The DIY Cardboard Cooler: Keeping Your Laptop Cool Cheaply

The DIY Cardboard Cooler: Keeping Your Laptop Cool Cheaply

Range Govindan
Nov 19, 2008

As laptops get more and more powerful, it's easy to notice that they have started to produce a lot more excess heat. It's a known fact that a laptop running at full power will really start to heat quickly. It's really surprising. James Li from Auckland New Zealand had the same problem and he decided to use cardboard to solve his problem. It's part of a series of ideas on how to use cardboard.

We find that this is a great idea from James Li. Li used some scrap cardboard and an old fan from a computer to make a laptop cooler. The only problem that we can see is that the cardboard might ignite from the excess heat. However, there is some fire resistant cardboard out there. If corrugated cardboard was used, fire wouldn't be an issue.

The reason why laptops can overheat is that some of them need to be slightly elevated to cool down. Sometimes this can be accomplished by swapping out your 6-cell battery for an 8-cell, but a cheaper way would be just by making your own out of some scrap cardboard around. Sure it might look great, but it'll get the job done if you're using a laptop as your main machine.

The trick is to find a fan from an old PC. You'll need to salvage it and then get some USB cables from an old external USB hard drive. Once patched together, you'll insert it into your cardboard contraption. The fan runs off a USB port. [via Make]

The Incredible Cardboard Office
