I love it when low-tech, blunt-force solutions solve everyday problems more effectively than over-engineered, marginally effective products that make all kinds of claims but fail to deliver.I bought this thing because I've been searching for a way to keep my laptop cool while using it for punishing tasks in the summer heat. The options out there are all variations on two themes, and all are equally ineffective:1) Tilted, fanless stands = stand is quiet, laptop cooks, laptop is noisy and uncomfortably hot.2) Stands with fans = stand is noisy, laptop cooks, laptop is noisy and uncomfortably hot.One day, while fantasizing about designing a hollow aluminum laptop tray filled with icewater, I remembered the flexible coldpack I used to use when I injured my shoulder, and it clicked. Then I had two questions to answer:1) does anyone make a laptop-sized coldpack?2) will it keep my laptop cold for a long enough period of time to be useful?Gambling $29 on this product, I'm here to report that, much to the chagrin of my wife, yet another of my crazy schemes has proven successful. This thing kept my laptop cool (not just the absence of heat, but the presence of coolness, see below) for 2.5 hours while running an audio recording session that nearly maxes all 8 cpu's on my macbook, the kind of task that normally has all fans blazing and parts of the computer are too hot to touch.With the laptop sitting on this fat coldpack, I can now run that same session and not only is the computer not hot, it's actually cooler than when it has no coldpack and just sits idle. Bonus: if I put the coldpack/laptop combo in my lap, the computer doesn't slip around and the coldpack keeps *me* cool as well. That's what we call a win-win, with me winning both wins.I'm off to order 2 more of these things, so I can have a full day's worth of chilled, silent computing.Enjoy!-Gregory Scott
Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]