Need Notebook/Laptop Cooler Recommendations Please

[musicfan]

Hi. I have a 6 year old 12" Dell M1210 notebook/laptop that a friend gave me a few years back. I use it as a backup to my desktop and as wireless surfing machine inside the apartment. I don't take it on the road.

Recently the Dell got too hot on a hot day. The exhaust coming out on the left was very hot, an Adobe program shut down, and it locked up. I used a radical solution of placing a small paperback book underneath so it could get air into the bottom intake. That helps but I would like to get a cooler. The Dell notebook will mostly be used on a desktop but rarely placed on my legs.

Here is my bottom (hot side) of my Dell M1210 notebook with the fan intake on the left as you are looking down at the unit (right side if you look from the bottom like the photo):



At the upper end of the price scale this Zalman ZM-NC1000 seems nice because it will blow air up into the intake fan, RAM, and hot underneath. The Targus Lap Chill Mat with fans looks like the one to get if using it on the legs all the time?

At the budget end is this Rosewill RNA-104XL. It's still Aluminum and has a fan that blows into the Dell intake fan. The Coolermaster U1 is similar.

I don't like the plastic models with garish lights and would prefer Aluminum to help even if the fans go bad. I would like to easily replace fans but I can't seem to find that. What do you use/suggest? Thank you.

[musicfan]

OK. Doesn't look like a 6 year old notebook/laptop is going to get a lot of attention. I am going to order the Zalman because it looks like the proverbial "Swiss Army Knife". Not sure it is perfect but it can go on the legs or desk, it has Aluminum under the PC so should still cool if the fans fail, the fans have manual control over rpm, and the area where the fans blows out is big enough I won't have to line up a cooler fan with my notebook intake fan. I have 3 day UPS ground from The Egg. Will report back on this product in case someone else is in the hunt.

[CaliTech]

OK. Doesn't look like a 6 year old notebook/laptop is going to get a lot of attention. I am going to order the Zalman because it looks like the proverbial "Swiss Army Knife". Not sure it is perfect but it can go on the legs or desk, it has Aluminum under the PC so should still cool if the fans fail, the fans have manual control over rpm, and the area where the fans blows out is big enough I won't have to line up a cooler fan with my notebook intake fan. I have 3 day UPS ground from The Egg. Will report back on this product in case someone else is in the hunt.

I would try taking the laptop apart and cleaning off the heatsink fins (where dust can prevent the fan's blowing air from dissipating the heat coming off the CPU through the heatsink fins) and reapplying the thermal paste under the CPU heatsink. The unit was designed to run at 100% cpu usage without overheating. It will if you clean it out.

[musicfan]

Thank you CaliTech.

add/edit: You inspired me to read the service manual twice. I searched with a flashlight for dust bunnies in the fan port but found none. I am too anxious to do what you suggest even though I have no doubt that in your hands it would work. With my luck, I would break something far more costly than a $40 cooler.

Your comment about how it was designed to run at 100% cpu usage makes me recall the overheat only happens during heat waves before we turn on the AC. The temps in this room can exceed 27°C until we turn on the AC.

Will see how the Zalman notebook cooler works. If it only allows me to run the notebook on hot days without the AC, it will be worthwhile to me. Will report when I get it or perhaps this weekend. Thanks again for the advice.

[musicfan]

The Zalman ZM-NC1000 cooler arrived. On the outside of the box, Zalman says it will decrease load temps by 10°C. Let's check it out.

Ambient is 25°C today with AC in room. Used Real Temp and Prime 95.

Ran notebook flat on steel (Steelcase brand) file cabinet. This is the same place it overheated when it was warmer. Idle was 40°C (is that high?). Ran p95 at 100% load and got to 77°C average (2 core) after 20 minutes. The air temp coming out of the exhaust was 51°C with an infra-red thermometer and felt warm.

Put the notebook cooler underneath without fans on. It is Aluminum under the PC and plastic elsewhere. Let sit 20 minutes with P95 still 100% load. The cool metal and lifting off of the flat file cabinet made the load drop to 72°C.

Then turned Zalman fans to max (1500 rpm according to specs) and watched as 100% load temps came down from 72°C to 67°C. When I turned the fans down to their lowest setting it was inaudible (1100 rpm they say) the temps went up 3°C to 70°C. So with fans turned to max, they are audible but Zalman claims a 10°C drop and it looks like they are correct. We should always be so lucky a manufacturer is accurate.

Being a newbie to notebooks creates anxiety. But with a 40°C idle temp, that would be too high for a core i7 in a desktop. And that makes CaliTech's recommendation more attractive if you can dissect notebooks. My $.02. Thanks.