Home > Consumer Reviews > Xpad (Non-slip Laptop Cooler and Heatshield)

Great solution. Lightweight, and dramatic difference. The heat from my MacBook Pro was intense. I've had other laptops before, but nothing came close to the heat from my Apple. Every couple hours I would have to shut it down to let it cool off, or put it on the granite countertop in my kitchen to absorb the heat. The typical plastic laptop pads didn't absorb the heat. I even pulled out a spare tile of stone from the outdoor countertop we installed to use as a laptop pad, but this was a heavy and ridiculous solution. The Xpad was much more affordable, and I liked that it didn't need to plug into my laptop to run additional fans.

I've had this for about as long as I've had my laptop (a new model is out and it's $200 cheaper so that makes it what... about a year?) and I love it. It fits my 14" just fine and could probably fit a 15" too. It's the exact same width as my laptop and about 1 inch longer, which is ideal because a little bit of slack forward & back keeps it on your lap even when it slides just a bit (more on that later).

When used with a desk, it keeps it up and away from the desk and simply provides more air below the laptop where the fans are. One of the "X" pads are directly below the hard drive, so it probably doesn't get as much ventilation as it could, but still more than if the xpad wasn't involved.

As something you keep on your lap, it works great too. The bottom side has an almost denim like feel to it and keeps everything relatively stable and things don't slide around except at the most extreme angles - the laptop will start to slip at, say, greater than 30 degrees away from you (the monitor half being heavy and towards the bottom - it's just not good) or 45 degrees towards you (which is how I sometimes keep it if I'm lying in bed with it propped up between my stomach and one of my legs). If I were to redesign it, I'd texture the rubber X pads on the top (they're pretty smooth) so as to add just a touch more grip, but that's a very minor quibble - really at the angles I'm talking about, gravity just has to take over.

It's made of some sort of plastic and foam, and I was really surprised with how light-weight it was. It's also thin enough to take with you in a laptop bag. If the laptop is running really hot, the bottom will get one or two degrees warmer, but not at all hot and definitely nothing that would make you sterile (read the stories on the internet, it happens).

All in all, this is a great product and doesn't pull any power from your USB or have any areas where you can't put your leg because there's a fan there. My girlfriend is getting a laptop soon and we'll definitely get one for her too.

I purchased this after receiving my Macbook 13". I read the online reviews and thought I would give it a try. For me it works well with my needs. First, it surely keeps my lap cooler, though I am not really sure about the actual laptop temp. It is ergonomic, being pretty non-intrusive and not having to adapt to an extremely odd wrist/hand angle. My laptop never slips, even when I angle my legs! It is very light and travels extremely well and does not use up your battery. I also have one with fans, the Vantech or Vanguard, which of course does lower the temp, but sucks up the battery, plus seems to be very fragile, and my laptop slips off of it often. I would recommend this item to others, though I would hope the price of this extremely simple unit would go down, but at around $17, I would pay that again.
My rating for the product is a 5 star, but it losses one star from me for the cost being higher than what I believe it should be, considering manufacturing and material cost. I would imagine the cost would go down eventually.

I've been using the XPad for about two weeks and have to say that overall it does a pretty good job. I mostly use my laptop propped in my lap in bed,and the fans on my Dell don't go off nearly as often when I'm using the Xpad. I no longer feel the heat from my laptop burning into my skin, and I can't say I really miss it all that much. Furthermore, I pretty much leave it permanently on the Xpad even when I'm not using it, thus dispelling my previous irrational fear that my laptop would overheat and set my sheets on fire if I left it unattended. The fact that it runs without needing to plug in to a USB port and without noisy fans of any sort is a huge plus.

Some things to note: I own a Dell Inspiron 1505 with a 15.4' screen. The Xpad fits it perfectly from front to back, however the computer is larger by about 1 cm on each side. This doesn't really seem to affect the performance at all. If I use my laptop for hours at a time, the rubberized raised surfaces on the Xpad tend to get pretty hot, though I think this is unavoidable when running your computer for so long in such close proximity to another surface. It's going to heat up something unless you can somehow use it suspended in air.

The other thing is that the actual physical presence of the Xpad under my laptop took some getting used to. In some places, it adds about an inch to how my laptop used to sit, and when I first started using it I found that I had to slightly adjust the position of my hands, particularly when typing. I stopped noticing this after a few days of use, and have actually come to appreciate the stable surface that the Xpad creates--almost like a mini-desk. I also feel that the Xpad also adds a certain amount of heft that takes some getting used to, though I'm sure this is very person-specific (think about it this way: a laptop alone might be about 6 lbs., so even a pound of extra weight is about a 15% increase. Some people can probably feel that, others, not so much).

Overall, definitely recommended, but I'd give it a few days to get used to the feeling of having your laptop sitting on a new surface. And one final note, even with the price of $19.95, it doesn't ship from amazon, so you'll end up paying about $27 total.

When I first looked at this item on Amazon I must admit I was very skeptical. I have purchased many notebook coolers in my time, one of them actually costing me a notebook. It destroyed the fan inside the notebook, and then the notebook overheated and died, being I went to an outside electrical device that was not made by the company I somehow violated the not so affordable warranty I purchased which I must say caused me to be a bit angered. After I looked over multiple cooling systems I came across the Xpad. No fans? How does it cool your system down? Not wanting to take a chance on destroying another notebook with another p.o.s, I decided to get this Xpad, it was affordable, and best of all it doesn't violate any Warranty set by your notebook provider being it doesn't plug into it, or change its engineering in any shape or form. :) I received the Xpad later on that week, and decided to check it out, first and foremost, the reason my notebook runs at insane temperatures is because I am an Online Gamer. I play MMORPG's, to be specific World of Warcraft. My notebook would constantly over heat, resulting in what's known as the Blue Screen of Death. Since I have gotten the Xpad, I have not once seen this screen. However do not expect this Xpad to cool down your laptop 100%. It does however reduce the heat incredibly, and makes your notebook run allot smoother, and somehow faster! When placed on your lap, you don't even feel the heat. Or if I am wearing shorts, and parts of my leg is exposed, no heat! You will still feel a little heat from the laptop itself, so if you're looking for something that will 100% cool your notebook, this isn't for you. If you're looking for a product that will significantly reduce the heating to your laptop, and stop you from getting leg burn, than you have found your answer! I know I did!