Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler

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

I bought my first Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler about 8 years ago, and I've never looked back. Since that very first cooler, I've purchased 9 additional units... but not because any of them failed. I've found several uses for them over the years, ranging from laptops to netbooks to Xbox 360's, and others have seen what a difference they've made and either ask to buy mine or order one for themselves as well! One of my original laptops had a well-known issue of overheating, and this fan was the perfect solution for it. At the time, I went on a whim to purchase one at a deal price of $9.99, not knowing anyone else who had the same model. From that point one, that laptop not only kept cool, but appeared to run slightly faster... or rather, not as slow as before. I did not run any benchmark tools, but it seemed that with a cooler computer running, there was less energy lost to heat and functions performed well under the cooler conditions. Plus, the laptop lasted a few years longer than I expected, and I'm sure this cooling pad had something to do with it. I then realized I could take advantage of the USB ports on my then-new Xbox 360 Elite to keep the system cool and avoid overheating. I didn't want to fall into any of the RROD stories and was willing to take any steps necessary, and it seemed like a logical move to keep the unit as cool as possible. It's been over 5 years now, and still no problems! As for the unit itself, it has gone through a few changes that have changed the appearance slightly. A few of my units have extra holes in the corners, and additional rubber pegs included that fit into those holes to provide a slight gap between the cooler and the unit resting on it. I imagine this was done to improve airflow underneath the unit you are cooling, which definitely can be helpful. However, I did not notice any major difference in temperature/cooling ability compared to my earlier units that did not have the extra holes/pegs. I imagine this was because the metal surface of the cooler was cool to the touch, and direct contact with the bottom of the laptop probably allowed some of this coolness to be transferred directly to the laptop/console. I also purchased a white/pearl version once, mainly because it was on sale through another deal. The performance did not change, but I definitely prefer the black and silver model since it matches most of my laptops/consoles well. The only issue may be a proprietary cable that plugs into the cooler with a USB plug on the other end. If that cable ever gets lost or damaged, a proprietary cable would need to be ordered for replacement. This is less convenient than offering a standard USB, mini USB, or micro USB option, but at the time I bought my earlier coolers, I'm sure this was not as widespread an option. Overall, I am still impressed with the quality and longevity of these coolers, and I know it was well worth the investment to keep my expensive products cool.

When my old laptop cooling pad broke, I decided to get a higher quality one when I got my new laptop and the Antec Notebook Cooler was what I ended up getting. Setting it up for the first time (and every time after) was a breeze, and having four rubber pegs to place the laptop on made sure that it was level and elevated to help cool it. The metal on the top also helped keep my laptop cooler, and the many holes really helped keep in ventilated. There is also two settings for cooling, which is great when you only need moderate cooling for average use and more for when you are really using computing power. The USB plug was great, as you are able to plug something else in and not have the port blocked! However there is small blue light that is next to the power cord when it is on, but it is only a minor annoyance (don't notice it most of the time). Also the rubber pegs can fall out kind of easily, so every time my laptop felt wobbly I would make sure to check that they were all still there. However my biggest complaint (and what made me rate it 3 stars) was the fact that after a few months the cooling pad would make a lot of noise for no reason. If it is plugged in when I start my computer it gets really loud, and I have to shift my laptop and keep plugging it and unplugging it in to get it to stop (it stays quiet once it does though). This was really annoying as it can get loud, so much so that it is disrupting. Overall as long as it isn't making noise then it is a great cooling pad, otherwise it is a good cooling pad once you can get it to quiet down.

J'ai acheté ce produit depuis un certains temps maintenant et il fonctionne très bien. Refroidit bien le portable, peu bruynat. J'en suis entièrement satisfaite.

Il prodotto ben si adatta al notebook. Si avverte Il fruscio delle ventole, ma non in modo tale da infastidire. Ma la cosa più importante e che il raffreddamento è sincero e il mio notebook non è mai stato così freddo. Ottimo

Consegna ineccepibile, come é solito fare Amazon. Il sistema funziona egregiamente, anche alla velocità minore. Non ho avuto più nessun problema di riscaldamento sul mio notebook HP.

Firstly the reason this doesnt get 5 stars is because of its size, the usuable surface area is only 250x200mm meaning that if you want to rest your laptop fully on it (with the laptops feet) you'll have to be using a small size screen laptop. The problem with this is that if you dont have some sort of space between the cooler and the base of your l/t, you'll lose some of the cooling effect, this also means the cooler will have to work harder, making it louder.(Unfortunately im using a 17" screen l/t, but ive placed 4 peelable-back rubber rectangles on the cooler, this allows me the spacing) Other than that, its useful, the volume of the thing depends on (the above) and also the quality of your l/t speakers, if you've got the typical (lets be honest:crap) laptop speakers with no bass,not enough volume and too much distortion, then it'll sound loud, if you've got decent internal speakers, or you've purchased external, then you've nothing to worry about, as at the same sort of volumes the quality of sound, and the bass, makes the cooler noise that much less intrusive. The item feels sturdy, but light enough to be taken with you in a carry bag along with your l/t (this is where the limited size helps), the USB cable sits neatly in an underneath compartment, much like a battery compartment, and it just plugs in the side and a green light shows if its on, dead easy. You can use the same USB port when you're using the cooler as it has a splitter, but be careful of the power usage the other item has, as the cooler uses exactly half of the available power from the port, lastly, for £20, you can't go wrong, lets face it, you can't buy much for that nowadays for your pc, and this is gonna last a long time isnt it. Hope this helps.

Excellent pour refroidir la Freebox HD ! Celle-ci ne fige plus ! Très silencieuse en plus ! Bref, très bon produit pour corriger le problème de surchauffe de certaines box et PC portable mal conçu.