Abstract: A cooling pad to dissipate heat from a portable computing system. The cooling pad of the present invention includes a fan, heat sink and thermal sensor inside the cooling pad housing. When the cooling pad heat sink is placed next to the portable computing system and its thermal sensor detects a portable computing system temperature above a pre-determined threshold, the fan in the cooling pad can turn on to dissipate heat from the cooling pad's heat sink and thereby also dissipate heat from the portable computing system.