Ab Work Outs: Eforcity Notebook Cooling Fan with Card Reader + USB Hub Review

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(More customer reviews)When doing intense operations, my MacBook Pro gets pretty hot.This is most evident when playing Oblivion, one of my favorite computer games, under Windows XP.Normally the computer's fans would be going at full force after about 7 minutes of playing, and the machine would still be so hot that I'd work up a sweat.

In my opinion, laptops shouldn't need cooling pads.Heating up to the point of discomfort is a design flaw that the manufacturer (be it Apple, Dell, Alienware, Toshiba or whoever) should have addressed.I think (hope) that in the future, these sorts of things won't be overlooked in favor of performance.

I was considering this cooling pad that houses 3 fans instead of 2, and yet another that was designed specifically for MacBooks and MacBook Pros.These were both made out of aluminum, which would have helped alleviate the heat.But since the Phoenix was the same price as the Eforcity but didn't include the card reader, and since the NotePal was even more expensive and didn't house a third fan OR a card reader, I chose the Eforcity Chill Pad.

The construction on the Chill Pad isn't bad.It's made out of plastic, but it's durable and lightweight.It's also thin, so it's something that can be packed up into a laptop bag and carried along.The fans are quiet, as reported by other reviewers.They're much quieter than my MacBook's fans at full speed.With the laptop on top of the pad, I can hardly hear them.The USB cord and AC adapter are both good quality; not cheap, thin cords that will easily break.

I do have two complaints with the physical design.First is that my MacBook Pro hangs over the pad by several inches.This is not something that will apply to everyone, and it doesn't affect the pad's ability to cool.But it was also one of the reasons I was eying the NotePal.The second problem is that there aren't any built-in grips to stop a laptop the size of mine from sliding around on top.If your laptop has rubber feet on the bottom and doesn't hang over the edge of the pad, you'll be fine.Me, I'll be remedying it by installing my own rubber feet onto the pad.

My initial test, of course, was opening up Oblivion and playing.I suppose that the absolute best results would have been for the laptop's fans to not come on at all, but I think it's unreasonable to expect that from two small fans.The internal laptop fans did come on while playing, but later than usual, and still not at full speed.Even after playing for about 15 minutes, the fans still weren't going at full force.When not doing anything intense on the laptop, the bottom actually gets cool to the touch.So the pad does cool about as well as I expected, if not slightly better.

Originally I wrote that the card reader on mine was a major disappointment.I have two different digital cameras; one that reads Smart Media and another that reads Compact Flash.I tried both of those cards with the MacBook booted into MacOS X, and they both sporadically disappeared and reappeared after being inserted into the card reader.I thought they might have just been not pushed in far enough, but they're in as far as they'll go.The hub worked like a charm though, so I was certain the card reader was faulty.However, after I booted into Windows, the card reader worked fine on both cards.This led me to believe that (unfortunately) the card reader was only faulty under MacOS X.This may have had something to do with me plugging the cord in after the OS had already booted, but that's no excuse.(Whoever's responsible... I'm not sure.)

The pad lost points for the Windows-only card reader, the laptop slippage, and the overlap.I also would have preferred an aluminum construction for the sake of heat dissipation.But the solid construction, USB hub and decent cooling makes me satisfied with my purchase.

If you don't need the extra USB ports or the card reader, I would probably recommend trying the aforementioned Phoenix cooling pad.The open sides, third fan and aluminum construction are bound to outperform this pad, and unless I got a lemon, you won't miss the card reader.I'm satisfied, but more discerning customers may not be.

Four stars.(Originally 3.5, but Amazon apparently won't let me change that.)

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Eforcity Notebook Cooling Fan with Card Reader + USB Hub