Most laptop users have, at one point or another, had to endure the experience of having heated thighs after using their computers on their laps for a while. This experience is no doubt an unpleasant one, and to many laptop users, it is a major deterrent to using their computers while it is positioned on their laps. It is no secret that the aforementioned experience is because the components of laptops generate heat as they work synchronously to perform their users’ commands.
But because of the increasing importance of laptop use in everyday activities and the fear of damage to a laptop’s hardware by heat, it comes as no surprise that many laptop users, perhaps you are one of them, are frantically shopping for techniques and tools to help their laptops with cooling. One of the tools that have been widely recommended to laptop users is an adjustable laptop stand.
Laptop stands have been in circulation for a while now. Many laptop users employ their services while working on their devices with the assumption that it will help their device one way or the other with cooling. But do laptop stands really help with cooling, as many believe?
Do Laptop Stands Help Cooling?
Cooling is essential for every laptop, and using a laptop stand bolsters your laptop’s ability to cool its heated parts. Laptop stands, if properly used, help with elevating a laptop above any surface that may constitute a hindrance to air circulation at the bottom of the laptop and, in consequence, prevent the laptop from heating to an undesirable level.
Laptop stands make it likely for laptop fans and air vents to achieve success in their attempt to exert their cooling properties on laptops by enhancing the circulation of air beneath the laptop, and this circulation is highly essential for a laptop if it will effectively get rid of some of the heat it generates under the laptop where most of the laptop’s processing circuitry are positioned by manufacturers.
However, a laptop stand does much more than just assist laptop computers with cooling. Most definitely, producers of laptop stands would not expect that laptop users would part with hard-earned dollars for an accessory that offers the ability to help a running laptop with cooling as its only benefit. As far as the benefits of laptop stands are concerned, there are more to them than meets the eye.
Other uses of laptop computer stands
Positioning
Besides enabling your laptop computer to deliver optimum functioning by reducing the amount of heat generated, laptop stands equally help with adjusting the position of your laptop while using it. The benefits of a rightly positioned laptop to its user cannot be overemphasized, and using a laptop stand, which helps you with positioning while working on your laptop, ensure you maximally appropriate these benefits.
A laptop stand helps ensure you assume the appropriate sitting position while working on your laptop, and this would save you from experiencing undue body aches that come with using laptops in a bad sitting position, i.e., you will be shielded against experiencing the unpleasant effects of bad posture that physicians warn against.
Comfort
Using laptop stands ensures comfort while operating one’s gadget is guaranteed. Because you can manipulate the position of your laptop as you desire, using your laptop in any bodily position becomes a possibility. You could be lying on your bed while still using your laptop.
A laptop stand used with a separate keyboard and mouse brings the most comfort for laptop users as the ergonomic properties of the stand are combined with the possibility of operating a laptop in any position with the external input devices without having to strain any part of the body to give comfort. People who use their laptop computers for demanding tasks such as gaming and video editing will find this benefit of laptop stands easier to relate with.
Protection
Because laptop stands ensure you can significantly elevate your gadget while using your laptop on slightly unkempt plain surfaces or desk surfaces where water or spillages are a possibility, it invariably performs the role of protecting your laptop from external agents, such as oil, water, insects, etc., that poses harm to your laptop’s functionality.
Likewise, adjustable ergonomic laptop stands protect your laptop through their ability to keep it cool. A heated laptop risks damage to its hardware, but a laptop with a functioning cooling system is exempted from this risk as much as possible.
Laptop Stands Vs. Cooling Pad
Another popular suggestion to keep a laptop cool while it is running is the use of cooling pads. Like laptop stands, cooling pads have equally been around for some time, and it is popular in many circles of laptop users, especially among gamers. There is no doubt about their cooling properties, as cooling pads are specifically designed for that purpose. As a matter of fact, they help laptop computers with cooling much more than laptop stands do. And for those that can afford it, some laptop stands are fitted with cooling pads to augment the ability of the stand to keep a laptop cool.
However, not everyone has the wherewithal to purchase a laptop stand with an in-built cooling pad. For people who would rather purchase one of the two first, the question of which one to buy first comes knocking at their doors. The answer, by the way, depends on several factors.
As a potential buyer of one of the two, it is important to consider the amount of money you are willing to part with for either of the two before deciding which one to buy. There is nothing bad in acquiring a stand with cooling pads, but if you cannot afford it, you should stick with buying a laptop stand only as it will serve the purpose of cooling your laptop if properly used.
Also, you need to consider what you use your laptop to do before deciding which one of the two is best for you to buy. One who uses his laptop for basic office functions might find the cooling properties of a laptop stand sufficient, while a professional gamer or video editor struggles to believe a laptop stand is helping his gadget in any way.
Hence it is important to consider what you use your laptop for before deciding which one to buy between a laptop stand and a cooling pad. This might hold the key to your satisfaction.
Final Thoughts
When laptops are running, some of their components continually generate heat; this is the norm for most laptops. However, the heat generated could lead to damage to some components of a laptop; hence it must be swiftly and continuously dissipated, and a laptop stand helps in this regard. Needless to say, laptop stands have been shown, through reviews, to be effective at their job of ensuring laptops do not overheat.
The use of a laptop stand is recommended for reasons highlighted above and more. So when next you get the chance to buy an adjustable stand for your laptop computer, do not waste time contemplating; just go for it.
