blow away. Not good on a bed comfortor that smothers the airflow. Where will these pads fit in on the spectrum?

I think what's needed is a pad that works to draw the heat away from both lap and laptop, maybe something like the Chillow [smarthome.com] for laptops.

Why didn't someone think of this sooner?

[F.O.Dobbs]

Possibly because we all had Apple laptops that weren't burning our laps? Seriously, my wife's Toshiba burned itself out when it failed to go to sleep properly. And laptops with fans? Why don't people just use a full size machine if they need the computing power that would require fans? You can get far with SSH and VLC.

A frustrated former hot laptop owner,
F.O. Dobbs

you want the heat to escape

[Anonymous Coward]

I was under the impression that you wanted heat to dissipate from you computer components. By blocking the heat from going down (heating your lap), you're forcing it up through the laptop or out the sides. My inspiron 8200 has a tough enough time cooling itself when Im gaming; I dont need to be restricting cooling in any fashion.

my two cents

Doesn't that defy the purpose of a LAPtop

[drgonzo59]

Obviously, there should be a better design that doesn't rely on human flesh to get rid of excess heat. If someone sues, the manufacturers will be forced to have labels on it warning people not to put their laptop on their lap or serious injury might occur, including roasted nuts and inability to reproduce.

Neoprene laptop sleeve

[AlphaHelix]

I have a Case Logic neoprene laptop sleeve [amazon.com] that protects my laptop when I throw it into my backpack, and doubles as a lap protector. The neoprene is a very good insulator, and this is much more useful than a dedicated laptop crotch protector.

Re:Doesn't that defy the purpose of a LAPtop

[Compulawyer]

Notice that some manufacturers don't call them Laptops anymore - precisely because of the heat issues. They are now called "portable computers."

They DID....it's a good idea.

[Chanc_Gorkon]

Macally has had soemthing like this for quite a while. Although I think I might get that Kona model (teh one that folds up). I do the same as Julie. Recline and compute at the same time.

Re:Use a cookie sheet

[arnie_apesacrappin]

I've used a lap-desk from K-Mart since 1998 or so. It's hard plastic on one side and is like a bean-bag chair on the other (maybe two inches of padding). My legs don't get hot and the laptop isn't noticeably warmer than if I use it on a table or desk.

Seriously, read the website before you comment

[dracol1ch]

Quoting from Laplogic:

"Traveler LapPads - 54F of Heat Protection and Cooler CPU Temperatures
Our Traveler Series LapPads are designed to keep you and your laptop cool. The Traveler Series LapPads can provide up to 54F of laptop heat protection for you while keeping your CPU cooler."

It's not that hard to dispel /.logic.

Re:Er, wait...

[RevRa]

That's exactly what I use for my Toshiba laptop. It's a p4 2.3ghz and runs so hot that it'll occasionally spontaneously power off.

When I'm at home with it on my lap, I set the laptop on a plastic tray that I "borrowed" from the cafeteria with the coolpad under it. Keeps me from burning the hell out of my legs, and keeps the computer from powering down spontaneously.

-k

Spotted on radar: Warranty disclaimer

[dcavanaugh]

Sulu: "Captain, there is a piece of paper floating in space, directly in front of our ship!"

Kirk: "What does it say? Put it on the screen."

Spock: "Use of insulating devices will interfere with your notebook's thermal design and will void your warranty."

Kirk: "Great, but what does it MEAN?"

Spock: "In Earth's 20th century, there was a software company that now makes software for the Klingons and Romulans. This ancient software consumed vast resources and even portable computers of the era generated a tremendous amount of heat. To this day, the Klingons and Romulans are trying to make their computers run cooler and stop them from being hacked by freshmen from the Federation Middle School. The existance of this paper would tend to indicate the presence of a hostile ship nearby."

Kirk: "All hands, battle stations"

make them for $1 each

[ssxxaa]

I made my lap heat shield out of a car sun blind. 1. Buy car sun blind (any gas station or car parts store. about $10). It's a folded piece of foam covered in a metalic film, the size of a windshield. 2. Cut to size. 3. Tape/glue to bottom of laptop. 4. ??? 5. profit! Usually there's no need to cover the whole bottom of the laptop, just the part that generates the most heat (use hand to find it). Haven't noticed any ill effect of the heat shield on the laptop's performance. Why don't they just build them like this? Maybe with an internal heat shield.

Re:Where does the heat GO?

[Idarubicin]

Look at aerogel (or airogel?) and you can see a blow torch not melting crayons through a small (clear!) insulating barrier.

Aerogel pics [nasa.gov] (including the crayon image).

More aerogel pics. [lbl.gov]

Cheers.

Re:Yes, Virginia, defective products exist

[American AC in Paris]

C'mon, do you really see no middle ground between "rigorous stress testing with every possible laptop for which this product could be used" and "designed by an army of Mr. Magoo clones"? Is "product quality" a binary value?

I'm not saying that products don't suffer from design flaws. I'm not saying that there are no lazy/malicious companies out there. I'm not some starry-eyed, blind-faith-in-humanity idealist. That said, I'm not some crusty, everybody-is-out-to-fuck-me-over-for-my-money kinda person, either. I like to believe that there exists some nuance to this sort of thing.

All I'm saying is that it's reasonable to assume that a design team--even a mediocre design team--would be able to envision the kind of glaringly obvious "What about X?" flotsam that gets posted on this sort of topic.

Do you honestly believe that it is more likely than not that this company developed and released this product without ever considering the internal heat levels of the laptop?

Re:Where does the heat GO?

[badasscat]

I just pull a hardback book off the shelf and use that. A half-inch thick book can absorb a fair amount of heat before it starts to get through and being a hardback, the laptop feet provide as much spacing as if it was flat on a desk.

I would honestly think the best possible solution would just be a hard, flat piece of plastic covered with some hard foam. The most important thing is not to restrict air flow from your fans, and the whole reason your laptop gets hot in your lap is that your legs are restricting that air flow. Personally, my laptop does not even get warm if it's sitting on a table with unrestricted airflow, so duplicating that surface while adding a little bit of heat absorbant material would probably be the best solution.

Reflecting heat back into the machine seems to me the worst possible solution. If I wanted something to do that I'd just put a towel or something between me and my laptop. This is not a solution to anything; all it will do is kill my laptop pretty quickly.

But you know what? This is just a general comment, but I've got a P4-M 2.4 laptop and the thing barely gets warm even with restricted airflow. People need to demand better thermal designs in their laptops. I always see people complaining about laptop heat, but it's like seeing people complaining about popups as a Firefox user - I don't even realize it's a problem until someone brings it up. Centrino laptops shouldn't really get warm at all, P4-M laptops should just barely get warm, and other Intel chips really don't belong in laptops to begin with (I don't really know anything about AMD's mobile chips, but I imagine they have similar thermal properties). It's all about the case and fan design. Devices such as the one in this article really have no reason to exist other than poor choices by the laptop manufacturer.

Just get a Cutting Board

[grangerg]

My friend got one of these things [bedbathandbeyond.com]. It just happens to be the same size as his laptop and blocks the heat rather nicely. Pretty useful for only $15.

Don't "deflect" Heat, Vent it!

[lpq]

I can't see how those pads are that much better than a Targus Chill Pad [targus.com]. It's powered off your USB port using 1W of power.

Alternatively, you could use a Radio-Shack Rechargable battery pack (couldn't find URL, but catalog no. _was_ 23-047). It's about the size of 4 cassette tapes, ~12.6oz (~350g), output voltage selectable from 3-9v output and rechargable by plugging it into a wall output or from a 12v400ma source. If you are a doit-yourselfer, buy a 4 "cell" holder and wire it in series. Radio Shack sells battery adapter extension cord and heads singlely. You could choose capacity and weight by cell size (though note, I've often seen "D" rechargable cells with same ratings as the "C" indicating they've just stuck a "C" cell in a larger container.

Externally powered, this _should_ slightly increase laptop runtime (i.e. active external cooling => less internal fan use).

It holds the laptop on rubber feet about 7mm above 2 fans sucking air from center of underside and venting out the back.

-l