Does my Latitude D630 need a cooling mat/pad?

Hello all,

This is my first post here. Just as a heads up and a warning, I don't know a lot about computers, so bear with me a little bit.

I've owned a D630 for about a year now and have noticed that the bottom of the laptop can get very hot. My dad owned the same model for a couple years and he had multiple hard drive failures. His hypothesis was that the computer might have been overheating and burned out the hard drive.

However, in doing a little research, I heard it's not so much that the computer overheats as it is that the metal frame conducts heat very easily. So while the outside might be hot, the inside isn't at a temperature that's damaging to the parts.

Any experiences with this? Any help would be appreciated. If overheating is a common problem, I'll probably shell out the money for a cooling mat. If it's not a problem, then that's money saved.

Thanks!

 

as time goes by the fan vent gets clogged from the inside. open it up, remove the fan and clean the vent, that should keep it cool

i've seen some laptops only 2 months old that have already been quite badly clogged-especially if you use it on your lap or bed. might be worth checking

 

So assuming I clean it out, I probably won't need a cooling mat?

Also - how do I open it up?

 

You don't need to open up the D630/D830 to clean them out. Just give them a blast of compressed air through the vents, and watch the dust bunnies fly out.

 

that would dislodge some of the dust, and would work if done regularly but since his notebook is quite old there still will be a significant amount remaining as it normally forms a thick almost carpet like area 2-3mm thick.you have to remove the fan and peel it off.

im not sure where to find the D630 service manual, but i think if you call dell tech support they'll talk you through it. as far as i know they regard the fan as a user servicable item

 

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latd630/en/SM_EN/thermal.htm#wp1116667

All the dell service manuals are easily found via google. Much easier than the HP ones. (sigh, I have to dig through a 100+page pdf for mine.)

 

that link shows how to remove the heat pipes. i dont think you need to remove that..

you should be able to remove the fan without removing the heat pipe, then in the picture, that fine "grill" looking thing at the end of the heat pipe is where the dust accumulates. once the fan is removed you can peel it off and replace the fan.

 

however, if you do decide to remove the heat pipe, its a good time to change the thermal paste to some nice arctic silver

 

A cooling mat won't help a lot. It will get hot as a laptop heats up. I think laptop balls/legs are more efficient than the cooling mat.

 

the point of a cooling mat is to conduct heat away from the laptop. if the cooling mat is heating up, it shows its doing its job. however if its heating up too much, then it may not be transferring the heat to the air/surroundings effectively enough.