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Belkin Laptop Cooling Stand
by boredindunoon
Despite the name "laptop" I really doubt that modern varieties are ideally suited to be sat on your lap. The heat that some of them generate is high enough to fry an egg on, combined with the risk of your laptop over heating because your blocking the vents - something has to be done. If you are sensible enough to use your ... laptop at a desk or another similar surface then you can stop reading now as you won't need this item. However if your like me, it's a common event to have your laptop sitting on your knee (I'm fatal for doing this when in bed.) To our rescue is this "Belkin Laptop Cooling Stand" which hopefully will keep our nuts cool.
Powered by any USB port, it's simply a matter of plugging it in to power the fan. The idea is that this fan will not only blow cold area on to the underside of your laptop, but also increase airflow to either side. It's measures just under 30cm in length and in width so it should accommodate most laptops. Larger laptops with a 17" screen or larger may benefit from a larger cooling stand. It is pretty light and streamlined so it's easy to carry around or just to add to your laptop bag.
There are "flip" feet at the rear of the stand. I suppose these have been included for those who want their laptop tiled at an angle towards them. It didn't work for me as the feet are to high meaning my wrists bend upwards to the same degree which isn't the most comfortable typing angle.
It does what it's designed to do and does it reasonable well. There is a noticeable difference in the temperature of my laptops underside, while not a massive reduction (most likely to the smallish fan) it's still better than it was before.
Build quality is pretty good as expected at this price. The length of the USB cable however isn't massive and may pose a problem when attempting to connect to some laptops.
At £12.99 at time of purchase and review is isn't good value for money. This takes into account that there are many, many cheaper models on the market (with some being less than a fiver) that essentially do the same thing.
At the end of the day a simple life style change would mean that you wouldn't need such a item. Nevertheless until that day comes and if you want to continue using your laptop on your lap this item or a similar one is a good idea.
(I'm a reviewer on Amazon, and some my reviews are copied from there to dooyoo. Please feel free to check out my Amazon profile under my real name of Mr Andrew M Kerr.)
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Signalex USB Notebook Cooler
by writeallnight
As many of you are probably aware, Signalex is a brand that can frequently be found in Poundland at - yes, you've guessed it - £1. I first bought one of these a couple of years ago when my laptop had started to get excessively hot whenever I used it (most probably because of the fact that I use it on my lap rather than a desk, in ... fairness).
These come in a cardboard box that is a little smaller than A4 paper, and the cooler itself is slightly smaller than this. It was a perfect size for my old 10 inch laptop, but I now have an 11.6 inch laptop and it's a little bit on the small side. I wouldn't recommend them for full sized 15.6 inch laptops though, as I would say they would definitely be far too small, unless you wanted to perhaps power 2 of them at once. (They're powered using a USB slot on your laptop, by the way, which is really handy as you can take it with you wherever your laptop goes!).
I have seen these in either white or blue. The white ones are actually a see-through plastic for the stand itself, with white fan blades. The blue ones have a stand that is made of the same sort of plastic, only blue. It is still see through. The fan blades are a murky grey kind of colour rather than white on this fan as well. Either way, the little light that it produces as the fan blades turn will be blue. It's quite a bright light, actually, which I think is a nice added feature. It seems there is no way to turn the light feature off, unless you want to remove the bulb, though, which might get annoying to some people.
Now, onto what the product actually does! It cools your laptop, of course. Well, it should do. I must admit that on my old laptop which could end up getting very hot sometimes, it was rather difficult to keep that cool anyway. Even if I had put it in the freezer I would imagine it would've been far too hot still! My new one though is cooled easily with this laptop cooler. It takes about 5 minutes, but then my entire laptop is nice and cool, and running smoothly again. One thing that does annoy me about this cooler though is that you have to have something to stick the cooler on, otherwise the fan blades are constantly catching on things and can't run smoothly. You can use it either way up of course, meaning that technically you can use the flat side of the cooler to stand it on your lap, but I find it cools better the other way up, so I stand mine on a book. Not conventional, perhaps, but it does the job!
I've had 3 of these over the past year, and only one of them has actually broken through usage. The wire became disconnected from the fan blades, meaning it wouldn't turn any more. The other one that ended up broken only broke because it was clear and see through, and I simply didn't see it when I sat on it. It was broken through no manufacturing fault there, but it was rendered unusable. The other one, well, I've had it about 4 months and it's still going strong. Can't complain at that for £1!
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Belkin Laptop Cooling Stand
by Holland1
My dad bought me one of these cooling stands when I was telling him about my laptop being on its last legs and getting very hot each time I use it. The battery is dying and I haven't been able to source one yet, so it has to be plugged in each time I use it. I'm not sure if this is the reason behind it, but I've noticed it overheats to ... the point that it burns my knees which is uncomfortable and potentially dangerous. I'm not sure how much he paid for it, but they retail for around £10.99 on Amazon at the time of writing.
The Belkin cooling stand is designed to protect your laptop and make it more comfortable to use, by keeping it cool and avoiding overheating. They are designed for laptops which are 17 inches or smaller in size, and the idea is that they have a fan inside which is activated by plugging the lead into your USB drive on your laptop. This activates the fan, which then draws heat out of the laptop and dissipates it out to the sides.
I've noticed online that they come in a few different designs, but mine is black with grey rubber grips. The stand is a similar shape to the base of my laptop, which means they line up together so I hardly notice it's there. The rubber strips prevent the laptop from slipping around on the base, and I would say they do a good job of this as I am often shifting about in my chair when using my laptop and it doesn't move at all when using this stand. It feels comfortable on my knee and is lightweight so it doesn't feel bulky or heavy in use, and would also be portable if you wanted to carry it with your laptop.
The cooling stand is very easy to figure out, with a compartment on the back containing the cable which needs plugging into the USB drive. Once this is done, you know it's working because the fan starts making a noise....in fact it sounds like there's an aircraft in the room because it's so noisy! This is my one criticism of the stand, although it's worth having to turn the TV volume up a notch or two, to have a much more comfortable laptop experience. The stand does work and I find my laptop is much cooler in use. Obviously, even if it was still overheating, the stand would prevent it from burning my knee, but I have been consciously checking my laptop to see if it's making any difference, and it's definitely running at a normal temperature now.
The stand is easily stored, as it's quite thin and is shaped identically to a laptop. I usually store mine together in a cupboard in our living room, with the laptop on top of the stand, but it's probably thin enough to fit alongside a laptop in a laptop bag. The USB cable tucks away neatly in a compartment underneath the stand, so there's no trail of wires flying around.
There isn't really much more to be said about this stand, other than it works to reduce the temperature of your laptop, and prevents overheating and potential crashing or damage to the laptop. The noise is a bit annoying at first, and although I've now got used to it I'm deducting a star for this because it means you can't really use it at times you might not want to disturb other people, for example in the middle of the night if you can't sleep and you want to fire your laptop up without waking anyone.
(Review also on Ciao under the username Gingerkitty)
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