Best laptop cooling pad 2021: top picks for keeping your notebook cool

Date:
Wed, 23 Jun 2021 12:06:06 +0000

Description:
Fan-tastic laptop cooling pads that could help prolong the longevity of your notebook.

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Combat overheating with one of the best laptop cooling pads. Whether your portable is prone to heat flare-ups when performing demanding tasks or you simply enjoy gaming or video editing on your bed where your laptop tends to rest on very porous surfaces, these accessories will prove to be very useful.

Laptop manufacturers are squeezing more and more power into ever thinner machines. The power hiding inside Ultrabooks and gaming laptops have grown by leaps and bounds, some with powerful GPUs you would find in a desktop. But, while many thin and light laptops do an excellent job of quite literally staying cool under pressure, heat-related issues are still prevalent among portables. Thats where the best laptop cooling pads come in handy, especially to creators, gamers, and designers who really push their laptops to their limits.

When performing intensive computing tasks, youll appreciate these laptop cooling pads upward-facing fans and metal chassis that provide additional
heat dissipation. From cooling pads that are incredibly portable and easy on the wallet to those that come with extra features like built-in speakers, youll find something here among the best laptop cooling pads of 2021. How laptop cooling pads help with cooling

Any additional cooling the best laptop cooling pad can deliver will help in the battle against throttling. It could also potentially prolong the
longevity of your laptop. That CPU and GPU will last longer if they arent being constantly run at overly hot temperatures.

So spending a little money on some extra cooling might save you a lot of heartache by avoiding the danger of your notebook giving up the ghost early. The best laptop cooling pad can also provide a convenient place to situate your laptop on those occasions when youre actually using it in your lap, preventing a warmer notebook from being unpleasantly hot against your legs.

Note that the mileage you get from any cooling pad may vary in terms of the cooling vents present on the bottom of your notebook, and their respective position compared to the location of the fans in the pad. As common sense would dictate, a decent amount of vents on the underside of your laptop is a good thing here and in general and preferably these will be (roughly) lined up with the pads fans.

Although some laptop cooling pads run with one big fan or multiple smaller ones thatll hit pretty much everything, and there are even modular pads
where the fans can be repositioned.

Even unfortunate notebooks with no vents on the bottom can benefit somewhat from having the underside of the chassis cooled as a little bit of help in terms of temperature management.

At any rate, while your mileage may vary somewhat given your exact model of laptop, youll likely find some benefit from a cooling pad and perhaps a considerable one, providing, of course, that you choose the one of the best models around. Weve picked out all the best gaming laptops of 2021 The best laptop cooling pads at a glance Kootek Cooler Pad Chill Mat 5 Cooler Master Notepal XL Thermaltake Massive 20 RGB Enermax TwisterOdio 16 Targus Chill Mat Cooler Master MasterNotepal Maker Tree New Bee Cooling Pad TeckNet N8 Laptop Cooling Pad Cooler Master Notepal X-Slim Klim Cool The best laptop cooling pads of 2021 Kootek Cooler Pad Chill Mat 5 uses five fans to deliver an impressive amount of cooling. (Image credit: Kootek) 1. Kootek Cooler Pad Chill Mat 5

Best overall laptop cooling pad Fans: 4 x 70mm, 1 x 120mm | Size of pad: 380
x 300 x 35mm Impressive level of cooling Can select which fans are switched
on Six different height settings

Kootek makes a highly impressive laptop cooling pad which uses five fans (the one in the middle is a bigger 120mm model, surrounded by 70mm fans) to
deliver an impressive amount of cooling while still remaining quiet to boot.

The Chill Mat scores strongly in the versatility stakes as you can switch
some of the fans off (its possible to have one working, four, or all five), plus it can be raised (using a ratchet mechanism, like a deckchair) through six different height settings depending on your preference (you might want to crank it right up when watching a movie, for example).

This cooling pad can take 12-inch to 17-inch laptops, so all common sizes, with a pair of stoppers at the front to prevent the notebook from sliding
off. It also boasts a USB hub with two USB 2.0 ports.

In short, this is a high quality cooling pad with flexibility in spades, and it benefits from a reasonable mid-range price tag, making it our top pick for an all-rounder that covers everything without doing too much damage to your wallet. Cooler Master Notepal XL delivers a very effective level of cooling. (Image credit: Cooler Master) 2. Cooler Master Notepal XL

Best quiet and powerful laptop cooling pad Fans: 1 x 230mm | Size of pad: 305 x 379 x 47mm Powerful cooling Nicely quiet Not as versatile as some rivals

Cooler Master knows cool, you would hope, and the firms Notepal is a winner
in our books. Using a single large 230mm fan which is impressively quiet, we might add it has a fan speed controller, and is designed to pipe optimal airflow through your laptop. Indeed, it shifts an impressive amount of air, being rated at 89.8 cubic feet per minute; a very effective level of cooling.

This device also benefits from a slightly tilted ergonomic design, aiming to give you the best angle to use your notebooks keyboard, along with nonslip feet for stability when placed on a surface. As an added bonus, there are three USB ports around the back.

The Notepal XL is capable of holding laptops up to 17-inches in size, and to cap things off, its reasonably priced for the cooling performance youre getting here. This product is a very close second to the Kootek, but just loses out on the versatility front. If you cant find the Kootek outside of
the US in some regions stock seems very thin on the ground then this is a great alternative for powerful cooling. Thermaltake Massive 20 RGB can cope with a massive laptop as the name suggests. (Image credit: Thermaltake) 3. Thermaltake Massive 20 RGB

Best laptop cooling pad for large notebooks Fans: 1 x 200mm | Size of pad:
471 x 354.5 x 46.5mm Big 200mm fan cools nicely Nifty RGB lighting A pricier option

If you need a cooling pad suitable for a hefty notebook, then this
Thermaltake product can cope with a massive laptop as the name suggests it wont break a sweat with a 17-inch portable, and is even capable of playing host to larger 19-inch gaming laptops.

It has one 200mm fan for cooling (the fan speed is adjustable), and there are three different height settings (up to an angle of 13-degrees). The large fan provides efficient cooling for bigger laptops, plus you also get RGB lighting around the edges of the pad with various different modes (pulsing, blinking, or just static lighting of different colors).

Its fashioned from plastic and the build quality perhaps isnt the best youll encounter in the cooling pad world, but its plenty sturdy enough to do the
job of supporting a hefty gaming laptop. Note that the price tag is
reasonably hefty here, too. Enermax TwisterOdio 16 provides solid cooling as well as sound quality. (Image credit: Enermax) 4. Enermax TwisterOdio 16

Best laptop cooling pad with built-in speakers Fans: 1 x 120mm | Size of pad: 352 x 270 x 52mm Delivers decent sound quality Solid cooling chops Cant cope with 17-inch notebooks

When thinking about laptop cooling pads which do something a little different from the norm, one possibility is an accessory that doesnt just keep your notebook from getting too hot, but also comes with built-in speakers. Because aside from dealing with heat, another area that laptops often struggle with
is providing a decent level of audio quality and volume.

The Enermax TwisterOdio is only capable of dealing with laptops up to 16-inches in size, but its built-in pair of DreamBass 2W speakers are pretty decent (and provide some bass, as the name might suggest).

This pad is fairly thick, naturally enough due to those integrated speakers (which are housed in the cylinder at the rear of the pad), but surprisingly light, and provides solid cooling as well as sound quality. Incidentally, you can turn the speaker on or off, and manually adjust the fan speed.

This is definitely worth considering for those who have poor laptop speakers and want a reasonably priced solution to address that issue and any cooling worries in one fell swoop. Targus Chill Mat delivers cooling via a pair of fans. (Image credit: Targus) 5. Targus Chill Mat

Best laptop cooling pad with expansive USB hub Fans: 2 x 2,500 rpm | Size of pad: 354 x 260 x 25mm Hub with 4 USB ports Nicely slim Well-built

For those who want their cooling pad to also provide expansion capabilities
to hook up a number of other peripherals, check out the Targus Chill Mat, which is a little bit like a laptop dock crossed with a cooling solution.

The Chill Mat sports a 4-port USB hub (with USB 2.0 ports), and delivers cooling via a pair of fans (although Targus doesnt specify what size they are
although the maker does state that they can run at up to 2,500 rpm).

This is a well-constructed device which is impressively slim, and can be adjusted between four different height levels. For those with laptops that have few USB ports, this could be a useful solution on twin fronts. Cooler Master MasterNotepal Maker benefits from an excellent build quality and a sandblasted aluminum surface. (Image credit: Cooler Master) 6. Cooler Master MasterNotepal Maker

Best modular laptop cooling pad Fans: 2 x 80mm | Size of pad: 384.6 x 270 x 59.6mm Aluminum surface for better heat dissipation Fully customizable fan positioning Great cable management Expensive

Remember at the outset of this piece we discussed that the relative positioning of the vents in the bottom of your laptop and the fans in the cooling pad can be an important consideration? Well, one way you can ensure optimal positioning is by placing the fans yourself and thats possible in this modular cooling pad from Cooler Master.

Modular simply means that the fans can be moved to anywhere on the cooling pad, to target exactly where you need air delivering to your laptop. The MasterNotepal Maker also benefits from an excellent build quality and a sandblasted aluminum surface that can also help with heat dissipation plus this pad can be set at five different angles.

There are other benefits such as excellent cable management, an attachable
USB hub, and removable stoppers (to prevent the laptop from being in any danger of sliding off the stand). However, the downside to this top-of-the-range Cooler Master product is that it isnt cheap, but for those who really want to fully tailor their pad to suit their notebook, it may well be worth the outlay.

The other thing to bear in mind here is that stock seems rather thin on the ground, now, as this product has been out for some time: so if you want one, you may have to move relatively quickly. Tree New Bee Cooling Pad is a great choice that strikes a commendable balance between price and performance. (Image credit: Amazon) 7. Tree New Bee Cooling Pad

Best affordable laptop cooling pad Fans: 4 x 110mm | Size of pad: 408 x 287 x 29mm Good options for adjusting fans Nicely priced Only one level of height adjustment

If you want a very affordable solution for laptop cooling duties, well, here it is. Tree New Bees product runs with four 110 mm fans with adjustable
speeds (the blue LED lights get dimmer as you turn the speed down you can also turn two of the fans off, if you wish).

This device is nicely priced, pretty quiet, and provides a good amount of (suitably variable) cooling, and it can be raised on a pair of legs at the back for what the makers argue is a more ergonomic typing angle (and improved cooling, with more airflow underneath, of course).

The downside is theres only one height setting, and it might be a touch steep for some. As youve probably seen elsewhere on this page, most products offer
a range of different heights.

Still, this doesnt stop the Tree New Bee Cooling Pad from being a great
choice that strikes a commendable balance between price and performance. TeckNet N8 Laptop Cooling Pad comes with a trio of 118mm cooling fans, which provide a decent level of cooling. (Image credit: TeckNet) 8. TeckNet N8 Laptop Cooling Pad

Best budget laptop cooling pad Fans: 3 x 118mm | Size of pad: 380 x 280 x
28mm Temptingly low price Decent cooling Not the best build quality

If you want to spend as little as possible on a cooling pad, then TeckNet has a great solution which is priced as cheaply as youll see anywhere and youre still getting a decent product.

The N8 comes with a trio of 118mm cooling fans which provide a decent level
of cooling, plus the device benefits from a highly slim and portable design, too. It has a pair of feet that can be extended to raise it up, and a USB
port to plug in an additional device (the N8 connects and is powered via USB, incidentally).

The build quality perhaps isnt the best, but the N8 is impressively quiet,
and quite simply it does the job and does it very cheaply indeed. Cooler Master Notepal X-Slim gets the nod due to its quality build. (Image credit: Cooler Master) 9. Cooler Master Notepal X-Slim

Best slim and portable laptop cooling pad Fans: 1 x 160mm | Size of pad: 380
x 270 x 27.5~46mm Thin and very lightweight Whisper-quiet Cable management chops

If you want a cooling pad which is nicely portable to carry around with you, then the X-Slim fits the bill. It measures only 27.5mm at its thinnest point, and its very light with a weight of 700g.

There are other products that come close to this level of portability Havits 12-inch to 17-inch Laptop Cooler, for example but Cooler Masters effort gets the nod due to its quality build. Its also capable of coping with laptops up to 17-inches in size, and the single 160mm fan offers excellent airflow while keeping things whisper-quiet. The X-Slim benefits from nifty cable management facilities, too, to keep things tidy as well as portable.

While the Notepal X-Slim is tidily compact, if you want a truly portable accessory to cool your laptop, check out our final entry below. Klim Cool is
a very effective cooler which comes with a number of different attachments. (Image credit: Klim) 10. Klim Cool

Best portable laptop cooling solution Fans: 1 x 4,200 rpm | Size: 155 x 82 x 36mm Reasonably priced Automatic fan speed adjustment Highly portable Wont work with all laptops

Okay, so we thought wed throw this one in at the end as a bit of a wildcard, because while it isnt a laptop cooling pad as such, its a fan-based accessory which does a similar thing (albeit via sucking rather than blowing air). And for those who want a really portable solution, this is a truly compact affair
whereas obviously any laptop cooling pad wont be all that small, given that they all (inevitably) have a notebook-sized footprint.

Note that there is a sizeable caveat here: your laptop will need a vent at
the side or rear for one of these devices to be attached. If you only have
air vents on the base of your laptop, then were afraid youre out of luck as far as these particular products go.

As mentioned, rather than blowing air into the laptop to cool it, the idea with a so-called vacuum cooler is that they suck air out, but that has an equally cooling effect. Some even argue its more effective than a traditional cooling pad, but either way, youre getting the job done as long as you pick a good product from the available solutions out there.

And in this case, our recommendation is Klim Cool, a very effective cooler which comes with a number of different attachments so youre covered whatever the size of the air vent youre attaching the device to. It also measures the temperature inside your laptop and automatically adjusts the fan speed for
the appropriate level of cooling pretty nifty indeed.

The manufacturer backs the product with a five-year warranty and a 30-day
free return policy, so you can give it a whirl to see how it works with your notebook. A further bonus is that this isnt an expensive accessory, either, falling in line with the pricing of the more affordable cooling pads. Check out all the best laptops in the world



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