CM Storm SF-15 Gaming Laptop Cooling Pad with 160mm Fan & Adjustable Stand - Perfect for Gaming, Work & Home Office Use

This item is described as having a dual speed fan. It is a single speed fan. I already had a SF-17 that I use on a Dell 17R. Intended use of SF-15 is for a HP 15 EnvyAE100 w 16g memory and a SSD.Note: I use my laptop on my lap and on a desktop, therefore the below results were crosschecked in both use cases.Measured temps on HP Envy with a laser thermometer; hottest spot is between the keyboard light button and the speaker disable button. This puts the "hot spot" right in the area of the function keys which are used extensively in our preferred apps Rhino and ZBrush. These apps put a similar high CPU and memory usage similar to gaming on a PC. In addition, ZBrush is a heaviy disk-hitter. Note if you use ZBrush and haven't upgraded to a SSD, do it now, you won't regret it. Now back to the review. HP PC is used heavily on lap while in a recliner and also on a desktop while connected to a 3D printer. All temp tests were run in same positions and with same applications running on PC (Rhino and Zbrush). Results. Without either SF unit, PC was running at 109deg F. With SF-15 was running at 101.1deg F. With SF-17 was running at 96.6deg F. Similar results (+/-) 1 deg were observed when on the desktop and connected to the 3D printer. The extra cooling effect could be due to where the "hot spot" occurs in the HP Envy and the larger fan in the SF-17, other laptops may vary.Also noted that the SF-17, though heavier by a small amount is FAR more comfortable on the legs, YMMV. The SF-15 has "adjustable feet" that are uncomfortable. I think the larger surface area of the SF-17 also helps distribute the weight better. Additionally, though I was too lazy to pull out the sound meter, to me and more importantly to my wife, the SF-17 runs a lot quieter at full speed than the SF-15. Lastly, on the SF-15, when moving the fan/latop on/off lap or desktop, the back metal screen almost always comes into contact with the fan blade. VERY annoying. I think this is due to flexure in the frame of the SF-15 as I pick it up with a hand on the left and the right side of the unit.I ordered another SF-17 (LOVE that one) for use with the HP 15 Envy and returned the SF-15, IMHO its worth the extra $10 bucks or so for the SF-17.Big disappointment. I bought it because of the brand CoolerMaster and the number of great reviews. Here's what's wrong:(1) THERE IS ONLY 1 FAN AND IT DOESN'T HIT THE ENTIRE LAPTOP. Many areas of the laptop are not hit directly by the one fan included in this pad. See for yourself. Just look at the picture. The area that is hit is cool and the areas that are not hit are hot.Let's start with some measurements. The top is a little bit weird to measure because the shape is all over the place.Do you see see that storm logo on the top? That center space between the two vertical pop-outs and the logo is 5.25 inches wide and about 2.75 inches down from the top. So all of that part of your laptop is not getting hit directly by the fan.The rest of the horizontal top part goes out 6 inches horizontally and 4 inches down on each side. Again, none of these areas are hit by the fan. Then you have the left and right hand sides. There is a 3 inch margin that goes all the way down 11 inches. Again, none of this huge area is hit by a fan.There are better designs out there where you can see that the entire platform has fans underneath.(2) THE STOPPER ON THE BOTTOM DOESN'T WORK. I never use my laptop on a desk. It's always use it on my lap in a 45 degree or less angle. To keep the laptop in place, CoolerMaster put this tinnie, tinnie bump that doesn't keep my MacBook Pro, 15 inch Retina in place. It's not even a close call. It may as well not even be there because it does nothing to keep my laptop from sliding down on me. And when it slides down, more of my laptop is not getting hit by the fan.I really don't understand what all the fuss is about this product. I think people are blinded by the CoolerMaster brand. I was a believer in CoolerMaster until I bought this product. If somebody made a great product with quality parts, I would pay $200 for something like that. But it seems like all of the products by any company in this category are priced very low. And those low prices have resulted in poor designs and crappy parts.Works good, almost exactly as described. The fans very quiet, and there is a noticeable difference in lessened heat coming from my laptop during usage. Though, I thought the fan would be more powerful then it actually is - still works good though.The red accent lights, don't light up extremely well - doesn't quite match up with what was advertised - or what I thought they would look like when on. Construction on the item is very well made, heavy plastic - seems very durable - I like the power cord corral... though on my laptop my usb port (left side of laptop) is on the opposite side of where the connection to power the CM Storm was located and made it connecting this somewhat awkward. Note I like the extra usb ports on the CM storm. Using it with the posts on the bottom fully extended and the laptop on it does not seem to overwork my hands, which are still comfortable when using the laptop.All in all an OK product, might not dump $50 dollars on something similar for future purchases of this nature.I really like the design and everything the cooling pad has to offer.....but my unit arrived sadly defective. The fan turns, yet it turns so slowly I barely felt any air coming out. It should have been turning fast enough that there is a cooling breeze. I tested it for two days to see if by chance it just needed to be ran. My laptop got so hot it crashed on me. The cooling pad wasn't speeding up so out of default, I also checked to see if the pad did the same with another laptop. It did the same thing and didn't cool down the laptop. There was no air pressure. The fan might be loose or the wiring could be bad with this unit.Amazon, please contact me. I would like to have the unit to be replaced as soon as possible.Tengo una Lenovo Y520 y previamente tenía ya el SF-17, que realmente era una base monstruosa en cuanto a tamaño, por lo que decidí cambiarla, para sorpresa mía este producto realmente no luce todo su potencial ya que el tamaño es muy pequeño para una Laptop de 15", la recomendaría para laptops más pequeñas, en cuanto a función, es muy práctica y cabe sin problemas en una mochila para 17" así que es una buena adquisición para una laptop con medidas moderadas.Funciona muy bien, no tiene velocidades pero ayuda a que mi laptop no se caliente ya que los videojuegos incrementan la temperatura, aunque uso aparte un cooler para la tarjeta de video...Si solo usas esto para una laptop sin jugar algo te sirve bastante, de lo contrario es probable que te baje poco la temperaturaLa compre para una lap alienware que se me estaba calentando por hacer renders ya que las temperaturas estaban arriba de los 95 grados y esta le bajo facil 10 grados asi que practicamente salvo mi compu! Esta excelente la super recomiendo!Broke less than two years of moderate usage. Not a regular gamer so it was not on for long extended period and the laptop was not always gaming. Started making rattling noises. A cheaper cooling pad, which was it replaced, lasted longer.Funciona muy bien con mi MSI GT72 6QD, baja la temperatura del procesador hasta 10 grados c°.Excelente producto altamente recomendable