Laptop Stand vs Cooling Pad (Llano v13 and Flydigi bs1) on Alienware M18 R1

It has been quite a while since my last blogpost. So today I would like to share regarding my experience of using laptop stand and cooling pad. So a bit of history....

Previously I had to rely on software to increase the fan speed to cool down the laptop, but increasing fan speed lead to very loud noise and it was unbearable for me. In case you are wondering what kind of software was it, it is alienfx-tools by T-Troll (Source: https://github.com/T-Troll/alienfx-tools). It is a 3rd party tool that are not developed by dell. It has various functions, but I'm only using the alienfan-gui exe for fan control.

Since then I have been exploring other ways to reduce the heat from the laptop. So starting with laptop stand, I'm sure there are many comments out there that says the laptop stand itself is sufficient, but after trying out the laptop stand for couple of months, I would say it is not exactly sufficient.

Laptop Stand

After that i heard from one of my friend that he bought GT500 laptop cooler and recommended it for having a massive drop in temperature. But i was a bit hesitate due to historically i had a laptop cooler and did not made a different. Later on I found out that it is different kind of cooler as it has a sealed foam to prevent air from escaping and fully entered into the laptop. 

Llano V13

Flydigi BS1

I bought llano V13 and used it for close to a year before buying flydigi bs1. With this, we can make a comparison between 3 different setup. 

First Setup: 

• Laptop on a laptop stand

Second Setup: 

• Place the llano V13 on top of the laptop stand. Then place the laptop on top of the cooler. 
• Cooler run on 300RPM
• Wattage measured on wall: 2W

Third Setup: 

• Place the Flydigi BS1 on top of the laptop stand. Then place the laptop on top of the cooler
• Cooler run on 2700RPM (3rd Speed)
• Wattage measured on wall: 4W

Laptop Specification:

• Intel i9 13900HX
• Nvidia RTX 4080
• Kingston Fury Impact 64GB 5600 (Running on 5200)

To have a fair comparison, llano V13 cooler need to be on top of the laptop stand. This is due to the air intake is at the bottom. Whereas the Flydigi BS1 air intake is at the back of the cooler, so placing it on the laptop stand or on the table will not make a different. Other than that, the test is done on an older game to avoid any thermal throttling.

Due to the noise emitting from the laptop cooler is very high, I will mostly test on low RPM/low wattage scenario.

Game tested on: Borderlands 2

	Laptop Stand	Llano V13 on Laptop Stand (300RPM, 2 Watt)	Flydigi BS1 on Laptop Stand (2700RPM, 4 Watt)
CPU Temp (°C)	63.0	58.0	61.0
GPU Temp (°C)	54.0	50.6	53.0
GPU Memory Junction (°C)	68.0	64.0	66.0
RAM Slot 1 (°C)	66.5	56.3	62.8
RAM Slot 2 (°C)	67.5	58.3	63.0

Laptop Stand

With Llano V13

Flydigi BS1

From the comparison, Llano wins compared to the other 2 different setup. Personally I do not know why the Flydigi BS1 perform poorly as most commentor in public sites recommend this for its better performance and low noise. I can only guess that is was due to the following that causes some of the air to escaped out:

• The Flydigi BS1's foam is very low and thin
• The Alienware M18 R1's rubber feet is 1 circle and quite high.

Other than that, Flydigi BS1's has a fixed position on pushing air into the fan that cools the CPU and GPU only. So the fan that are position in other area that cools the RAM or SSD does not benefit from it. So if you have laptop such as the Lenovo Legion Pro 9i 10th Gen that has fans in other position for cooling other components or Alienware Area 51 16/18 that does not have air intake directly at the fans, then I would personally discourage to get Flydigi BS1.

So to conclude this, I would say Llano V13 is the best all rounder laptop cooler.