My Laptop Thermal Throttles

[LordMastodon]

So, I recently bought a consumer-grade Toshiba L55-C5392 for $550, and I am reasonably happy with it. I has quite nice specs for a consumer-grade laptop, an i7-6700HQ, 8GB of RAM, and 1TB hard drive that I switched with an SSD a while back. I know that for the laptop I have, I can't expect extremely high build quality, but it's OK, and looks pretty nice. The one problem I've been having, though, is the thermals, which are abysmal. It idles at around 60 degrees, and if I even threaten it with a load, it will jump up to 100 degrees and begin to thermal throttle. I don't even want to mention what happens when I do some light gaming. While yes, a $550 laptop can't be expected to have sub-zero temperatures and phase-change cooling, it begs the question of why even include an i7 if you don't have the cooling to support it to under load? This kind of laptop could have gotten away with an i5, or even an i3, but they went with an i7 and I just can't utilize it. And before you say that there are better laptops out there with the same price, this was an exchange at a store, and this was the best that they had in that price bracket. Before you scream at the heavens, "Buy a desktop!", there are a multitude of reasons why I can't buy a desktop. I would like to know what you think, and thank you in advance!

[HPWebcamAble]

3 minutes ago, LordMastodon said:

why even include an i7 if you don't have the cooling to support it to under load?

It's designed to be a multitasking home/work laptop, not a gaming laptop. They (Toshiba) expect it NOT to be under heavy load.

 

You could get an external laptop cooler, I got one for my old laptop and it did help

[LordMastodon]

I think an external laptop cooler is just a bit too bulky for my taste. Also, if Toshiba don't expect it to be under load, why did they include an i7? They could have gone with an i5 or even an i3.

[W-L]

9 minutes ago, LordMastodon said:

-SNIP-

Welcome to the Forums!

 

That's not uncommon for laptops when under 100% full load as most don't have great airflow or super beefy heastinks, I personally have a Samsung chronos 7 with an i7 and it does the same thing under 100% load even with new thermal paste, it's just the physical limitations of the heatinks and intakes that causes that to occur. 

[LordMastodon]

Thank you, I've been a fan of Linus' for a few months and I only realized that they had forums now, so here I am. 

 

Also, if that's the case, than what kind of low profile but effective external coolers would you recommend?

[W-L]

1 minute ago, LordMastodon said:

Thank you, I've been a fan of Linus' for a few months and I only realized that they had forums now, so here I am. 

Also, if that's the case, than what kind of low profile but effective external coolers would you recommend?

Having it on a laptop cooler can help depending on the design, as some will force more fresh air into the laptop or give it more airflow while others will make no difference due to the design. In terms of which ones they are fairly simple so there isn't too much difference between most of them other than say all metal construction, some decent ones I've seen are from Cooler Master, Thermaltake and the lot. 

[HPWebcamAble]

5 minutes ago, LordMastodon said:

Also, if that's the case, than what kind of low profile but effective external coolers would you recommend?

Here's a great one: http://www.amazon.com/Laptop-Cooling-Kootek%C2%AE-Cooler-Adjustable/dp/B01469DJLM/ref=sr_1_8?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1462737996&sr=1-8&keywords=external+cooler

This one is much more portable: http://www.amazon.com/Soonhua-Powered-Cooling-External-Computer/dp/B00WJLMUQU/ref=sr_1_21?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1462737996&sr=1-21&keywords=external+cooler

 

12 minutes ago, LordMastodon said:

if Toshiba don't expect it to be under load, why did they include an i7? They could have gone with an i5 or even an i3.

An i7 has much better multitasking performance.

[LordMastodon]

51 minutes ago, HPWebcamAble said:

Here's a great one: http://www.amazon.com/Laptop-Cooling-Kootek%C2%AE-Cooler-Adjustable/dp/B01469DJLM/ref=sr_1_8?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1462737996&sr=1-8&keywords=external+cooler

This one is much more portable: http://www.amazon.com/Soonhua-Powered-Cooling-External-Computer/dp/B00WJLMUQU/ref=sr_1_21?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1462737996&sr=1-21&keywords=external+cooler

I would kind of like to go with one that attaches to the side rather than a tray, because a) most of the heat from my laptop goes out the side rather than bottom, and b) it's more portable, so what kind of recommendations can you make for those?

[HPWebcamAble]

1 hour ago, LordMastodon said:

I would kind of like to go with one that attaches to the side rather than a tray, because a) most of the heat from my laptop goes out the side rather than bottom, and b) it's more portable, so what kind of recommendations can you make for those?

Please see the one I linked...

I've personally only used the tray style, so I'm not sure how the side-mounted ones preform.

Tray-mounted is likely better in terms of cooling, though less portable.