What is the best way to cool down a hot laptop?

First, check the heatsink/fan assembly – you will probably have to take the keyboard off to check it. If the laptop gets a lot of use, is used in a dusty environment, and/or is more than a couple years old, lint and dust can accumulate and block the cooling heat sink/fan.

You may be able to find instructions on how to remove the keyboard for your laptop on the web.

Make sure you have the right sized screwdrivers – you don’t want to strip the head on the screws using the wrong sized (too small) screw driver – I’ve done that and it was a pain to get the stripped head screw out. Put the screws in a small baggy or tiny box so you don’t lose them! If the screws are different sizes, make careful note which ones go where.

You’ll also need a can of air – aka “cleaning duster” to blast the dust out of the heat sink. Do the cleaning OUTSIDE and don’t put your face too close or you’ll get a face full of dust!

Hold the fan gently to keep it from spinning (sometimes I have to use a toothpick in the blades to keep from spinning if the fan is awkwardly placed or covered up). Use short blasts to force air in though the fan blades out the back (or sides) of the laptop depending on what type of heatsink you have. Move the fan blades a little to expose more dirty blades and blast some more.

While still holding the fan in place, blast the canned air through the heat exhaust vents *into* the laptop. If necessary, use a flash light pointing outward though the fan to the back/side of the laptop and look through the vents to see the inside of the heatsink. At this time also rotate the fan blades and check for any “dust bunnies” of lint caught in the fan blades. In really badly clogged systems, I’ve pulled out a chunk of lint that 3/4 inches long by 1/4 inch high and just over 1/8 inch thick!

Re-assemble carefully. I usually try to turn the laptop on BEFORE putting in the screws just inc ase I didn’t seat the keyboard ribbon cable properly. Sometimes you have to replace the palm rest which may have it’s own ribbon cable for the palm rest.

Okay, if your laptop still runs hot, you can look into buying a cooling pad. You can web search for laptop cooling pad or check Amazon.

They come in different sizes so make sure to check the dimensions and read the purchaser feedback if available. Most of the ones I saw use the USB port for power to drive the external fans. Obviously you don’t want to use one of these if you’re on battery!

Good luck!

For one thing make sure it is on a hard, flat surface. Once you’ve done that VACUUM the vent with one of your vacuums to extract the dust inside of it (you don’t need to power the laptop off or anything like that). I know this sounds stupid but this is the BEST way for me. The dust is backing up the air from coming out. I’ve had many crashes from overheating while playing games and doing other programs and my computer would reach up in the 80 degrees Celsius but once I vacuumed my vents, it immediately shot down to 18-19 degrees Celsius. It’s amazing. Plus it costs NOTHING You can download a program that controls your fans and tells you the temperature of your computer here –> http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/index.html Good luck

The best way is always use laptops at cool places like in air conditioned room or room cooler.