Why You Can Trust CNET Antec NoteBook Cooler S review: Antec NoteBook Cooler S
The Antec Notebook Cooler S is much smaller than other fan-powered laptop coolers, but is also slightly less effective.
- Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
Most laptop cooling devices are either large lapboards used to offer protection to vulnerable knees or USB-powered plates that blow hot air away with fans. In either case, you've got a device with roughly the same footprint as your laptop eating up precious space in your bag or on your desk. The full-size Antec Notebook Cooler falls into the latter category, but its smaller cousin, the $35 Antec Notebook Cooler S is nearly as effective, at less than half the size.
Antec NoteBook Cooler S
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Measuring 10-inches high by 4-inches deep by 1.25-inches high, the Antec Notebook Cooler S will work with nearly any laptop, because it doesn't need to fit entirely under the system. Instead, the end of the Notebook Cooler S sits under the rear edge of your laptop, while the two fans (powered via USB) suck in hot air from beneath and blow it away. The unit is reasonably attractive, with a silver and black design and curved sides. We were able to fit it into our laptop bag with no problem, although it might be a tight fit for smaller cases.
Unlike the LapWorks Laptop Desk 2.0 or the LapWorks Laptop Desk UltraLite, both of which have extended wings for use as a mousing surface, you won't get any additional workspace from the Antec Notebook Cooler S, nor is it especially suited for lap use.
Using a popular business laptop, the Lenovo T60, we put the Antec Notebook Cooler S to the test by running CNET Labs' grueling Multitasking test on the system and recording the CPU temperature.
Running the test without the laptop desk, the CPU got as hot as 80.8 degrees. After a cooldown period, we ran the test again, this time with the laptop sitting on the Antec Notebook Cooler S, set to the higher of two fan-speed settings. The highest temperature recorded during the second test was 76.6 degrees, a reasonable decrease, but not as effective as either Antec's full-size dual-fan notebook cooler, or the Xpad Laptop Desk, a bulky passive laptop cooler.