Proper Ventilation: A How-To

[Tyleh]

We all know that one thing is most important to PC gamers: performance.

But in the world of laptops where the chassis of the machine is not suited to proper ventilation, laptop gamers have another issue to worry about. Without some way to remove heat, laptops can overheat and do permanent damage to themselves. The problem is compounded when you take into consideration that games themselves are the most resource-intensive applications out there--and therefore they generate more heat.

Fortunately, there are a few easy tricks you can take into consideration when dealing with poor ventilation.

1. Replacing the stock fan with a more powerful one will move more air around, pulling more cool air in and pushing the warm out. This is, by far, the most expensive of the tweaks for better ventilation.

2. Keeping the laptop flat on a hard surface will help with proper ventilation because it ensures that no essential air vents are covered. When a laptop is placed on cloth (such as a bed with sheets), the sheets can cover those holes and overheat the laptop faster than on a hard surface. This can happen even if you're doing nothing with your laptop but laying it on the bed. Sorry guys, no porn in bed.

3. Cleaning the air vents with compressed air removes dust build-up that can potentially reduce airflow. Dust in the air naturally gets attracted to the the laptop, getting them stuck. Dislodging it is as simple as using a cotton swab or in more extreme cases, a can of compressed air.

4. Laptop cooling pads take both #2 and #3 into consideration. The sheer amount of air blowing up into your laptop's case will dislodge a lot of loose dust. The hard surface it forms makes it perfect for when you can't find a table or other area to place your laptop, and with some of them being USB compatible, they're perfect for on-the-go.

5. If you just can't seem to get any of that to work or you're just too cheap to buy laptop accessories, there are some "redneck" fixes out there for you. You can glue 4 20 oz bottle tops to the legs of your laptop for increased airflow under the chassis. There's always setting a box fan behind your laptop, or you can prop it up on whatever you like. I personally turn mine upside down when I use it on my TV; after all, heat goes up, and with the lid closed, the screen holds in all the heat.

It takes a little common sense to figure out how to keep your laptop cool, but hopefully with these tips you'll extend the life of your laptop.

[FOXECHO]

Thanks for the write up Tyleh. I just bought a laptop cooler from Swissgear and it's awesome. I'll be doing a review on it soon.

[Dragon]

That's awesome. I have always ran into this type of problem. Thanks for that.