Customer Reviews

Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler (Pearl)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I recently purchased an "Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler" for my new laptop. I am very impressed at its cooling ability. Before while I was using my laptop, the bottom would get uncomfortably hot, especially when I was gaming or taxing the hard drive. Though my computer didn't shutdown due to heat failure, I was concerned about long term effects of repeated heatings.

For this notebook cooler, I'll review the features:
I. The fans are very good at cooling the bottom of your laptop. Before when I put large processsing demands on my laptop, it got very hot very quickly. With this cooler, it cools the bottom significantly. So much so, I can pick the laptop up after use and physically feel the difference.

II. The cooler frame is butterfly shaped, which has two advantages. First, its less surface area to trap warmed air. Other coolers are large and rectangular and they reach to the edges of the laptop. Second is than in my case (Dell Inspirion) the bottom fan is not blocked at all. There is enough empty space underneath so that my fans aren't trying to hard to get air, if anything, it creates a larger gap between the built-in fan and the worksurface.

III. The intake is on the top and vents exhaust to the side. The cooler does not blow cold air onto the bottom of your computer, rather it pulls in that air and vents it to the side.

IV. The USB cord that powers the device can be stored in a small compartment. I found that the compartment was small, and was a little difficult to replace the cord when not in use. This isn't a big issue, because I store the cord with my other USB accessories (mouse, memory stick)

V. The USB cord is rather short. I use a USB extension cord so that I have plenty of slack in the line. Not only is the cord short, but if feels rather fragile. I've read other reviews that state that users have accidently broken their power cords and needed a replacement.

VI. The USB cord has a "piggyback" port. This little addition is so that you don't have to sacrifice one port just to power your cooler. However, there are limitations on what kind of devices that you can attach to the piggyback. I've tested this with my USB mouse and seems to work fine.

In all, I'm very pleased with this cooler. Some features are great; it does a good job as a cooler with its two settings. Other features, Antec could have definately made the cord longer.

A big concern will be where your computer vents its air. With my Dell Inspirion, it wasn't a problem because of the overhang into empty space. With other users, your computers vents may be competing with the fan for air (Honestly, I don't know if this might be a potential cooling problem or not, I'm not a computer engineer). If you have a bottom intake vent like mine, your vents should be close to the rear edges. I'd recommend looking at your computer's dimensions and comparing them to the Antec's dimensions.

Other wise, I would recommend this product.
I give it a FOUR out of FIVE.

Since my iMac has been undergoing repairs, I've found myself using my iBook for extended periods of time at one sitting and this sucker gets hot! In the area left of the trackpad, it can get hot enough that it's simply uncomfortable to type and I worry that something's going to blow.

That's when I started looking for a solution and found this cooler on Amazon. It just arrived today and I've gotta say so far, I'm very pleased. I've had my iBook running for 8 hours with the cooler and while the computer is a little warm, it's not breaking my left arm into a sweat anymore.

There are two settings - low and high - low is inaudible, but I have mine on high and you can hear a little bit of a breezy sound in there. I wouldn't call it fan noise per se - I don't hear rattling or spinning, just air movement, but it is no way distracting.

There is a compartment underneath for storing the USB power cable during travel. When you plug this into the USB port on your laptop, you're not losing a port. It has a piggy-back female port so you can plug in a hub or another USB device right into the same slot.

I feel much safer about my iBook's innards now that I have this Antec cooler underneath, keeping it running smooth and warm instead of blazing hot.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

It depends on your laptop and definition of cooling, November 26, 2005
Reviewer: RONAK SHAH (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

i saw too many discrepancies in the reviews so i decided to write a review on it.

description of the cooler:

there is nothing new about this notebool cooler. in a glance its just a casing with 2 fans in it. however the device is actually more than that. the fans blow room temperature air into the base of the laptop. the hot air is then blown out from the same fans to the BACK side of the cooler and the right side in a way that it is blown straight. the notebook sits directly on the aluminum plate on top of the cooler which serves as a heatsink. the fan is not loud at all when on high and its is quieter on low mode. the fan is more audible if there is silence in the room. it has 4 feet on the back that help with air circulation. the fan cord is portable and is stored in a compartment on the bottom of the device. the fan is powered through the usb port. the cables plug serves as a little hub and replaces the used usb port for a new one. it also has a cool blue led on it. the design is sturdy and the quality is good.

compatibility with your notebook:

it very well depends on the notebooks design as well to get this device to perform well. you just cant blame the cooler. it will perform very well if your computer has a fan on the bottom of the laptop. that will increase the air circulation inside the notebook. it will still work well if your computer has only fans that blow out air from the sides. just dont expect it to bring down the temperature in 3 minutes. because the notebook cooler draws power through the usb port, the motherboard gets heated up. infact on one of my notebook, the notebook kept getting hotter thank normal due to the notebook cooler!


cooling performace:

the word 'cooling' in any cooling system doesnt really imply that it will chill your computer. computers performance starts declining as temperature goes upward than 35 c. with extended continous usage the temperature will go up. the cooler slows doen the process of heating and trys to keep the temperature as cool as possible with the fans and heatsink. dont expect your laptop temperature to go down to 10 c.


bottom line:

the notebook cooler does exactly what its supposed to do under ratiional expectations: keep your computer at normal temperature. also depends on your notebooks design. i would say it is worth to get it if you can get it for $20 or less.

pros:

-usb port replacement
-weight
-noise in noremal conditions is relatively low
-performance
-build quality and styling

cons:

-compatiblity with some notebook designs
-noise when there is silence in room could be annoying for others. doesnt bother me though.
-the low-high switch is inconveniently placed.

Positives:
1. Appealing design - the Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler (Pearl) looks very nice.
2. Relatively quiet - you will hear the fans but they are not loud. I experienced no rattling or other noises from the fans.
3. USB port is attached so that you do not lose the use of the port you plug the unit into.

Negatives:
1. This cooler sucks air down from under the notebook and passes it out the back and side of the cooler. Many notebooks vent from the bottom, sucking air up into the notebook and out the side or back. This cooler does not allow such notebooks to vent properly and may even stop the internal fan of the notebook (as it did mine). It is not designed in such a way that it can be turned over and there is not an option to change the direction of the fans.
2. The side vent is on the right. This blows the vent air at your mouse hand if you are a righty and using an external mouse. If you turn the unit around to vent out the left, then the back vent is facing you.
3. This isn't designed for lap use and requires that your notebook be on a table.
4. I would like the option to plug this into the wall instead of my notebook without haveing to pay for a converter. A simple DC jack in the unit would be nice.

I bought this for my daughter laptop and mine. It works great on her's but i found out i was unable to use it on mine i have the new alien ware laptop and all the fans are underneigh and i was defeating the purpose using the cooler and it was blocking my fans and overheating my laptop but on my daughter gateway laptop it works great it cooled her machine down great. So just be sure you will not be blocking any fans under your laptop before you buy this item. Alot of the new notebook are coming out now with their own cooling fans underneigh. I hope this helps.

This is by far the best laptop fan I've seen. I've tried a few and this is the only one that's really well built, compact, quite and keeps things cool.
I've used this quite a lot while traveling around the world and it's perfect for putting on your lap because the fan blows down, so it doubles as a personal fan that really helps to keep you cool. Believe me, it makes a huge difference.
This one is the second one I bought and it's actually an update from the origional (although the model number hasn't changed). The usb power cord compartment is better designed and it has a cool blue light to let you know the power is on. It has a high and low setting and this model seems to push more air then the previous model.
For laptop users on the move, this is the one to get!

Previous reviews mentioned that this notebook cooler didn't work well for using on the lap. This is true for the old one (I had one myself). But if you buy one now as I recently did, you'll notice that the new design has already solved the problem: the air flow is from sides of the cooler now. So don't hestitate to buy one, if you are concern about the problem using it on the lap. It's no longer a problem with the new design!

After my Dell laptop overheated, I knew that when I purchased my powerbook g4, I would take as many precautions as I could to keep it cool. A friend had purchased the Antec notebook cooler for his ibook and gave great reviews to me.

Right out of the box, the Antec notebook cooler is very aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. It's pretty quiet--not too noticeable, especially when you have a laptop on top of it. But after a few weeks of usage, I started noticing black smudges on the bottom of my powerbook. It was a nightmare to scrub off! After a bit of investigation , it looks like the culprit was the powerbook's aluminum casing rubbing against the Antec's aluminum surface. How unfortunate!

This "minor" glitch was ruining my $2600 powerbook's casing. So for now, I've resorted to flipping the notebook cooler upside down and using the bottom to rest my powerbook on top of, that is.. until I get a new notebook cooler. It is very crucial for me to have a notebook cooler, because I do tend to use my powerbook in bed a lot. And that's where it can get very warm from resting on cotton.

I'd recommend this notebook cooler if you have a black laptop... but definitely not one with aluminum casing.

I'm doing the Folding@home Distributed Computing work on my G3/900 iBook. It is very processor intensive and it heats up the bottom of the iBook something wicked. So I bought this Antec Notebook Cooler. Nice aesthetic match to the white iBooks.

Unfortunately the G3 iBooks don't have CPU temp sensors. But the hard drives do. The hard drive temp has dropped from 47°C to 43°C (7.2° F drop). I would bet the CPU temperature has dropped even more.

My only complaint is that I wish it had a high and low fan setting. It's a tad loud. For reference it is about the same, or perhaps a little louder than the iBooks internal fan.

But overall, nice fit and finish. iBooks fan hasn't come on all day. It's a keeper.

I have a huge widescreen presario x1000, and this fan does a nice job cooling it down even on a hot summer day. normally without fan, my laptop temperature ranges between 46-49C, depending on the weather and how I am using the laptop. When I have this fan turned on, the temperature drops to 42C. I improvise a little by elevating the laptop, giving it about an inch airspace between the bottom of the laptop and the surface of the fan, and now my normal laptop temperature is 39-40C.

The fan is powered by USB, and the USB connector has a USB slot on the back (kinda like how those plugin GLAD air freshener has extra electricity outlet) so you don't lose any USB slot while using this fan. I found this useful because I only have 2 slots on my laptop, and I needed to use three (fan, mouse, external HD)

I do agree that this fan is pretty small sized though...

edit: 1 year after use the left fan died...