NEW! Silverstone's NB02B Notebook Cooler - FULL REVIEW! Tons of Pictures, Benchmarks and More!

Silverstone's NB02B Notebook Cooler Review - By Dave Montez (garetjax)

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In the enthusiast computing industry, there is one name that elicits a certain kind of excitement that few other companies can boast. Since 2003, Silverstone’s products and services have won many awards and accolades in the computing industry, ranging from their latest computer chassis to their newest power supply. Their full complement of products allows Silverstone to enjoy across the board success, by designing, manufacturing, and producing quality products for discerning enthusiasts all over the world.




Silverstone has certainly been around the block when it comes to offering new products to enthusiasts. However, one of their newest forays into the mobile computing arena are their notebook coolers. Leveraging on their success with the NB01B (a massive, all-aluminum notebook cooler), Silverstone changes tactics with their newest entry, the NB02B. Featuring a slim, small footprint design, the NB02B offers enthusiasts the ability to dock their notebook while providing an avenue to cool it through the use of two 50mm fans. Has Silverstone created the last notebook cooler you’ll ever need? Will the NB02B make good on its ability to clean up your laptop cable clutter? Let’s jump right into the thick of things and find out!


Specifications

Model: Silverstone Noble Breeze SST-NB02B
Color/Material: Black, all aluminum construction
Laptop Compatibility: All notebook computers
Dimensions: 14.17” x 1.55” x 3.90” (W x H x L)
Weight: 2.57 lbs
Cooling: Two 50mm cooling fans
Connection Ports: 1 x 10/100 Base-T Ethernet (RJ45) port, 1 x Stereo audio-out jack, 1 x Stereo line-in jack, 1 x Mono audio-in jack, 5 x USB 2.0 ports, backward compatible
Features: All aluminum construction, reduction of cable clutter, myriad of connection points, small form factor footprint, designed with quiet computing in mind
Price: $99.00 at Amazon.com





Silverstone’s entry into the mobile computing market is relatively new. The introduction of their first notebook cooler, the NB01B, has already garnered much attention and is one of the more popular coolers available. However, there were some shortcomings with the NB01B, the most glaring was the sheer size and weight of the unit itself, which led to the impossibility that the words “notebook cooler” and “portability” would ever be used in the same sentence. Nonetheless, the NB01B did extremely well in performance testing, pulling in some of the top cooling numbers than any other cooler at the time.

With the introduction of the NB02B, Silverstone has opted to go with the “less is more” approach. Much of the design centers around an aggressive incline of the laptop, providing more than adequate space for hot notebook exhaust to be whisked away. It also allows enthusiasts to manage their cabling by relegating all connections to a single USB 2.0 cable. This kind of innovation is usually reserved for expensive docking stations specifically made for certain laptop models. The NB02B is Silverstone’s answer to this problem.





The Silverstone NB02B accessory bundle includes an AC/DC power adapter with power cord, a USB 2.0 data cable, an instruction manual, and a CD-ROM disc. The disc contains the necessary files to install the drivers for the NB02B on a Windows 2000, XP, or Vista machine, and for the Mac lovers out there, Silverstone has not forgotten you: the NB02B is compatible with Max OS X versions 10.3 and 10.4.

The manual is a bit on the thin side however, offering only enough information about the location of the ports on the NB02B, and a very rudimentary walkthrough of the installation process of the included CD-ROM.





If there is one thing that all Silverstone products are known for, it is the construction and materials used in their manufacture. Made entirely out of thick, brushed aluminum, the NB02B is extremely solid and relatively lightweight at about 2.5 pounds. This will most likely be a boon to those enthusiasts that need a portable notebook cooling solution. At 14” long, the NB02B is unobtrusive and offers a small desktop footprint, unlike its monstrous brother, the NB01B.

Flanking either side of the unit are two 50mm fans. These fans are billed as being silent during operation, and throughout my testing I found this to be true. One feature that I did not expect was that, according to Silverstone, these fans can be mounted so that they either blow air towards the undercarriage of your laptop or away from it. No other notebook cooler I’ve reviewed offers this kind of versatility, an option that will surely make many notebook enthusiasts happy who are particular with how the exhaust from the laptop is dealt with.





Turning the NB02B over, we can see that Silverstone uses thick strips of rubber padding to ensure that the cooler does not vibrate or is easily slid across a surface. The rubber is non-marking, which I appreciate, since many of the cheaper notebook coolers on the market that use rubber strips mark up my desk quite readily.

As mentioned earlier, Silverstone allows enthusiasts to re-orient the two 50mm cooling fans to blow in either direction. With the manual completely devoid of instructions on how to do this, Silverstone’s website is equally absent of these instructions as well. However, after a cursory inspection, it would appear that the removal of perhaps a half dozen screws will be needed for this operation.





Taking a look at the front of the NB02B, we can see a grille-like exhaust system at the bottom of the unit. These grille cutouts are useful for two reasons. The first, and most obvious, is an exhaust system (or intake system depending on the configuration of the fans) for the two 50mm cooling fans. The second is that the unit contains PCB and related circuitry which will get hot during operation. The cutouts, along with the aluminum construction, will act to disperse the heat much more effectively out of this enclosed area.

The fans are very quiet, I would guess somewhere around 12-15dBA. The cooling properties of the fans will be tested later in the review, but one thing I would like to point out is that these fans are oriented out of the box so that they blow air outwards, towards the underside of your laptop. A debate currently rages on whether or not this is the most effective cooling configuration versus fans that take hot air from your laptop and exhaust it away. Personally, I have no preference as long as the cooler produces good results during testing.





Taking a look at the right side of the Silverstone NB02B, we can see two USB 2.0 ports which can be used for external input devices such as a mouse or keyboard arrangement. One thing to keep in mind is that the top mesh area, which you can clearly see, is semi-ported. That is, the only open area in this steel mesh is where the fans are located. The rest of the mesh is closed off by a clear plastic cover which allows an enthusiast to peer inside the unit itself.

Now, while I appreciate the mesh material, it would have been better if Silverstone had done either one of two things: the first is to include more cooling fans. In this day and age with notebooks boasting dual graphic card setups, more cooling than ever is necessary to handle the heat these monsters put out. The second is that, barring more fans, why not give an enthusiast the ability to custom place the fans wherever they want? Nothing is worse than having a notebook cooler with fans that are placed in the wrong area where a laptop needs cooling most.





The left side of the NB02B is pretty plain, offering no extra USB 2.0 ports. However, what you will notice is the rather aggressive incline of the notebook cooler. With an 8 degree incline, the NB02B will have your laptop sitting at a steeper slope than other solutions on the market. The advantage of an increased slope is better airflow underneath the notebook which can reduce temperatures drastically. Conversely, the disadvantage is that your laptop relies of the front lip of the cooler to ensure that the laptop doesn’t slide off. I found the 8 degree incline to be very comfortable for typing, although utilizing an external keyboard negates this incline completely.





The back end of the NB02B is filled to the gills with all kinds of connections, ports, and jacks. Since this device is a universal docking station for pretty much any notebook on the market, having all these options is necessary. Starting from the left, we have a power switch which turns the cooler’s fans on and off, a red power-on LED, a jack for the AC/DC power adapter, a Type-B USB port, a 10/100 Base-T Ethernet port, three USB 2.0 ports, and three audio jacks, microphone, sound input, and sound output respectively.

This complement of connections pretty much covers every single scenario an enthusiast can think of where input and output devices are concerned. But how do you get this device to “talk” to your notebook? One of things that makes the NB02B truly unique is that it does not need proprietary connectors such those found on docking stations for specific notebooks. Instead, the NB02B relies on a single USB 2.0 cable connection (which is provided in the accessory bundle) between the unit itself and the laptop. Simply plug the USB cable into the Type-B USB port on the NB02B and connect the other end into an available USB port on your laptop.

This system is flawless, and it works beautifully. The USB cable handles both networking and audio duties, as well as USB connectivity of the remaining USB ports. Keep in mind that while the NB02B offers five USB ports total, one will automatically be used to ensure connectivity between your laptop and the NB02B. With having the USB cable handle all the work, cable clutter becomes much less of an issue and a true road warrior mentality develops. In lieu of disconnecting a dozen cables and cords from your laptop when you take it with you, a single pull of a USB cable is all that is now required.





While Silverstone states that the NB02B is meant to accommodate any size laptop, I would have to say that anything bigger than a 15.4” notebook, and you will be pressing your luck. 15.4” laptops fit perfectly on the NB02B, while larger 17” laptops will hang over the unit. This may be a cause for concern depending if larger laptops slide easily off the front lip of the NB02B. This is why I wish that Silverstone had installed a rubber strip on the top of the unit to prevent this from happening.





With an 8 degree incline, there is plenty of room for the notebook to breathe. Trapped heat between a laptop and a flat surface only serves to skyrocket temperatures since the heat cannot dissipate freely. With the NB02B, heat is effectively removed, reducing trapped heat signatures and prolonging the life of your notebook. My only criticism with the cooling of the NB02B is the fact that the two 50mm fans are at the back end of the notebook and are not adjustable so they can be placed over hot spots on the underbelly of a laptop. As it is, with the laptop used in the review, an HP Pavilion dv6500t, the fans lined up directly underneath my battery bay.





As I mentioned earlier, the NB02B, in my opinion, is really targeted at 15.4” laptops. I say 15.4” specifically, because with smaller notebooks, the 8 degree incline of the laptop will increase, and the typing experience will be much different, possibly becoming too uncomfortable without an external keyboard. On the flip side, if you are using the NB02B for what it was made for, a multi-connectivity notebook cooler, there should be no reason why you wouldn’t be using an external keyboard in the first place.

One curious mention that is not advertised on Silverstone’s website or in its documentation is that you do not necessarily need the AC/DC adapter plugged in to get the fans to operate. You can use a Type-A USB cable to connect between your notebook and the NB02B which makes this device a nice little portable notebook cooler for those on the run. Be warned, however, that this will not allow audio or Ethernet connectivity as you will need the Type-B USB cable and AC/DC adapter for that.





Left side view of the Silverstone NB02B with a 15.4” laptop.





Right side view of the Silverstone NB02B with a 15.4” laptop.





In the end, it’s all about the bottom line: How well did the product perform during testing? I performed two separate tests on the Silverstone NB02B. The first is a battery drain test to see how quickly the two 50mm cooling fans drained my testbed notebook battery. I do this by recording a baseline battery drain sans notebook cooler fans, and then run the same test again with the notebook cooler fans running off my laptop battery.

My second assessment is a cooling test, and by far the most grueling. I run PCMark Vantage along with two concurrent instances of CPU Burn-In and monitor CPU, GPU, and HDD temperatures with Everest Ultimate Edition. I verify that my processor has a 100% CPU load by using CoreTemp. Each test is run for 45 minutes or until no appreciable increase in temperature is observed over a five minute period.

As with the battery drain test, I first record an idle/load baseline without the cooler, then repeat the same test with the notebook cooler and the fans turned on. All cooling tests are conducted at room temperature, approximately 22 degrees Celsius, with a 6 cell Lithium-Ion battery installed.

Let’s begin with the battery drain test first.

My battery drain test consisted of an HP Pavilion dv6500t Special Edition notebook with the following specifications:

Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 processor
Intel Crestline GL960/GM965/PM965 motherboard
4GB of DDR2-667 RAM
WesternDigital 320GB 5,400RPM SATA HDD
nVidia GeForce 8400M GS (128MB)
Intel Pro/Wireless 4965A/G/N NIC + Bluetooth
LightScribe SuperMulti 8x DVD+/-RW
15.4" WXGA BrightView Glossy Widescreen
WindowsXP Home Edition (32-bit version)

During my battery drain testing, I used two batteries with my laptop: a 6 cell Lithium-Ion and a 12 cell version of the same battery. The LCD monitor was set at half brightness and PowerMizer and wireless connectivity were enabled.

Battery Life Drain Test - Non Cooler
6 cell Lithium-Ion battery: 3 hours, 12 minutes
12 cell Lithium-Ion battery: 6 hours, 22 minutes


Battery Life Drain Test – Silverstone NB02B with Fans
6 cell Lithium-Ion battery: 2 hours, 24 minutes
12 cell Lithium-Ion battery: 5 hours, 35 minutes

I was a bit surprised at the battery drain results. Compared to other notebook coolers I’ve reviewed, the NB02B seems to have a higher than average battery drain consumption rate. Most coolers I’ve come across have a difference of about 30 minutes less battery when using the fans on the cooler versus the baseline. With the NB02B running with its fans on, the difference between the non-cooler and the cooler was over 45 minutes. This is very surprising considering the rather smallish 50mm fans being used in this device.

For my notebook cooler test, I ran two concurrent instances of CPU Burn-In and monitored CPU, GPU, and HDD temperatures with Everest Ultimate Edition. I verified that my T7700 had a 100% CPU load using CoreTemp. Each test was run for 45 minutes or until no appreciable increase in temperature was observed over a five minute period. Cooling tests were conducted with a 6 cell Lithium-Ion battery. The fans were configured to blow air outward.

Ambient room temperature: 22 degrees Celsius

Notebook CPU, GPU, and HDD Idle Temperatures – Non Cooler
CPU Idle: 47
GPU Idle: 53
HDD Idle: 42

Notebook CPU, GPU, and HDD Load Temperature – Non Cooler
CPU Load: 76
GPU Load: 59
HDD Load: 44

With my baseline temperatures recorded, I ran my idle and load benchmarks with the Silverstone NB02B notebook cooler in place. Please note that the two 50mm fans were operational during all phases of the cooling portion of my tests.

Notebook CPU, GPU, and HDD Idle Temperature – Silverstone NB02B
CPU Idle: 44
GPU Idle: 51
HDD Idle: 40

Notebook CPU, GPU, and HDD Load Temperature – Silverstone NB02B
CPU Load: 69
GPU Load: 51
HDD Load: 41

The NB02B held its own fairly well during testing. While not boasting remarkably reduced temperatures, it still managed to pull an across-the-board improvement in all areas. The largest improvements were the CPU and GPU load temperatures, with a 7 degree and 8 degree difference in temperature respectively. Certainly not out of this world recordings, but for a notebook cooler sporting two small 50mm fans, I feel that the NB02B put together a respectable showing, even in the face of its larger, meaner brother, the Silverstone NB01B.

Nevertheless, I would have still liked to seen a full complement of fans in the mesh area, or at very least, the ability to re-position the fans where they would do the most good, for example, near vents and exhaust ports on the underside of a notebook. This aside, I’m happy with the test results, and it appears that the NB02B is a competent performer where notebook cooling is concerned.






Recommendation

In the end, I came away impressed with the Silverstone NB02B. Its solid construction, plethora of features, and its unique ability to offer the consummate mobile enthusiast an easy to use docking solution is something that few other companies are offering right now. Its smaller size can make it attractive to enthusiasts on the go, and its versatility will make it a good companion for those needing everything, including the kitchen sink when it comes to connectivity. The design and craftsmanship is typical Silverstone, and the execution is flawless.

My gripes are few. I wish that the cooling apparatus Silverstone uses in this product was more customizable. Yes, I love the fact that the fans can be oriented to blow air at or away from the notebook, but the dual 50mm fans are woefully inadequate for serious cooling duty in regards to enthusiasts with dual videocard setups. This is especially true when the fans are blowing in an area which is not conducive to cooling the important parts of a laptop. To wit, my battery compartment was nice and cool, but what about my GPU?

Nevertheless, Silverstone has taken an idea and developed it into a formidable and competent performer: a docking station that is compatible with nearly every laptop on the market. This, coming from a company that is primarily known for their computer enclosures and power supplies. Suffice to say, Silverstone’s second foray into the realm of notebook cooling, I feel, has really turned the corner. With minor gripes aside, the NB02B will no doubt appeal to enthusiasts tired of fighting cable clutter and looking for a quick and easy method to dock their notebook.


Pros:
- Superb construction and quality craftsmanship
- Ports and connections galore make it a snap to run anything
- Very silent operation; whisper quiet
- Small size will appeal to those on the go

Cons:
- Manual leaves a lot to be desired
- Fans are quite small and few in number; cooling is adequate
- Laptops larger than 15.4” need not apply
- High price will be a factor to some enthusiasts


I would like to sincerely thank Silverstone for providing the review sample, and NotebookReview.com for the venue to share my review with other notebook enthusiasts. At the moment, I am a freelance computer hardware reviewer. If anyone requires an experienced, professional reviewer on their staff, please contact me via PM.

Comments and criticism are always welcome. Any PM's sent will be promptly replied to. Thank you for taking the time to read my review of the Silverstone NB02B Notebook Cooler!

 

What kind of notebook has their fans only at the back (where the cooler is on kind of the edge)

 

Great review Garet! Very informative!

 

the immediate problem i see with this product is that it elevates only the rear section of it...

and depending on height/position of your rubber bumper in the front side of your laptop, the chances are, the front underside of the chassis comes in contact with the table surface.

this will not matter much for those plastic and generic bottoms but for those who have fancier laptops with fancy gloss coats and whatnot... this will eventually add wear and tear in that section.

hence i'm a fan of full supporting coolers...

it is a good solution for travelers who want a cooler... but i find that carrying my kids lego blocks serve me well...

Image removed to due to size limits (maximum 640 width to avoid breaking please)

but great review nonetheless...

 

That is one detailed review, Dave, great job!

At $99 it is quite expensive, and the results are not very impressive. It is stylish and I agree that Silverstone products have top notch quality.

The design of this cooler reminds me of the Pacific Breeze I tested a few years ago in the Cooling Guide. It was $15 and pretty loud though.

 

Dave, that was a very excellent, detailed & informative review you did!

The $99 price point is a bit on the high end, but perhaps it will come down in time! I might try this on my lappy', if it was a bit more moderately priced!

Kudo's on a very well put together review!


Cin...

 

once again, nice review!

$99 bucks is pretty steep, but i can see where they were tryin to go with this concept. can't wait to see the next generation of coolers

 

There are no air entry slots on the back of my laptop, what good is it to cool off the external plastic backing of my laptop? You can see this for yourself and think before you purchase a cooler.

 

Nice review!

Also if those are not stock photo's great photography too.

My view on the product though not as great.

It's simply too expensive, I had a hard time taking down the $70ish the Cryo costs and even the $50 for the NC1000 to nearly double that to $100 is just insane. Also I question the build of the product, not in terms of quality but just in design. I cant think of many laptops that will take much advantage of some airflow being induced near the very rear of the unit, almost all laptops have intake somewhere in the middle of the unit. Its very possible most of the cooling this unit offers to most laptops is mearaly due to the elevation of the unit and not due to the fans or the cooler at all.

I know they did this for the sake of weight and size to make it portable, but its also looking kind of thick (height) and when your placing it in a bag since your laptop already has a big footprint having a slimer larger cooler may fit into the bag easier than a partial cooler like this anyways.

 

First, thank you all for your very kind comments regarding this review!

LOL. No, they are photo's taken by an aging Olympus C750UZ digital camera and a custom made lightbooth. I'd really like to invest in an affordable DSLR one of these days! That and a AlienBees lighting setup.

This was one of my concerns for this particular product as well. The laptop that I used in this review, a DV6500T, the back end contains the battery bay which the fans on the NB02B were positioned to cool.

What separates Silverstone from other manufacturers is the build quality in their products. Silverstone is well known for using quality materials and construction, where others use cheap plastic to get by.

I would imagine that some of the rather steep cost of the NB02B is due to this fact, and if that is the case, a tradeoff must be made: cheap, flimsy construction at a reduced cost, or superb build quality that will last a lifetime but at a higher price point.