Laptop Cooler Stand

S

Sonic1506

Bronze Level Poster
Hi,

Hoping someone can advise on a good laptop cooler stand to go for? I have a 15.6" Ionico and when I specced the build, I opted for upgraded thermal paste.

I've seen these three recommended by IGN, TechExpert and T3, what would you go for? Open to any and all options.

T3 top recommended:

IGN top recommended:

TechExpert top recommended:
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Sonic1506 said:
Hi,

Hoping someone can advise on a good laptop cooler stand to go for? I have a 15.6" Ionico and when I specced the build, I opted for upgraded thermal paste.

I've seen these three recommended by IGN, TechExpert and T3, what would you go for? Open to any and all options.

T3 top recommended:

IGN top recommended:

TechExpert top recommended:
Click to expand...
It depends what you're after.

Larger fans spin at lower RPM therefor less noise.

Smaller fans can be more directional so it's possible they'll have better cooling potential but it all depends on the design.

For me I went with larger fan for silent operation.

Also bear in mind, you'll get roughly the same cooling potential just by raising the chassis off the desk, so a standard laptop mount without fans may give roughly the same improvements, just increases the available airflow space for the internal cooling to work optimally.
 
S

Sonic1506

Bronze Level Poster
SpyderTracks said:
It depends what you're after.

Larger fans spin at lower RPM therefor less noise.

Smaller fans can be more directional so it's possible they'll have better cooling potential but it all depends on the design.

For me I went with larger fan for silent operation.

Also bear in mind, you'll get roughly the same cooling potential just by raising the chassis off the desk, so a standard laptop mount without fans may give roughly the same improvements, just increases the available airflow space for the internal cooling to work optimally.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the response.

I'm okay with some noise as long as it doesn't sound like a jet taking off!

Any recommendations? What product did you go for?
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Sonic1506 said:
Thanks. I'll check that out.
Click to expand...
That's the one I went with, but that was in 2014 so I doubt it's still on sale. I couldn't recommend one as I'm rather out of the loop, but good 3rd party review sites will be good to go by, taking into account the big fan vs small fan noise argument.

The other thing to consider is that fan technologies have come an awfully long way since 2014 so actually smaller fans will undoubtedly be a lot quieter these days, that's something I hadn't considered.

The only thing I'd say, don't cheap out, pay the extra and get a decent branded one, not some cheap knock off, makes a big difference.
 
S

Sonic1506

Bronze Level Poster
Aza said:
I had the same one myself, it was very good and lasted me years. It has however been discontinued.
Zalman still do some, as well as well as Targus.... wouldnt touch Klim/havit/tecknet...its all cheap and nasty (and a lot are the same item just rebranded...mass produce plastic tat unfortunately)

This Targus one looks reasonable https://www.amazon.co.uk/Targus-Cooling-Lightweight-17-Inch-AWE55GL/dp/B07V4GTT81/ref=sr_1_13?crid=2UJGI39E63HIW&keywords=Zalman+laptop+cooler&qid=1653887912&s=instant-video&sprefix=zalman+laptop+cooler,instant-video,51&sr=1-13&th=1
Click to expand...

Thank you, I actually ordered this one late last night: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07WZQ4896/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1. I'll give that a go and if I'm not happy with it, I'll return it and try that Targus one you've linked to.

SpyderTracks said:
That's the one I went with, but that was in 2014 so I doubt it's still on sale. I couldn't recommend one as I'm rather out of the loop, but good 3rd party review sites will be good to go by, taking into account the big fan vs small fan noise argument.

The other thing to consider is that fan technologies have come an awfully long way since 2014 so actually smaller fans will undoubtedly be a lot quieter these days, that's something I hadn't considered.

The only thing I'd say, don't cheap out, pay the extra and get a decent branded one, not some cheap knock off, makes a big difference.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I had a cheap £20 ages ago but I can't find it since moving house. I would have liked to go for your one but correct, it's been discontinued.
 
Aza

Aza

Rising Star
Yeah, my Zalman one lasted something like 8 years...no kidding.... I bought it with my first custom laptop and still had it when i moved up north and used it with the last laptop I had. Fan eventually stopped spinning, but even then it made a big difference with temps still.
I tried buying a few other stands but they were just horrible (klim was like fisherprice plastic toys).

Let us know how that stand goes, it would be good to know a few decent models that can be recommended, not easy to find amongst all the tat on amazon these days.
 
S

Sonic1506

Bronze Level Poster
Aza said:
Yeah, my Zalman one lasted something like 8 years...no kidding.... I bought it with my first custom laptop and still had it when i moved up north and used it with the last laptop I had. Fan eventually stopped spinning, but even then it made a big difference with temps still.
I tried buying a few other stands but they were just horrible (klim was like fisherprice plastic toys).

Let us know how that stand goes, it would be good to know a few decent models that can be recommended, not easy to find amongst all the tat on amazon these days.
Click to expand...

I will do for sure. Seems to be "the best premium laptop cooling pad" on T3 and I'd rather trust that over IGN and Tech Expert! The other alternative they recommend is this for "large laptops": https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077974...=t3-gb-5122985632270503000-21&geniuslink=true

The Cooler Master is due for delivery today so I'll be sure to report back, I also opted for this one over others as it looks like it can be still be fairly comfortable on the lap due to the way it's designed. The others seem to have the two prongs that you lift up, similar to a keyboard and look like they'll be uncomfortable on my lap.

Ideally, I want to game with my laptop on my lap rather than using a desk or small table, so this cooler should be a good compromise of increasing cooling capacity while still being fairly comfortable on my lap.
 
Last edited:
S

Sonic1506

Bronze Level Poster
So, here's my mini review after roughly two hours of testing:

Pros:
- Large cooling pad and laptop fits comfortably on the pad but I'd expect it to as the pad can hold up to 17" laptops and I have a 15.6" laptop.
- Pad on the lap feels very comfortable.
- The fan is large and is silent.

Cons:
- With the pad on the lap, the fan is almost pressed up against your lap, so to me, it sort of renders this cooling pad ineffective as there isn't any airflow. With the cooler lifted up, off my legs the flow of air feels much stronger.
- This cooling pad in particular didn't seem to make much of a difference in my tests.

Here's some screenshots taken from Control Centre temperature monitoring.

All the tests were done while my battery was charging, with the cooling pad on my lap and then the laptop itself on top of that. The fan settings in Control Centre are set to Gaming Mode so the fan will be monitored and adjusted automatically by the software within the laptop. The temperatures seem slightly higher than normal due to the battery being charged at the same time.

This is without the cooling pad and after about 10 minutes of general use, so browsing internet, doing a bit of work on remote desktop, etc.

CPU temps seemed to hover around 56-58 degrees.
GPU was stable at 43 degrees
SSD's were stable at 34 and 39 degrees

Battery-On-Charge-Cooling-Pad-on-Lap-Cooling-Pad-Off.png


This is with the cooling pad and after the same conditions as above:

Processor temps around 60-62 degrees but I did see them fluctuate down to 52 degrees after the laptop fans worked a bit more, so I see this as an erroneous reading really. within a couple of minutes after the fans went back down to 30%, it went back up to 60-62 degrees.
GPU stable at 43 degrees.
SSD's stable at 32 and 37.

Battery-On-Charge-Cooling-Pad-on-Lap-Cooling-Pad-Off.png


The fans seemed to be working harder with the cooler as can be seen in the images. SSD temperatures were lower but CPU temps were higher.

I then did some gaming, running Assetto Corsa downloaded and installed via Steam but running it via my desktop shortcut. Pretty much everything turned up to the maximum and getting about 150fps when looking at the performance overlay. Settings maxxed in the game itself and within Nvidia GeForce Experience.

This below is without the cooler turned on, about 10-15 minutes of gaming and just as I quit out of my race and back to a menu, which is why the GPU usage % is low:

Battery-On-Charge-Cooling-Pad-on-Lap-Cooling-Pad-Off.png


The below is with the same conditions as above but with the cooler turned on:

Battery-On-Charge-Cooling-Pad-on-Lap-Cooling-Pad-Off.png


With these tests in mind, I'll probably be returning this and getting either one of these. The reason is because it looks like the fans are part of the portion of the cooler that lifts up, so it should aid with air flow and cooling:

or
or

Probably going for the latter Kootek. Both come as recommended on other sources and after spending hours researching it seems worth trying and viable options.

I'm not sure if my temperatures when gaming are normal but seems like they may be from reading online. When I did the Unigine and Prime95 tests, the temperatures hovered around 60-70 degrees. From memory, I didn't max out the Unigine tests so this probably explains why the temperatures were lower on these stress tests
 
Last edited:
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
I've tried loads of different ones over the years. I've been using this since 2020 though and I can't see past it.


It's not actually that one, it just the same style. Mine has more perforation through the main resting plate for airflow. There are also active versions with fans attached etc. IME the fans don't really do much. I stopped plugging them in on the ones that had active cooling as they didn't really do anything.

The main thing with the above is its flexibility. I got the 17" one as I had a 17" laptop but I would get the larger offering anyway so that you can have it underneath you when sitting on the couch etc.

It supports my Octane table style, or lap style or floor style, so it's pretty rugged and stable.

The main thing for me is that it's off my lap/the table/surface/bed etc, other than that it just needs airflow through the bottom and you can't go wrong. The cooling solution in the laptop itself should be good enough when the airflow is available.
 
S

Sonic1506

Bronze Level Poster
Scott said:
I've tried loads of different ones over the years. I've been using this since 2020 though and I can't see past it.


It's not actually that one, it just the same style. Mine has more perforation through the main resting plate for airflow. There are also active versions with fans attached etc. IME the fans don't really do much. I stopped plugging them in on the ones that had active cooling as they didn't really do anything.

The main thing with the above is its flexibility. I got the 17" one as I had a 17" laptop but I would get the larger offering anyway so that you can have it underneath you when sitting on the couch etc.

It supports my Octane table style, or lap style or floor style, so it's pretty rugged and stable.

The main thing for me is that it's off my lap/the table/surface/bed etc, other than that it just needs airflow through the bottom and you can't go wrong. The cooling solution in the laptop itself should be good enough when the airflow is available.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the suggestion and recommendation, I'll report back when the other Kootek cooler arrives and I do some testing.

I'll keep this in mind too.
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
The pictures appear to be all over the place. I didn't get mine from Amazon though, I believe it was actually ebay.

The one I got looks like the one in the blue link. It's definitely 17" though. I think the reason for the price hike is that it comes with a USB fan, where the other doesn't.

To confuse further.... mine didn't come with a fan. It just has the "X" perforated pattern :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top