I am writing this on my Dell Inspiron 8600 with an external hard drive attached. It is on a stand that slides under my bed and works similar to the food trays in a hospital. Yup, me and my two little dogs are in the sack, with lots of pillows, TV, surround sound, and popcorn.

All of the above is pretty normal, right? Please say it’s normal! There is one thing out of the ordinary. I am using a Targus Notebook Chill Mat. I discovered this wonderful device about 2 years ago. At first I thought it was just another case of my wanting something that no one else had. But picture my surprise! This small device serves a very useful purpose.

It is made from a reasonably hard plastic, silver in color. It has two rubber tips on it to keep a laptop from slipping, and of course the most important items, two fans. It has a plug in on the left hand side and an AC adapter with a plug. When this device is plugged in the fans rotate. Yes, I know, this is all very scientific. But in a world where everything seems to be getting more and more complicated, this simple device does exactly what it is meant to do. It keeps your laptop cooler. There are also some fan devices out there that plug into your USB ports, but I prefer to keep my laptop ports free for other uses. If you are very portable with your laptop, the USB port configuration makes more sense than the plug in variety.

I have noticed that the internal fan in my laptop rarely comes on. When it does it is for a short duration. When I run the laptop without the Chill Mat, the internal fan goes on and off constantly. In my mind that sure seemed like a lot of wear and tear. I have been sitting here for two hours now and the internal fan has come on twice, each time for approximately 30 seconds. Common sense tells me the fan will last longer than it would if I did not cool the laptop externally.

Since I purchased this device for a grand total of $20.00, I have had to spray a small amount of WD-40 into the sides of the fans due to noise. Each time the noise has stopped. I imagine there are bearings in there that may begin to make some noise as time marches on. I have more than gotten my money’s worth and I cannot imagine ever using a laptop without such a device.

If you have never used one, give it a try. There are many different kinds, not just the one that I use. Some are designed more as spacers to prevent the heat from the laptop from burning your lap. The air flow would also cause at least some cooling. For my money, the Targus Chill Mat is a great idea. Give it a try if you have an extra $20.00. It can be found on the Targus Web site and there are a variety of cooling devices at TigerDirect. Another place to go is CompUSA.

[tags]fan,connie devine,targus notebook chill mat,laptop care,cooling[/tags]