Laptop makers and engineers are constantly pushing the boundaries in terms of making machines thinner and even more powerful - the latter being primarily in portable gaming, naturally.
And in recent years, there have been huge strides in terms of powering up gaming laptops, with the ability to upgrade near the table-level equivalent graphics card in a laptop. But at the same time, this brings obvious problems in the form of not only limited space, but heat-related problems (of course, both of these concepts are closely related).
And it becomes more of a challenge to innovate with cooling systems and smart fan settings or a super-efficient heat pipe to cool massive CPUs and GPUs. Because otherwise, those parts might end up choking back with their performance, and not so table-level after all…
But cooling doesn't just have to be an internal process, of course it can be too external. And we don't mean fanning out at your laptop's desktop, but rather using your laptop's cooling pad. As the name suggests, this is a pad for your laptop to sit on which provides cooling from the UP fans (and sometimes additional heat dissipation through the pad's metal case).
Some additional cooling can help combat throttling, and perhaps more than that, it can potentially extend your laptop's longevity. That the CPU and GPU will last longer if they are not constantly running at excessively high temperatures. So there's a chance that in some cases, spending a little money on some extra cooling could save you a lot of heartache, in terms of potentially avoiding the danger of your laptop giving your soul to God sooner.
Another advantage of the Cooling Pad is that it can provide a comfortable place to rest your laptop when you are actually using it in your hands, preventing the warmer laptop from getting very hot from your feet.
Please note that the mileage you can draw from any cooling pad may differ in terms of the vents present on the bottom of the laptop, and their position relative to the placement of the fans on the pad. As common sense dictates, a decent amount of vents on the underside of the laptop is a good thing here - and in general - and would preferably be (roughly) lined up with traffic fans.
While some laptop cooling pads work with one large fan - or several small ones - that's pretty much everything, and there are even modular pads where fans can be moved around.
Even a pity notebook without a hole in the bottom can somewhat benefit from having a cooler at the bottom of the case, and help a bit in terms of temperature management.
In any case, while your mileage may vary with a particular laptop model, you'll likely find some benefit from a cooling pad - and possibly quite a bit, provided, of course, that you choose one of the best models around.
Where we are with our favorites in a variety of categories, from cooling pads designed for larger laptops to portable solutions, wallet-oriented pads, and even models with nifty integrated accessories such as built-in speakers.
- We rounded up all the best gaming laptops of 2024
The best laptop cooling pads of 2024 at a glance:
- Kootek Radiator Cool Mat 5
- Cooler master son XL
- Company massive 20 RSL
- Company TwisterOdio 16
- Targus Kholodok Mat
- Cooler Master MasterNotepal Kettle
- Wood New Bee Cooling Pad
- TeckNet H8 Laptop Cooling Pad
- Cooler Master UPS X-Thin
- Klim Kholodny
The best laptop cooling pads of 2022
Kootek makes a very impressive laptop cooling pad that uses five fans (the one in the middle is a larger 120mm model, flanked by a 70mm fan) to deliver an impressive amount of cooling while remaining quiet to boot.
Mata's Chill scores heavily in the versatility of the bet, you can switch some of the fans off (you can have one working, four, or all five), plus she can be raised (using a ratchet, like a sun lounger) through six different height settings depending on your preferences (you might want to crank this out while watching a movie, for example).
This cooling pad can hold 12-inch to 17-inch laptops, so all common sizes, with a pair of stoppers on the front to prevent the laptop from slipping 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 abundance, and it benefits from a reasonable mid-range price tag, making it our all-round favorite that covers everything without too much damage to your wallet.
The cooler master knows cool, you would hope, and the firm's uninterruptible power supply is a winner in our books. Using a single large 230mm fan - which is impressively quiet, we might add - it has a fan speed control, and is designed to pipe 'optimal airflow' through your laptop. Indeed, it carries an impressive amount of air, estimated at 89,8 cubic feet per minute; very efficient level of cooling.
This device also benefits from a slightly tilted ergonomic design to give you the best angle for using the keyboard on your laptop, along with non-slip feet for stability when placed on a surface. As an added bonus, there are three USB ports on the back.
To Son XL is capable of holding laptops up to 17 inches in size and cap, and it's reasonably priced for the cooling you get here. This product is a very close second to Kootek, but just loses out on the versatility front. If you can't find Kootek outside of the US - stock seems to be very thin on the ground in some regions - then this is a great alternative for powerful cooling.
If you need a cooling pad suitable for a hefty laptop, then this product model can handle a massive laptop, as the name suggests, it won't take a hit with a 17-inch portable, and is even capable of taking larger 19-inch gaming laptops.
It has one 200mm fan for cooling (the fan speed is adjustable), and there are three different height settings (13 degrees up). A large fan provides efficient cooling for large laptops, plus you also get RGB lighting around the edges of the pad with different modes (pulsing, flashing, or just static lighting in different colors).
It's made of plastic and the build quality may not be the best you'll come across in the world's cooler, but it's sturdy enough to do the job of servicing a hefty laptop. Note that the price tag here is quite hefty, too.
When you think of laptop cooling pads that do something a little different from the norm, one possibility is an accessory that not only keeps your laptop 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 delivering decent levels of sound quality and volume.
The TwisterOdio is only capable of handling laptops up to 16 inches, and the built-in pair of 'DreamBass' 2W speakers are pretty decent (and provide some bass, as the name suggests).
This mat is quite thick, naturally due to those built-in speakers (which are housed in a cylinder on the back), but surprisingly light, and provides solid cooling as well as sound quality. By the way, 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 dynamics and want an inexpensive solution to the problem and any cooling concerns in one fell swoop.
For those who want their cooling pad to provide expansion options to connect other peripherals, check out the Targus cold pad, which looks a bit like a laptop, the dock intersects with the cooling system.
The cold, mat sports a 4-port USB hub (with USB 2.0 ports) and provides cooling through a couple of fans (although Targus doesn't specify what size they are - although the manufacturer claims they can run at up to 2500 rpm).
This is a well built device that is incredibly thin, and can be adjusted between four different height levels. For those with laptops that have multiple USB ports, this can be a useful solution on two fronts.
Remember, at the very beginning of this article, we discussed that the relative position of the vents on the bottom of the laptop and the cooling pad fans can be important? Well, that way you can ensure optimal positioning by placing your lovers yourself – and that's possible in this modular cooling pad from Cooler Master.
Modular means the fans can be moved anywhere on the cooling pad, to exactly where you need the air to be delivered to your laptop. The MasterNotepal manufacturer also has excellent build quality and an aluminum sandblasted surface finish – which can also help with heat dissipation – plus this pad can be mounted in five different directions.
There are other benefits such as superior cabling, a USB hub connection and removable stoppers (to prevent the laptop from any danger of slipping off the stand). However, the downside to this top-of-the-range cooler master product is that it's not cheap, but for those who really want to fully customize their pads to suit their laptop, it might be worth the cost.
Another thing to remember here is that the stock seems to be pretty thin on the ground now, like this product for a while: so if you want one, you might have to move relatively quickly.
If you want a very affordable laptop heatsink solution, well, here it is. The Wood New Bi product works with four 110mm variable speed fans (blue LED lights get dimmer as you turn the speed down - you can rotate two fans if you want).
This unit is nicely priced, pretty quiet and provides a good amount (respectively variable) of cooling, and it can be lifted up on its back for what the makers claim is a more ergonomic typing angle (and improved cooling, with airflow underneath, certainly).
The downside is only one height setting, and that might be touch-cool for some. As you have probably seen elsewhere on this page, most products offer a wide range of different heights.
So far, that hasn't stopped Wood's new Bee Cooling Pad from being an excellent choice that strikes a commendable balance between price and performance.
If you want to spend as little as possible on a cooling unit, then TeckNet has a great solution that costs as little as you'll find anywhere - and you're still getting a decent product.
The H8 comes with a trio of 118mm cooling fans that provide decent levels of cooling, plus the device benefits from an extremely thin and portable design, too. It has legs that can be extended to lift it up, and a USB port for connecting an additional device (an N8 analog is connected and powered via USB, btw).
Build quality may not be the best, but the N8 is impressively quiet and quite simply does the job and does it really cheaply.
If you want a cooling pad that's perfectly portable to carry around with you, then the X-thin is the way to go. It measures only 27.5mm at its thinnest point and it is very light with a weight of 700g.
There are other products that come close to this level of portability - Havit's 12-inch joystick for a 17-inch laptop cooler, for example - but the cooler master's effort gets the go-ahead because of its build quality. It's also capable of handling laptops up to 17 inches in size, and a single 160mm fan offers excellent air circulation, keeping things quiet. X-thin benefits from the Nifty cable management, too, to keep things tidy and also portable.
And son x-thin compact neat, if you want a truly portable accessory to keep your laptop cool, check out our latest entry below.
So we decided to create some kind of fallback at the end, because while it's not a laptop cooling pad per se it's a fan accessory that does a similar thing (albeit through sucking rather than blowing air). And for those who want a truly portable solution, this is a truly compact case, while it's obvious that any laptop cooling pad isn't small considering they are all (inevitably) laptop-sized.
Note that there is a significant caveat here: your laptop will need a vent on the side or back for one of these devices to be attached. If you only have vents at the base of your laptop, then we're afraid you're out of luck as far as these products go.
As mentioned, rather than blowing air into the laptop to cool it down, the idea with the so-called 'vacuum cooler' is that they suck in air, but this has the same cooling effect. Some even claim that it's more efficient than a traditional cooling pad, but either way, you get the job done as you choose a good product from the available solutions out there.
And in this case, our recommendation is the Klim Cold, a very efficient cooler that comes with a selection of different nozzles, so you're covered no matter the size of the device's air vent. It also measures the temperature inside your laptop and automatically adjusts the fan speeds 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 chance to see how it performs with your laptop. An added bonus is that it's not an expensive accessory either, dropping in price to more affordable cooling pads.
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