A trend that is appearing in recent years is to reduce the heat generated in the chips and different components for laptops. The objective? Build ever thinner and more aesthetically pleasing computers for people. The consequences? Laptops with much worse cooling systems than we had. Is it a good idea to add an additional fan to the laptop?
The writer of this considers that one of the worst computers in the history of computing was Apple‘s MacBook Air, which brought the problems of Netbooks in terms of performance at conventional laptop prices. A lot of this has happened, but there are many performance problems in many similar models due to lack of proper cooling. On the other hand, many have laptops that once included an optical disc reader, be it DVD or Blu Ray. Well, since this has been deprecated, it’s possibly time to upgrade your PC by improving its cooling.
Is it a good idea to add a fan to our laptop?
As you will understand, we do not need to tell you that this operation cannot be done with an ultra-thin laptop that has dispensed with its reader. Although if you have a computer old enough to have one, then you can do this operation and it is not very different from changing the DVD reader for a hard drive or an SSD. Only this time we won’t need a special adapter for it. And as for the power required to move it, it uses the SATA power connection. There are even models that allow us to add an M.2 SATA SSD like the one you see in the image below.
The idea of having a fan or a group of them in the position of the DVD player so that they can renew the air and maintain the ambient temperature inside the case is an advantage if you have a gaming laptop, since you will get it to work at speeds much faster. higher. It’s still the same cooling mechanism as most modern consoles and it’s all advantages on paper except for an increase in overall noise.
Why no manufacturer has done it?
Of course, not everything is as beautiful as it seems. If the idea has not been carried out by most notebook manufacturers, it is not because of the demand for ultrathin. People who buy a gaming or workstation laptop know that they have to sacrifice aesthetics and portability for performance. Rather it is due to the fact that adding these fans changes the airflow and this is something that can ruin the ventilation of the model.
Oddly enough, these things are taken into account in the industrial design of a new computer with the aim of making it work without problems for as long as possible. Poor cooling in a laptop can have dire consequences that can turn into billions of dollars in losses. There is no doubt that having a more powerful system than that of the competition in certain areas is additional sales, but if there is something that has not been done on a large scale, it is because the disadvantages outweigh what is gained.
In any case, if your laptop is out of warranty and you think it needs to cool down, then think of it as a potential solution that can reduce its temperature by a few degrees. It is something that we have tried on some other PC with a few years behind us and the operation is worth it. Although it is also a lottery.
