Chill Pak

[filkertom]

One of the many cool people at MarsCon was actor Dean Hagland. He's also an inventor, and it's even cooler than he is: the Chill Pak, a simple and spiffy way to keep your laptop computer cooler... and, not incidentally, speed it up a tetch.

Comments

[thingunderthest.livejournal.com]

Cool. hehe

Always liked Dean Hagland.

Oh, and it looks like you have an extra " tagged on the end of the URL.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Nope, missed one at the start. Thanks.

[thingunderthest.livejournal.com]

Tomato

;)

[aiela.livejournal.com]

Aw man, I love Dean. Did he do any improv while he was there? I saw him in Ann Arbor a few years ago (Must have been 1998, so I guess a lot longer than "a few years ago")

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Ah-yup. He actually charges a separate ticket for the improv shows, but they are pretty darn good.

[druidsfire.livejournal.com]

He did improv with lukeski as his 'celebrity partner in crime' (DragonCon 05 had Gary Jones of Stargate SG-1 in it, and they sent all proceeds to the Red Cross cos it was right after Katrina), and I was laughing so hard, it hurt. And of course, barondave and wyngarde planted a couple of things in one part of the skit for Luke to work with that made those of us in the know laugh even harder.

[lukeski.livejournal.com]

I'M THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN!!!!

[stellabambino.livejournal.com]

He was kind enough to do Improv at Dragon*Con 2004 - was a great lead in to the Whose Line stuff I usually do.

Great guy.

Langly....

[amgem.livejournal.com]

I got a chance to speak to him at GenCon Indy last summer - very cool guy!! We went back and forth a bit about things (and how my other half was INSANELY jealous that I got to meet him) and talked about the Chill Paks, and got one of the autographed pictures (the one with all three of the Lone Gunmen). He mentioned that one of the other guys (the name escapes me) doesn't even go to any cons, so having his autograph is a rare thing. He even signed one of his fliers for a comedy show he was doing that night (that I couldn't attend - didn't have the $$ to go).

[unkbar.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I understand this. The computer's speed is controlled by a fixed, crystal-controlled oscillator. I don't see how cooling the computer would speed it up.

Overclockers, who intentionally set their computer clock speed higher, certainly have to add extra cooling because the faster you clock a chip the more electrical power it draws and the more heat it has to dissipate. But just cooling the computer won't make it run faster.

[armb.livejournal.com]

I believe some machines will deliberately slow down if they start getting hot, so this could prevent that.

Dean's explanation

[pickledcritter.livejournal.com]

From his "how it works" page (http://www.chillpak.com/how.html):

"The problem is that when electrons heat up, they get agitated. Instead of moving forward they move in random directions. The result is less electrons telling your computer what to do. And a slower computer for you. Sometimes so little information gets through, that in the confusion your computer simply stops working.

Here's where Chill Pak come to the rescue. Chill Pak draws heat away from your computer stopping the agitation of electrons. This allows the electrons to travel down the circuits in an orderly fashion. The information gets through and you get to keep working on your happy chilled-out notebook."
(all statements emphasized above are his)

Yes. It actually says that.

While I can really get behind and do dig the anti-thigh-burning function of the Chill Pak (and will probably get one), the "speed up" explanation is...interesting, to say the least :)

Re: Dean's explanation

[crwilley.livejournal.com]

I'd buy this, as a layman's-terms explanation for what's going on.

If I were to rephrase this in technical language: "An increase in temperature results in an increase in electrical resistivity, which even over the short distances involved in a computer chip adds up over the quantity of electrons you're trying to squeeze through there. The Chill Pak directs the heat your computer is generating into the Pak instead of into the circuitry, eliminating the increase in resistivity and preventing performance degradation."

And performance boosting aside, I gotta get me one of these, just for the protection of whatever surface I have my laptop resting on at any given moment, be that my leg or my dining room table. May be even more important for the boys among us - there's speculation that laptops are contributing to male infertility because of the temperature issue.

[jenrose]

Oooo! Dean Hagland! /swoons

(dh and I are rewatching X-files from the beginning. The Lone Gunmen were and remain my favorite part of the series. Yesterday Frohike in a tuxedo, bearing flowers... /giggles.)

[druidsfire.livejournal.com]

Ironically, the X-Files ep 'Three of a Kind' aired the night before MarsCon. And I had to giggle at Dean's long hair then. ;)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Consider one other use for these puppies: Overclocking, which is frequently done to increase both clock and memory speed... and which heats the heck out of your system. That's why there are so many various fan, gel, and water-based cooling systems for desktops. Laptops are trickier, however, because there simply isn't as much open-case space for such a cooling system.

[kengr]

At least two companies make USB powered laptop cooling fans. They are fairly thing and you sit the laptop on top.

I've got one from Targus. I may upgrade it to the model that includes a USB hub.

It's set up to draw air from the edges, thru some channels in the upper surface to the pair of fans in the center, then exhaust the air out the back of the pad. Moves quite a bit of air and works well.

Alas, I have yet to find *any* cooling solution for a laptop that'll work with a docking station. :-(