General

[quote=Composure]Coolermaster; its like an angled tray with holes and fans. You plug it into your USB drive to activate the fans. I love it, it helps elevate your laptop and keeps both you and your laptop cool ^-^[/quote]
Mine is called CoolMax, but it's the same. And yes, it is probably the best cooler I've had yet.

I have this one: http://www.amazon.com/Targus-Chill-AWE55US-Black-Gray/dp/B002NU5O9C/ref.=pd_cp_e_0

Remove the . between ref and =

My family got it for me from best buy though (I'm pretty sure). I don't even use the fan all the time. It's mostly helpful for keeping it off the carpet when I use it on the floor, so the laptop's fan doesn't get a big blob of fuzz doesn't get stuck in it again.

Coolermaster; its like an angled tray with holes and fans. You plug it into your USB drive to activate the fans. I love it, it helps elevate your laptop and keeps both you and your laptop cool ^-^

How old is your laptop? Before you spend any money on a cooling pad, try to do everything you can in order to keep your laptop from overheating. Trust me, I've gone through about 3 cooling pads over the past couple of years.

1. If it's anywhere between 2 and 4+ years old, it's probably dust that's causing it to over heat. I don't know what you can do to clean it (I don't recommend opening it up since laptop's are a fine piece of work, and are practically impossible to close back up once you open it up, unless you know what you're doing)

2. Try to cut down on as much CPU usage as you possible can. For example, open up your task manager, and kill anything that you know you won't be using much (Yahoo, Skype, MSN, Scanner application, etc...) It won't make [i]too[/i] much of a difference but it will help a little.

3. Try using a classic windows theme (Like the old windows 98 theme) although it's not appealing, I found that it helps a lot in terms of keeping my laptop cool.

4. Disable Aero features (If you're running vista/7/8)

5. Make sure your laptop has good open space for where ever fan slots are on the sides and bottom. When its on your lap, the laptop's bottom is completely covered so it heats up. The same happens with tables. Try putting a book or two under your laptop edges to give it about half an inch worth of space below the laptop to allow air flow.

If all that fails, or if you've already tried all of that... then your best bet is to try out [b]Cooler Master Notepal Laptop Cooling Stand (U2)[/b] (*Note: I used the Canadian Bestbuy website, so I don't know if the American one will have this) It's an online offer only, but the price is very reasonable, and well within your budget.