Customer Reviews

Targus Lap Chill Mat AWE55US (Black/Gray)

5 star:		(245)
4 star:		(102)
3 star:		(34)
2 star:		(42)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

I have a 17" macbook pro, so it's a behemoth of a laptop. And Apple's all aluminum enclosure sure looks slick, but man does it conduct the heat. You really don't want the thing on your lap w/o a stand, because it gets really red hot.

This is the 45h cooling stand I've had for this machine, and already by far the best. The previous two had three important issues - first was that they were small - designed for 15" notebooks, so there was a lot of overhang on mine. Annoying, but not the end of the world. More important was the fact that the power cable plugged into the edge of the stand and could be detached. Since I use my laptop on my lap, that connection tended to get bumped around a lot, and eventually the connection became so loose that the fan would only work intermittently and required fiddling to get going. That's why I replaced both of those - loose connection, no fan, no cooling.

This stand is a huge improvement.

First of all, the power cord is molded onto the stand, so I can't jar it loose like I could on the other stands. Plus, it's halfway up the back of the stand, so it'll be much harder to bump around anyway. So I shouldn't have the same issue I'd had in the past.

Second, it's huge. It fits my 17" laptop perfectly. No overhang. Obviously, this is really only a stand for a big laptop. If you've got a 15", the stand will be bigger than your machine.

Third, the wedge shaped cooling gives it a huge amount of space to pull air in from the sides. Like I said, I use my laptop on my lap. Previous models pulled air in from underneath. But since it was sitting on my lap, there was minimal airflow available. Now, since this one pulls in air from the sides, it really cools things off fast. Since I've had it, the laptop's internal fan has come on only once or twice. it used to come on all the time, even when the old stand's fan was working properly. So the cooling is top notch.

I have two complaints -

There's no power switch, so I need to unplug it to turn it off. A minor annoyance, but it'd be nice to have one.

And as others have said, the rubber bumpers to hold on the laptop are pretty lousy. I lost one within the first two days of getting the stand (I have no clue where), and they didn't do that great a job of holding up the laptop anyway. The laptop would tend to slide down the stand, even just during normal use, let alone when I moved it around. So that was unacceptable.

The fix was just to attach several rubber stick-on picture frame bumpers. Available at arts and crafts stores for about a buck for 16 or so, and 4 seem to do it. I had some sitting around from a previous stand that had the same issue. You will want to add your own bumpers.

But once those are on? it's a fantastic product. Highly recommended.

the chilling mat is awesome. my laptop is a 15 inch dell studio. and when i put it to work it gets HOT! so hot that my finger starts to burn on the mouse pad. so i definitely need something to keep it cool. i thought that my last chill mat did a good job. but this one is phenomenal. its 17 inches so i have extra room for my laptop. it has a very comfortable fabric underneath which is great for me because i always have it on my lap. it's slanted which is great. the usb cable that has to be plugged in for it to come, on is coming from the back of the chill mat so i don't have to worry about pulling it out like i did my last one. and after using it all day i felt under my laptop and it was actually cold. this is great and well worth the money paid for it

I have been thru 3 of the $20 duel fan cheapos, they were worthless. I have had this unit for over a month, it runs perfect, and handles my HP Pavilion DV9000, a very heavy large 17" laptop. I paid $40 plus shipping, and it is worth every penny. 5 stars all the way.

was OK to good for 3 months and then stopped working. the construction is such that you can't troubleshoot/repair in any practical way.

fans are fixed, so if the notebook's heat isn't where the fan is, then you need to move the notebook around and hope. not great. it did adequately reduce the temp on my notebook for the 3 months it was working but it could have been much better imo.

it does have a nice design for use on desk or lap... comfortable on lap. that's about the best feature.

the grips that are supposed to keep the notebook from slipping came off after about two weeks- two of the four, anyway. So my notebook ended up sliding around on the mat quite a bit.

For the $35-$40 that this cost, I recommend that you try something else.

There are many "cooling" laptop pads out there. Some are pure junk, designed to stop functioning in a short period if they work as advertised at all.

Like others, I don't mind paying a little more for quality but at $35 this Targus Chill Mat AWE55US is an excellent value.

I purposely waited an extended period before writing my review. I'm now into my 8th month of very heavy use and it is still functioning the same way it did the day I received it. I use it with a heavy 17" laptop that generates a considerable amount of heat. It has exceeded my expectations as far as functionality and durability.

I can wholeheartedly recommend this cooling pad.

Very quiet fans seem to do a good job at keeping things cool. Comfortable enough on the lap. The one little problem is with the design of the little rubber bumpers that mount in the vent holes on the top to serve as non-skid spacers for your computer. They can pop in and out of the holes so you can move them around to fit your individual computer's footprint. That's a good thing, but they pop out a little too easily and I've lost one from each of the two Lap Chill Mats I own. Luckily, I found and reinstalled them both. Now I keep a wary eye on these guys.

If you're considering buying one of these, you've likely read the reviews. There are a lot of very positive reviews, and quite a few negative reviews as well. And BOTH are right, for the most part.

The positives are very positive. This device is really well-made and well-designed. It is the only laptop cooler I know of which is practical for "lap-desk" use (say, sitting on your lap in a chair, or on top of your comforter in bed, for example). This is because the air flow is from the sides, rather than the bottom. It's a great design from that standpoint.

The neoprene "wrapping" makes it very comfortable on bare legs, if you wish, and equally "sticky" on a tabletop surface, even a glass one.

The top surface is a perforated grill, so there's convective airflow even where there is no fan. The fans are located in the spot where, on most laptops, the CPU and GPU (the main heat-sources) tend to be. But if you have a laptop where the highest-heat sources are lower on your machine, you won't get the full benefit of this device. It will still help a lot, in any case... but the fans blow where the CPU and GPU ("brain chip" and graphics chip) are normally located... as it should do!

I've seen a couple of reviews talking about the "cheap cable" (UNTRUE... it's perfect acceptable unless you swing the thing around by the cord!) or the "stops" on the top surface coming off after a short period of use. Well, those reviewers must have just abused this device, and are now whining that it's not "invulnerable." Ignore them. The device's construction is more than adequate unless you're one of those children who throws your toys against the wall then whines about them being "bad toys" for breaking.

In general, this is a near-ideal design. But it DOES have a drawback, and that drawback is not insignificant.

It's nearly impossible to repair this if it fails.

The device is not designed to be disassembled. Yes, it would be possible to do so, and to do so "safely," and to even reassemble it into fully-working order... but this is not trivial and would basically involve breaking portions of it and then repairing them using different techniques than were originally used to build it.

Why would you need to disassemble it? Well, if either of the fans fail (which is inevitably going to happen with a certain number of them in ANY production run).

But then again, the fans are also custom, and you can't just run to the corner shop and buy a replacement.

Basically, if the device fails, the device fails... and needs to be replaced. So, look closely at the warranty, and at Amazon's replacement policy. SOME of these will be defective, and will fail within the first several months. It's unavoidable... a matter of basic statistics. If you happen to be one of those who gets a rare defective one, you'll need to either be prepared to spend some time dealing with this (with Amazon or with the manufacturer) to get a replacement... or you'll just need to "write off" the cost (which I'd never do, personally).

There is no practical way to repair a failed device. And there will be occasional failed devices.

Over all this is a great cooling pad. It fits a wide screen 15in perfectly!

Pros:
Fan intake design (it drawls air in from the sides, you can put it on a bed and not worry)
Looks great
Light
Comfortable to have on your lap a LONG time.
If you want to, you can store excess cords inside the pad!

Cons:
Cannot move the fans

I don't recommend buying this mat. Mine worked well at first but after about 2 months the fans are wearing out, getting louder, and one seems about to give up! It's not built to last. Also did not quite fit my 17" Asus laptop, and the USB cord is too short for some - on my laptop I can only fit on one side which can be inconvenient.

I recently purchased a new 15" Dell laptop. Desiring to use the laptop when sitting in bed or in a comfortable chair from time to time, I bought the Targus Lap Chill Mat from Amazon. What a great device!

After having spent an hour or so writing a document with the cooling pad sitting directly in my lap, I turned the laptop off and lifted it to see how hot it had become. Amazing! The bottom surface of the laptop was barely warm at all! Better yet, my lap was cool and comfortable due to the fabric-like bottom surface.

I was concerned that running the fans from my USB port would shorten my battery life. While I am certain that it does have some effect, my battery meter reports about 2-1/2 hours of life from a full charge when the fans are running.

If you are prone to use your laptop in your lap, then don't hesitate about this one.