Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler
by Antec
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler
Customer Review: Effective Cooler, Well Worth the Money
Summary: 4 Stars
4.5 stars
I have an HP laptop and for those of you who own one, you are well-aware that HPs get very hot after prolonged usage. I bought this cooler based on the consistently good reviews, from average consumers to reputable reviewers alike, as well as the affordable price tag. It was definitely worth the money. I plug it in whenever my laptop feels hot or if I'll be doing some long and rigorous work. I've never used this cooler on the high setting (I actually forgot I had the option) and it cools it down from around 90 degrees Celsius to the regular 45 degrees Celsius and keeps it that way (I use a program to measure the temperature). I notice that my laptop is not hot when I rest my hands on it and the laptop's internal fan is not spinning at an alarming speed.
However, be careful with the USB cord that connects the fan to your laptop. You can easily damage the port that connects the cord to the fan. This is an issue I had a few weeks after receiving my fan. The port was loose so I would have to wiggle the cord around until it connected and lit up but it would never stay that way for long. So I sent it back to Amazon, reporting that it was defective, and they gladly replaced it with no hassle whatsoever and entirely free of cost (didn't even pay for return shipping). Ever since I received my replacement, it's been working perfectly for close to 10 months now.
Pros:
- Cools effectively, even on low setting
- Seems very sturdy and durable, made of good quality
- Doesn't take up a USB port because it has a pass-through connector
- Has 2 settings for cooling (high and low)
- Cord isn't too long or too short, unless all of your USB ports are on the right side, in which case you will have to turn it upside down (Antec logo will be upside down, but not face down)
- Very reasonable price
- Long, reliable warranty
- Reputable company and great product reviews
Cons:
- Be careful with the USB cord, as you can easily damage it
- About as loud as my regular laptop fan when it's very hot, or maybe louder, but doesn't bother me and isn't obnoxiously loud (this is on low setting)
- Not good for long lap usage, but CAN be placed on your lap, just not very comfortable
- Blue LED light can be too bright or disturbing at night
- Somewhat big, bulky, and heavy compared to some other cooling pads
Other notes:
- Seems to fit up to 15.4" laptops at most, but another reviewer said it works well for 17" (I have 14.1")
Customer 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.
Customer Review: Works well. Good value for the price I paid but some reservations....
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this laptop cooler to use with a Toshiba Tecra. I like the fact that the fans are enclosed - Can use on my lap if I want to. The fans blow the air away from the laptop - it works well at cooling it. Have had no problems with overheating since I started using it. Since I replaced the original hard drive with a much larger one, the laptop would overheat and lock up, but this cooler appears to have solved the problem. In fact, I have not heard the laptop fans run nearly as hard as they used to when the original hard drive was installed.
There seems to be a controversy over which way cooling fans should run - blow into the laptop or away from it. I was concerned because my laptop draws air from the bottom and vents to the side. There appears to be no problem with using this cooler that draws air from the bottom and away from the laptop. I read (and the person was probably right) that when you blow air into the laptop, you will also blow dirt into it. That is why I went with this one, that blows air away from the laptop.
My complaints are:
1. Yes the top is aluminum, but everything else is plastic.
2. The 3 usb ports on my laptop are side by side with the power cord at one end and the network cable at the other end. Yes it has a pass through USB port so theoretically you do not loose a port. However, the cable connecting the port to the fan is at a right angle to the pass through port and makes one of my usb ports inacessible.
3. The pass through port is only good for very low power devices.
4. At first, due to using two of my usb ports, I installed the cooler on a powered usb hub. I discovered that it caused the laptop to continue running instead of hibernating.
If your configuration of usb ports is similar to mine, I would suggest getting a short usb cable extender to use so you don't lose access to the second port.
The fan is fairly quiet. Could be better, could be a lot worse.
There are rubber feet that can be installed to lift the laptop up and provide more air space between the fan and the laptop. The feet are 11 inches apart. I would suggest your laptop be at least 13 inches on the base so that it doesn't slide off.
Not sure why the previous review stated that they had trouble installing it. There are 4 rubber feet to stick in the holes and then plug into the usb port. Not rocket science.
Customer Review: Met my needs and hers
Summary: 4 Stars
I've looked at aftermarket laptop coolers that are just plastic risers on a swivle base. They cost 20 or more for the plastic contraption. I have a friend in the office that has one for his laptop and he swears it works. The concept was simple. It raises the base so that more air circulation is possible. For me, I couldn't see myself spending twenty dollars on something I could use stacked post-its or 1/2 inch book to do (place underneath the laptop on the back edge so it raises the back of the laptop). I tried using a couple post its and for a while it seemed to help a little. But when ever my computer became hard drive intensive, because I was compiling a program or doing lots queries on HUGE databases, my fan would turn on. Since my friend had the platic platform, I decided to get something else to do the same thing. Something that would do a better job. At first, I thought about building one of my own, but I knew that I would have little time to devote to it... so I took my basic design and checked to see if there were any that already existed. That's when I found this Antec Laptop cooler.I read about it and was convinced that this would work. But I didn't want to spend forty bucks on something that may not work. So I waited. Then my fiancee had some laptop trouble of her own. Her laptop was older and worse than mine. Her fan would refuse to turn on and would overheat and cause a shut down. Well, if this wasn't the time to go to her rescue, then I don't know when that would be. So I put an order in. When it arrived, I tried it out on my laptop while hers was being fixed (for a hard drive problem). I noticed that my fan never turned on when I did the usual queries that worked my drive hard. My laptop fan is behind the machine. The hard drive is underneath and there is a vent with no fan there. And it seems to solve my issues. So when she got her laptop back, I gave her the cooler as a gift. She has noticed that on her older toshiba that the base is no where near as hot as it use to get. It just gets warm. She is happy with it now. I still think she should get another laptop, but that is a different story. After a couple weeks, I started missing the cooler. So I bought another one from Amazon.
I'm still happy with it. It does cool the base of my laptop and gives me the peace of mind that it will extend the life of my machine considerably. Which is worth the price I paid. It met my needs and hers.
Customer Review: Antec Cooler Works Amazingly
Summary: 5 Stars
I got an Inspiron 1318 a couple weeks ago and it ran pretty warm. After having a laptop fry itself a few years ago I was in no mood to let it happen again so I kept my usage to a minimum and tried a few tests. When I encoded a DVD CPU core temp topped out at 74c and HD temp was 47c. After checking on Notebook Control suite I saw that the critical temp for CPU was 144c and HD was 99c, but I also read on numerous forums that if your HD temp gets above 55-60c it can slowly degrade over time and I wasn't having that. I jumped online and searched, searched, and searched some more. All the ones I found were made for desk use, and that's not how I use my laptop. I use it on my lap, look at the name Haha.
I stumbled upon this little guy and read the reviews. Some made no sense to me, I don't understand why it would matter if the fan sucks or blows. When its sucking air, it's pulling the hot air away and with the pegs that are included cooler air fills it's place. I have fans that suck in air on the bottom of the machine and a grill on the back that exhausts hot air.
Now onto the temps, granted I've only had it for enough time to burn a DVD and run some apps.
While burning a DVD it was at 74c and nothing was running other than that. I'm currently encoding a DVD right now and I have my 2 messengers open and Chrome and it's never gone above 56c and HD temp is currently 36c.
The build quality is pretty nice. The little pegs were a pain in the a$$ to get in, my thumb hates me now. I found out if you put one of the little edges in and kind of rock it in, it pops in. Woulda been nice if it said that, I'm not the brightest crayon in the box Haha, why couldn't they ship it with them in? The aluminum grid does it's job well and isn't like a cheese grater like some others have said. The bottom is awesome, with the enclosed fans and fairly large skid pads fits perfectly on my lap. I can see how the USB cord might be a problem, but I use the port right above where the cord comes out so I shouldn't have any issues with it. It definitely cools your lap which will be nice in the summer time and the fans are hardly annoying. I wonder if they'll ever offer other colors? The black goes with my laptop, but I'm picky on that stuff. I certainly wouldn't pay $50.00 for this, and I really didn't want to pay $25.00 but I thought it would be worth it and I'm assuming it will be, but time will tell.