Raising a laptop

Well a little background. I'm home from the summer from school, and since I won't be lugging my laptop here and there, to save the batter, I drained it to 40% and decided to store it. Now the battery I have is a 12 cell, so it's one of those that raises the laptop. I was wonder what people with laptops that don't do this use to raise their laptop, since I don't have that raised battery in there anymore. I've heard of using rolls of tape, but I wanted something a bit more elegant, and doesn't cost anything, or costs virtually nothing. I'm not looking for a cooler per se, but just something to raise the back. I wouldn't mind spending like 5-10$ on getting something to do so, but I just haven't seen anything that would work nicely on getting it raised, and increasing the airflow. Any thoughts?

 

I remember someone using bottle caps here on this forums. Don't remember who.

 

you could hang around slickdeals.net until a cooler is on sale (i got one that was almost free after rebate)

or use clips... i have some medium sized clips whose arch seems reasonable to put a laptop's back on

 

http://www.bluelounge.com/coolfeet.php

 

Personally I use a pack of index cards

100 3"x5" ruled index cards to be precise

 

My friend buys a mouse pad with that wrist cushion and turns it around so that the wrist cushion raises the back.

I can't find an exact picture, but here is something similar.

http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=&webid=652596&affixedcode=WW

 

I keep my laptop on a simple stand. Here's what I have. I got it at wal-mart for $16 though, not amazon. It's sturdy and works well. It's adjustable height-wise, but I find the lowest position the most comfortable. It keeps it very cool.

 

i've never seen this before. the cool feet looks like a pretty nifty, yet effective product. probably the best suggestion in this thread so far.

 

When I read "raising" laptops I thought "burn it to the ground" but this seems more logical.

Currently I use two 1" thick hotel location guides for my huge W90, when I had a 15" notebook I used my Zalmans NC1000 cooler pad.

A good cheap & logical notebook raise is erasers, as they are soft and will absorb vibration or shock but also stick in place well so nothing will move around.

Me and Cin recently got our laptops some balls little half ball things that attach to the back of your laptop just for this reason. I should get mine in the mail sometime this week, may as well post back here if I can find this thread when i get them.

 

Was going to post the link until i saw yours. I use these too and they work great, and pop off quick and easy for when you don't need them.

 

How tall is the largest foot on the cool feet? Is it 1" or more? I may get that if the version I just bought is not big enough.

 

i'm using 2 old decks of playing cards.

 

Just use some crap lying around....that's what I do, and that's (besides cool feet) what has been suggested

btw vicious, the raze you're thinking is spelled differently

 

Yeah but its still the thought that came to mind

 

im the one using bottle tops, or atleast one person. 2 lucazade bottle tops stuck with sticky tape and a blob of blutac to stop them slipping. i prefer it by a mile to a proper laptop stand since they are so small i can just chuck them in my laptop bag with everything else.



look a lot like those cool feet, but mine are free

 

Wow, I might do the index cards/playing cards temporarily til I can conjure something like the bottle caps. However, those cool feet look really awesome. I'd get the clips a try, but I have none... gonna see if my legos can build me something as well.

 

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge.

I did this to my Dell Inspiron 1720. Not because of heat issues (None has ever hit 70*C before for the past 1 year's of use even with the OC'ed 8600M GT) but due to the fact of the inclined keyboard effect. I do alot of typing and AutoCAD keyboard commands, so keyboard comfort is important.

And I think I have unintentionally dropped a couple of degrees by raising the back.

The raisers are hemisphere shaped and it has rubber soles, so that it grips to the table's surface well enough.

I did it to my XPS M1730 as well. I don't have a pic of it unfortunately.

 

What exactly are those, looks really sturdy and something that blends right in. Does it detach easily? I just need it for when my battery is in storage. Looks like you lopped a giant rubber bouncey ball in half.

 

Looks like what's on desktops keyboards to raise them a bit. If it's not, it's still an idea.

 

I guess the raiser is this?
PWX SpeedBall

 

Great suggestion but they don't work well with the Dell M6400 due to the fan vent locations.

I tried to move them more towards the middle but that made it unstable.

 

I often use a pack of cards, or any small book about that size lying around. Mainly for when I'm gaming or otherwise putting out some heat.

 

i use those foam O ring things that come with a spindle of blank cds or dvds. 2 on each side work, and absorb any vibrations when the dvd drive is spinning

 

I use a lot of different methods
-small boxes
-bottle caps
-rolls of tape
-paper towel tubes

 

That is a great idea.

 

These are what Vicious and I ordered from meritline.com, if they arrive soon!

They are kind of neat..odd sorta looking Cooling Balls:




Cin

 

I've always used Knex to build myself perfect, custom stands. If you have Knex pieces lying around, it's the perfect use for them - they're light, durable, and allow for plenty of ventilation.

Check out Instructables for some inspiration. You can search "Knex laptop stand" or just "laptop stands" for tons of creative results.

 

All great ideas. Couldn't really find a good Knex stand, but I don't have Knex laying around, as for Legos, still piecing things together to see what works, so far the best method to me was the stack of cards/index cards. Got two stacks, stuck em on both corners on the back, and it's nicely propped up without any slippage. Still would really like those rubber ball things though. If I can find a bouncy ball that size, I'd cut it in half, gut a small grove in it for the feet of the laptop, and use that.

 

bottle caps, erasers, matchboxes, LEGO bricks... whatever floats your boat.

 

I bought David Blaine's levitation DVD and it taught me how to make stuff float. Now I can make the back end of my laptop float whenever I turn it on.

I usually use a pair of old longboard wheels when I don't feel like using my Xpad.

 

Rubbers under the legs of a machine do the trick fine, and are good with holding the laptop in place on any surface as they have quite a good material.

 

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DVD boxes.

 

i would be afraid of knocking it over when it's sitting vertically

 

until I get my zalman nc2000 on monday, I'm using a plastic lacross stick shaft to raise the back off the ground about 1.5 in. I took a lacross stickand sawed the ends off to width of my comp

1-2 celsius difference

sry for double post

poker chips are also good and many colors

 

well you'd be putting it out of the way a bit, wouldn't you? off to the side, or at the head of the desk. you wouldn't leave it standing there right in the middle of your workspace.

 

well if you put it on the edge of the desk and then accidently hit it..it hits the ground lol

maybe you wouldn't do that but I might haha

 

Indeed specially for a heavy lappy.On mine the extended battery does the
trick.

 

I have found bottle caps work best when you put them so that the rubber legs catch the open side of the bottle cap keeping them from sliding out