Laptop heating issues are not a new phenomenon. There are a multitude of laptop coolers available, but today we take a look today at a unique cooling product from Evercool – the FIT Notebook Cooler. It is compatible with just about any notebook or netbook – from 9” to 18” sizes. It's small enough to carry with you in your laptop bag, and it is also lightweight at only 60g total weight. But how well does it actually cool your laptop? Read on for our testing results.
Design
I must admit when I first got the FIT cooler to review I did not have high hopes for it's success. It is smaller sized than most cooling products, but it is designed to work a little differently. The FIT cooler is designed to sit right next to the exhaust vent of your laptop. This could be in different locations depending on the laptop you're using, so the FIT has a single rubber covered adjustable spacer that can either sit under the edge of the laptop. It can be adjusted to raise the height of the fit if the laptop is on a cooling pad or other raised surface. Once it is installed, the cooler draws out excess heat from the laptop exhaust using a fan.
Specifications
Overall Dimension : 55 x 85 x 25 mm
Speed : 3500±15% RPM
Noise Level: < 25 dBA
Bearing Type: Ever Lubricate, Long Life Bearing
Weight : 60.5 g
Evercool FIT Box
Overhead View
Accessories
What's in the Box and Initial Setup
The box contains the cooler unit, three rubber shrouds, power cable, and a carrying bag. The rubber shrouds attach to the front of the FIT to allow it to work with different shaped laptops. This is apparently a design that I never thought of before, but the Dell Latitude I used this with has an exhaust that sits on an inset angle. One thing to remember with this device is that it must be in physical contact with the exhaust of the laptop. If it's not, then you will lose a great deal of it's cooling benefit.
Carrying Case
Side View
Side View - Expanded
Testing
The three laptops I tested with this cooler were a Dell Latitude E series, an Apple MacBook (white plastic edition), and an iBook g4 laptop. The Latitude and the iBook both worked well with this cooler. The Macbook didn't work. The vent for the Macbook is under the hinge so it's not in a place where you can put the cooler. The temperature readings were taken with the Latitude. The temperature readings are the CPU temp recorded by RealTemp 3.4.0. For my first test I had it close to, but not touching the Latitude and I noticed no difference. By setting it so that it was in contact with the case surrounding the exhaust I recorded the below cooling results. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory was played for 30 minutes to simulate a full-load, and ambient temperatures were taken with the laptop sitting idle for 30 minutes.
As you can see, the gain in heat efficiency is excellent. These temperatures are with the unit sitting on a flat wooden desk. By adding a nice cooling laptop stand, you could probably drop these temperatures even further. This cooler is definitely not designed to be used directly on a person's lap. The fact that it must remain in contact to work alone means that any movement on your lap makes you lose any gains that you might have from the unit. If you had a hard laptop surface to set your laptop on, the the cooler could be used with it, but otherwise it probably won't work in this situation.
FIT with Dell Latitude
FIT with iBook
Evercool NB-FT1 FIT Notebook Cooler
We were pleasantly surprised by the performance of this little cooling device – you can't really argue with the temperature reductions that resulted from using the FIT cooler. While it does use some battery power, and it can really only be used on a flat surface, the low price of about $20 online makes it an attractice choice for ensuring that your laptop computer stays running cool and quiet.
Pros: Small size, Effective cooling, Can be used in conjunction with laptop pad, Includes carrying case.
Cons: Not to be used on a lap, Shroud must be right up against the laptop exhaust, Uses some battery power of laptop.
