Belkin Laptop Cooling Pad

I have a couple of active (powered fans) notebook cooling pads. But, they all require wall power. So, I bought the Belkin Laptop Cooling Pad when I saw it for $19.95 at the local Costco ($23.48 at Amazon). It does a good job of cooling my usually hot Apple MacBook. However, there I have a couple of issues with this product.

Unlike my other pads, this one is curved. I’m holding it upside down here. You can see its feet pointing up. The notebook sits on the concave area with air being blown up to the notebook and then out sidewards through the tunnel formed by the notebook sitting on the pad.

The photo above is the bottom of the pad. The top compartment is actually the pad’s stand. It is pretty flimsy and I’m pretty sure it will not last more than a year or two. This also means that it is not really designed to be used on the lap since the fan is at the bottom of the curved surface. Without the stand, I’m not sure how much air it can draw when sitting on a lap (vs. a desktop). The compartment on the bottom is where the USB power cable can be stored. However, it is so flimsy that I am relunctant to open and close it often. So, I usually carry the cable separate and hope I don’t lose it.

One of my big concerns about this product is the USB power cable. As you can see in the photo above, it has a standard Type A connector for the notebook. But, the pad’s connector is a tip-ring type power plug instead of a USB Type B or mini-USB connector. This means that the power cable is unique and you are SOL if you lose it. You can see that my daughter’s pet rabbit has some reservations about the cable connector design choice too

Despite my complains here, the Belkin Laptop Cooling Pad does do a good job of keeping my MacBook running cool in the summer heat and think my $20 was reasonably well spent.