Final Thoughts
I actually first got a glimpse at the NotePal U3 back in January when we visited with Cooler Master at CES. I thought to myself when I first saw it, why haven’t there have been more notebook coolers like this? Maybe there has been, but we haven’t seem them here at ThinkComputers. Every laptop is different and produces heat from different spots so being able to move the fans around to concentrate on those spots really makes a difference.
I really like that you can control the speed of the fans to. The enables you to turn them down when you are doing less CPU-intensive work and turn them up when you are gaming. Since the whole thing is powered by USB, you don’t have to carry around another power cable and the USB cable is a pass-through so you are not giving up a USB port to power the NotePal.
The cooling performance was pretty good, 8 degrees difference during load nad 6 degrees during idle. That is sure a lot better than not using a notebook cooler. And keep in mind the NotePal puts your laptop at an angle for comfortable typing a viewing.
Right now the NotePal U3 sells for $29 at my favorite online retailer, which really makes it a bargain considering all of the features. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Cooler Master NotePal U3 a 9 out of 10 score and our Good Value Award!
Pros:
– Movable fans
– Can control the speed of the fans
– Pass-through USB power connector
– Aluminum design
Cons:
– Not sure how well a 19-inch laptop would fit on it
