Laptop cooler or something else?

[Mountain]

Hi.

I got a XPS M1530 Dell laptop a few months ago and the fan's already died . . . I have, unfortunately, been abusing my laptop quite a bit through gaming, so I'm not surprised the fan's broken. I didn't realise until my laptop kept switching off.

I solved the problem by using a normal fan and having it constantly blowing over the laptop when I'm using it and the laptop stopped shutting down. However, the bottom of the laptop over-heats terribly, which has gotten worse with a certain MMORPG that has made the bottom of the laptop practically scalding and the top of the laptop feels warmer then it does with any other game.

I don't have insurance/warranty on my laptop because I had it on a previous laptop and always got it back in the exact same broken condition I left it in . . . Therefore, I can't get the fan replaced, nor am I willing to buy one and replace it myself as I could potentially break my laptop.

Then I heard about laptop coolers by chance when I was looking up laptop fans (I did think about replacing the fan myself at one point. . . ). Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about them but read that they are better than the built in laptop fans as people often get them because the laptop fan is unreliable. Is this true? Would a laptop cooler act as a better cooling device, or is it only useful if the laptop's own fan is functioning too? And if laptop coolers are better, are there any recommendations?

I was considering this one, because it's had good reviews and is inexpensive:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/NEWLink-Lapt...7094807&sr=8-1

Thank you for your time.

[DDY]

You should get the laptop professionally repaired, using an external laptop cooler when the internal fan has broken is a bad idea, you risk damaging the laptop if some part over heats.

External laptop coolers do not create the pressure required over the heat sinks inside the laptop and in turn doesn't provide the correct air flow over other components.

[Powderhound]

You should easily get that sort of thing repaired under warranty if you bought it recently.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't read the whole thing. Ignore me.

[Mountain]

You should get the laptop professionally repaired, using an external laptop cooler when the internal fan has broken is a bad idea, you risk damaging the laptop if some part over heats.

External laptop coolers do not create the pressure required over the heat sinks inside the laptop and in turn doesn't provide the correct air flow over other components.

Is there any particular company/place you would recommend me going to? I'm a Londoner too and I don't mind bringing my laptop to them if it'll mean a same day service. Do you know how much it will roughly cost?

[mrsobvious]

Good news: replacing the processor cooling assembly is a doddle and there are step by step instructions with pictures in the service manual

It's definitely at least worth taking a look as there's hardly any disassembly required. There's a flap that opens for easy access.

A fan and cooling assembly should cost about £17 going on a quick ebay search.

The part number is XR216.

[GoNz0]

you cant get much easier than that, buy a tube of arctic silver ceramique from ebay to use on it to keep the temps lower than using a thermal pad while you at it..

[TheReaFireblade]

I use a set of Cool Feet on my XPS M1730, and they really help keep temps down quite a bit

[Pob255]

A fan and cooling assembly should cost about £17 going on a quick ebay search.

that's a great price on ebay, seeing as dell would probably charge 3 times that much for the same part.

Not sure on the screws used on thoes dell XPS laptops, but you'll probably need a a standard crosshead and a slightly smaller crosshead (PH-1 and PH-0) available at any hardware store.
Although some times they can use stupidly small or odd shaped just to be annoying, check the service manual it should say/look at the screw heads
Laptops are pritty easy to take apart (becareful not to loose the screws ) the hardest part tend to be getting hold of the service manual or trying to figure out which order to take it apart in without one.

I use a set of Cool Feet on my XPS M1730, and they really help keep temps down quite a bit

£10+postage for two rubber feet? here's a cheap option, 2 bottles of wine corks not screw tops, cut the corks in half with a bread knife, hacksaw, stanly knife or simular (just don't do it imediately after drinking both bottles ) hey presto you have 4 laptop raiser feet, place them under the corners makeing sure you're not blocking fan vents and away you go.
Want a slight angle on your laptop? then don't cut them exactly in half and put a slight angle on the cut.
For added stability, secure with double sided tape or bluetac.

It's not rocket science

[mrsobvious]

You may be covered even if you#'re out of warranty. Nvidia were shipping what amounts to faulty graphics parts. They've acknowledged the problem and asked OEM's (eg Dell) to release software updates to lessen the problem (http://support.euro.dell.com/support...&fileid=267480)

You might have a good case for a free out of warranty repair.

Ref: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10...g=2547-1_3-0-5

[Mountain]

Wow, thanks, mrsobvious and everyone else, for taking the time to look all that up/recommend things. Looks promising and inexpenisve too.

And, for the sake of ensuring that I don't inflict anymore damage to my laptop, I'm ready to temporarily give up my pride/dignity and ask a bunch of noob questions

To GoNz0: What's a thermal pad? I opened up my laptop to have a look at the problem (not that I could actually fix anything . . . ) and I really can't tell what it is.

To TheReaFireblade Thank you for the recommendation, but the second reviewer of the product noted that the product wasn't suitable for XPS laptops which is what I have

To Pob255: Couldn't I just use the screws already in the laptop, since the fan will technically be the same and require the same screws?

To mrsobvious I'm not even gonna pretend I understand the fine details of that article, but I gather it's referring to graphic card (or something like that) problems, which I don't have . . . Oh well . . .

When I opened up my laptop I noticed that orangey ring thingy was mostly gone around the fan. Basically, above the (3) on the ebay picture of it it is all black and below it has some of the orangey thing on it still. I'm guessing this is what attracts the heat to the fan, right? Does it make a significant difference?

Thank you again for the help

[GoNz0]

the thermal pad sits between the cpu and the cooler to help transfer the heat, but most laptops have a thermal pad with a thin sheet of metal over it making them removable and reuseable

[TheReaFireblade]

To TheReaFireblade Thank you for the recommendation, but the second reviewer of the product noted that the product wasn't suitable for XPS laptops which is what I have

As I indicated in my post... I have a Dell XPS laptop myself

Quite why anyone would suggest they "do not fit"/they're not suitable for XPS laptops (or any laptop for that matter) is beyond me
The position of the fans makes absolutely no difference whatsoever - since you can stick the feet anywhere - i.e. behind the fans, or to the side of the fans?

[Steven.Michael]

coolfeet is the way to go

[GoNz0]

coolfeet wont help much if the fans borked, thats bad information to give