I am asking about the effectiveness of these:
And/or add-on cooling fans like these:
Should cheap ones be bought or are expensive ones are the way to go?
Solution:
(I’ll try not to make any specific product recommendations because this is, for one, based on my limited experience and second, against the rules?)
As far as I know, most laptops have air intake on the bottom and exhaust in the back. So it makes sense that providing a bit of elevation to the laptop so that it can suck air better (as opposed to putting it on something like a tablecloth – I initially used some “feet” here… they are pretty “cool” – I’ll leave it at that) as well and/or additional airflow (via a cooling pad) helps.
I now use a “cheap” cooling pad (was about $25?) and it uses a 140mm fan. It helps noticeably (GPU heat was my main problem – big surprise with laptops,huh – now it is a few degrees Celsius cooler with all other things staying the same). So even a “cheap” pad can help.
Make sure you check the location of your laptop’s intake fans and if you decide to get a pad, it:a) does not block those fans (most don’t as they are mesh plastic/metal)
b) its own fan contributes somehow to that intake, though more cool air just blowing on the overall bottom can help.