Vantec LapCool 5 Review

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The Vantec LapCool 5 is a small cooler designed to keep a constant draft flowing underneath your laptop to decrease temperatures under mild or heavy computer use. This type of cooler is usually targeted towards more performance oriented laptop users, or perhaps an older mobile P4 based system that gets excruciatingly hot. For this review I put it head to head with my T60’s docking station that raises the back of the laptop off the desk surface (this alone reduces internal temperatures), to see if any improvements could be found.

The inconspicuous Vantec LapCool 5 under a T60. (view large image)

Specifications:

• Model: LPC-501-BK (BLACK), LPC-501-BL (BLUE), LPC-501-RD (RED)
• Rated Voltage: DC +5V
• Rated Current: DC 0.1A-0.22A
• Rated Speed: 900-1600RPM
• Air Flow: 6.67-12.28CFM
• Noise level: 15dBA
• Durability: 30,000 hours up
• Dimensions: 100mm x 328mm X 20mm

First Thoughts:

After I had torn apart the plastic casing the cooler was packaged inside of, I plugged it in with the supplied USB adapter to see how much air this thing could push. I was quite surprised by not only how quiet it was, but also by how little air it moved. While the specifications had listed 12CFM at the max, I was still expecting more airflow from the 2 fans mounted underneath the grill of the cooler. From how little air it moved, I was pretty skeptical if it would improve upon anything from just raising the back of the laptop of the table.

Top view ... what happened to one of the rubber feet? (view large image)

Bottom view. (view large image)

Left side view with fan speed control. (view large image)

Right side view with USB ports and DC jack. (view large image)

Performance:

To test this active cooler against my passive elevated T60 docking station, I first warmed up the machine with three 3dMark05 benchmarks. After the keyboard had gained some warmth, I turned on Prime95 to stress the CPU, and Rthdribl to stress the GPU. With the laptop installed on top of the docking station, I stressed the system for 10 minutes while closely watching the internal temp readings. At the 10 minute mark I took note of all the temp readings, turned off the stressing programs, and let the machine cool down. After another 10 minutes I took note of the laptops temperatures again to see how much it had been able to cool down. For the Vantec LapCool 5, I repeated this same procedure to find out if it had made any difference. Below are my results…

Temperature under load for 10 minutes

Item Temp	Laptop elevated in mini-dock	Laptop with cooler
CPU	81	75
APS	41	41
PCM	39	38
GPU	86	82
BAT	50	50
BAT	32	34
BUS	47	45
PCI	56	55
PWR	58	55

 

Temperature after 10 minutes cooling down

Item Temp	Laptop elevated in mini-dock	Laptop with cooler
CPU	46	45
APS	39	38
PCM	38	37
GPU	62	61
BAT	50	50
BAT	32	34
BUS	42	42
PCI	47	46
PWR	45	43

As you can clearly see, most of the tempuratures across the board had come down as a result of using the cooler. It wasn’t a dramatic difference, but it did help out. Since the T60 already had a good cooling system I was not expecting much to change, you may see larger drops from laptops not as gifted, or older systems that were undercooled (mobile P4 systems). 

Conclusion:

The LapCool 5 lived up to its name by successfully reducing the tempurature of my laptop under load, and even at idle. The cooler is compact enough to fit inside your backpack for travel, and doesn’t even require external power sources outside of your laptops USB port. Users will also like its integrated USB hub which helps to replace some of the USB ports consumed on the laptop to power the cooler. Overall its not a bad compainion for your laptop if you feel its running a bit hot.

Pros:

• Very small size
• Builtin USB hub to replace the ports by the cooler

Cons:

• Wish the fans could go twice as fast
• One of the rubber pads on top vanished during the review

 

Across the board, most changes reflect only minute ones with 1-3 degrees in change which is almost nothing in perspective to how hot much of the hardware actually gets.

The biggest difference is in the CPU under load but then again, the CPU can handle much hotter temperatures with no problem and it isn't likely that the CPU is under load constantly for very long periods of time.

I don't think coolers these days are worth their purported advantages compared to their biggest one: they accumulate dust into your vents of your laptop (as they blow air into your laptop at a much greater rate than would be without the cooler).

 

What program did you use to monitor the temps?

 

If dust is a problem you can just buy a can of compressed air or one of these and blow the dust out of the system fan and heatsinks.

That way you get the benefit of the cooler and can avoid dust buildup.

 

Well, they were repeatable differences that kept coming up. In the end it made the palmrest, keyboard, etc "feel" cooler during use. Maybe your palms wouldnt be dripping during game play

This cooler also sucks air away, not at the laptop.

tpfancontrol

 

have you tried just to prop your laptop up without the fans?

the reduction in temperature might just be that there's more airflow underneath the laptop as it is propped up and the whole cooler is just gimmick (considering that the fans are not very powerful)

 

The test should have included data from a notebook sitting flat on a table as well - the way most people use their laptops.

To me, it looks like the gadget offers little improvment. If data from a notbook sitting flat shows that the notebook runs hotter, then simply propping it up with a book (or anything) might be just as good.

 

If you noticed, I compared the cooler to a docking station that raises the level of the notebook allowing some ventilation underneath.

Right now I am warming up the laptop again and I will do the test of it sitting flat on a wood desk.

 

I need to run the test again because I was retarded with the screenshot of the temp screens, but key items with the laptop on a flat surface were CPU/PU both at 93C.

 

Would you recommend it, or do you think there are better laptop coolers for that price out there?

 

This was my first cooler I have used, and I somewhat expected more air movement. Someone who has been through a few coolers might be able to let you know what has been working best for them

 

I don't want to be mean, just offer some constructive criticism. How could you give this thing a positive review when it basically does almost nothing to the temperatures?

The temps are either the same or one or two degrees cooler than if you just used a book to prop up the back of the laptop.

 

Well, as Kevin stated, this minor change was for the thinkpad laptop, so he suspected there might be better yields for different laptops (for such coolers, the location of the vents underneath the laptops is vital to the performance), on top of that, the levitation, and the USB ports and the small size make it more geared towards those who are continuously on the go.

 

Thanks for providing another perspective mujtaba, you're correct that it would be useful for some.

On another note I'm purchasing a MBP soon and wonder if I'd need it, its nice and small and could fit easily in the bag.