Best Laptop External Cooling Fans of 2026
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Laptop external cooling fans are a popular accessory for laptop owners who want to keep their devices cool and prevent overheating. These fans are designed to improve airflow around the laptop, reducing the temperature of the components and extending the lifespan of the device. They come in various sizes and shapes, and some models even have adjustable fan speeds and LED lighting. Laptop external cooling fans are easy to install and use, making them a convenient solution for anyone who uses their laptop for extended periods of time.
At a Glance: Our Top Picks
Top 7 Laptop External Cooling Fans
Corsair RS120 ARGB 120mm PWM Fans Triple Pack
The Corsair RS120 Fans offer a streamlined solution for cooling your system. With daisy-chain connections, you can easily link multiple fans, controlling them through a single 4-pin PWM connector. This simplifies your setup while maintaining efficient airflow. The eight LEDs per fan provide bright, customisable lighting via your motherboard's ARGB control, enhancing your system’s aesthetics. Additionally, you can set the fan speeds up to 2,100 RPM, ensuring optimal cooling performance for your components, which is vital for maintaining system stability.
llano RGB Laptop Cooling Pad with Turbofan
The llano RGB Cooling Pad is designed to enhance your gaming experience with its powerful 14cm turbo booster fan, providing rapid cooling that prevents overheating during intense sessions. You will appreciate the soothing RGB light bar, featuring multiple colours and modes that add flair to your setup. The touch-mute button allows for effortless control without distracting you from the screen. Plus, the HD LED display gives real-time updates on fan speed, ensuring you can find the perfect balance between performance and noise.
Thermalright AQUA ELITE 360 V3 ARGB Liquid CPU Cooler
The Thermalright AQUA ELITE 360 is a liquid CPU cooler designed to offer superior cooling performance with its advanced fourth generation pump head and large 360mm black aluminium fin heat sink plate. This combination ensures low vibration and high heat dissipation, extending the lifespan of your cooling system. The unique octagonal pump head not only looks visually striking with its swirling rectangle design and ARGB lighting but also runs efficiently at up to 3,300 RPM, providing reliable cooling for long periods. Additionally, its three PWM ARGB fans automatically adjust speed based on CPU temperature, delivering strong airflow quietly while enhancing your system’s aesthetics with vibrant lighting effects.
Thermalright TL-C12C-S X3 Silent Fan
The Thermalright TL-C12C-S Fan offers high performance with automatic speed control, adjusting to the motherboard's temperature for optimal cooling up to 1550RPM. Its quality S-FDB bearings minimise noise while enhancing cooling efficiency, making it perfect for quieter environments. Additionally, the fan features vibrant ARGB lighting with 17 modes, allowing you to personalise your setup's aesthetics. With a versatile size and design, it is suitable for both case and CPU cooling, ensuring you keep your components cool during intensive tasks.
Thermalright Assassin X 120R SE V2 ARGB CPU Cooler
The Thermalright Assassin X 120R is a reliable CPU cooler designed for efficient and quiet operation. With over 20 years of experience, Thermalright offers you a product that combines a pure copper base and four heat pipes for excellent heat dissipation. Its 120mm PWM fan runs at 1550 RPM, delivering effective airflow while keeping noise levels low, making your system quieter. The fixed ARGB lighting adds a subtle glow to your setup, without the complexity of syncing with your motherboard’s lighting system, providing simple but stylish illumination.
Thermalright AQUA ELITE 240 V3 Liquid CPU Cooler with ARGB Fans
The Thermalright AQUA ELITE 240 offers advanced cooling with its fourth-generation pump head and a 240mm black aluminium fin heat sink, ensuring efficient heat dissipation while maintaining low vibration and long lifespan. Its dual 120mm ARGB fans feature S-FDB bearings for quiet operation and strong airflow, automatically adjusting speed through PWM to match your CPU temperature. You’ll also enjoy excellent LED lighting effects, with ARGB sync compatible with your motherboard’s 5V 3-pin header, creating vibrant colours that enhance your PC’s aesthetics. The included fan hub and pre-installed fans make cable management and setup straightforward and neat for your build.
Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 CPU Air Cooler
The Thermalright Phantom Spirit is a reliable CPU air cooler designed to keep your processor running efficiently. With over 20 years of development, Thermalright offers quality and trusted technology. The AGHP 4.0 technique uses seven heat pipes to provide excellent heat transfer and durability, ensuring your system stays cool even during heavy use. Its aluminium fins and copper base maximise heat dissipation, combined with premium thermal paste for optimal cooling performance. The dual 120mm PWM fans run quietly with adjustable speeds, giving you effective airflow without disturbing noise levels.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Do external cooling fans work for laptops?
Yes - laptop cooling pads work especially well for gaming. This is one of the most common use cases for laptop cooling pads, since running games on your computer can be labor intensive for laptops.
2. Are laptop cooling fans worth it?
If your laptop is suffering from heat-related problems, then laptop cooling pads are a cheap and effective way to solve your problems. While they're not the ultimate solution, they can resurrect a failing device for less than the cost of a single PC game.
3. Do gaming laptops need external cooling?
Gaming laptop comes with internal cooling system that provide sufficient cooling till your laptop not so old, suppose you just purchased a high configuration gaming laptop then you might not need an external cooling device, but after using sometimes it start showing overheating issues because of dust improper ...
4. Can you add cooling to a laptop?
Step Three: Additional Cooling As a matter of fact, a cooling pad is almost indispensable in the case of gaming laptops. The way that cooling pads operate is simple: you place them on a surface, then place your laptop on top of them, plug them into one of the laptop's USB ports, and let the fan(s) do their work.
During our laptop external cooling fan research, we found 178 laptop external cooling fan products and shortlisted 7 quality products. We collected and analyzed 10,992 customer reviews through our big data system to write the laptop external cooling fans list. We found that most customers choose laptop external cooling fans with an average price of £29.92.
The laptop external cooling fans are available for purchase. We have researched hundreds of brands and picked the top brands of laptop external cooling fans, including Corsair, llano, Thermalright.
Kenneth Collin graduated from Imperial College, London, at 22. He is a UX/UI designer, a web developer, and a writer, amongst others. At age 14, Kenneth programmed his first app. Kenneth's app served as a remote control for censored devices. "When I was 8, I would pick up scraps from electronics and try to rebuild or at least fix them," Kenneth said in one of his recent articles on Home repairs for top gadgets.