Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

typoon · Feb 24, 2004, 01:03 PM

Yesterday I was at CompUSA and I decided to try out one of those cooling pads with the fans. I got the one Made by Targus (yes the laptop bag people). It was a toss up between that or the Antec one. I went with the Targus one because well it was 10 dollars cheaper.

After using it for part of the day I can say that my 12" 1GHz is running MUCH cooler. The CPU temp would usually run about 119-125 degrees F (approx 50 Degrees Celcius) Right now it's running at 109.9 degrees F (43 degrees Celcius).

The targus one has 2 fans and a slot out the back to vent the hot air. It comes also with an on and off switch as well. So Far I'm very happy with it; Has anyone run any other tests with some of the other ones on the market. I'd be interested to hear about them.

amazing · Feb 24, 2004, 03:09 PM

Hey, thanks for the report!

How quiet is it?

typoon · Feb 24, 2004, 03:30 PM

Originally posted by amazing:
Hey, thanks for the report!

How quiet is it?

Let's just say that the Powerbook fan is louder. I've been working on it all day and I don't even hear the fan. If you put your ear next to it you will hear the fan but otherwise you don't hear it at all it's great. I think the highest my powerbook has been all day is 114 Degrees F. If anyone else has any experience with any others please right your experiences here.

Now to try something really taxing on it. SereneScreen. I'll report back after trying this.

mrmister · Feb 24, 2004, 03:50 PM

Cool--i was just looking at one of these at J&R, so I'd love to hear from someone who'd actually tested their noise levels.

typoon · Feb 24, 2004, 04:10 PM

Originally posted by mrmister:
Cool--i was just looking at one of these at J&R, so I'd love to hear from someone who'd actually tested their noise levels.

Yeah it's a great thing. I just ran a test using Serene Screen. My powerbook Used to Jump up to 145 degrees F almost immediately when I had it running for a couple of minutes. I just ran it for a few minutes and so far haven't gotten it up to about what the Powerbook jumps to under normal load about 125 degrees F Also I've been using it all day and the keyboard is still very cool as well as the whole top of the Powerbook. If anyone is complaining about the Heat they should definitely get one of these. So far I think the Targus one is the best value since it is about 10 dollars less then the rest. 29.99 to keep you laptop cool is definitely worth it to me.

NYGEO18 · Feb 24, 2004, 05:26 PM

I own a coolpad without fans. I decided against buying one of those usb powered ones because of the vacuum action of the fans. From what I could tell the fans draw air past the powerbook in a fashion that looks like a usb powered dust magnet. I could just picture the dust particles floating past the keyboard and being sucked right into it by the fans. I am pretty anal about my powerbooks cleanliness and a keyboard packed with dust wasnt appealing.
Do you owners find it to increase the dust on and in your computer?
G

crouchingtiger · Feb 24, 2004, 05:38 PM

dude, you've got to let go a little bit... (and no, I have not noticed an increase in dust after using a fan-powered cooling pad)

Originally posted by NYGEO18:
I own a coolpad without fans. I decided against buying one of those usb powered ones because of the vacuum action of the fans. From what I could tell the fans draw air past the powerbook in a fashion that looks like a usb powered dust magnet. I could just picture the dust particles floating past the keyboard and being sucked right into it by the fans. I am pretty anal about my powerbooks cleanliness and a keyboard packed with dust wasnt appealing.
Do you owners find it to increase the dust on and in your computer?
G

chu-ka-pi · Feb 24, 2004, 06:31 PM

> NYGEO18 wrote:
>
> I am pretty anal about my powerbooks
> cleanliness and a keyboard packed with dust
> wasnt appealing

Thank you NYGEO! I thought I was the only one to be obsessed with my computer's cleanliness! Actually I wash my hands before each use of the computer and er... I know I should not say this but... I kept the little plastic bag that shipped with the unit and... put it on the Powerbook when not in use... (and I do the same with my laser printer) How bad is that? Should I pay a call to a shrink? :-)

Wow, no wonder i don't have a girlfriend! :-)

Cheers,

CKP

bmhome1 · Feb 24, 2004, 10:33 PM

That cooler pad actually has three fans (count them) and is a generic rebranded as Targus. The generic version is widely available on eBay for $6.00 plus shipping.

CyberGeorge · Feb 25, 2004, 02:09 AM

Here's what I did: I got two fans out of two old power supplies (from some 7100's I had stocked). I put one on top of the CPU and one on top of the video card heat sink (I have a Ti). I spin them so that air flows away from the computer using a 12 VDC adapter and use an external keyboard and mouse of course. Obvisouly, it's ugly and not protable and you need an external keyboard and mouse, but I had all those and when I'm working on music or videos and the CPU gets hot, I'm not mobile anyway. But let me tell you: These things suck the hell out of the heat off of my laptop. The computer fans never come on and my CPU is rendering at 100% for about 8 hours 80% of the time. Now, this is not an option with the Al that I'm getting, so I'll try the Targus fans I guess. Oh, and as for dust, I have one of those quadra ionizer air purifier whatevers from sharper image. They are damn expensive but work really well with dust.

typoon · Feb 25, 2004, 11:42 AM

So far there is no dust build up. Then agin I've only used to for 2 days. I'll report back on the longer term and let people know about dust build up. You can easily blow off the dust from the fans since they are relatively accessible

CyberGeorge · Feb 25, 2004, 12:12 PM

Originally posted by typoon:
You can easily blow off the dust from the fans since they are relatively accessible

I think he's talking about dust on the keyboard. Which is also fairly easily blown off with a high presure air compressor. I don't like the one use bottles too much.

bmhome1 · Feb 26, 2004, 01:18 AM

The airflow from those three fans is VERY low, just a barely perceptible flow, dust accumulation around the keyboard will be zero. The fans themselves get a little dust at the grilles, but after months of run time.

Musti · Feb 26, 2004, 02:12 AM

Three things came to my mind reading this thread:

1. How I absolutely, positively hate the fan noise of my Ti PowerBook G4 867.

2. How we go into the pain of cooling our PowerBooks, when, in fact, they should've been designed to run cool in the first place.

3. And how on God's earth this Ti PowerBook 867 got the "go ahead" from Mr.Jobs, a guy who is obsessed with silent computing (remember the first ever Macs? or the Cube?)

sigh.

typoon · Feb 26, 2004, 10:55 AM

Originally posted by Musti:
Three things came to my mind reading this thread:

1. How I absolutely, positively hate the fan noise of my Ti PowerBook G4 867.

2. How we go into the pain of cooling our PowerBooks, when, in fact, they should've been designed to run cool in the first place.

3. And how on God's earth this Ti PowerBook 867 got the "go ahead" from Mr.Jobs, a guy who is obsessed with silent computing (remember the first ever Macs? or the Cube?)

sigh.

I believe all Laptops get warm especially these days as we have more powerful processors and other things that add to it. both Mac and PC laptops get pretty warm. Extra cooling is NEVER a bad thing.

CyberGeorge · Feb 26, 2004, 11:00 AM

Yeah, they all get warm all right. And they all make noise. You don't have many options for thermal management in a laptop, especially one that's 1" thin.

typoon · Feb 26, 2004, 11:17 AM

I know this cooling pad from Targus works reallyu well. I had my laptop on without the Fans spinning on the cooling pad and it went right up to 120 degrees F, where it normally is. I turned on the cooling pad it the temp dropped 6-7 degrees already.

stevek · Feb 26, 2004, 02:02 PM

Great post. I too, am quite annoyed when my Powerbook G4 800's fan decides it needs to come on. It's always got this buzzing sound to it, which completely drives me nuts or turn up music to drown it out. I think after hearing this short review of the Targus cooling pad I'll look into picking one up.

To the poster who said the Targus is just a rebranded generic cooling pad commonly sold on eBay... you think something like this would work with a powerbook? Seems like a good enough deal.

typoon · Feb 26, 2004, 03:33 PM

Originally posted by stevek:
Great post. I too, am quite annoyed when my Powerbook G4 800's fan decides it needs to come on. It's always got this buzzing sound to it, which completely drives me nuts or turn up music to drown it out. I think after hearing this short review of the Targus cooling pad I'll look into picking one up.

To the poster who said the Targus is just a rebranded generic cooling pad commonly sold on eBay... you think something like this would work with a powerbook? Seems like a good enough deal.

It is similar to the Targus one. It should work just fine as well. the Targus pad only has 2 fans but they seem more than enough to cool my system enough. the one on ebay seems to work the same way.

bmhome1 · Feb 26, 2004, 11:26 PM

I have BOTH the three fan (really, it has three, not two) generic and the four fan Titan.

Its a toss up which is better, performance is about equal, the three fan base is quite a bit thinner and just as effective.

The variable speed feature isn't useful, the fans need full speed to work and noise isn't any different (very little on either device).

You can't beat the price/value on the three fan base at $6.00.

CyberGeorge · Feb 26, 2004, 11:33 PM

Can someone post a link on that generic $6.00? I can't find it on ebay. I found this instead:

3463184086 (this is the item number on ebay). It's a completed auction and I'm the winner. For $5 I thought I'd try it. I like the tilt feature, too, but it looks kinds ugly. Oh well, we'll see how it works when it gets here.

By the way, does anyone have one of these?

bmhome1 · Feb 27, 2004, 01:23 AM

Hmm. The 3 fan base is usually offered under "notebook cooler," the four fan version is $14 here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=31534

Same as Titan, basic black version.

More three fan versions will surely come up again.

[APi]TheMan · Feb 27, 2004, 01:11 PM

I have an Antec "active" laptop cooler with two ball-bearing fans. It's not SILENT, but man, it's a lot quieter than my Pismo's fan. It uses the USB passthrough dealie to give power to the fans and still let you use that USB port. I paid $39 online for it last September and I've been happy with it. Whenever I'm crunching folding@home units and I hear the built-in fan activate and I turn the Antec on and within a minute or two the built-in fan turns off.

I'd recommend the Antec; it's sexy.

dukefrisbee · Feb 27, 2004, 02:08 PM

What am I missing here? I use my PB all day at work and have it on a coolpad - as much for the position as the cooling. With it on the stand, I virtually never hear the fan run and the bottom is only slightly warm to the touch. Unless you're plugged into a/c all day, wouldn't running these multi-fan solutions run the battery down much faster than the internal one? Is it simply a noise issue? I don't think any of the Powerbooks I've heard are that loud with the fan running..I'm not sure I understand?!?!

CyberGeorge · Feb 27, 2004, 02:13 PM

Originally posted by dukefrisbee:
What am I missing here? I use my PB all day at work and have it on a coolpad - as much for the position as the cooling. With it on the stand, I virtually never hear the fan run and the bottom is only slightly warm to the touch. Unless you're plugged into a/c all day, wouldn't running these multi-fan solutions run the battery down much faster than the internal one? Is it simply a noise issue? I don't think any of the Powerbooks I've heard are that loud with the fan running..I'm not sure I understand?!?!

duke, what kind of programs do you run on it? It depend on CPU load how hot it'll get. The fan is not that loud, but it's pretty loud. On my Ti it has two speeds. I can easily raise the temperature to the point the fan comes on. And yes the external fans do consume power of course. And yes, I'm plugged in all day. To me it's not just a noise issue. I don't really care about the noise. My other computer fans make a lot more noise to cover that. But I don't want my CPU getting that hot all the time, especially when the laptop sits on my lap.

dukefrisbee · Feb 27, 2004, 02:39 PM

Originally posted by CyberGeorge:
duke, what kind of programs do you run on it? It depend on CPU load how hot it'll get. The fan is not that loud, but it's pretty loud. On my Ti it has two speeds. I can easily raise the temperature to the point the fan comes on. And yes the external fans do consume power of course. And yes, I'm plugged in all day. To me it's not just a noise issue. I don't really care about the noise. My other computer fans make a lot more noise to cover that. But I don't want my CPU getting that hot all the time, especially when the laptop sits on my lap.

I run mostly information services so there may not be the CPU demands that you have. I wasn't arguing the reason for it, I was more curious about why you would need a powered solution that would use battery power and possibly make more noise. I get it now.

and I hear ya regarding sitting on you lap!!! You definately notice the heat after a short while!!!

legacyb4 · Feb 27, 2004, 04:45 PM

Found another alternative:

Koolsink

Pricier, but neat...

fizzlemynizzle · Feb 27, 2004, 04:56 PM

I was wondering what the driver for buying these cooling devices is.. Has anyone actually had their book lock up on them or otherwise end up damaged from excessive heat? I ask because I run games like Wolfenstein at 1024x768 max detail for a couple of hours at a time and have yet to have my book lock up. Yes it gets warm and yes the fan's running constantly, but there's never been an issue with lockups or crashes..

nobitacu · Feb 28, 2004, 10:20 AM

I like my Powerbook without the dust as well... no cooling fan on the pad for me.

Ming

typoon · Feb 28, 2004, 10:33 AM

Originally posted by nobitacu:
I like my Powerbook without the dust as well... no cooling fan on the pad for me.

Ming

No dust, I wouldn't worry too much about that. The reason I bought the cooling pad is 2 fold.

1. I'm a gadget geek and I love gadgets.
2. While I'm sure the heat rating on the Powerbooks is high enough not to cause the system to lock up It never hurts to have a cooler machine. much like a desktop, the cooler machine the longer the components last longer.

Also I kind of posted this so that those complaining about heat with their rev A 12" powerbooks complaining about heat know that there is an option out there for them to keep there machine cool. While Apple probably should have done a better job on the heat with those machines, I'm kind of tired of hearing the complaints about heat. now they CAN do something about it.

CyberGeorge · Feb 28, 2004, 10:45 AM

Originally posted by fizzlemynizzle:
I was wondering what the driver for buying these cooling devices is.. Has anyone actually had their book lock up on them or otherwise end up damaged from excessive heat? I ask because I run games like Wolfenstein at 1024x768 max detail for a couple of hours at a time and have yet to have my book lock up. Yes it gets warm and yes the fan's running constantly, but there's never been an issue with lockups or crashes..

As I already said in a post above: It burns my laps and whatever is between them. Also I like the tilt, the top part of the keyboard doesn't burn, and I'm not so sure the internal fans can do their job well, if the vents are blocked by clothes and blankets when writing software in bed. I also had a few lockups but I think they were more memory problems than heat. I'm pretty sure the components lat longer if they are cooler, but I can't prove that.