Targus Dual Fan Chill Mat for Laptop up to 15.6 Inches, Gray/Black (AWE79US)

I paid under $12 delivered for this from amazon. Previously my daughter was using Targus AWE45US HeatDefense for Laptops (Gray/Black) which she was happy with but the price had gone way up when it was time for a replacement, so we tried this Targus fan-powered chill mat.1. I don't know how anyone can say it's noisy unless they got a defective unit. You have to put your ear right at the edge of the mat to barely hear the fan.2. No, it's not super powerful, what do you expect for $12? Frankly, just getting some air space under your laptop helps a lot and this one is moving the air in that space. Don't expect anything like the power of a window fan!3. Your laptop slides off? Maybe you have it upside down. There are little rubberized corners (set in a little from the actual corners) that will hold your laptop in place. Maybe some laptops' "feet" hit the rubber corners wrong. It's not like you really have to wedge it in or anything.My daughter just keeps the mat plugged in to her laptop and carries them around together. I have done that also. It's very stable. My daughter uses the mat all the time whether the laptop is in her lap or on a hard surface. She's VERY picky and was not inclined to want a hard cooling mat but she's very happy with it and she took it with her this weekend.4. Her laptop is bigger than the mat but it doesn't matter. In fact I think the compactness is a plus--the mat is small and unobtrusive. Our laptop is an hp Pavilion with 15.6" display. On the Targus box it says it's for laptops "up to 15.4" (see photo I posted--sorry folks, apparently amazon deleted my photo) although amazon's description says 15.6".5. The usb connection is on one side (the left, I think, as you sit at the laptop--sorry, my daughter took it with her so I can't check) which is not a problem for us. But it might matter to you, if your laptop does not have usb ports on each end.6. It does not make the laptop perfectly cool but it makes it noticeably cooler, and much more comfortable on your lap. We were not having issues with actual overheating, we were just looking for our laps to stay cool and I have heard that heat is bad for battery longevity.So, considering price and our needs and expectations, this chill mat fits the bill very nicely.

It is plastic with two fans and a cloth skin. Comfortable to use. Nothing fancy. Does the job. It lowers the CPU temperature by better than 5°F on the processor without a fan and the computer underside is now cool to the touch. Before my computer was crashing all the time due to over heating.The only improvement would be a USB port (some have them) to make up for it taking up one of the two USB ports on my MacBook Pro 15". I have just ordered a second one, with the USB ports, for myself and will give this one to my wife as her MacPowerBook also tends to overheat in the summer months. Both of our computers are old and I had to disconnect one of the fans in mine because the bearings failed. On my wife's computer the CPU's heat sink keeps coming disconnected every few years - the conductive glue doesn't last for ever and it is a thirteen year old machine. This chill matt is an expensive solution to sending the computer in for repairs. The computers work and I don't like throwing them out if they still do what we need.

This item worked as advertised for months. Shortly after purchase, the fans began dying down quite a bit, to the point of barely working at all. I'm not sure if this is a result of common issues others are having, or the faulty wire that connects the mat to the computer.The USB cord's holding area has a peg to wrap around and dock when not in use. Unfortunately my cord was just short enough that it really stretched out the wire every time I used the peg. Without the peg, the wire would stick out and attract the attention of my roommate's cat. With the peg, it fit snugly within the dock, but stretched the cord to the point of breaking.So yeah, the cord broke after about six months of use.Again, I don't know if this is because of the faulty design of the docking bay for the wire, or my roommate's cat chewing on the cord without me noticing, slowly but surely ensuring that it eventually snapped on me.So I give it a 3 stars If I knew it was the cat that caused it's untimely demise, I'd give it 3.5 (because, well, the fans did slow down significantly after a short time). If it wasn't the cat, well, I'd give it a 2 star rating. This thing helped me for six months to ensure my laptop kept running while I used it extensively to play Civ V for eight hours at a time without overheating (though it did still get very hot). It served pretty well as a platform to raise my laptop off of a flat surface, with a gentle zephyr every hour or so.You get what you pay for.

I was greatly exited to buy this product at such a cheap price, I felt it would be a great transition from my microsoft Single fan which did a good amount of work over time. With this being Dual-Fans I felt I could run my old lappy as fast as It was when I first had it. Out of the box it had simple packaging with just a piece of cardboard around it. I was super exited to start using. When I plugged it in I was trying to feel for the fan but I felt nothing. Having about four days of use already I was disappointed. The beautiful design and it's dual fans were so nice but the product did not work as a fan whatsoever. They had the smart idea to let in Airflow from little holes on the side which did not work. There was a centimeter of space between the fan and the bottom surface. No air was getting through and it made this disappointing. I tried some modifications and split the middle and higher rising part, added in some durable tubes and screwed it in and it worked just like the Microsoft Single fan but with two powerful fans.Overall this is nice and cheap but you'll have to do some modifications or it'll be just money thrown in a fire.