cooling pad or external fan? Vent only on side of laptop

[boreanfrog]

My daughter has a laptop that has a fan on the side, but there are no vents or openings anywhere else. I have never seen a laptop like this before. I am seeing external cooling fans online that hook to the side of the computer and am wondering if this is what she needs. It seems like a cooling pad wouldn't work for this type of laptop.

 

[gedwards913]

I prefer cooling pads as it is less bulky and easier to manipulate, especially when you are using it on your lap. The external fans were a great idea when I saw them and I snagged a few different ones. Most of them didn't have solid hooks and bent easily while one actually started to magnetize my case!!! I couldn't make this up lol. I had a high end HP with all metal chasis on a laptop, and I dropped a paperclip near the vent area on the side, stuck right to the case. After process of elimination, it was the fan that did this.

The concepts between the two are different as well. The laptop cooler that sits underneath blows cool air in, which is great for adding extra cooling power. The clip on fan (or the ones that I have seen) are setup as pull, to exhaust warm air out. The laptop cooler should be more effective. On top of effectiveness, with larger diameter of a fan, they can run slower and quieter than the little noise boxes hooked on.

I hope I'm not too biased in this, but the underneath laptop cooler has way more pros than those external fans. Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[1shado1]

My daughter has a laptop that has a fan on the side, but there are no vents or openings anywhere else. I have never seen a laptop like this before. I am seeing external cooling fans online that hook to the side of the computer and am wondering if this is what she needs. It seems like a cooling pad wouldn't work for this type of laptop.

Just curious. What exact laptop does she have? There are a few that hide the air intake vents in weird places, such as directly under the display, so you can't see them.

 

[boreanfrog]

I prefer cooling pads as it is less bulky and easier to manipulate, especially when you are using it on your lap. The external fans were a great idea when I saw them and I snagged a few different ones. Most of them didn't have solid hooks and bent easily while one actually started to magnetize my case!!! I couldn't make this up lol. I had a high end HP with all metal chasis on a laptop, and I dropped a paperclip near the vent area on the side, stuck right to the case. After process of elimination, it was the fan that did this.

The concepts between the two are different as well. The laptop cooler that sits underneath blows cool air in, which is great for adding extra cooling power. The clip on fan (or the ones that I have seen) are setup as pull, to exhaust warm air out. The laptop cooler should be more effective. On top of effectiveness, with larger diameter of a fan, they can run slower and quieter than the little noise boxes hooked on.


I hope I'm not too biased in this, but the underneath laptop cooler has way more pros than those external fans. Let me know if you have any questions!

thank you for sharing your experience with the external side fan. This info is really good to know and I am thinking twice about it now. Especially the crazy incident with your case becoming magnetized. The problem is that her computer does not have any vents underneath and buying a cooling pad may not do anything. I am perplexed by this.

 

[boreanfrog]

Just curious. What exact laptop does she have? There are a few that hide the air intake vents in weird places, such as directly under the display, so you can't see them.

I wonder if this is the deal with her computer then. I will check this out today ty. I don't know what her computer is,but I will post as soon as I find out.