Over the past few months I have noticed that my laptop overheats often. Small things like playing a couple rounds of Plants vs Zombies just kill it, causing my laptop to shut itself down and I have to wait for 15 minutes before I can boot back up.

Last week it got to where I just couldn’t tolerate the inconvenience any longer. A quick trip to Fry’s Electronics and my days of overheating are over.

Since I have a 17 inch laptop, my choices were pretty limited with what they had in stock. There was a giant bulky Targus cooling pad and the Logitech Cooling Pad N 100. Between the two, I chose the slightly cheaper and more ergonomic designed pad. The N 100 sits comfortably in my lap, has an extremely quiet fan and does not kill my battery when I bring my laptop to the kitchen or bedroom. It uses one USB port to draw all the power it needs to keep me connected and cool.

Since I’ve been using the N 100, I have been able to play Plants vs Zombies for over an hour, while continuing my multitasking ways, and there is minimal heat emanating from my battery.  For $29.99, the Logitech Cooling Pad N 100 is definitely money well spent.