I think you will find that, in most cases, the problem of no bottom air vents can be solved within a couple of minutes, as long as you've got a Phillips screwdriver. I'm sorry, but the OP is completely ignorant. Most modern laptops have vents on the bottom to help cool the computer. You should have used a title that would actually correspond with what you're talking about. Like, "Why a cooling pad MAY be useless for your laptop." Still hooks the reader in, and you avoid sounding like a complete and utter idiot that has been living under a rock. They wouldn't make these products, and people wouldn't buy them if there wasn't a valid use for them. Conduction is better for moving heat, but convection is easier to implement cheaply. It's like difference between a hibachi and a barbeque. Heatsink is attached to the chip via direct contact, thus, conduction.
Fancier setups use heatpipe, which is sorta between conduction and convection. From there it's radiation or convection into ambient air. Actually, convection is almost always a more effective way to transfer heat. That's why engineers put fans inside of computers next to the hot CPU. That's also why convection ovens cook food, so much faster than traditional ovens. Putting a small fan next to your computer is much more effective than a 'cooling pad,' unless the pad is being constantly cooled or refrigerated below ambient temperature. Just make sure your cooler blows the right way. D But remember laws of thermodynamics: conduction better than convection better than radiation. Coolers use convection. Passive coolers like thermo pads use conduction. Well, my Dell laptop has intakes on the bottom and exhausts on the side. If there was a cooler below, it would cool the air going into the computer, right, So that would help. Worst thing is to put it on your lap, a pillow, or anything soft, as that will likely close up the intake vents on the bottom.
I run a 17 inch Toshiba with Intel Core i7 quadcore. Perhaps the author hasn't tried running a high power laptop running with a game or a simulation for 90% CPU consumption. Many laptops become so hot that you can no longer stand having them in your lap. All the rest that have little slots in the bottom and draw air from the bottom to the sides, get a huge benefit from laptop coolers. I completely disagree with this. A simple core temp reading will show about 9-10 degree difference while using a cooling pad. For someone gaming or power computing for long periods of time this can be the difference between permanently damaging the system or not. 40 - 50c. im wondering now if a cooling gel pad will help at all, what do you think, However, there's no "good" way to directly transfer this cooling effect to your laptop.
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