Laptop mounts for vehicles?

[mike scantlin]

i burnt up the soundcard on my girls laptop buy just setting it in the seat. it got pretty toasty a few times, didnt think anything of it. she got on it to listen to some music, got pissed at me, and now im buying a new soundcard. buy a cooling pad, or allow ventilation. its a good call.

 

[John Diel]

Using a purpose built laptop desk, usually, will prevent most overheating. They generally don't block the ventilation ports. Setting one on a seat, or on a "throw pillow" (Oh yeah, I liked that one) will cover up or block the airflow needed to keep the CPU and other components at working temperatures.

Most laptops tend to get a little warm to begin with. everything is very close together and there's little room for air movement across the CPU, Mobo and associated components. So, as the energy is consumed by the CPU under load and other parts, they produce heat. Heat for CPU's is not a good thing. We all know this. It's even worse in the smaller, more compact Laptops.

Here's a few things I've always tried to do.

Keep the darn thing out of the sun! I have a regular towel that I place over mine and it's keep it out of direct sunlight.

Don't turn it on until the inside temp. matches outdoor temp. Even in a hot environment, laptops do pretty well.

Take care to blow out dust on a weekely basis. Anything that gets in to clog up the air flow hurts. I had an older Dell Laptop that I used for GPS and I left it pretty much in the truck 24/7. Never had a problem out of it's operation except when I didn't blow it out for almost 3 weeks.

That's about all I did.

 

[jason kissam]

i bought a cooling pad last night and ran my laptop for longer then i normally do, it worked very well. now the trick is to test it out when i finish my mount in the truck.

 

[John Erwin]

I haven't found a need for any extra cooling yet. Both my older Compaq and my Toshiba run at about the same temp in the car as they do indoors. I think it's prudent to pay attention on where the intake and exhaust ports are on your latop to ensure that neither is restricted in any way.

I do the same as David and aim one of the vents towards the laptop mount which I assume helps quite a bit too. John Diel brings up a good point on cleanliness; I blow out and vacuum my laptops on a regular basis.