[kirtar]

Ok, so when I'm at home I use my laptop on a cooling pad (Dell Precision m4400 on a Coolermaster Notepal Infinite if it matters). At this point I'm using the built in headphone jack. However, there is a buzz that is always present and I know it to be related to the cooler. I found this out by changing the fan speed and then turning the pad off. However, it's not because of contact with the pad. Even if I lift my laptop off of the pad the buzz is still there, so my only guess is that it's somehow either transferring vibration through the USB cord or some kind of noise is going through it. Any ideas?

 

[Armaegis]

Probably just lousy circuitry in the cooling pad. Your cheapest solution is to simply not use the pad. You might try plugging the pad into a different usb port, but I doubt that would make a difference. Otherwise your options are to use some external sound card (typically usb).