Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler by Antec
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Digital camera reviews of Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler
Digital camera Review: Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a gift for my husband. It is quiet, works better than his old laptop and the computer no longer overheats. No problems to speak of.Digital camera Review: Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler
Summary: 5 Stars
Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler - the item is exactly what my son wanted and more. He was very pleased and uses it constantly. He especially likes the USB port :-)Digital camera Review: Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler
Summary: 5 Stars
This is without a doubt the best notebook cooler I have ever owned. I have puchased 5 of these and they all can't compare to the antec. This thing keeps my laptop so cool, that the air that comes out of it is cool, not hot. I would recommend this cooler over the more expensive high end ones. Price is very reasonable also. you won't be disappointed.Digital camera Review: Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler Gets Wavey Davey's 5-Star Award!
Summary: 5 Stars
Buying one of the Antec USB-Powered Notebook Coolers is an easy choice, out of the many and sundry choices available here and elsewhere. I think that most of the other reviewers here have covered the key points well, and I see no reason to go back over and re-hash everything that has been said before, so I'm going to make this review short, and sweet, with some personal-use caveats thrown into the mix.
Let's be honest about this now, because we are all here to get the best deal on the best quality for our hard earned $$'s, aren't we? Well, look no further than this great performing notebook cooler by Antec. When you can pay at or about $25 shipped for a cooler that does its job silently, surely, and *safely* in terms of isolating the notebook's heat away from our legs, laps, and thighs, then that's a bargain to be taken advantage of, right?
I think so, and add to it these personally noted plusses++ for the Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler and we have Wavey Davey's 5-Star Performance Award, earned again in the heat of competition with all those other pricey, and dicey coolers by other manufacturers.
First, the design is KUHL, isn't it? I like the "Star-Design" with the strong, but light ABS plastic (mine are in black and silver) bottom which cradles the aluminum alloy top conductive surface area, the part that actually touches the notebook. And you want that part to be metal if possible, because its convective ability is superior to plastic or coated cardboard, whatever those other notebook coolers are using: the Antec's construction is superior to the other coolers for sale here and elsewhere.
Next, the fans are double-ball bearing fans and they are dead-on next to silent at a rated 27dB (decibels) noise factor, which is minimal, and XLNT at best. Those fans move a LOT of air through and around the bottom vents of your average notebook, and pass it out through the sides where most notebooks have their exhaust vents. The fans have a High and Low switch which is nice, but through my uses this past year with two very different notebooks, one a newer Sony FW-series and the other being an Acer 5920-series, I've just left the switch on "Low" and it does the job virtually silently.
There's a very, very bright Blue LED near the fan switch on the right side for the tell-tale "I'm working and ON" sign, and most people probably consider that LED waaay too bright, and it is! The only real detraction to an otherwise stellar design concept is that LED, and it's so bright that it will pierce a room's dark, and silent night and light it up a bit! So I've taken a piece of black electrical tape and taped over both of the LED's on our coolers, and it solved that small problem.
The fans do accumulate a good portion of dust and dirt if you are leaving the cooler on 24/7 as we do ours, so a simple removal to the outside/garage area, and a blast from your air compressor (if you have such a device, and I do) will blow all that away for another go at cooling effectively and efficiently. I clean our two coolers monthly, as they are on 24/7, literally all the time, because both notebooks are doing Folding@Home for Stanford University when they aren't being used for normal things, so the coolers have been getting a good workout at our place.
There's a substantial warranty in place with the Antec Notebook Cooler also, as I recall it's a 3-year factory warranty-- so even if you manage to burn it out and use it up in that time Antec will replace one if it fails under warranty. That's another positive point to be made versus the other coolers here at Amazon and elsewhere.
In closing, because I promised to make this a short and sweet review, I feel very good about purchasing two notebook coolers of such high quality and excellent design and functionality for about $50, getting one on sale here for less than $25 and the other one for just more than $25. I just do not think there's anything else for sale that works as well, costs so little, and has a great 3-year warranty from the manufacturer to back it up should anything go wrong in 3 long, hard years of notebook cooling service!
This is the unit to get, and I wholeheartedly endorse the Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler 100% across the board. I'm giving it Wavey Davey's 5-Star Seal of Excellence! You just cannot go wrong with one of these at or about $25 shipped, so forget the rest, this is the best!
Wavey Davey 8-14-2009
Digital camera Review: Antec Usb powered notebook cooleer
Summary: 2 Stars
I have owned this product for a number of months and bought it after reviewing many of the hundreds of reviews and havent had big issues with the cons I knew were there though I had no idea just how bright that blue led light was and how far it would go without being blocked. I leave it in all the time and dont otherwise notice it is there. I got it at a pretty good sale price and compared to the competition it is a better value and much better construction than most. The fans still keep whirring around silently - I had to check them yesterday to make sure they actually were still working. they were and there was some slight dust build up but it dislodged easily something I did routinely on the laptop vent areas anyway.
The problem is that it really doesnt reduce the temp much. I waited till Aug for the dog days of summer and I have a non AirConditioned area. It just can not handle normal summertime conditions and the only answer is have the laptop in an airconditioned environment. It is only in the 80s inside but now the year old toshiba is running at as much as 170F and a degree or 2 less in the 2nd core. I use two utilities to check the temps so get a reletive reading if not exact. I run only the Firefox or IE8 and get 165F temps just emailing and it will bump up to 168 when i watch netflix streaming and nothing else. Having the fan doesnt do much there because it runs at the same range without it being plugged in. I dont know how else to put it. I never really thought it did a whole lot of 'cooling' and does not remove any hot air from the area nor replace overheated air. I keep my laptop on a grid of sorts so there is open natural airflow or convection anyway for a foot under (plastic crates with a grid substantial enough to hold the footpads securely ) It seems to work as well or better, better is only slight if at all, with the cooler removed as with it on and definitely better than having the cooler unplugged and still under the laptop.
It seems as though it should work; looks as if it should really work well; has the nice cool colors and design; got a good value the only thing it doesnt really do much cooling being generous. I dont know why but i have run it and tested it for months and only under a pretty normal home user type load. I wish I could report differently and would be happier because the laptop does get a bit quirky when the temps hover in the 170 or so range and i did get a couple of reboots for no other reason than a heat related total shutdown and i am noticing the brown out core slow downs as well.