Review: BYTECC Aluminum Notebook Cooling Pad NC-500

I must say, I was impressed with the performance of this cooling pad! I had seen others advertised, but this one was was recomended to be by someone at another forum. I am glad I got this.

Pros: This thing was perfectly designed. It fit my 15.4 inch widescreen laptop perfectly, it doesn't hang off the edges, and one of the fans is right under the air intake for the cooling system and blows air into it. If the laptop blows out from the bottom, the fans are reversable. The fans are USB powered, so you don't have to use an AC outlet, but there is also a USB Y-adapter so you don't loose a USB port, either. There is also an on/off switch, so you can turn off the fans without unplugging it. I also like the aluminum frame, it absorms heat and props the laptop up at an exelent typing angle (plus my optical drive doesn't sctatch against the table when I eject it anymore). The upper lip, while keeping the laptop from sliding off, doesn't obstruct any of the front ports.

Cons: Although it works great, it does have some cons. It is a bit noisy, although you can't expect it to be perfectly silent, and its drowns out the horrible noise the fan on my laptop makes. With music playing, however, you won't notice it. It can also scratch up the table or even possibly the laptop because of the aluminum edges, so I just covered them with a layer of duct tape, and that solved it. Unfortunatley, this cooling pad wasn't meant to be used on the lap, although you can kind of do that if you put something like a wodden board under it, but I almost never use my laptop on my lap (ironic, huh?), and when I do actually move the laptop, its for such a short time that I just leave the cooling pad, plus I enable the AMD powernow thing so my processor is underclocked and doesn't give off as much heat.

Other thoughts: After getting the cooling, I decided to do some overclocking. Since my BIOS didn't have an option, I just used ClockGen. Before the cooling pad arrived, my temps were around 65°C (149°F), but got up to 70°C (158°F) when I did things like virus scans. When I put my laptop on the cooling pad, the temps were reduced just by proping it up on it, but when I turned it on, the temps went down to 50°C (122°F), only going up to about 52°C (126°F) when I did virus scans. Then I overclocked 200 MHz, and the temps remained steady at about 53°C (128°F), but went up to 55°C (131°F) when I did a virus scan. Then I installed Prime95, a CPU and RAM stressor, and did the torture test, where the program stressed both the CPU and RAM for an hour. The temps varied from about 60°C (140°F) - 65°C (149°F). No problems were reported, and everything was fine. Now, I keep my processor overclocked at 2.0 GHz.

Final word: An excelent cooling pad, the performance and benefits greatly outweigh any minor cons. (5/5) Pictures can be found below. They are the same ones that are found at Newegg (I don't have a digital camera yet).

Where to buy/price: I haven't seen this one in too many places, but you can always get this at Newegg. Mine cost $29.99, but I have seen the price change. It can be found at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834999336, but the links seem to move around, so it might become broken.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post.

Review by Matt M.​

 

hey, nice review.. i have one of these coming along with a new lappy, but let me get something straight about the fan direction--if the bottom fans are exhaust, the pad's fans should blow down and if they are intake the pads fans should blow upwards?

 

Correct. Mine came with the fans blowing up which was convienient because the bottom fans on my laptop are intake, but if you need to switch them, all you need is a medium sized phillips head screwdriver.

 

Hello Matt, very nice review.

I've had my Toshiba Satellite A75-S213 notebook for almost 7 months and I've noticed that the fans are running more and more, especially when the AC Power Adapter is connected. I've put a regular mini-fan on it, and that has helped some, but I still feel that I need to do something more to keep the laptop cool. I don't know if raising the laptop might help, as I've read on some other websites or not.

I heard about laptop cooling bases and found the one you reviewed at NewEgg.com. What I want to be sure about is what Jachi asked about. With my laptop, the heat comes out the back of the computer, so does that mean the bottom of my computer is where the air goes in and the base fans should blow upwards? Is that correct?

Also, what is the best way to protect the laptop casing and desk surface from getting scratched?

I'd greatly appreciate a response at your earliest convenience - thank you.

Thanks again for the great review - it was very informative.

Take care and have a great day!

Sincerely,

Joe Chengery III

 

The air intake is most likley on the bottom, but I don't know that for certain. If you look in your users manual where it describes everything on the laptop (ex. ports, vents, etc.), it should say where the intake and exaust vents are. If the intake is on the bottom as I suspect, then the fans should be pointed up. You will get the most effective cooling this way. If the intake or exaust are not on the bottom, then a cooling pad won't be the best solution. Raising/proping up the laptop, as you have read, helps mostly if the intake is on the bottom, although it will help some if the exhaust is on the bottom.

I took some time to look at the laptop specs. Its a pretty nice laptop, although the Pentium 4 and Radeon must get hot (probably why you're thinking about getting the cooling pad). The Mobile Pentium 4 has something called SpeedStep, which basicly means that you can set the processor to adjust its clock speed as necessary. In the power options properties in windows, if you select the Portable/Laptop power scheme, the processor will adjust its clock, sometimes down to 800 MHz if the computer is idle. This can help reduce temperatures further, although you will notice slightly less performance.

BTW, to prevent the edges from scratching the case or your desk, just cover it with a layer of duct tape. Good luck!

 

Hello Matt, thank you very much for your reply, I greatly appreciate it.

I have two fans on the bottom; I believe they are intake, but I will double-check the manual to be sure. I also believe the exhaust is in the back because that's where the heat is at.

Thanks for the suggestion about the "SpeedStep" application - I will have to check that out. I take it that the processor will adjust the clock automatically, so that if I need to run MS Word or some other resource-intensive application or a number of open webpages, the processor will automatically speed back up to its maximum performance? Is this correct or not?

It will only reduce the processor speed if I'm not working on anything that is resource-intensive? Is that correct or not?

Thank you also for the duct tape tip as well.

If the intake and exhaust are where I think they are at, I think that cooling pad may be exactly what I need. Plus, Newegg provides great service, so I am seriously considering getting it. I hope it works as well for me as it has for you and the others who have purchased it.

Again, thank you for the reply, I greatly appreciate it!

Please take care, keep up the great work, and have a good day!

 

The Intel SpeedStep and AMD PowerNow! features both work the same way. Depending on what power scheme you have selected and whether or not the laptop is plugged in, the processor will behave differently. The following are processor policys:
None- the processor always runs at the highest performance level
Adaptive- the processor increases or decreases its performance level based on demand
Degradive- the processor starts at the lowest performance level and uses stop clock throttling to reduce power as the battery discharges.
Power Schemes on AC Power:
Home/Office Desk- None
Portable/Laptop- Adaptive
Presentation- Adaptive
Always On- None
Minimal Powre Management- Adaptive
Max Battery- Adaptive
Power Schemes on Battery Power
Home/Office Desk- Adaptive
Portable/Laptop- Adaptive
Presentation- Degradive.
Always On- None
Minimal Powre Management- Adaptive
Max Battery- Degradive
I always keep my laptop on Home/Office Desk so that I get the highest performance level when battery level and heat are not a problem, but that the processor automaticly switches to the adaptive ppolicy to conserve power and not give off as much heat. The adaptive policy would work well for what you want to do. All you need to have for this to work is Windows XP.

A good program to monitor CPU and hard disktemps, CPU clocks, and battery power, is mobile meter. It is a freeware program that runs as a little window that can be docked at the edge of the screen and can be configgured to always be on top of other programs. If the link loads but the page is blank, hit refresh. http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/MobileMeter.shtml

Your welcome and good luck!

 

Hello Matt, thanks for the great information and the free mobile meter download - I greatly appreciate it!

Regarding the power schemes, where would I find that? I looked at the Toshibe Power Management Utility (under Performance and Maintenance) and did not see the settings you specified in your post. I did see "Full Power" for AC Power, Normal, Long Life, High Power, and DVD Playback for Battery Power, etc.

When I click on Details for AC Power and click the Power Save Mode tab, I do see some pictures with little levers that enable you to adjust certain settings, like processor speed, monitor brightness, turning off the monitor, turning off the hard disks, system standby, and system hibernate.

The processor speed is at full power in AC Mode - would dropping that lever a bit be the equivalent of what you are suggesting?

Please let me know at your earliest convenience - thank you!

Thank you also for the Mobile Meter Freeware utility, I greatly appreciate it.

Please take care, keep up the great work, and have a good weekend!

Sincerely,

Joe Chengery III

 

The power schemes and policys are changed in the windows power properties control pannel extension. Either right click on the power icon in the system tray (either a little plug or battery icon) and select adjust power properties, or go to Start > Settings > Control Pannel > Power properties.


Once you have the Power Options Properties window open, you can select what power scheme you want. If you have Windows XP, the power policy will automaticly change when you select a power scheme. If you have Windows 95/98/ME/2K/NT, you will have to use the special utility on your computer.

If you drop the processor speed lever, that would not be the same as switching to the adaptive power scheme. It constantly adjusts to the demand of what you are doing. So if you are simply browsing the web, the processor will underclock to a certain speed and adjust as needed, but if you were to open up a game (as in a full computer game, not solitare), the processor speed would increase to its max clock or near it. By adjusting the lever you were talking about, the processor will remain clocked at the speed you set and stay there reguardless of the demand.

 

Hello Matt, thank you very much for the reply; I greatly appreciate it.

I appreciate your tip; just to let you know, I do have Win XP Home, but because of Toshiba's settings, the Power Schemes option is "blacked out" and you have to use Toshiba's Power Management program to change settings.

The only setting for AC Power in Toshiba's Power Management is Full Power; there is a details button for AC Power - when I click on it, there is a General tab and a Power Save Mode, where the icons I mentioned (like the Processor Speed mentioned earlier) is located.

So, in a way, I was in the right area, but not with the right program. I don't know if I can access the Microsoft Power Options program as long Toshiba Power Management is online or not. Plus, I don't know exactly how to turn the Toshibe Power Manamentou.

I'll have to work with it and see what I can do.

Thank you again for the tip - I greatly appreciate it.

Take care, keep up the great work, and have a good day!

 

I have never heard of this (and have never used a toshiba laptop), so the only thing I can recomend is to play around with it or send an e-mail to technical support asking them about how to use the power schemes.

Good luck on figguring it out and havea good weekend!

Matt​