Antec Notebook Cooler S - Compact Notebook Cooler

Comments about Antec Notebook Cooler S - Compact Notebook Cooler:

This is important: This cooler BLOWS fresh air under the laptop, directing it after it does its cooling to the sides. It actually helps the laptop internal cooler, supplying more fresh air to it, besides its own cooling effect. Coolers that draws heat from the laptop, COMPETES with the computer internal cooler. This is true for most computers.

Comments about Antec Notebook Cooler S - Compact Notebook Cooler:

quite...compact...effective...just be sure that you do not cover up the two fans when positioning the laptop...

Comments about Antec Notebook Cooler S - Compact Notebook Cooler:

The Notebook Cooler S is designed to sit behind the notebook; the fans suck air in and blow out underneath the notebook. For my particular laptop (Alienware desktop replacement) it works best to position the fans on the right side, so the air is blowing across the hot spots of hard drive and CPU and is also supplying air to the intake for the CPU cooling fan. The left side of the notebook is propped up by CD/DVD cases. (I used to have the laptop propped up by a CD case in each corner.)

When doing long compute- and drive-intensive tasks like ZIP or RAR compressions of 4G - 16G virtual machines, I used to leave the laptop open and set up on its left side, sticking up in the air to aid cooling, which solved the problem of it crashing halfway through the compression from overheating, but was awkward for doing anything else. Now, on the Notebook Cooler, even the biggest compressions complete, and the laptop is in its functional horizontal position so I can use it for other tasks.

The fans in the Notebook Cooler S aren't silent, but on low speed they are quieter than my external disk drives, or the laptop's fan at its fastest speed; on high speed the fans make a soft pushing noise, not a high-speed fan whine. When the CPU fan starts whining (spinning faster to cool the laptop) I can switch the Notebook Cooler S's fans to the faster speed.

If you use it as intended in the back of your laptop, you can leave the front on the desk (if the additional slope of the keyboard doesn't bother your wrists). For my use on the right side of my laptop, I have to prop up the left side with something. The only other con is that the fan speed switch is under the power cord and hard to reach. If the fan speed switch were easier to reach and if it had an OFF position, I would have given the Notebook Cooler S 5 stars.

Other notebook coolers that are a mat that the laptop sits on would not work well for this particular laptop as the fans are not positioned to funnel air into the intake for the CPU cooling fan - so check where your laptop's hotspots and air intakes are before you buy a notebook cooler.