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**Mayo** · Tue, 20th-Mar-2012, 9:56 AM

Qlimax has taken a look at one of the Tt Laptop coolers, they have asked that I post the thread for them.

The other day, the good guys over at Thermaltake sent out their newest notebook cooler the “LifeCool” so I could take a look and give some feedback on it. Being my first cooler, I didn’t know exactly what I should expect from it besides the obvious – that it should cool my laptop. Being a fairly powerful laptop, it does put a fair amount of heat out while playing games or using resource-intensive programs and it does tend to get quite hot and uncomfortable to sit of your lap or even using WASD (while gaming) – as most of the heat is outputted through a vent right next to those keys.

My first impressions when I opened it up was that it was very light, looked stylish and it didn’t come with many accessories – I actually shook out the box looking for more. Although there is nothing worse than a new piece of hardware that comes with 10 million cables, stickers and the like – it always just gets in the way of everything.

The cooler itself weighs just over 1kg (about the same as a keyboard) and is made from plastic and metal mesh, with a rubbery surface so your laptop doesn’t slide around while you’re using the cooler. It’s fitted with a 120mm, 5V, 800-1,500 RPM fan that is lit with blue LEDs when it’s in use – technically and visually appealing to say the least! It does create a little bit of noise, according to the specs, it’s a maximum of 30.5 dB (about as loud as a not-so-subtle whisper) which isn’t much at all and most of the noise is muffled out once the laptop is on top of the cooler.

Using the cooler is very simple and any computer-illiterate person will be able to figure it out within 30 seconds of looking at it and what it comes with. The cooler draws power directly from the laptop which means that there are no extra cables or adapters that need to be plugged into power-points. All you need to do is use the included USB cable and connect the cooler to the laptop and turn it on using the little wheel on the right side of the cooler. Voila!

I did a small test on the temperatures of the laptop to make sure that it was doing its job correctly. Using Mass Effect 3 to get that laptop really running, I came up with the following. Note, the tests were run in a poorly ventilated room with the laptop on a sheet which caused extra heat to be trapped.

Temperatures before I started:

Temperatures after ~10-15 minutes of playing without the cooler:

Temperatures after ~10-15 minutes of playing with the cooler:

As you can see, the results are pretty clear and with an average of 7.5 degrees drop in temperature, it’s certainly doing its job. It retails for between $30 and $40 and for that price, you’re laughing! Especially when your laptop lasts a few extra months due to less stress (temperature/overheating).

In conclusion, it’s a great piece of hardware if your laptop is uncomfortably hot or has hardware problems because of its temperatures. It’s light weight, stylish, very easy to use, cheap and it works. The only thing that could be improved is the support that holds it up seems a little bit flimsy – it’s nothing major and definitely not going to break with only a laptop on top.
Overall, this is a great cooler and if you’re looking for one and you don’t want to spend a fortune, this is definitely something you should look at! Enjoy!

Quick Comments

	TAhackdZ:	What a nifty invention :D
	PiG:

**Cordance** · Tue, 20th-Mar-2012, 3:35 PM

Ive posted a few times on the site people should be getting these if they are cursed with the curse of lap top gaming. Now I can finally point them to a post so they can figure it out for themselves. The only question I have is can the stand be removed to pack it flatter for transport.