Which of these can I actually use on my lap?

[SlickShoes]

They are called laptops, I currently play games on my macbook pro, it is aluminum and the heat just flows through that into my legs. I am fine with it it doesnt bother me much apart from mid summer, but I live in Scotland so its no big deal.

I have seen people say that you will need a lapdesk or an actual desk to game on some of the high spec laptops here, is this actually true or is it a big of an over exaggeration? I am already used to the heat on my legs and fan noise from my current computer so would a vortex 3 really be that much worse?

 

[steaky360]

Some laptops are really just very small form factor PCs nowadays so I get what you're saying there! Can't speak about vortex 3 specifically but I have seen on this forum many people getting cooling stands for their laptops, remember when gaming the mobile GPU's in laptops can get very hot so it could get uncomfortable if just on your lap.

 

[Keithg]

I use a logitech lapdesk which has no additional cooling, as my laptop does not need it.
The reason for this is that after prolonged sessions my lap became very uncomfortable due to the heat. When I used the laptop in bed the duvet restricted the fans so the laptop got a lot hotter. And since I have had it I prefer the angle that the laptop sits at, especially the keyboard.

I couldn't be without mine now.

But as for your question; you should not need it for cooling, the laptop will be configured with sufficient cooling.

 

[SlickShoes]

Cheers, I realise it most probably comes down to a comfort factor for most people or like you using it on a bed would be a problem due to the duvet.

I looked at reviews of the Clevo laptops used here and the only ones that seem to get hotter than body temp are dual GPU ones being overclocked. My macbook pro gets HOT but I have been using it on my lap for years and I think I am just used to the heat now, I never really play for longer than a couple of hours at a time so it's not like I'm sitting for a full day with a computer on me.

As far as I can tell heat wise from reviews a gaming laptop that's thicker and no aluminium and has better heat exhaustion would actually be cooler on my lap than a macbook pro that I currently use since most of the heat seems to dissipate into the aluminium rather than being exhausted by the fans.

I am sceptical of lapdesks just because it's more clutter for my house and I can't be bothered buying another peripheral. I will have a look at them though anyway.

 

[mdwh]

I don't believe these are worse than any other kind of laptop, Apple included. If they get hotter, it would be when they're being put to demanding use, doing something that is beyond what the cooler laptops are capable of (e.g., my Samsung N220 is always cool and silent, but then it's nowhere near as powerful as the Clevo).

I have no trouble using a 17" Vortex 3 on my lap, for hours at a time, including gaming - I even have a lapdesk, but end up never using it. Interesting point you make about heat flowing into your legs - since the laptops here have fans, that helps chuck the heat out into the air rather than burning your legs.

I haven't had a problem with noise - you can hear the fan when it turns on, but it's quiet, way less than most desktops.

Most of the laptops (at least the NVIDIA ones, not sure if there's an equivalent for AMD?) support switching between the Intel integrated graphics, and the NVIDIA chipset, so there's also the point that the more powerful graphics chipset will only activate when needed.

 

[SlickShoes]

I don't believe these are worse than any other kind of laptop, Apple included. If they get hotter, it would be when they're being put to demanding use, doing something that is beyond what the cooler laptops are capable of (e.g., my Samsung N220 is always cool and silent, but then it's nowhere near as powerful as the Clevo).

I have no trouble using a 17" Vortex 3 on my lap, for hours at a time, including gaming - I even have a lapdesk, but end up never using it. Interesting point you make about heat flowing into your legs - since the laptops here have fans, that helps chuck the heat out into the air rather than burning your legs.

I haven't had a problem with noise - you can hear the fan when it turns on, but it's quiet, way less than most desktops.

Most of the laptops (at least the NVIDIA ones, not sure if there's an equivalent for AMD?) support switching between the Intel integrated graphics, and the NVIDIA chipset, so there's also the point that the more powerful graphics chipset will only activate when needed.

Thanks mate that is exactly the info I am looking for. I have my mac dual boot so in windows it only uses the dedicated gpu and that creates more heat too.

The way I sit would allow all the fan exhausts to be open, there wouldn't be anything blocking them, I guess at the exit point the air is quite hot when the laptop is going full on but thats not a thing that it will be doing all the time.

Now I just need some nice person to want to buy my macbook pro haha