July 9, 2010 - The Belkin Laptop Cooling Pad is an inexpensive, effective way to keep your laptop from overheating. The F5L055 model is an improvement on Belkin's previous Cooling Pad model, redesigned with a wave shape for better cooling and quieter operation.
I received the Belkin Cooling Pad for review a few weeks ago -- just in time to test during a heat wave in my area. Active cooling pads like this one, that have one or more fans, are essential laptop accessories in hot environments.
My first impression of the Cooling Pad was that it had a nice aerodynamic design, but is a bit on the large side (since it is meant to accommodate laptops up to 15.4" and I was testing on a 12" laptop). It is basically one sturdy piece with grips for the laptop on top; an attached, somewhat short, USB cable to power the fan through your computer's USB port; and an "AirFlow Wing" (like a stationary kickstand) that props the laptop up at a very gentle angle.
The Cooling Pad also has a unique wave shape -- an example of smart engineering, since the curved bottom creates room between the bottom of the laptop and the cooling pad, maximizing circulation. The AirFlow Wing is also designed to pull air in to the bottom of the cooling pad, while the fan pushes the hot air out. You can actually feel the air flowing out the sides of the Belkin Cooling Pad during use.
Belkin asserts that the Cooling Pad out-cools other cooling pads, based on independent third-party testing of cooling performance between the Belkin Cooling Pad and top cooling-pad products (in terms of market share) done by NTS Testing and Engineering Services in October 2009. While I'm not sure what other cooling-pad products the Belkin Cooling Pad was tested against, in my testing, the Belkin Cooling Pad significantly lowered the temperature of my laptop (by about 20%) versus using a vented laptop stand without a fan.
The one-fan design helps keep the price of the laptop cooling pad down, saves energy, and offers quieter operation compared to two- or even three-fan laptop cooling pads. While the Belkin Cooling Pad is relatively quiet for the most part, the one I tested had an odd issue where if the laptop was situated a certain way or I inadvertently pressed down on the laptop palmrest, the fan would make an alarming grating sound. Although using the cooling pad in my lap was in general pretty comfortable, if the device was tilted a little bit, the grating noise would also show up.
Other than the occasional grating sound and the fact that the sloped design of the cooling pad makes it take up more room (and possible not fit) in a laptop bag, the Belkin Cooling Pad does its job well. I found that my often-hot laptop performed consistently more reliably when used with this cooling pad.
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