Laptop lid cooling coming soon?

Scorchingly hot laptops may soon be a thing of the past if Compal has anything to do with it. The Chinese laptop maker demonstrated its new lid-cooled laptops at last week’s IDF and if the technology proves popular, it should lead to lighter, quieter – and cooled – laptops for all.

The technology uses heat pipes to transfer heat from a laptop’s processor to the laptop lid, which contains heatsink. This is much larger and therefore much more efficient than a heatsink that would otherwise fit in the laptop and while the lid gets warm as a result, the rest of the laptop stays cool.

Laptop lid cooling should do away with the need for noisy fans and dust-attracting air vents. The hurdle so far, however, was coming up with a hinge for the lid that can transfer heat efficiently – and that’s what Compal has achieved.

Given that Compal makes laptops for the likes of Dell, Toshiba and HP, it looks likely that lid cooling will soon feature in laptops from lots of manufacturers.

[ The Inquirer]