- Cooling pads can help prevent overheating during creative tasks, not just gaming
- Music production, digital art, and video editing all create heavy thermal loads
- High-end options like the Llano RGB deliver extreme cooling for a premium price
- Budget models like the Liangstar still offer significant temperature reductions
For years, laptop cooling pads have been seen as flashy gaming accessories, complete with RGB lighting and marketing focused on boosting frame rates in heavy titles. But with summer temperatures climbing and laptops being pushed harder for creative work, these devices are proving their worth well beyond the gaming desk.
Recent soaring heat made one user rethink his stance entirely. Despite owning a desktop gaming rig and a Steam Deck, he relied on a middle-aged MacBook Pro for music, art, and occasional video work.
It wasn’t until his laptop began heating to uncomfortable levels – sometimes crashing entirely, that he realized cooling pads aren’t just for high-end gaming machines.
Heatwaves and Heavy Workloads Are a Bad Combination
The turning point came during a stretch of 93°F (34°C) weather. Long before the mercury spiked, his MacBook was already prone to getting hot under strain. But the combination of ambient heat, aging hardware, and demanding software pushed it to the brink.
The symptoms were more than warm lap discomfort- sudden freezes, unresponsive keyboards, and complete system lock-ups made it clear the machine was struggling to cope. That’s when a cooling pad entered the picture.
Three Everyday Uses That Push Laptops to the Limit
Music Production
Producing music might not sound like a CPU-draining task, but it can be surprisingly intense. A few years ago, laying down some loops and synthesizers was easy enough.
Now, with up to 50 channels of high-end effects, automation, and complex samplers running, the CPU works at full throttle. In hot conditions, audio corruption or full freezes became more common.
While there are workarounds like mixing channels down to simpler audio tracks, that can make future edits a chore. A cooling pad offered a simpler fix, keeping performance stable without investing in a new machine.
Digital Art
Digital illustration starts light, but as multiple raster layers, heavy effects, and clipping masks pile up, the strain on a laptop increases.
Testing different drawing tablets revealed that, while crashes were less frequent than during music production, performance drops and fan noise were clear signs of thermal stress.
Since many artists work from a stationary setup anyway, adding a cooling pad to the desk is straightforward and effective.
Video Editing
If there’s one task guaranteed to generate heat, it’s video editing. Encoding 4K footage and rendering animations require sustained, intense processing power.
For older laptops, this workload without extra cooling can feel like tempting fate. Tests showed that cooling pads can cut operating temperatures by nearly 20°C – a difference that could mean avoiding long-term damage.
Choosing the Right Cooling Pad
For top performance, the Llano RGB Laptop Cooling Pad stood out. It’s not just a gamer’s toy – the subtle RGB outline and powerful cooling brought test laptop temperatures down from 31.9°C above baseline to just 8°C, an impressive drop. That performance comes at a price: $119.99 / £129.99.
For a budget-friendly choice, the Liangstar Laptop Cooling Pad delivered a respectable 15.3°C reduction at just $19.99 / £20.99. While it won’t match the Llano’s extreme cooling, it’s more than enough for most non-gaming workloads.
More Than Just a Gaming Accessory
As laptops take on increasingly demanding creative tasks, heat is becoming an issue in more situations than ever before. Whether it’s producing multi-layered audio tracks, illustrating complex digital art, or editing high-resolution video, thermal control can be the difference between smooth workflows and sudden shutdowns.
For those who thought cooling pads were only for hardcore gamers, it might be time to reconsider – especially before the next heatwave hits.
Follow TechBSB For More Updates
