A cooler helps, but it's not a safe zone.

Yes, but with important caveats.

A cooler isolates the inside from the outside, so it will slow down heat transfer. That means your laptop might stay cooler for a couple of hours longer than it would sitting in direct sun. But it’s not magic. If you leave the cooler in a hot car all day, the internal temperature will eventually equalize with the outside. All you’ve done is delay the inevitable.

The bigger risk is condensation. If you put a warm laptop into a cooler and then bring it into air conditioning, moisture can form inside the electronics. Same if you add ice packs — the cold surface will attract condensation, and now you have wet electronics. Not good.

If you must use a cooler, do it for short trips only, and keep the cooler in the shade with the lid cracked slightly for ventilation. A better option is a reflective sunshade or an insulated laptop bag with a mylar blanket on top. And the real hack: just don’t leave your laptop