Antec, Targus cooler or iLap?

hi, i bought a MBP a few days ago and realized my MBP gets so hot right below the screen.
so i've been looking for notebook coolers with fans and found the iLap.
That didn't have any fans, but it is made of aluminum, which would help to reduce the heat temp. And right now, I have Antec notebook cooler right next to me, which is my friend's, and I found a problem. First, MBP has very, I mean VERY, flat bottom surface, which covers all the holes right above the fans. That makes the fans spin harder to inhale the air, eventually making louder noise. Second, it is very hard to connect USB power into the USB port right next to the AC power port. However, I saw people in this discussions using it fine and recommending it. Am I only one having those problems? And bringing up the Targus Chill Hub with 4 USB ports, it works fine. However, using Targus cooler with fans and using iLap without fans don't have any differences on the issue of reducing heat, there's no reason to choose the fan cooler, which makes fan noise. What I care about is the temp. The comfortability is the next thing. So guys, what do you think? Can you guys give me some help with this Cooler thing? If you think iLap won't help to reduce the heat and know other good notebook cooler, please let me know. I'll appreciate your help.

I have Antec and iLap. Antec really cools the MBP a lot if you use it on the "Hi" setting. The iLap comes with little rubbery feet to put on the MBP which keeps it from sliding and also lifts it up a little. If you don't have the iLap you can get the little rubber feet at iFixit.com.
If you're just going for cool I would recommend the Antec.
Macbook, Macbook Pro 17", Powerbook G4, PowerMac Dual Core

Similar Messages

Antec Notebook Cooler or iLap

So, the heat coming from my MBP has forced me to make a decision. I need a cooler of some sort. I have been looking at getting a Antec Notebook Cooler with the two fans in it because that looks promising and isn't a bad deal. But I've seen on here many people talking about iLaps for their MBP's. However, they are quite a bit more to pay. My question is should I get the Antec Notebook Cooler (or another type with fans in it) or get the iLap? I will probably be using either in a dorm room most of the time so I won't need to take it anywhere too often so portability isn't really an issue I'm just wondering if it's worth the extra money to get the iLap or are the fanned coolers any better?

Definitely pass on the Titan - mine looked nice but the fans died after a few weeks. Also a raised, jagged Titian logo on the top surface that will carve the bottom of your MBP up badly - I noticed it before it scratched mine up and taped over it but come on Titan, great idea to put your name in razor-sharp, raised aluminum lettering right on top.
The USB ports inisde also came loose - held by one small screw just driven into plastic - meaning no real screw socket or threaded hole for it. Fan speed knob was also loose when I shipped it back to NewEgg for a full refund.
What a piece of badly overpriced junk.
The iLap is MUCH MUCH easier and practical to use - keeps my MBP cooler than the fans ever did and I can use the MBP anywhere with no problems. I got one for both the 15.4 and 17".
17" & 15.4" Mac Book Pro Mac OS X (10.4.6) 2.16 GHz

Best notebook cooler?

I was considering buying a notebook cooler for my white Macbook (non-pro). I've already looked at the iLap, and it's out of my price range, so I'd like suggestions other than the iLap.
I was considering getting the Antec Notebook Cooler (Pearl). I have a few questions about it, so here goes:
-Does anyone have any experience with this cooler? What are the pros/cons about it?
-I read a review saying that it ***** air from the bottom of the notebook and transfers it out to the back and side of the cooler. Does this interfere with the Macbook's fan?
-Where is the Macbook fan anyways, and how does it work? -Another question I had was whether or not the Antec Notebook Cooler scratches the Macbook (because of the holes on the top).
If anyone could answer those questions (or offer a better notebook cooler), it would be much appreciated. Thanks!
2.0 white macbook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Try the SMC update: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macbooksmcfirmwareupdate.html
I installed it on mine, it works great. Mine now runs at 45-55 degrees Celsius. At idle it runs at 35-45 degrees, depending on external conditions. And if it goes above 65 degrees the fans quickly cool the machine down.
The SMC update causes the fans to fun more constantly at a very low speed. You can only hear the fans if you have you ear right up to the machine. It just like the SMC update for the Macbook Pro, that too did wonders for Macbook Pro Users. You will see greater results after leaving it off for a night (because the computer is hot from the old SMC). I was shocked this morning when it was reporting a temperature of 29 degrees.
Yes you can run the machine on your lap, without burning yourself. I still won’t recommend it. When I bought my first notebook, HP and all my friends who were Computer Techs warned me not too put it on my lap. Because it cuts down on airflow and your computer will get hot again, but not the like it did before. More importantly when the machine is on your lap, it causes far too much movement, which is damaging to your Hard Drive; movement and heat are the death sentence of a Hard Drive.
Another plus, it increases your maximum volume and gets rid of the “moo.”

Best cooling pad for Macbook pro 15" with retina (2013)?

Hi,
I have a Macbook pro 15" with retina display, bought in 2013 and I started playing Starcraft on the machine. It becomes extremely hot, almost unbearable to touch and after searching online, I've been told that overheating of macs is relatively common. It is also extremely noisy. Firstly, is this something that I should be worried about, i.e. is it normal? (it is still under warranty) Also, I was looking to get a cooling pad- which one would you recommend? I couldn't find many macbook pro w/ retina display specific ones, so I thought maybe a generic laptop cooling pad?
There are so many to choose from and I don't know where to start! Perhaps the Cooler Master NotePal X3?
Thank you for your help!

is it normal?
Is the game rated for the GPU on the Mac (look at the game's specs)? If not, then I would not run it on that Mac.
If it is rated for the GPU on the Mac, then no, it is not normal, and I would have the machine looked at, after running the hardware test that came with it.
See my tip about MacBook Pro heat:
kmb kmbp: How to deal with MacBook Pro and MacBook heat?
The GPU is the Graphics Processor Unit.
A cooling pad might help, but it might also mask a more serious problem. I've used this cooler on Powerbooks before:
http://www.amazon.com/Antec-Notebook-Cooler-USB-Powered/dp/B0000BVYTV
But only outside warranty. Mind you, because of the heat, sometimes some of the darker markings on the edge of the cooler and come off on the bottom of the notebook. Hence why I would only use it outside of warranty, since such marks may make the AppleCare representative think you might have done something to damage it.

Lapinator cooling pad

I use my powerboook on my lap all the time and I'm pretty sure its causing me to go sterile (slight sarcasm).
I came across the Lapinator that looks very interesting:
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/lapinatorlaptop_deskreview
Does anybody have an experience with this? Looks perfect for my application.

I am using this one:
http://www.staples.com/Targus-Chill-Mat-XC-for-Laptops/product_857849?cmArea=SEARCH
It plugs into a USB port and has 4 additional USB ports and 2 fans. It's pretty big and should fit your 17". You can get it at any of the local stores like Staples, Office Depot, Best Buy, etc.
The Targus cools my laptop by a few degrees but I actually got better results by just propping up the back of the laptop with a sturdy book. And with the Targus blowing air at my laptop the vents get dusty more often so I clean out the vents with compressed air every two weeks or so.

Cooling pad for HP Dv7 4020sa (17'')

Hey everyone,
What cooling pad would you recommend to buy for a HP Dv7 4020sa (17'') for endlessly long gaming sessions?
Thanks,
J

I am using this one:
http://www.staples.com/Targus-Chill-Mat-XC-for-Laptops/product_857849?cmArea=SEARCH
It plugs into a USB port and has 4 additional USB ports and 2 fans. It's pretty big and should fit your 17". You can get it at any of the local stores like Staples, Office Depot, Best Buy, etc.
The Targus cools my laptop by a few degrees but I actually got better results by just propping up the back of the laptop with a sturdy book. And with the Targus blowing air at my laptop the vents get dusty more often so I clean out the vents with compressed air every two weeks or so.

Best cooler for MBP?

whats the best cooler (powered or not) for the MBP?

I use this...
Antec Notebook Cooler
I dont know if its the "best"
MacBook Pro 2.16 120GB HD 2GB Ram Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Am I stupid to buy the cooling pad?

I bought a Targus cooling pad for my laptop, it go two noisy whirling fans. Should I grin and bear it because it's good for my laptop or should I toss it aside because it's driving me crazy?

The thermal pads work great to cool and block heat transfer.
I also recommend the Shaggymac screen protector and cleaning kit. Very high quality stuff. My new UniBody MacBook Pro 15.4" is happy.
http://www.shaggymac.com

An affair with a black MacBook...

Got my 2nd MacBook earlier today and having used it for the last 7 hours, here's some of my thoughts about it...
I checked it out at the store for a few minutes, never really spent much time as I was set on the white MacBook but when I took it out of the gray cloth-like covering I quickly changed my mind, the black finish was really nice!
Fit and finish was the same as my white MacBook which is great, no complaints whatsoever. Screen checks out fine, no dead or stuck pixel that I can see.
I run /dev/null for about 25 minutes to see what temp it will go up to and it's nice to report that CoreDuoTemp shows that the temp went all the way up to 84 and the fan blasted full speed which brought down the temp to 77 then hovered at 80-81.
I listened carefully to the "moo" sound from 66-70 degrees (tried it like 5 times) and no "moo" whatsoever.
No whine either and the temp is basically same as my white MacBook. Idle's at around 48-50 degrees, with the Antec Laptop Cooler, it even goes further down 4-5 degrees.
Now, the only thing I have done so far is WIPE the system and re-installed the OS from scratch (don't ask, it's just how I am). If anyone who are having "moo" and "whining" issue would like to voluteer to see if they re-install the OS from scratch if it makes any difference? Same with the heat issue too.
I love everything about the black MacBook as with my white one but the black one is just sexy!!! though the love affair started fading away towards the end of the night as I quickly noticed finger prints all over where as my white one doesn't show any at all and I haven't even wiped it down since purchasing it Tuesday last week from the Apple store.
-Imola
ps. I setup another Ichat account so I can test video conference with my self with both laptops... that was more fun than Photobooth!!!
Side by side pic
"I'm too sexy for you!!!"
Oily prints showing up on the trackpad.. yipes!
Macbook 2.0 ghz with 2GB Ram Mac OS X (10.4.6) PowerEdge Server, IBM T43 Laptop/Dell 2405FP

When the MacBooks first came out I immediately went to my Apple Store to check em' out. They only had a white one on display and I thought that was awesome! After playing with it a bit, I knew I had to have one but waited.
Today...I had a chance to go back and they had a BLACK MACBOOK next to the white one. So I messed around on the black one awhile and even asked an Apple Rep to pop in a DVD MOVIE.
WELL.....I started pulling my hair out trying to decide because...against all odds...I really got attached to the black MacBook but I also remember reading this thread before I went and realized I really wanted both. But like others, I can't afford 2 of them.
Meanwhile....as I played around a gentleman checking out the white one next to me had no idea how OSX worked and I helped him out showing him things. A few minutes later he told...."Well I don't need one but I want one."
Next thing I know he tells the Rep to get him a WHITE MACBOOK! I will be buying one next week but I've decided that I DO like the BLACK MATTE MACBOOK!
The smudges and fingerprints were not near as bad as many people claim them to be. I'M SO GLAD I HAVE AN APPLE STORE NEARBY!

HEAT = Intermittent freezing or complete crash requiring a hard reboot

I have a stock Macbook Air 1.6ghz with the hard drive and I'm on my second machine. Both have done the same thing leading me to believe there is a serious defect in the Macbook Air. What happens is that after about a half hour of using the machine and running it with some apps like Parallels, video, whatever, it will get really hot. Especially in the upper left region of the computer. It feels hot to the point that you can't really hold on to it as it's too uncomfortable.
iStat claims the case temperature is: 108 degrees fahrenheit. This is prior to it getting really slow and crashing, since I can't really get to iStat when that happens anyway. The whole process of the Macbook Air getting to this point seems to correlate with using the disk and pushing the CPU. What always seems to be true is that the upper left region of the base of the computer is really hot.
The intermittent freezing is quite annoying as the trackpad will completely become non-responsive and you can't type or do anything. Although if a USB mouse is plugged in you can move that and it will move the mouse cursor on the screen, but clicking or doing anything doesn't work. One time we were in a video chat through iChat and it worked fine for about 20 minutes or so and then suddenly started doing the intermittent freezing. The video and audio would freeze, then it would suddenly come back and play the missed portion in fast forward or just skip it altogether.
So my question is how do we get this fixed, I love my Macbook Air, but being able to actually use it is even more important. The minute I try to do anything more compute intensive it just seems to seize up and die. From my experience and reading about other peoples experiences this appears to be a fundamental defect in the Macbook Air. I would like to actually get some support for this instead of the usual we don't know anything about it and blah, blah. Hopefully Apple will just own up to it and work to quickly fix it.

Yes I've considered what I do on the machine, and no it doesn't matter what I'm doing specifically. What does seem to matter is whether what I'm doing is taxing the machine. If I'm compiling software, running a video, running Parallels with Windows, copying large files, etc. then it will cause the machine to heat up and then start failing. I don't have to do very many things at the same time either, if I watch a video on it and compile some software it will heat it up and cause it to start failing. It seems to be a combination of using the processor and hard drive to where it can't handle things.
Right now for example I'm doing a Macports port install of Apache 2 and then typing this message into Safari. That's it. The machine is right now at 113 degrees F according to iStat. That seems to be the magic temperature where at that level and up it starts failing. It's hot enough that touching it is too uncomfortable. It's sitting on a Targus cool pad, clear open access for the vents below. It's simply not designed properly to handle doing anything that pushes the hardware, in my opinion and from my experience with it. I do really like the form factor though so I wish it did work properly. I'm writing about my experiences with it so hopefully Apple will pick up on what users are experiencing and fix the design of the machine. Clearly it has design issues.
The other thing that bothers me about the Macbook Air is that everyone acts like the users are somehow causing the problem. Things like oh you are blocking the fans and putting it on your lap, or you set it on something that causes it to heat up, or it's the software you are using. Well I've got news for you, these things should work in those environments, it shouldn't be a problem to put the thing on my lap, if I wanted a computer that I could only put on a table or something similar I would have just stuck with my Macbook Pro or bought an iMac. This thing is built to carry around and throw on your lap to get stuff done. At least that's why I wanted it.
I guess for now I'll just have to use it for only 20 - 30 minutes at a time and give it breaks to cool down, ugh!

HP dv6500z Notebook: Power brick gets hot, HD area gets warm.

Hi:
I have an HP dv6500z notebook.
Is it normal for the power brick (suppy) to get hot ?
By hot, I mean that it is warmer than "warm".
You wouldn't want to keep you hand/fingers on it for a long time.
Similary for the Hard-Drive area and other area on the front of the notebook:
i.e., the areas to the left and right of the trackpad.
These two areas were warmer when I had the notebook sitting on top
of one of these Targus "cooler " stands that you place the notbook on:
it has two fans built into it to pull heat away from the notebook.
Thank you
DaleBr

No it is probably the biggest online marketplace for car parts and computer parts and other stuff. Think of it as a huge swapmeet with some retail stores mixed in...virtual of course.

Sleep Freeze

My MBP is not going to sleep when I close the lid. When I open the lid the computer is froze and I have to do a hard reboot. This is a new development. Any thoughts on this?

My wife has a MBP unibody. Freezes all the time. No mouse movement, no beachball, just a total freeze. Used to happen a lot when clamshell-closed with an external monitor. Also happened frequently when she would leave it, screen saver would activate, then fans would be running high but no response.
I've read a LOT of message boards on the issue. It's frequently hard to narrow things down as so many people have different scenarios - Kingston memory (not me), different OS, different machines, external monitors, etc.
Genius Bar did full hardware diagnostics, found nothing. They did an archive-install, still happened.
So I've installed smcFanControl on the suggestion of a few forums and have eliminated all her freezes except 1. I was hoping that with higher fan speeds and a cooler mac that it wouldn't freeze anymore. If it DID freeze, then I'd see the last termperature in the menubar......but I got unlucky. The screen was asleep when it froze. However, that does still lend credibility to the theory that it is temperature related.
As for 10.5.7 and 10.5.6.....sounds like those of you who archived/installed up to 10.5.6 only don't have the problem. We are 10.5.7, and I'm not about to do another archive-install. However, based on the preponderance of the evidence. this sure sounds like 10.5.7 lets the temp get too hot and the things freezes. I'm going to put a targus cooling-pad under her machine as well to see if I can't get her internal fans to run less and keep it cool. HOpefully that will also continue to decrease the freezes.
We as a group of users really have to narrow this down and then get Apple to roger-up and fix the problem. THis is totally unacceptable. I have an original MBP (not the unibody) and it is a road-warrior. It has taken a lickin' and still tickin. I run it with about 2 GB of free hard drive space, it only has 2GB of memory, but it runs like a trooper I'm afraid to upgrade it because it sounds like the upgrade would be a downgrade.

My new rig, sucessfully OC'd!

I built the following rig:
i7-950
12 Gb Corsair DDR3 1600
XFX Radeon 4890
MSI X-58 Pro-E motherboard
Corsair 850 TX Power supply
Intel X-25M 160Gb SSD (G2)
WD Caviar Black 1TB HD
28" Hanns-G LCD (HG281D) Monitor
Samsung DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L with Lightscribe
My goal: A light, safe OC that would give me significantly better performance than the i7-975 (stock).
I ran Prime95's stress test (for many hours) and was able to easily (and stably) achieve this:
Base clock speed set at 160Mhz
CPU speed: 3670.76 MHz (That's a 20% increase over stock that required minimal risk).
These are my temps at FULL load:
CPU: 64' C./147' F.
System: 37' C./98' F.
IOH: 92' C./197' F.
One thing that was interesting to me is that the limiting factor appears to be the IOH temperature. I'm probably not going to go for a higher OC than this, so I don't need to add thermal paste and such to the X58 chip/Northbridge, but I do wonder how much my temps will change when I upgrade my video to a 5870X2 (or 5970) when that comes out... we'll see.

That's exactly what my Pro-E & 950 runs at for everyday, plus Turbo enabled, & power saving all enabled. RAM @ 1600, only 6G though. Your rig should hold up to any app., game, or whatever gets tossed it's way. All should be fine as long as the IOH doesn't exceed 95c on a regular basis. May I suggest using a case side fan, or maybe an Antec Spot Cool directing some extra air flow towards it.

Things looking grim for my PC.....

This morning when i booted up i noticed the system time hadn't been updated (or barely) since switching off last night. thinking nothing of it, I've been playing Tomb Raider Legend today and it's been goiing alright for a while, but then the system locks up, so I press restart - nout happens, and the fans spin widly with the hard disk like glowing full on, pressing reset doesn't help nor does the power button, so I use the switch on the PSU to turn off, and then turn back on again.
Restart, all is well and dandy again - try a game like UT2004, things looking fine, temps all look fine really, if just a little warmer due to it being quite warm in my room today. Then while at the desktop, messing about with the MSI temperature monitor, I think I double clicked it too fast and things locked a little - mouse was still fine but when I tried to open task manager to close the apps I probably just made things worse. Anyway, I press reset, and same thing as before happen - fans full on, hard disk light full on (usually it gives a very slow flicker) and I have to turn off at the back of the PSU again. This time though nothing works, it keeps doing the same thing so I turn it off, take the plug out and open up the case, slight dust but nothing to bad, anyway, I turned the rear fan up one notch (Antec Tri Cool) and put it all back together and started up and it worked again.
My PC Spec is:
AMD Athlon64 3800+ AM2
2GB DDR2 667 MHz RAM
160GB Maxtor IDE
Leadtek GeForce 7900GS
MSI K9N Neo-F 550 MCP
Onboard Realtek ALC883
Antec 380watt
Things I did today include formatting a partition on my drive that had previously unallocated space.... I doubt that is the problem though as It doesn't explain the problem when resetting.
Anyone have any ideas?
I'm guessing it could be anything right now, but I'm slightly suspecting the PSU.... with motherboard a close second, although I can't rule out hard drive or graphics card for causing issues, but it does seem like a PSU/mobo prob to me. I haven't really got anything I can start swapping for testing.
I was hoping it was just down it being a hot day, and with the rear fan turned up a bit more, maybe less hot air will be hovering near the PSU - CPU was only hitting 43C ish though. :/ Voltages reported by the MSI CoreCenter app seemed what they usually are, nothing different in that regards. The system losing the time though (i.e. not moving forward, clock staying at value it was when turned off) seems a bit odd too though, which made me think of the motherboard
However, It's just crashed again at the desktop for no reason - the bar at the top went greyed out, then the mouse pointer still moved, but nothing worked, then it started a long beep - I reset and it's back in window again :/
Then it crashed within two minutes of loading windows, at which point I turned it off and left it off.
When I think about it, i did get a crash 3 days ago while playing Tomb raider legend that resulted in an auto-restart, so maybe the signs were starting to show then.
Thanks in advanced

Cheers for that, i'll just add an update for today:
Ok, it just started behaving really slow in windows, I tried rebooting and it acted all weird on startup, nearly freezing, then the same problem as before with me having to reset the switch on the back.
I noticed on the one bootup I got, MSI CoreCenter app was saying CPU clockspeed 6335Mhz lol
I've just taken one stick of memory out from the second slot, and it's just booted :/
So maybe it is memory afterall. I'll be testing now to see what happens - I haven't got any case side panels on yet, just connected everything up quick and booted it.
I'll try a game and see what happens, if it doesn't crash after a while, it'll mean it's likely the memory. I opened CoD 2 and played that for a few minutes and that was working, straight after the issues, so hopefully it's just the memory. I can live with only 1GB.

Fixing the macbook heat issue

Hi,
There is a fairly simple solution, to at least reduce the risk of damaging your macbook by letting it run at high temps. I bought my 2.0GHz macbook over the weekend, it was idling around 70 - 75 C. Thats a little high in my book.
I put the macbook on the vantec lap2cool laptop cooler that I have for my AMD64 HP laptop. Within about 30 minutes of running, the macbook was running between 42 C (idle) and 60 C (being taxed). Now the vantec is pretty cool, but its a little bulky for the little macbook.
I picked up a targus cooler for about $24 at the local walmart, its keeping it idle around 48 C, and under normal conditions (text mate, iTunes, Firefox, Thunderbird) its running around 54 C. The targus cooler is pretty quiet, slim, but a little cheap. They sell some high-powered solutions on newegg.com with better CFM and higher RPMs.
Now I'm sure a lot of typical mac users are going to have a fit about using a laptop cooler that makes the macbook a little bulker, but its way better than the damage your going to do to the macbook by running it hot on a daily basis!!

Intel processors (at least recent ones) are well known for having heat related issues. AMD processors offer better price/performance with reduced energy consumption and output. My HP zv5000z which is AMD64 based, has two large fans on the base, and kicks off a fair amount of heat exhaust. That however is heat thats NOT in my system. If I use it for games, then I'd be crazy not to have it hooked up to the Vantec Lap2Cool.
Apple in my opinion are taking a bit of a gamble. They've had to trade-off heat issues, performance with keeping the system quiet. To me, kicking the fans in on the macbook is a last ditch attempt to keep the system from keeling over, hence the loud noise (high RPM fans). What Apple is likely gambling over is that most users will run the machines in a "cool place" and the average user won't tax the system. Your business, designer, etc types aren't going to be playing games on it. They are gambling that the system will hold up to the level of heat abuse until the warranty runs out, or you purchase AppleCare. Either way, I assume they don't lose money.
In terms of melting, I seriously doubt you'll see physical melting of the system. What you are more likely to see is heat related damage to electric components (either the processors themselves) or surrounding components, resulting in system failure (or odd issues like display problems, random crashes etc). Lets just say its in the best interest of the health of your system to keep it cool.
The fact that Apple has corrected this on the MacBook Pros with firmware / hardware changes, would suggest there is some teething issues with the move over to Intel, and perhaps a shift in the type of customers buying the macbook.
With the market being so competitive, do you really think Apple is going to say -- "Hey these Macbooks look nice, but they overheat, you need to get Apple Care because they'll fail sooner than expected, and you should buy a laptop cooler to extend the life of the product". This adds what $300.00 to the price of the laptop, thats already slightly higher than lightweight options from vendors such as Dell, HP etc. When you go to the Apple Store and the person working there insists that you should buy Apple Care because the system is going to fail sooner rather than later, that tells you something right there.
Now if a laptop cooler keeps the system running between 43 C and 60 C instead of 60 C and 90 C, then aside from your own comfort with the thing on your lap, keeping the system cool is a good idea. Unless you like to return things to the Apple store?

Antec, Targus cooler or iLap?

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