Slashdot Mirror
Easy, Cheap, Effective Laptop Cooling?
cloudofstrife asks: "I happen to own a laptop that happens to have overheating problems. Frequently during games, the processor will overheat, and the frame rate will drop from over 30 frames per second to under 2 frames per second. Is there a cheap and easy way to prevent my CPU from overheating?"
Honestly, there's no point to more than 2Ghz on a laptop..especially with a P4 or latest AMD chips. Way too hot, and way too much power usage.
Perhaps in your use-model there is no point, but not in mine. For example, I spent over 50% of my time with customers. When I'm in the office, it wouldn't make sense for me to use a different computer. So if I need to run a simulation, offline (from our equipment) protocol decoder, or copy a file (XP jab *grin*) I want my 2GHz. I don't mind only having full power available when I'm on AC.
So just because you don't see a need for something, doesn't mean there isn't one.
Your laptop is clearly defective. Why aren't you returning it?
Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
I take the "Ask Slashdot" stories to be like starting a discussion. Yes, you can probably find the answer in a few seconds yourself, but someone else who's only somewhat bothered by it might become interested and use one of the suggestions.
In this example, perhaps some other reader is getting a little annoyed by his laptop overheating, not but only a little. He doesn't feel like spending any real money on the solution as it's not a major problem. He reads the threads out of boredom and finds some simple or cheap solutions and decides to use them.
There are other examples of a person asking something I'd never even thought of. Reading the story and a few minutes later I'm considering doing something like that myself.
Remember, we're a slashdot community :-) Sometimes asking a question isn't just for personal gain but for group info.