Notebook Coolers

Vantec LapCool, Continued

Conclusion

Both notebook coolers go about their actual duty quietly and reliably. If you place your laptop on soft surfaces (the sofa, a pile of paper), they really do let you avoid those pesky heat build-ups.

But the Vantec's power supply makes it unsuitable for couch use. That begs the question: what sense does such a cooling solution make for desktop use? Basically, both of these products reflect the completely avoidable fact that many notebooks are constructed fairly disastrously from a thermal point of view.

Notebook cooling solutions may just find a market here in the medium term, as many desktop replacement notebooks operate in the upper zone of thermal acceptability. Our recommendation: don't even consider a "hot" notebook in the first place.

Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.