This is a genius idea. I’ve been using fingerless gloves. Is there anything in particular to look for when buying one?

I used this one through this winter and it worked fine: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09C5LQ86D/

I'd just look for what people say in the bad reviews. I generally use mine on the lowest temps, 80 or 90. I don't know what kind of maniac would use them at the higher temps. Every time I turn it on I have to press the button to cycle through the temperatures, a mild annoyance but NBD. It automatically turns off after a few hours which is a feature, not a bug. It used to be that I'd sit down at my desk and my hands would never warm up, now they warm up from the mat and stay warm even after the thing turns off.

That is a much bigger pad than what I've used! Wow. That's amazing.

I've used a oversized body wrap pad (120V input) and a 24V pad with wall-wart designed for mini-green-house seed planters. The former was comfortable & wrapped in soft, but wasn't a great mousing surface. I do want to point out: in my experience, these are nice for the arm, but notably the keyboard and mouse never really warmed up very much, both remained a bit chill, back when I was in a fairly un-warm draft-y room. It was still really nice to have, but my hands could remain kind of chill, I'd still keep on my nice fingerless gloves. Still, a great addition.

Some of the amazon ones are barely 6 months old and are failing at the 6 month mark. I picked one of those. Be weary of high review counts, and ensure the reviews are all for the particular product.

I'm guessing you want one with a low enough temp setting that it doesn't bake your keyboard. Around 80-90F degrees I'd guess, but haven't tested. Especially important if you have a 'smart' keyboard, which has an actual small computer (more than an i8048) in it.

Mine died in 6 months of light use, looking for a better one. They work well on the floor too if you have a basement.

Good idea - although you can always put more socks, a boot, etc. Thats why the hands are so hard, because you need mobility for working.

You know who won't complain when winter arrives? ChatGPT...

Yeah I’ve thought about how the desk gets cold - maybe putting foam under the legs to reduce cold transfers into the frame and table top might help.

Alternatively maybe there’s a way to mount a desk warmer under the desk instead of top.

There are some pretty dedicated foot warmers out there too. Depending on the climate zone one is in, all socks and shoes get cold eventually.

Why have I never thought of this? I get really cold hands in the winter to the point where I have to take very frequent breaks from typing because my fingers freeze up. I'll definitely get one!

What kind of helps since we all needs breaks for the keyboard every hour anyway is to do clasp your hands and bring your arms up above you and do some movements like turning. Alternatively do some lifts with weights as well for more strengthening and extra bloodflow.

Any inexpensive heating pad will work, but there are some things to look out for. Use a few Velcro adhesive dots to keep the pad from moving around on your desk. You will probably need to put a piece of stiff cardboard over the pad since most mice need a very flat surface. Choose a pad that allows you to conveniently adjust the heat. Cover the mouse and your hand with a towel, but be aware that its easy to let the mouse get too warm. Look for a pad with "auto-shutoff". A cheap mouse may stop working if it gets too hot, but let it cool down and it should start working again in a few minutes. My shop is typically about 55 deg F in the winter but this makes it very comfortable to use a mouse. I've done this for many years and never killed a mouse.

Is there a device that does the opposite -- something to keep your hand cool? It is getting hotter and sweaty in India.

when I lived in Vietnam years ago, my Mac laptop fan broke and there was nowhere to repair it ... there are cooling pads with fans beneath them that you can buy, but my temporary solution was freezing a stack of Wired magazines in the freezer, then putting them under the laptop and changing them every 20 minutes.

How long did this last? Would the mac hard shutoff if it got too hot? Every twenty minutes would be brutal.

It was one of those Titanium G4 beasts. My gf called it the "war machine" since the keys were worn to the point you couldn't read most of the letters. So it got way too hot before it even throttled down, and I never saw it shut off from the heat. It radiated heat through that metal... it would almost scald your legs.

I could usually control my CPU use so a magazine could last up to half an hour... but basically I'd feel the warmth coming through the magazine, jump up and switch it with another one from the freezer. Easy peasy.

* * *

Yes. The keywords are "semiconductor cooling pad" or "thermoelectric cooling pad".

you mean a fan?

I use a USB fan and a small mister/spray bottle of water. I spray my forearms periodically (top of hands are fine too I guess) and this creates more of a cooling effect from the fan.

It's also nice to have a wet cooling towel for the neck, I find...I tried one of those dual neck-mount fans as well, and while it wasn't bad, when it broke I didn't feel it was good enough to replace.

Back when I was younger and lived in a hot place, I removed one of my chassi fans and put it next to my keyboard instead. Cheap and worked wonders.

Bucket of cold water for your feet

One of those gel wrist rests, with added cooling, would be perfect. Lots of bloodflow just under the surface of the skin there. Would adding Peltier modules be a practical solution?

I have an older laptop and user Docker for Mac daily. My fingers never get cold!

Put a few slices of bacon under the macbook and you even have breakfast.

Try out Colima[0]. I saw someone else mention it on here a few months ago and thought to try it and it's been very good. I did encounter my first problem yesterday so I have moved back to Docker Desktop for now but even if it only worked half the time I'd still suggest it, the memory usage is under a quarter of Docker's offering!

[0] https://github.com/abiosoft/colima

I think the OP actually prefers the heat generated from Docker.

relevant: https://xkcd.com/1172/

Is it tho

Another thing to try is podman. I run it on my mac and my mac is no longer trying to fly away on the strength of the cooling fans alone.

Podman used to be a bit rough on mac but it's gotten significantly better, especially with podman-desktop. docker-compose even works with it as it does something on the backend to swap out the docker socket. I wouldn't recommend doing podman-compose as it looks to be mostly unmaintained? Or at least no new releases have been cut in a couple of years.

I'll have to give podman another look. Last I checked I couldn't see how to replace my routine docker commands.

Ooi how much power do they consume?

I've started wearing arthritis compression gloves when my hands are cold while using my PC. Colleague suggested the idea and it's been great.

Same here! I have no arthritis of any kind, but these are very thin gloves that do not get in the way when typing (unlike most other gloves) and still make a huge difference wrt cold hands. Got two additional pairs for my parents; they love them as much as I do.

I’ve ordered something similar but 12V for car - I find my feet freeze on longer trips and esp so since I like driving barefeet

Cars come with heated seats, steering, armrests, mirrors, wipers - why not mats?

I use a tabletop infrared lamp for this.

Reminds me of this 2010 article: "micro heaters cut 87% off my electric heat bill"

https://www.richsoil.com/electric-heat.jsp

Mini heaters are great, the portable ones I have make winter bearable.

But as far as I know, using heat lamps directly in your face can be a bad idea because they can emit IR radiation that can harm your eyes, cause cataracts, etc.

Several of you would seem to enjoy a Kotatsu:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu

When I was a kid, I used the power transformer of my C64 to warm up my feet

I still do that. Only it's not a C64, but rather the power brick to my TB4 dock.

That, and I have a small infrared panel mounted under the desk, which can keep my thighs nice and toasty in winter.

I have a floor heating pad for my feet that I love for the same reason.

Could someone provide some link or picture? I struggle with cold hands and I have no idea what to look for :-(

I don't use a heating pad but I use a pair of fingerless gloves for this. They're nothing fancy, something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Finger-Touchscreen-Stretchy-Mittens-F...

I have a heated mouse specifically for this same issue. Was experiencing arthritic symptoms in my fingers and tied it back to my extremities getting cold while working. There looks to be only one company that makes a heated mouse, if they ever fold up shop I don't know what I'll do.

I have this same thing except to put my feet on, I can stay nice and warm while the house is at 15C. Nice touch using it as a desk mat as well.

Interesting idea, I have the same problem with cold hands. I currently wear finger-less wool gloves but it isn't a perfect solution either.

I do this but for my feet. They’re always wrapped up nice and toasty under my desk because I have poor circulation in my hands and feet. It’s very nice ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Good idea! Fingerless gloves are sub-optimal.