Do they work?
My laptop gets hot too fast!
Re: Laptop cooling pads
They definitely help. Get one that also raises your laptop to allow more air circulation under the laptop.
Re: Laptop cooling pads
I use to put a book underneath my laptop's battery .
Re: Laptop cooling pads
If you are savvy enough to open up your laptop, then try to clean it up and install new thermal pastes on the squares (cpu, gpu) on the motherboard. I think that there is one by Arctic Ice that has gotten rave reviews from people. Investing in an SSD also helps.
Re: Laptop cooling pads
Thermal Compound Roundup - September 2011 | Hardware Secrets
Geek Tested: 17 Thermal Pastes Face Off | Maximum PC
Any paste is better than none, but arctic cool was good 5 years ago. I thought the same thing until I read about it; the only good arctic is like $15 and is matched by a $3 other brand.
I don’t really think laptops are worth it though, overpriced and too hard to repair; if you really need mobility get a cheap cheap tablet and a build pc for home you can do both for less money.
Instead of compound, there’s these pads now which are a bit more expensive and one-time use but they maybe worth it. I avoid using them even if I know I won’t touch my pc, just because.. but on a laptop it might be worth. Idk, human nature to me says if you think you can’t touch it, you will try to. 
Re: Laptop cooling pads
A cooling pad is just a temporary solution to overheating. The source of the excess heat should be traced and taken care of instead.
More often than not, a layer of dirt will build up on your heatsink, so its best to open up your laptop, and remove that gunk, after which your laptop should not need a cooling pad or a fan. Opening up a laptop and cleaning it is fairly simple with modern day machines. You should be able to find a DIY video about your model somewhere on youtube.