Notebook Cooler, Silver, ZM-NC2000
by Zalman
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List Price: Our Price: $47.97 You Save: $26.02 (35%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $39.50 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Notebook Cooler, Silver, ZM-NC2000
Customer Review: Expensive, but worth it.
Summary: 4 Stars
My first impression was that this laptop cooler is very well constructed. It is solid, well constructed, and generally well designed with a simple yet sleek aesthetic.
The slight tilt is nice, lifting the base a little off of the surface you put it on as to allow room for the fans to breathe. If you want to tilt it even further, there are collapsible feet under each of the two rear feet.
As for its effectiveness, it cools the laptop somewhat even without the fan running given its aluminum construction -- heat is dissipated nicely.
Once you turn the fan on, the effectiveness is immediately apparent. The two fans in the unit draw air from under the chassis, pushing the air through the drilled holes fairly evenly throughout the surface. My laptop's fan hardly ever starts up with the fans on, and the fans are very quiet, even at the highest setting. The fact that the fans are so quiet brings to question whether you really need the fan speed adjuster.
The fact that it has a USB connector on each side is actually a big convenience, a bigger convenience than you might initially think. Depending on where I am sitting with my laptop, I can switch sides so as to avoid the USB cable from bumping into anything.
This also means that you don't lose a USB port just to use the cooling fan, although, you could always use more USB ports, which is part of the reason I'm only giving this unit four stars -- some models come with additional USB ports, which is nice. Having said that, though, I usually only need two USB ports, so, for practical purposes, it's fine.
Although I wouldn't carry this around for travel, it's not inconceivable to do so - the fact that they thought of a USB cable storage compartment is consistent with its well thought-out design in general.
As a bonus, the unit matches my DELL XPS 1530 nicely. It was a little more than I wanted to spend, but it is well worth it!
Customer Review: This didn't work for me.
Summary: 1 Stars
All these good reviews sold me on this product, and I bought it a few months ago for my new laptop.
My computer overheated twice with this cooler. At highest settings, when I put my hand over the fans, I couldn't tell if they were pushing air or pulling. I couldn't tell by putting my hand over the bottom, either.
Also, on the bottom the fans are placed toward the upper end of the cooler. On the top, the airholes are placed toward the middle and lower end of the cooler. So basically, the fans are blowing against solid aluminum and the air has to make its way downward to the air holes.
But, I used it because of all these good ratings. I assumed it must have some cooling factor to it that I was missing. My house has been very cool, which has probably been the only thing keeping my laptop cool. However, now it is a little warmer, in the low 70s, and the cooler can't keep my laptop cool.
Computer fans are cheap. They only cost a couple of dollars, maybe a little more for better ones. For the price I paid, there should have been more than two, and they should have been able to at least blow air enough that I could feel it blowing.
I've tossed it and am looking for something that actually works. Maybe running a cooler on USB isn't a good idea because it is such a low power.
If I could give it no stars, I would. Because it doesn't give much room between the cooler and the laptop, I think my laptop was actually having a hard time getting air at all. Since I tossed this cooler, I put it back on a stand I have that raises it to allow air beneath, and it stays cooler than the Zalman was making it.
I'd still rather have more fans on the bottom of it, though, so I'll keep searching.
Customer Review: Excellent cooling
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a Toshiba X205 with a 17" wide screen, powerful GeForce and two hard drives that generate enough heat to keep my cup of coffee warm if set by the heat sinks. The heat was so strong that the wood polish on my table started to crack. When spring time arrived, the laptop even shut itself down a couple times because of excess of heat. I looked for a wide enough cooling pad but couldn't find any, then I read reviews about the plastic ones made by Belkin, everybody was complaining they break down after a year. This Zalman doesn't have many reviews here on Amazon but fortunately I found one on [...], I am glad I found the product on Amazon. However make sure you get the NC2000 if you have a 17" wide screen, it fits just exact for the straight 16" wide keyboard. The aluminum base is perfect for heat dissipation, it has two quiet fans and you can control the speed. Works really great keeping my laptop cool. The only complain is that the pad is a little bulky, but hey! the laptop is a big one so you need a big cooling pad. If you want to carry it, make sure you buy a big enough laptop case for all your cables, mouse, cooling pad and extras, and don't complain about weight, take it as your daily fitness program on weight lifting :)
It's well worth it the $[...], if you want to take good care of your expensive $[...] laptop.
Ah! and one word of adivse, use pressurized air periodically on the laptop fans to clean the heat sinks. If there is too much dust on your home they will clog and will not allow air to flow internally. I just dissasemblied my laptop to clean them but now I see that with enough air pressure you can clean them if you apply it on the fans (not the sinks) to blow the dust out.
Customer Review: Lives up to the hype!
Summary: 5 Stars
I am primarily creating this product review (something I rarely do) in order to support an amazingly excellent product.
The Zalman Notebook Cooler actually lives up to all of the reviews and hype I have heard about it online. Yes, it is a bit pricier than other notebook coolers, but there are reasons for that. It is very important that you seriously consider such a device to protect your laptop, as they will overheat and ultimately burn up their internal components. Using an AC adapter to run the laptop long term (like you would a desktop) or running graphically intensive video or games only accelerates the heat intensity that will kill your laptop as surely as it would your car's engine.
I love the fact that it has an extra USB port so that you can plug your USB hub into it (which used to be plugged into your laptop) and still enjoy the simplicity of one USB connection to plug in or pull out whenever you chose to go mobile. I also love the fan speed control, which can be increased for high-graphic usage or decreased for basic use (and virtually silent operation as described by other reviewers). It even has an on/off button with LED indicator. Best of all is the construction. Durable, sleek, high quality, and it raises/angles the notebook to just the right position for viewing and keyboard access... all without taking up any additional desktop space than the notebook itself might.
The only disadvantages are that the price is pretty high compared to other notebook coolers (but well worth it for the reasons described, particularly the high quality materials/construction) and the fact that it is really only compatible with notebooks under 16" (ideally 15" -15.5").
Customer Review: super quiet
Summary: 5 Stars
I was recently encouraged to buy a Notebook Cooler, Silver, ZM-NC2000 when my laptop got so hot it shut down on me, and burnt my finger when I hit the power button to turn it back on.
I had the opportunity to buy one several times at a very reduced rate when Circuit City was going out of business, but I blew it off thinking I would never need one. WRONG.
I am not a gamer, just an amateur photographer and programmer. I was using Deep Zoom to create a zoomable collage, had Photoshop up, was running a virtual of Visual Studio 2010 on Windows 2008, and running Visual Studio 2008 locally. I think I got really luckily. There are some pretty bad horror stories out there about over heated laptops and the expenses paid to get them back up and running.
While waiting on my new Notebook Cooler to arrive, I used a poor mans cooler. Before and after pictures are included in the customer pictures. I will use the poor mans cooler at work, and the new ZM-NC2000 Notebook Cooler at home. Geez, rereading that sounds bad, but in reality I don't pull out the big guns at work. I hardly ever mess with graphics there.
This thing runs super quiet. The laptop has stayed nice and cool so far. I repeated the same scenario I over heated in (above), and the laptop stayed nice and cool. I don't think I will ever find myself carrying it around with my laptop, but it is light enough to.
I recommend this to anyone running on the hot side of your processor. Do some digging and you'll find some costly stories about overheating laptops. For the price, you can't beat it.