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Antec Notebook Cooler Review |
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Written by Don Lee
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Monday, 05 March 2007 |
 Antec Notebook Cooler was designed to help keep your laptop
temperatures cool even under heavy usage. When I recently purchased my
15-inch Apple MacBook, I noticed that it would get pretty hot. Too hot
to keep it in my lap for sure but I was a little troubled by the
noticeable hot spots along the edge of the keyboard area.
Now I have never owned a notebook computer before so I became very concerned that my huge investment was going to burn up in a matter of months. I picked up the Antec Notebook Cooler hoping that it could decrease the system’s temps about 5 degrees at least. Here is what I discovered about the Antec Notebook Cooler.
Cool It
The Antec Notebook Cooler is a little less than an inch in height. It comes with a 17-inch USB cable that you plug into your notebook’s USB port. Don’t worry about losing access to that port since the USB plug is open-ended so you can plug additional USB devices to it. The cable is easily stowed in a compartment at the bottom of the device. There are also two cooling fans in the center of the device that run at a very quiet 25.9 decibels.
Once you plug the Notebook Cooler’s USB cable into your laptop’s USB port, just select from low or high speed using the switch at the side of the device. Just put your notebook on top of the device and let the Antec Notebook Cooler draw the heat from your laptop and push it out through the vents on the side.
I put my overheating MacBook on the Notebook Cooler and noticed it drop a couple of degrees immediately. But my hopes were quickly dashed because the MacBook wouldn’t cool any further. However, when I repositioned the MacBook to where the cooling fans would be directly beneath a hot spot, it did manage to drop a few more degrees.
The MacBook did look a little awkward sitting they way it did but it did help get the job done which was to cool it down a bit. If you’re concerned about your MacBook’s overheating, then I would suggest using smcFanControl to control your system fans.
The Final Word
Remember that this test was done with the Apple MacBook only. Not all notebook heat issues will be in the same spots. With that said, if you are having some overheating problems near the center of your notebook, then the Antec Notebook Cooler would be an nice, inexpensive solution to protect your laptop from heat damage. You can expect this device to cool your notebook 5-7 degrees though.
You can click HERE to purchase the Antec Notebook Cooler.
The Antec Notebook Cooler earns 3.75 stars out of 5. Good recommendation. You can visit Antec online at their official website http://www.antec.com.
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