Interesting Idea for Laptop Users

[Speakercone]

I could see such a product doing well if marketed at people with very high spec laptops. Put a bunch of useless but cool looking LEDs for styling, stick an Alienware sticker on it and market it as "the perfect cooling solution for portable gaming" or something similar. I'd also recommend making it out of sculpted sheet aluminium with a matte black finish.

And don't sell it short either. If you're aiming at people who are willing to put down £2000 for a laptop, chances are they don't want anything happening to it. Price point around £50 for the 11' version up to perhaps £65 for the 17' one for a product which can protect and cool your machine would be well worth it.

Thing to remember is that it needs to withstand a hammer blow with negligible damage to the contents and it needs to create antarctic gusts. If you're charging lots, it needs to work better than it strictly needs to. Over-engineer the crap out of it.

Bonus points if you can keep the weight under 500g.

If this came to market, I'd definitely consider it.

 

[crepesack]

Please include a way to control voltage and an independent on off switch. For one it's nice to choose fan speed and to be able to turn it off when you want without unplugging it. If you can also include at least one extra USB port on the unit itself to replace the one consumed by the product and PLEASE for the love of GOD make the cooling panel out of METAL not plastic.

If we do end up taking this farther than just a school project for credit those are actually really handy ideas. We would definitely have to do more research. One question though, why the metal? If the plastic was durable wouldn't it be a lighter and cheaper alternative? Or did you have another reason in mind?

Heat conductance. My zalman NC2000 has rather underpowered fans for the size of the cooler but its metal construction makes heat diffusion much faster.

 

[Sundavar]

Throw in an extra power source that can extend battery life and you got yourself a very interested consumer.

Hm. We hadn't thought of anything like that. That's a very interesting idea and we will definitely consider implementing that... I'm starting to get some nice visions of a "Laptop on-the-go companion" that could do quite well...

 

[crepesack]

Throw in an extra power source that can extend battery life and you got yourself a very interested consumer.

Hm. We hadn't thought of anything like that. That's a very interesting idea and we will definitely consider implementing that... I'm starting to get some nice visions of a "Laptop on-the-go companion" that could do quite well...

Remember not not to over load it with big features. A mass of small ones that won't make it large and clunky appeals to a consumer more than a few, while convenient in theory, cumbersome additions.

 

[Princess Rose]

Well my friend actually just came up with a different way we could do it that could eliminate the feet and make having it on your lap a relatively comfortable experience. Of course balancing a laptop on one thigh is always a balancing act but I don't think this would impede you at all if you've already mastered that technique ha ha.

^^ What can I say, I'm graceful. ^^

And actually I already have a (very cheap) cooling pad - which is currently between my leg and the laptop. That's important, because my laptop might burn me if I tried to play a game on it while it was on my leg like this.

Anyway, I'm still interested in your product, because while my cheap cooling pad helps (and protects my leg) it can't keep up with my laptop when I'm actually gaming. I've been playing Mass Effect and had my laptop actually shutdown due to overhearing. A more effective cooling pad would be a wonderful thing to have. ^^

 

[acosn]

1: It'd need to be optional. Something you can turn on and off regardless of whether or not the computer is on.

2: Noise isn't a real problem. The kinds of people who even care about the heat load a laptop generates are not the type who'd get worried about semantics like that. Now if it started sounding like a harrier lifting off....

3: Needs to maintain sleek appearance. It's the dumbest thing ever but Apple convinced everyone to buy bad, obsolete laptops at a premium, and a lot of it is based purely on appearance.

 

[Kargathia]

Would this thing be modular, or a permanent part of the laptop? I'd also love it if it'd come with a sliding panel that you can use as mousepad, but I've no idea whether that hits a practicality wall in construction.

 

[itsausernamewhatofit]

If it was affordable and reasonably slim yeah I'd probably buy one. It seems like a good idea to me

Throw in an extra power source that can extend battery life and you got yourself a very interested consumer.

Hm. We hadn't thought of anything like that. That's a very interesting idea and we will definitely consider implementing that... I'm starting to get some nice visions of a "Laptop on-the-go companion" that could do quite well...

Having it extend my battery as well would make me buy it in a heartbeat.
Good luck with it, I hope it comes together well

 

[dragonhunter21]

When I read your idea, I thought of the Moonbase Alpha rover stands, where you hold out the box at arm-height and telescoping metal legs extend all the way to the ground and hold it there.

Yes, please.

 

[sora91111]

It's a good idea I'd buy it.

 

[Kaymish]

yeah id love that i travel alot for work and i currently have a piece of plywood in my lap top bag for when i am being driven and need to work on my laptop or if i rest it on my knees they get real hot and a skirt is not much protection from that plus when i am running a resource intensive application my laptop fans get real loud and i normally fly with other people and they like to sleep

if you could put a rubber bung around the edge and put dust filters in the pad that would be awesome laptops don't really do the whole dust thing but its a real problem for me i have baked at least 2 because of dust

 

[Robert Ewing]

I think this has been done before. And if it hasn't, then there must be a reason why it hasn't been tried. I don't necessarily know why though.

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

i believe ive seen those before. Not to be a downer. But if not, it sounds like a good idea!

 

[evilneko]

You want to build in something that's already built-in? What is the advantage of this over separate cooling pads?

I don't get it aside from the cool factor of having legs pop out of the laptop, though naturally these plus the extra built-in fans will make the laptop thicker and heavier.

Some laptops don't need extra legs for propping up, either, sometimes by stock design or sometimes depending on the battery. My laptop's 12 cell battery props it up nicely...and also makes using a cooling pad more difficult. Because of my laptop's design though, a USB fan blowing at it from the side is more effective than a cooling pad underneath anyway.

 

[LadyDeadly]

I'd totally buy that! Although my laptop does have its own cooling fan, its not near enough to keep it from over heating, and i keep getting asked if my laptop going to explode because of all the noises my cooler makes when it doesn't get enough air~

 

[Callate]

It is an interesting idea, but I think I would worry about getting it through airport security.

 

[Westaway]

I don't clearly understand what you mean, how about some sort of diagram ou can sketch up real quick?

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Dear Laptop Users of the Escapist community, I am in an engineering course at my high school and for this year we have to do a project in which we create a product and present it to a panel of engineers.

For this project my partner and I are considering creating a laptop case with a cooling pad (w/ fans) in the back side of it. You would be able to open up the case and feet would extend from the bottom, propping up the cooling pad and making it able to get air.

Would any of my fellow Escapists with laptops be interested in buying this? Do you think there's sufficient demand for this sort of product? Thanks for your time.

Ehh, my laptop is new enough to the point where I can use it untill battery death, and it remain cool. My old laptop, *In booming M. Bison voice* OF COURSE!

 

[Sundavar]

Thanks to everyone for their feedback.

You want to build in something that's already built-in? What is the advantage of this over separate cooling pads?

I don't get it aside from the cool factor of having legs pop out of the laptop, though naturally these plus the extra built-in fans will make the laptop thicker and heavier.

Some laptops don't need extra legs for propping up, either, sometimes by stock design or sometimes depending on the battery. My laptop's 12 cell battery props it up nicely...and also makes using a cooling pad more difficult. Because of my laptop's design though, a USB fan blowing at it from the side is more effective than a cooling pad underneath anyway.

To clarify, we are talking about a carrying case for a laptop, not what you are thinking of.

I think this has been done before. And if it hasn't, then there must be a reason why it hasn't been tried. I don't necessarily know why though.

i believe ive seen those before. Not to be a downer. But if not, it sounds like a good idea!

Surprisingly enough, we did some rather thorough research, both searching online stores and U.S. patents and it doesn't seem like anyone else has attempted to create this.

Remember not not to over load it with big features. A mass of small ones that won't make it large and clunky appeals to a consumer more than a few, while convenient in theory, cumbersome additions.

Thank you for the advice, we got kind of carried away thinking about all the wonderful new things our case could do and lost sight of practicality for a bit there. Besides, implementing a backup power source doesn't seem all that easy for two high school kids...

 

[willsham45]

Dear Laptop Users of the Escapist community, I am in an engineering course at my high school and for this year we have to do a project in which we create a product and present it to a panel of engineers.

For this project my partner and I are considering creating a laptop case with a cooling pad (w/ fans) in the back side of it. You would be able to open up the case and feet would extend from the bottom, propping up the cooling pad and making it able to get air.

I like what I hear it sounds like a nice quite simple project with the potential for a big pay off. I could see a market for it.
I would look into the health effects of having a laptop on your lap, cause there are ment to me a few negitives with that. Then make the fan work in a way that pushes air out the back as apose to down like most laptop cooling pads.
Also If the laptop is to stay in the bag as it is open look to folding machanisumes for the bag so the bag does not take up too much space when open and do not forget to look to ports holes or grooves so the laptop can be powered and have all its extras connected without the sides of the bag in the way...
It might also be worth looking into an inbuilt arm rest or pad or something for the front of the case.

I wish I was still doing Design.
If you look into them I can see a nice project coming along. research is key you may have already have what i mentioned already looked into but if you have not.
Also try and look into aesthetics I know engineers like there bland boxes with things that work but a little bit of nice design work will go a long way. If you want I am sure I can find some nice cases you can borrow looks from

What is your target market?

Would love to see how it goes if you want a second opinion on anything.