Review: BB Targus Cooling Pad + Stand

All right, my first review, pic heavy, but I kept the quality low for that purpose. It should be just readable.


Basic stateable specs:

Price: O/S 28.99 N/ 56.99 <(>_<)>
Wt. : ~2 lbs.
One USB port used, not extra input locations.
Power consumed reduces battery life by an approximated 10%.



All right to start:

Structure:

The Targus, despite it's slightly mediocre performance (discussed further down, if you are willing to simply accept "quite good" as this sections description, skip it and read that), does show a decent build quality.



The Targus is built completely with plastic, no aluminum here. The top of the fan plate is painted with a silverish paint, it actually makes it hover around 5-6 degrees lower in temperature than the black rough bottom. There are two fans, that manage to put out a decent amount of air.

It has a decent range of height settings with the stand:

LOWEST:


Yes, it is actually hovering on a slim hook-in space, however, it manages to hold this postion very well, resisting the FX's 9.2 pounds, plus an additional ~20 pounds of pressure I applied to it.



The highest position is a nice position to use for viewing movies and gaming on, the keyboard isn't too bad of an angle to use for hotkeys/typing. And despite how it looks like it will fall off of the table, it is actually very well balanced, even in the highest setting.

It manages to keep the thing from shaking too much in a moving vehicle, on Ontario roads, so it keeps the stability relatively well.


PERFORMANCE:

Ahhh, the not so good part.

I tested for CPU cooling level, and GPU, using orthos, and rthdribl gpu testing program respectively.

CPU TESTING:
I tested with overvolting and undervolting.
MASSIVE VOLTAGE:
Without cooling:

With:


UNDERVOLTED:


Without cooling:


With:



GPU COOLING:


Tested with Stock and OC'd to 650/900.

Stock Clock:

Without cooling:

With:


OVERCLOCKED to 650/900:

Without cooling:


With:


Obviously, the Targus is extremely limited by it central placement of its fans, as opposed to the upper placement of the 6831FX's fans. Buying the stand alone is a 'decent' ( there are obviously better) expense (it sold for $20 at the BB where I went, Deluth MN.), but the cooling pad is useless for an FX.

Grade:

Cooling Pad:

Pr. for Per.: F
Effectiveness: F
Durability: A

Stand:

Pr. for Per.: B+
Effectiveness: B-
Durability: A

Overall Grade for combo:

Pr. for Per.: C+
Effectiveness: C-
Durability: A

Overall : B-/C+

The durability of a plastic stand like this, is about all that saves it from an utter failing grade. Stick with your Zalman's.

 

That cooler is quite ugly. O_O

Several other members have commented on how notebook coolers are quite useless and only lower temperatures by a few degrees.

 

Have u guys seen this laptop cooler yet? NZXT Cryo LX It has good fan placement, 3 120MM fans and seems to show good results.

 

A few degrees could and would be quite useFUL in many situations, for example if the notebook was only overheating "a few degrees" in the first place (which is quite often the case).