Looking for small laptop cooling pad

NelsonGray

Estimable
Nov 25, 2015
11
0
4,570
I have a Dell XPS 13 9350, and I love everything about it other than the fact that it tends to overheat whenever I try to do anything particularly intense with it, such as gaming or emulation. I'd like to get a laptop cooling pad in order to avoid or reduce the thermal throttling that comes with high temperatures. However, nearly every review or list I've seen on the subject of ""powerful"" laptop coolers is in reference to the 17" to 19" monstrosities needed by hardcore gamers using some variations of enormous gaming laptops, not ultrabooks.

The XPS 13 is the 13.3" laptop with the smallest footprint on the market (AFAIK), so I'm looking for a laptop cooling pad that won't take up a ton of desk space (i.e: is relatively proportional to the laptop), but doesn't skimp on cooling performance.

To be clear, I want a cooling pad (that I will leave on my desk about 90% of the time) that will cool down my laptop effectively, but won't take up a lot of desk space.

For reference, the laptop's dimensions are 0.6" x 11.98" x 7.88", according to the Dell site.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834998051

It's small, but also uses small fans. I suggest a single 12cm or 14cm fan but I'm still looking and thought I should point that out.

(dB value for noise is only the noise pressure. A higher buzz can be annoying and have the same dB rating as a larger, slower fan)

I BUILT one for someone before. I used some wood, a Noctua fan (with 5V LNA) etc. worked great, looked ugly.
 

NelsonGray

Estimable
Nov 25, 2015
11
0
4,570
So far, I've only found one cooling pad that seems to even come close to my needs, and that's the Cooler Master NotePal X-Lite II (http://j.mp/29uCkRT), but that's made for 15.6" laptops, so it's still rather large (though an improvement over the ones designed for 17").

And, in my research, it seemed to me that the majority believe that Cooler Master makes the best cooling pads as far as the lower-priced, non "premium" manufacturers go.
 

NelsonGray

Estimable
Nov 25, 2015
11
0
4,570
It seems to me that the best cooling pads are those that use a single, larger fan rather than several smaller ones, as they can move the same amount of air as smaller fans while spinning slower, so they air doesn't need to move as quickly and the fan doesn't get as loud. Is that accurate?

Does anyone have any recommendations for a laptop cooling pad that uses a single large fan (say, in the 150mm range) made for 13" laptops?
 

NelsonGray

Estimable
Nov 25, 2015
11
0
4,570
I am still looking for a solution to this problem. I'm not opposed to building my own cooling pad, but I'm not well versed enough in electronics to just put one together without some kind of instructions, so if that's the recommended solution, I'll need some guidance.
 

NelsonGray

Estimable
Nov 25, 2015
11
0
4,570
Can anyone help me with this? I've been patiently waiting for help and occasionally looking for new solutions, but I'm not sure where to look for this niche kind of product.

So far, the most productive lead I've gotten is a guide on how to thermally optimize my laptop itself (Dell XPS 13 9350), by replacing the thermal paste and adding thermal pads, etc.

(I think this is the guide I referred to previously, I seem to have lost the link after I found it the first time...)
http://www.ultrabookreview.com/10395-dell-xps-13-9550-iris-540/