Antec notebook cooler on 56x0 series: Conclusions

This is what I assumed would happen all along. I will stick to my little laptop raising platform that just lifts the back up to keep the flow going under the laptop for now.

The only thing I am really interested in is heatpipe tech. Specifically the Nexus. If anyone has this I'd like a full review please =)

So then just using this: http://roadtools.com/podium.html

Will do basically the same thing for me? I am not interested in having a pad that has fans on it, it just seems like something that shouldn't be required to keep your laptop cool. I'd rather keep it clean, and have some circulation under it by using a coolpad which is linked above. It also gives a better angle for me to view and type at my desk. Although I am using a KvM switch so i can use my normal keyboard and mouse so I dont have to worry about the wristgaurd getting to hot.

Amen, brother!!!

One argument for heatpipes in this scenario is that, by cooling the environment immediately outside the case, the intake fans can bring in cooler air to cool the interior of the case. Just a thought.

-Peter

OMFG it took yall that fu**** long to find this out! DAMN i was saying this in every "notebook cooler" thread too.

I have the Nexus heatpipe laptop cooler and a Targus traveller laptop cooler (elevates the laptop). I would have to agree that the heatpipes on the Nexus aren't a factor in cooling the laptop. Air circulation is the biggest cooling factor and both do that, but the Targus travel pad cost me $13 while the nexus was around $30. I do like that I can have the laptop on my lap with the Nexus and know that air will still get to the intakes while it is sitting on the Nexus. Can't do that with the smaller footprint of the Targus (knees would have to be closer together to keep it stable). On a table, both work the same.

I would say Geeky, your analysis is fairly close to the real thing though a bit short on details.

The CPU gets hot because the electric energy converts to heat energy because of resistance. If you put heat energy into a material, its temperature will increase. A hotter material will then transfer some of that heat energy via direct radiation and some via conductance to the surrounding air which will convect it away. The hotter the CPU gets, the higher the rate of transfer. Some of both the radiant energy and some the conducted energy will be absorbed by the case causing its temperature to rise which will cause it to radiate and convect to the outside air. The same process will cause some of that energy to be absorbed by the surface below the laptop and its temperature will increase, causing heat energy to flow away through the material and also to reradiate back to the case and reconduct to the air passing over it and perhaps into the cooling system. So, in theory, heat pipes in that cooler pad could help, but its effect will be minimal, given that only a very small portion of the original heat energy will reach the cooler pad for the heat pipes to conduct away. Unfortunately, the better the heat pipes worked, the less heat differential there would be to drive them. Sort of a self-limiting system.

To really work effectively, a cooler would have to take an active role, actually cooling the air going into the laptop and more so, making sure that chilled air actually is directed into the air intakes. Pushing large volumes of 5 C air into a laptop would have a very significant effect on the CPU.

Before I got into laptops, I built a chilling cabinet for my desktop (I lived in Hawaii on a point with ocean on three sides - heat, humidity and salt in quantity). I use the guts of an undercounter refrigerator. The same could be used in a cooler pad to chill the air going into the laptop. Might cost a couple hundred to assemble.

However, the big question is whether all this is even necessary. PCT reports running their machines for months on end without problem. The best things you can do are to maintain a clean environment, keep your machine clean and give your machine good access to clean cool air. If you are really concerned, do the Arctic Silver (or other such goop) treatment. These efforts, which will cost perhaps $20 tops and take an afternoon, will be much more effective than any thing else you can do other than an active pad as described above which could cost $200 or more and at least a day or two, if you are handy and have the tools. You can choose which is best.

Anybody that wants some help with an active cooler pad, send me a PM. I'd be more than happy to provide technical assistance.

wilted lettuce wilted lettuce

It really depends upon how wilted the lettuce is really. Considering that lettuce contains a lot of water even a wilted one would still contain more water than ABS plastic that our lappies are made of. So if you had a choice between wilted lettuce and ABS plastic for heat transfer characteristics, then the lettuce wins (wilted or not) over plastic. But of course the structural implications of wilted lettuce are a bit more complex. Since Marquis and Myrkat are architects they might have more input on the structural soundness of using lettuce as a constuction material. Maybe a mechanical engineer might be a better choice when discussing its use as a rigid body. Then of course we have the aesetic implications when using wilted lettuce. Would Blue backlit LED's clash with the green colour of the lettuce. How would it look when you showed it to your friends "Hi my laptop is made of thermally conductive wilted lettuce and therefore does not require a laptop cooler under it..." .

/sanity check please - he has gone off the rails again...