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VIZO Ninja II Notebook Cooler Conclusion
Submitted by jwhitakr on Wed, 01/23/2008 - 18:59.
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Using the Ninja II
When in operation the Ninja II is very quiet. You most likely would not hear it in a normal office environment. You may notice it in a quiet home office setting but it is extremely quiet and I personally do not even hear it when it is running.
The cooler works well and does reduce the temperature of my laptop significantly when it is running although my laptop never does get too hot in the first place. On my Toshiba notebook, I noticed that the place that gets the hottest is usually right below the screen next to the power switch, which is where the processor is inside. Using the Ninja II, that area barely gets warm and the air coming out of the laptops vents is quite a bit cooler as well.
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Other Considerations
There are some drawbacks to using the Ninja II. First, it is very uncomfortable to try to use the Ninja II on your lap. Although the Ninja II uses power from the USB port allowing you to virtually use it anywhere, you will find that you want to have it on a flat stable surface like a table or desk. When trying to use it on your lap, the aluminum edges dig into your legs making it extremely uncomfortable and even slightly painful over a short time. Thin people with thin legs may not have as much of a problem with this but if you have larger or wider legs, you will not want to use it on your lap.
Second, using the Ninja II for extended periods of time will draw significant power from the laptop battery causing the need to prematurely recharge the laptop battery. With that said, if your laptop has a serious heat issue the Ninja II could be a real savior because overheating can cause more problems than just a shorter battery life. My battery usually lasts about three hours but with the Ninja II running the whole time, it lasted about 2 hours and 40 minutes. To me that is no big deal but it may be to anyone working out of the office all day every day.
Third, Ninja II is portable but it is not small. To carry the Ninja II you would need a very large laptop case, back pack or even better a wheeled carrier. It is not overly heavy but added to my already bulging laptop case makes for quite a hefty haul. The only way I could fit it into my Samsonite laptop case was to put it in the laptop compartment with the laptop which also required inserting a foam pad to keep the Ninja II from scratching my laptop while in transit. It works but every few months I will need to replace the foam pad or break down and buy a new laptop case that can hold both devices sufficiently.
VIZO Ninja II Notebook Cooler
The Ninja II is a good notebook cooler and does what it claims with great performance. It is portable and requires no electrical outlet to use it. It gets is power from the laptops USB port without taking up the port by including a USB port on the adapter. It does cause the laptop to lose some battery life and is not really designed for using it on your lap. So it comes down to how bad you need to cool your laptop and what you are willing to give up to do so. Personally I use it at home and anywhere I go where I can set the laptop on a table or desk. I do like the Ninja II, but I would not use it anywhere I had no table or desk to set it on.
Pros: Portable, USB power, cools very well, extremely quiet.
Cons: Drains laptop battery a bit, uncomfortable on lap, requires large carrying bag.
Rating: 4 out of 5
