Zodiac laptop cooler Author: cantstraferight -- Posted: 2007-12-06
Today I will be reviewing the zodiac laptop cooler from Evercool
First impressions
The cooler is made from aluminum but has small rubber pads on the bottom to stop it scratching surfaces it is placed on. It has two 80mm fans that circulate the air below the laptop to help cool it. When the laptop is on it, it sits at an angle that may help a little when typing it but you probably wont notice.
The cooler is decorated with a "zodiac"design. Its not really my thing but It doesn\'t look bad.
On either side of the cooler there is a drawer. The one on the right holds the retractable USB cable where as the other side can store what ever you want to store but unfortunately the foam limits what you can put in it. You can take the foam out but the drawer doesn\'t look as clean then so your limited to using it to store USB sticks.
On the left side are two USB ports but only one of these ports can be used as the other one is used to connect the cooler to the laptop to supply power. I would have preferred the ports to be on the right side as thats where the USB ports were on the test laptop and it meant the cable had to be fully extended to reach
If you use a mouse with your laptop you might want to plug the mouse into the cooler so you can leave the cooler and the mouse on your desk when you take your laptop to work but because the ports are on the left side you will have to have the cable trailing round the cooler.
Whats in the box
l The cooler
l Retractable USB cable
Thats it.
Installation
Theres a good reason why theres no instructions, its very simple to use this cooler
All you need to do is place the laptop on top of the cooler and plug the USB cable into one of the USB ports on the laptop and one of the ports on the cooler. Then just flick the switch on the side to turn it on.
Its probably good its simple to use. If your the kind of person who movies their laptop around a lot and has to set it up more than once or twice a day you don\'t want it to be overly complicated.
Noise level
The fans make a slight hum that can be heard above the noise the laptop makes but its not something that would bother most people.
Performance
I choose a hot spot on the laptop to measure the performance of the cooler. The spot I chose was between the two fans so it would take full advantage of the cooler. This spot was on top of the graphics card and reached 50 degrees Celsius with general use.
When using the cooler the temperature dropped to 40 degrees Celsius thats a decrees of 20%
Pros and cons
Pros
Lowers the laptop temperature
Good build quality
Easy to use
Drawer for storing small accessories
Cons
Not very portable
Only one USB port is usable
Overview
Overall the zodiac is a good cooler.
Although its not as portable as the magic cooler from Evercool it does cool the laptop well and if your the kind of person that uses your laptop as a pc replacement (ie always on the desk) you might want to think about this cooler.
