{"id":39578,"date":"2013-11-14T19:16:51","date_gmt":"2013-11-14T19:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=39578"},"modified":"2013-11-18T05:41:13","modified_gmt":"2013-11-18T05:41:13","slug":"39578","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/39578\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooler Master NotePal U3 Plus Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"When integrated cooling solutions aren’t good enough and temperatures rise, a notebook can begin to throttle the CPU and GPU. Excessive heat can also shorten the life of any laptop or notebook. After years of this process occurring, important components can prematurely fail, ultimately forcing you to buy another notebook. An external laptop cooler is a great and easy solution to these problems. Cooler Master, a leader in PC components and accessories, have provided a solution with their uniquely designed\u00a0NotePal U3 Plus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"DSCN0250\"<\/a>

The NotePal U3 Plus<\/p><\/div>\n

The NotePal U3 Plus is designed to be the ultimate notebook cooler, featuring three movable fans and an ergonomic aluminum design. Our test notebook is a late 2011 13\u201d Macbook Pro, featuring a 2.8 GHz dual-core i7 CPU and dedicated graphics. \u00a0Let’s first look at the packaging.<\/p>\n

\"Front<\/a>

Front of the Box<\/p><\/div>\n

The packaging is quite standard and shows off many of the unique features of the NotePal. \u00a0It features a picture of someone using the product and lists the specifications. The box itself is fairly sturdy and has a clear window to show you exactly what color you are purchasing. The soft foam is nice and is preferred over a hard foam like Styrofoam.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Packaging<\/p><\/div>\n

Included in the box is the NotePal, the movable fans, the safety belt, and a manual\/warranty guide.\u00a0Even though an experienced user may not need the manual, it is nice to see exactly what is included and how to take advantage of all of the offered features. The NotePal is available in black or silver and it comes in either 17″ or 19″ variants. Our particular model is black and it supports notebooks up to 19\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Full<\/a>

Full Specifications<\/p><\/div>\n

The NotePal U3 Plus features a modular fan design allowing the user to customize fan placement precisely underneath the intake and exhaust vents. This can really help vital notebook components stay cool. To move a fan, just squeeze the button to unlock the pegs, and once the fan is where you would like it, release that button to lock the fan in place. \"DSCN0249\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The NotePal also features loops for tidy cable management, keeping everything clutter free.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A Close-Up of the Cable Management Loops<\/p><\/div>\n

It doubles as a carrying case with included safety belt, although the NotePal is too big and my Macbook just slips through. The NotePal features a fan-speed control clip, allowing the user to control the fans as needed. The NotePal uses one USB connection to power the device. We like that it includes a USB passthrough, especially since my Macbook only has two USB ports. Let’s look at performance next.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The USB Passthrough<\/p><\/div>\n

To test the effectiveness of the NotePal, I decided to test it in three different scenarios. One scenario used standard web browsing for 30 minutes. After timing 30 minutes on a stop watch, I recorded the CPU temperature. Next, I played 30 minutes of Mark of a Ninja<\/em> with and without the NotePal. Again I timed the 30 minutes and recorded the final temperature. For my last test, I used Cinebench\u2019s CPU test and took the highest reported temperature after my computer’s fan had turned on.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

As the table shows, the NotePal keeps things much cooler, especially when the fan kicks in. After 30 minutes of web browsing using the NotePal, temperatures stayed at 40 degrees Celsius. However, when I was browsing without the NotePal, my Macbook got up to a much hotter 67 degrees Celsius. Once I started tasks that use more resources, temperatures were much closer. Playing 30 minutes of Mark of a Ninja,<\/em> temperatures got up to 84 degrees Celsius with the NotePal, and 90 degrees without. Lastly, the Cinebench benchmark had temperatures with the NotePal up to 90 degrees Celsius. Without the NotePal, temperatures got up to 93 degrees Celsius.<\/p>\n

Overall, the NotePal holds up to its name and keeps the Macbook cooler. I really like the design of the NotePal as it looks good on any desk. The 19\u201d design doesn’t support 13\u201d or smaller notebooks very well. My Mac couldn’t take advantage of the laptop carrier because it just slid through.\u00a0 It seems like the 19\u201d model really only properly supports 15\u201d to 19\u201d notebooks. We also found some of the edges quite\u00a0sharp from production.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Fan Speed Control Clip<\/p><\/div>\n

The USB passthrough, control clip, and modular fan design are three things I really like. I have personally used a few notebook coolers over the years and the NotePal U3 Plus is by far the best one that I have ever used. I highly recommend it to anyone, although the 17\u201d model may be a better idea for 13″ laptops. The cable mounts work well and may help provide some cushion if you were to drop it.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
Pros<\/td>\nCons<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
– Great Aluminum Design<\/p>\n

– Three Modular Fans<\/p>\n

– USB Passthrough<\/p>\n

– Fan Speed Control Clip<\/p>\n

– Lightweight<\/p>\n

– Duals as a notebook carrier<\/p>\n

– Keeps notebook cool<\/td>\n

– Edges can be sharp<\/p>\n

– Can get loud when fans are on high<\/p>\n

– Notebook carrier doesn’t work with small notebooks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/div>\n

If you have an older notebook or have just purchased a new one, we highly recommend the NotePal. We believe it deserves AlienBabeltech’s Editor’s Choice award for its innovative features and lightweight design. The NotePal is available on Newegg<\/a> for $42.99 right now.<\/p>\n

\"EditorChoice\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you haven’t already, check out ABTs look at NVIDA’s new GTX 780 Ti<\/a>\u00a0as well as an overview of EVGA’s reference GTX 780<\/a>.\u00a0As always, visit the\u00a0ABT forum<\/a>\u00a0for the latest news and discussions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When integrated cooling solutions aren’t good enough and temperatures rise, a notebook can begin to throttle the CPU and GPU. Excessive heat can also shorten the life of any laptop or notebook. After years...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2050,"featured_media":39582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7814,3330,4454],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-featured-content","category-mini-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2050"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}