{"id":266,"date":"2009-02-23T01:23:32","date_gmt":"2009-02-23T06:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/23\/laptop-mats\/"},"modified":"2009-03-08T01:06:12","modified_gmt":"2009-03-08T06:06:12","slug":"laptop-mats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/23\/laptop-mats\/","title":{"rendered":"Laptop Mats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I just really want somebody to make <strong>a good <em>portable<\/em> cooling pad for portable computers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Laptops<sup><a href=\"#footnotenetbooksarecool\">1<\/sup><\/a> are too hot to be used on a lap. <a href=\"http:\/\/penny-arcade.com\/comic\/2009\/1\/30\/\">This Penny Arcade comic<\/a> says it best, if a little crudely,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Using this Macbook is like putting my dick in a George Foreman Grill.  Okay?  It&#8217;s like making a penis panini.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There&#8217;s a real need for something to keep your your lap cool.  You can buy <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B001CBFTFM?ie=UTF8&#038;tag=vincgabl-20&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957&#038;creativeASIN=B001CBFTFM\">gel cooling pads<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=vincgabl-20&#038;l=as2&#038;o=1&#038;a=B001CBFTFM\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/>.  But I have reservations about them.  The biggest is the weight of the gel. And <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/review\/R28WA816VMC601\/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm\">according to reviews<\/a>, eventually the pad absorbs enough heat to turn into a hot pad.<\/p>\n<p>My solution is inspired by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B0001PY4WY?ie=UTF8&#038;tag=vincgabl-20&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957&#038;creativeASIN=B0001PY4WY\">sushi mats:<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B0001PY4WY?ie=UTF8&#038;tag=vincgabl-20&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957&#038;creativeASIN=B0001PY4WY\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/415anwj8x6l.-sl160-.jpg\" alt=\"415ANWJ8X6L._SL160_.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"160\" height=\"116\" \/><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a very simple idea really, instead of bamboo slats, you use hollow aluminum tubes in the mat.  That gives you an extremely light pad that&#8217;s easy to roll up and carry anywhere.  It keeps the hot computer off your lap, draws heat away from the computer.  (<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Heat_sink#Construction_and_materials\">Aluminum has been used to make heat sinks for decades<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and just in case you were wondering I&#8217;m using <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/059610197X?ie=UTF8&#038;tag=vincgabl-20&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957&#038;creativeASIN=059610197X\">a book<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=vincgabl-20&#038;l=as2&#038;o=1&#038;a=059610197X\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/> to protect my lap as I write this.  But <strong>books are heavy<\/strong>, so I only carry one if I need to refer to the book.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a better way to stay cool while working on the road, please share!<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><a name=\"footnotenetbooksarecool\"><sup>1<\/sup><\/a><br \/>\n<small>I&#8217;m counting netbooks (inexpensive, ultraportable but slow computers) as separate from &#8220;laptops&#8221;.  Certainly many netbooks work just fine on top of the lap.  But some people will always need more powerful laptops.<br \/>\n<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I just really want somebody to make a good portable cooling pad for portable computers. Laptops1 are too hot to be used on a lap. This Penny Arcade comic says it best, if a little crudely, Using this Macbook is like putting my dick in a George Foreman Grill. Okay? It&#8217;s like making a penis [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,12,8],"tags":[248,221,358],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcement","category-design","category-usability","tag-mobility","tag-portable-computers","tag-steal-my-ideas-please"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}