Notebook Cooler for 24/7 Usage

All right guys, i leave my laptop on 24/7 so this means that my laptop cooler would be on 24/7 as well. This is something that i have been doing for years. I have used some obscure brand (i.e. cheap and non-branded) notebook coolers but they cannot stand the test of time. It works fine in the beginning but then after a few months (3 months maximum), one of the fans will always start to make some weird and loud "whirrring" noise. Needless to say, this is not the way to go as i have already gone through four of such notebook coolers

I have been doing my research and it seems Zalman NC1000 is one of the popular ones. I kinda like the look and was somewhat convinced that it is cooler and quieter among the competition but the big question here is, can it endure 24/7 continuous usage? can it last for years?

 

Welcome to the forums


Any laptop cooler will be acceptable for 24/7 use... but I've never known anyone who's run their laptop 24/7 for years, so that part of your question is open to question, really

 

Welcome to the forums btfan. Hope you stay a long time.

A very interesting first post from you. I was in the same situation a while back regarding notebook coolers and also seriously considered the Zalman NC1000.

It is well built and looks very capable of doing an excellent job of cooling a lappie down. My problem is/was that Zalman don't state the MTBF (Mean time before failure) of the fans they use. In spite of them showing just about every other spec. of the coolers.

And they are very pricey where I live.

So I went the cheapo route. I pick the cheapies up for next to nothing new and simply use the (not noisy) fans from others that I bought to refurbish the coolers.

It's easy once you have done one.

And my lappie also runs pretty much 24/7 too.

On a sidenote - like you said: There is always one **** fan that starts making a racket after three Months or so whilst the others run perfectly quite.

Weird huh?

Also check this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=252773 for advise.

Cheers,
Theo

 

The NZXT Cryo cooler works great too.

 

Thanks for the welcome guys! Yea, that's the thing, it ain't cheap from where i come from either. I'm not much of a DIY guy when it comes to electronics and wires so i might need to pass on that. I think the question here is how long has you used the Zalman. I wouldn't expect many to use keep their laptop on 24/7

 

I have a Zalman NC2000 its only been turned off for a flight over the pacific and that's it... its been at least 7 months... I rarely turn my notebook off aswell

 

i have my cryo LX on at least 10-12+ hours a day. i rarely ever use my notebook without my cooler. everything has been lovely so far.

just to keep in mind. the more things that yur mother board is powerin, the more stress u are puttin on it. a AC-powered USB hub would be a good "insurance".

 

get a ac powered one.
My laptop cooler uses three 48Volt fans, and they cant even turn off the USB hub. Woot, over 1000cfm to cool my laptop.
It works great peak temperatures are never more than 15F above room temperature.

K-TRON

 

you didnt say what cooler - Woot

 

Instead of mocking him, you should show respect. Dont know any other coolers that can do 1000cfm (granted he uses $200(300?) fans on them)

He built this own.

 

he didnt say anything of the sort in his post, which is why i 'mocked' him.

anyway, he goes to my alma-mater, i felt i had to.

RPI - Woot!

and shouldnt you be policing the streets somewhere?

 

u lost me with all the alma-mater and RPI talk, but yea...k-tron is usin a cooler he custom built with top-grade fans.

 

I've been using my Bytecc cooler 24/7 for at least 3 years. It replaced a crummy plastic Targus cooler that broke apart after 4 months. My Asus M6Ne laptop is still going strong after 4 years, though it's now on its 3rd keyboard; I wore off the lettering from the previous two.

 

his profile lists Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute as his location.

the home-made cooler sounds like something i would be interested in. any work logs available?