Silverstone NB04 Notebook Cooler Review

Introduction Notebook coolers are a product that I know end users don't often get excited about, and that is pretty understandable given that they serve a more practical purpose, rather than a function that you can enjoy. They do however provide a vital role when it comes to mobile computing and with more and more people using an ultra book, gaming notebook or similar style system as their main computer, there are one or two shortfalls that need to be navigated to fully enjoy them. When you're out and about, your system is in a low power state and you're just doing some web browsing, then things are typically nice and cool inside your system, it doesn't have to work too hard. When you're at home with your rig, or perhaps you have a high-end laptop instead of a desktop that you only use at home or in the office, then there is a good chance that you'll be running it from mains power, with all the settings dialled up to 11, playing games and plenty of other high-end tasks, this is when your system starts to break a sweat. Having some extra cooling under your system can have a massive impact on the overall system temperature and lower temps can often translate to better performance, as well as improve the lifespan of various components. Let's not forget noise, laptop fans are often small with ultra high RPM, so offloading much of the work to a larger and quieter fan in a notebook cooler can bring benefits to your ears too. The NB04 doesn't sound especially cheap £28 for the black and £33 for the silver coloured model from Scan.co.uk, and it is about 20% more expensive than many competing products so it will be interesting to see what it has to offer to help justify the extra investment. Taking a look at the specifications below gives me an impression that much of the cost is due to the aluminium construction, as many competing brands often favour a plastic chassis design. The cooler includes a single 200mm fan that can run up to 800 RPM. It comes nicely packaged in a white box which is nothing too fancy, but it does come with a clear image of both the black and silver models on the front as well as a run down of the major features and specifications. Around the back you'll find international translations for the features, as well as a more details specifications list (see above). A Closer Look The cooler comes as a single unit with a USB hook up cable for power. The fan is pre-installed to the aluminium frame and as you can see, we have the black edition. Around the back there in a single USB port that is used to connecting the cooler to your system to power the fan. There is a slight slope to the design, this gives a nice resting position for your system and you'll notice plenty of clearance on all sides to allow for optimum airflow. On the underside there is a clear plastic 200mm fan and four rubber pads to provide good grip on your chosen surface. The aluminium frame is really nicely finished in a powder black, with lots of ventilation across the top to allow the air to get to your system. The included USB cable has a pass-through port on the back, this means you don't lose the use of the USB port and can still connect your mouse, flash pen or any other USB device. Performance With the NB04 installed you can see that my notebooks temperatures dropped by 7 degrees Celsius at idle and 11 degrees at load, a big difference in temperate without a doubt, but it my opinion it really isn't enough to have made a significant difference. Of course there is still no harm in your components running cooler and this can help in the long run for improving the lifespan of your components. Noise has been cut a little too, Idle noise remained the same overall, but at full load there was a drop of 4 decibel with the NB04 installed and powered up. The difference was noticeable, but not enough to bring my notebook down to being quiet, just less noisy. Final Thoughts Price Priced at £28.85 for the black model and £33.14 for the silver model at Scan.co.uk. In the US you can pick one up for $39.99, however there are some black ones included in a big sale that you can snap up for $11.39 on Amazon.com, which is incredible value for money. In the EU the cooler will set you back around EUR 44,66 from Amazon.fr. Overall I think this is quite expensive when compared with competing products in terms of performance, but you do get aluminium construction, and build quality does count towards a lot of the cost. Overview I understand that there is a big market for notebook coolers, which is why so many computer component manufacturers have at least one product in their range for this part of the market. It's a common fact that notebooks run hotter and louder than your average desktop system and this is mostly down to the much smaller surface area of the internal component coolers, smaller fans that run at a much higher RPM and limited airflow. You only have to fire up a flash-based game, or any graphics / CPU intensive application on most notebooks for a short while before the fan whine is at a very audible level. Having a loud fan blaring at you while you're trying to work can be very distracting, even more so if you're trying to enjoy some music or watch a movie, so having a way to tame that heat and noise is no bad thing. The Silverstone NB04 didn't blow me away with its performance, but there certainly was a noticeable improvement in both temperatures and noise levels. However, I don't think it went far enough in terms of performance to really justify the investment. The fan is operated at a fixed speed range of 200-800RPM and it would have been nice to be able to ramp up the fan speed higher, trading-off for more noise from the NB04, but only if it would improve my notebooks cooling performance further. If I was rendering video, or gaming with a headset on, then I wouldn't be too fussed about the noise, but the temperatures would certainly be something I would want to bring down. The fixed speed of the fan means I have very little flexibility overall. The noise levels did drop a little with the NB04 enabled, but really it was only enough to notice via my decibel meter rather than my own ears, of course this would vary on a per-system basis based on what temperatures your system adjusts its internal fan speed lower, and of course the noise levels it products to begin with, so you may see better results than I did overall. The simple solution is that if your system is running hot and loud, then you will see a benefit from a notebook cooler. Pros Clean design Gorgeous aluminium construction and finish High quality pre-installed fan USB pass through connector Easy to install Cons Quite expensive (most likely due to construction materials) No fan speed adjustment "The Silverstone NB04 is a little expensive, but you do get a lot of premium build quality in return and if style is important to you then you may be tempted to pay the premium over a plastic construction model from rival brands. Performance may not be mind-blowing, but there was a noticeable improvement in temperatures that may be of benefit to your system in the long run." Thank you Silverstone for providing us with this sample.