My Piece of Filth Computer

[SpunGirl]

So I want to know what I should do about my POS computer. It's a Dell l, and yes, I know, those aren't like THE BEST COMPUTERS EVAR but a) laptop is non-negotiable for me and b) this particular dell laptop happened to be free, purchased by my Dad.

The problem is that the fucker overheats ALL THE DAMN TIME. I want to know what stupid moron decided that air vents for a laptop should go on the BOTTOM of the computer instead of on the side, like my husband's much cheaper computer that never overheats. I've tried propping it up with a book and all kinds of other shit, everything short of putting a ziploc baggie of ice underneath the bit that gets hot enough to cook a fuckin' egg on.

I still have like 60 days left on my warranty; will they do anything useful about it? Or is this just shitty design and what I get for having a dell?

K

[Nieninque]

http://www.nextag.com/Antec-USB-Notebook-Cooler-57776597/prices-html

[Bobmuhthol]

They can't do anything about it.

But are you sure the fans are assigned to a suitable RPM before it gets too hot? ...laptops do have fans, right? I never use them.

[Stanley Burrell]

My Dell Inspiron melted shit it was situated ontop of.

Um. Open window and air conditioning. Otherwise, buy a larger laptop by screen size just based on the amount of air cooling that'll happen by not being a trendy micro-nano-alto-teensy weensy piece of overheating microscopic shit.

You could get a fan from Alienware too.

[Landrion]

http://www.laplogic.com/current/html/products/lappads/what-is-hot.html

http://www.laplogic.com/current/html/products/lappads/guardian-overview.html

This looks to have been designed with your problem in mind. Looks like itll cost you 35 to 55 bucks (depending on what their shipping cost is).


http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Id=3708109&JRSource=googlebase.datafeed.TAR+PA248U

This one too.

[Asha]

My old laptop was the same, I had to put a room fan on full blast aimed at the intake whenever I had to run scripts on GS becouse for some reason they always set the internal fan going crazy.
Then eventually the wires and circuitry inside became filthy with dust fed in by the extra fan and it became unusable.

Chances are your fan might have been fine at one point. But they get so crudded up so fast you need to send it back to have a replacement put in.
Until then, to survive.. keep using it only on flat, clean surfaces. Don't run scripts for long in GS if you still play and look for a new laptop.

[Gan]

I've had two dell laptops and they were insanely hot. They have a fan underneath that pushes the air out the side and or back vent. Its the most retarded idea for a passthrough cooling system I've seen considering that most laptops are used in 'laps'.

Go get you a laptop cooling pad that has extra fans and plugs into your USB. The laptop sits on it therefore doesnt absorb your own body heat and is thus able to dissapate more heat through the extra channeled air underneath.

http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/T22-2109-main.jpg

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2119012&CatId=607

This is the exact model I used and it worked well. There are many other types that can be found at your local Best Buy, Frys, CompUSA, etc...

[SpunGirl]

Thanks, guys. I should maybe send the bill for that stuff to Dell.

You'd think people that design computers for a LIVING could grasp something that people who are compu-tarded, like me, can understand fairly easily.

-K

[Bobmuhthol]

Download SpeedFan, hope it works, and review your fan speed before having to spend money on a preventable issue.

[Landrion]

Thanks, guys. I should maybe send the bill for that stuff to Dell.

You'd think people that design computers for a LIVING could grasp something that people who are compu-tarded, like me, can understand fairly easily.

-K

I would suspect that it was not a lack of knowledge that made this happen, but a bean-counting decision that placed your comfort behind their profit. A decision I hope you fully repay to them in lacking customer loyalty.

[Gan]

Download SpeedFan, hope it works, and review your fan speed before having to spend money on a preventable issue.


I used speedfan on my inspiron and lattitude and even at overriding all triggers it didnt help much, simply because the fan on the bottom requires free space in order to draw air into the unit.

[Faent]

Clean out your heatsink?

[Faent]

Also, if you get one of those little fan pads to set underneath your laptop, make sure it cooperates with your laptop's fans. So if the fans on the bottom of your laptop suck air in and vent it to the side, you need a fan pad that will blow air out. You don't want to be working against your laptops fan. If you intake *and* vent through the bottom, you're screwed. An ordinary desk fan or something might push air through your computer too. It just depends where your vents are.

[GuildRat]

Pull the bottom of the laptop...a few screws...and clean the dust out of the fan and fan fins....AND...if you can...get a second fan installed...my HP is the bomb with 2 fans.

[Stanley Burrell]

I would suspect that it was not a lack of knowledge that made this happen, but a bean-counting decision that placed your comfort behind their profit. A decision I hope you fully repay to them in lacking customer loyalty.

:yeahthat:

[Skirmisher]

Those fans like Nien posted work pretty well in my experience, can move with you to your next machine and are rather inexpensive.

[Keller]

The especially retarded thing about Dell Inspirons is that the video card is on the OPPOSITE side of the unit from the fan-ports. If you notice, the fan is on the left and all the heat is on the right. The heat is the video card.

[Gan]

The hottest part of my Dell laptop was the hard drive right under the left handrest. And they wondered why I went through 3 hard drives on that unit. (idiots)

[Tea & Strumpets]

I had the same problem with a Toshiba laptop. I tried the ones that Nien and Ganalon linked, and I would say don't waste your money. They did absolutely nothing, and I mean literally, they had zero effect on cooling the laptop.

The only one I found that worked, was this one that plugs into your USB port, and can be moved to wherever you need it (flexible). If your normal fan is on the bottom of your laptop, and has no vents on the side, you'd probably have to prop your computer on something, though...

I eventually bit the bullet and just bought a new one.

http://us.kensington.com/html/4766.html

[Gan]

I totally dont understand how the link you posted ^^^ can cool a laptop effectively. (You know we're discussing cooling down the lap top, not the user right?)

http://images.acco.com/KENSINGTON/K62648F/K62648F-3640.jpg

http://images.acco.com/KENSINGTON/K62648F/K62648F-3640.jpg

The previous ones linked were USB powered and put underneath your laptop, where most of the heat collects. The one I linked had two rubber bumpers that rested between the fan top and the bottom of the laptop. The fans themselves drew air from between the laptop and the cooling platform and pushed it out through the hollow inside of the platform. This pulled in cooler air for the CPU fan to draw through the heat sink and push out the side. The other positive benefit from the units previously linked is the fact that it put something between your lap and the laptop, thus protecting yourself from crotch/lap burn and at the same time, preventing heat collection from your body heat and the CPU heat. It also allows for a greater space for air to convect underneath the laptop for further heat dissipation.

[Sean of the Thread]

I had the same problem with a Toshiba laptop. I tried the ones that Nien and Ganalon linked, and I would say don't waste your money. They did absolutely nothing, and I mean literally, they had zero effect on cooling the laptop.

The only one I found that worked, was this one that plugs into your USB port, and can be moved to wherever you need it (flexible). If your normal fan is on the bottom of your laptop, and has no vents on the side, you'd probably have to prop your computer on something, though...

I eventually bit the bullet and just bought a new one.

http://us.kensington.com/html/4766.html


Man my toshiba always overheated. Glad I sold it and made it someone elses problem.

[Tea & Strumpets]

I totally dont understand how the link you posted ^^^ can cool a laptop effectively. (You know we're discussing cooling down the lap top, not the user right?)


Well on my laptop, the hot portion was right where the (internal) fan was, but my fan just wasn't doing enough. When I used the one that you linked, it did nothing. The fans on that thing barely move. When I put my hand over the fan's output, you could barely feel the air stir. I actually didn't try the one that Nien linked, and on a second look that one may be significantly different.

The reason the one that I linked worked for me, is that it actually is a fan and moves the air with some force behind it. I usually had my laptop on something similar to this:

http://www.google.com/product_image?q=http://www.inventorysource.com/images/dh/DHVT14

So it was easy to just point that fan at the hot spot, and it worked great as a temporary fix.