News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:A failed experiment in laptop cooling by progval on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @02:18AM (#50437097)
How feasible would it be for laptop manufacturers to add a slot in a laptop's underside cover to the CPU's heat pipe, and adjust the heat pipe's shape at this location? This would allow a dock to insert its own heat pipe through it, and dissipate the heat with larger fans and/or larger heat sink.
Re:A failed experiment in laptop cooling by mrheosuper on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @02:23AM (#50437140)
It would risk the user touching the heatpipe during work, which is quite toasty under heavy load.
Re:A failed experiment in laptop cooling by jpalomaki on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @02:28AM (#50437176)
For Macbook Air there was DIY solutions where people added thermal pads to conduct the heat to the aluminium chassis and then use external cooling on that [1]. Since Air just has passive cooling, this gave major boost for long running tasks.

[1] https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-macbook-air-heats...

Re:A failed experiment in laptop cooling by gambiting on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @03:02AM (#50437397)
Not quite the same, but there are laptops with external water cooling that connect to internal piping inside the laptop when placed on the dock:

https://videocardz.com/newz/colorful-launches-water-cooled-l...

Re:A failed experiment in laptop cooling by electroweak on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @03:52PM (#50446165)
An excellent idea. There's a certain class of laptops that were never meant to be used on one's lap- at best merely portable e.g. Dell precision specced at 240w.

If the pad contact locks together for heat transfer it could also function as a security lock.

The dock could have a water cooling loop under your desk to dry your boots while you work.