I wanted to get a laptop cooler so I could use mine on my lap. I found one called Xpad that uses no fans and their website states: Fan based laptop coolers can damage your Laptop USB port and interfere with the natural airflow intended for your laptop cooling system. Does anyone know if that's true? I really want to find the best cooler for my laptop, which is a HP Pavilion.

I doubt it would ever damage your USB port, maby if you forced in the plug sideways? It may interfere with the cooling design though, but just check the bottom for any vents and if there arent any its not going to interfere. Still, you can just get a thin wooden board a book or some cardboard and it wont heat up. And its much cheaper. Mattwizz3 : ) Sempron 2600+ @ 2.2GHz 1Gb DDR400 Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe 200GB SATA 2X 80Gb IDE 256Mb MSI 6800 Ultra

It is true that a USB port has limits to the amount of power that can be drawn from it, specs read: 2.5 watts or 0.5amp @ 5 volts, as long as you are not pulling more than that through it you should have no problem. I too have heard that a cooler can be working the air the wrong way, below is a link to a powered cooler: http://www.overclockers.com/article... Here are some specs for the USB port: http://www.digi.com/pdf/prd_usb_usb... http://www.beyondlogic.org/usbnutsh... Keep the old stuff running