Are Notebook Coolers Worth Using?

Notebooks or portable computers are increasingly becoming popular and acceptable to the masses. As portable computing is becoming more affordable to the masses, manufacturers are aiming to produce notebooks that provide the horsepower of desktop systems wrapped up in a portable package.

But the problem is that such a notebook often heats up very fast, hence calling for a notebook cooler system. This is possible nowadays through the use of low voltage mobile processors that have many built-in facilities to bring about cooling, but then a lot of notebook computers have already been sold with high performance desktop processors attached to the motherboard - and no notebook cooler facility.

Users soon found that although their notebooks have immense computing power, they inevitably generate a lot of heat that - in absence of any notebook cooler device - cannot be efficiently expelled from such a compact package. The extreme heat can cause the notebooks to breakdown or suffer from a host of other problems.

This caused some third party solutions - in the form of notebook cooler devices - to show up and assist with the expulsion of heat that these desktop processors produced. Vantec, who has always taken the lead in coming up with various computing solutions, developed the notebook cooler named LapCool3 to help expel the heat produced by the high end notebook computers.

Like many other Vantec products, the LapCool3 notebook cooler comes in a well-designed hanging clamshell package. The product specifications are spelt out right on the back of the package. This notebook cooler has low voltage requirement and is lightweight - yet its airflow, rated at 28 CFM, is good by any standard.

The LapCool3 notebook cooler has a Silver-and-Black top. The notebook cooler has a couple of raised plastic knobs on the back and a row of nine raised plastic rectangular blocks underneath - to give the notebook some breathing room. This notebook cooler pulls all of its power directly from a USB port of the notebook. The pair of fans in this notebook cooler is supposed to draw the heat from the notebook and expel it out the exhaust.

However practical usage suggests that the fans of such notebook cooler devices are just not powerful enough to keep up with the heat generated from the notebooks.

Some experts believe that a notebook cooler is nothing more than a gimmick, as it hardly serves the purpose for which it has been designed.