Zalman ZM-NC3 Ultra Quiet Cooler for Up to 17 inch Laptop

Got the Zalman laptop cooler today, and was very excited especially since the expected delivery date was several weeks away! I had hummed and haahed about whether to buy directly from Amazon as it suggested a wait time of 1-2 months, so I am very happy that I did go with it. I had done a lot of research into laptop coolers, and this one seemed popular and well made, and at £12.50, a good option pricewise.Huge box, but cooler inside is a normal size. It fits my Toshiba Satellite Pro well (17.3 " screen), although there is a slight overhang, this does not affect the cooling in the slightest.I didn't find the usb cable a pain at all as I have a couple of sockets that can be used and the usb cable includes a socket of its own (so that you do not lose a socket effectively). The profile of the socket is a little larger than normal as a result, but should not cause you problems. The usb cable is located at the back of the unit in the middle, and so reaches either side of the laptop very easily.This is a nice sturdy, attractive piece of equipment, the whole top surface is a metal mesh, so the fan air distribution is good all over. When on, it feels quite pleasantly cool. It is fairly quiet also (just a gentle whirr) and when you have anything with volume on your laptop, then you absolutely cannot hear the fan going at all. In fact, it is quite a lot quieter than the inbuilt laptop fan!As for cooling, before I got this my laptop overheated very regularly whilst playing certain games. However much I underclocked the laptop, or hoisted it up to improve ventilation, the thermal indicator would run between 92C - 97C, and would often suddenly shut down when it exceeded that. I would have to resort to fanning the air vent every few minutes to keep it going, which was hugely annoying.Not anymore. Today running tests with the clock at full overclocking glory, the maximum temperature was 82C. For comparison, when on normal and not playing power hungry games, my computer runs around 67C. Now it is between 54C and 55C.I think that 1 large fan is definitely the way to go, and although there are newer models out there with a 22" fan as opposed to a 20" fan which this one is, I don't imagine there's so much difference to warrant the price hike. Steer clear of the cheap plastic coolers, especially the clear ones(often with flourescent blue lighting), the last one I bought came in 2 pieces and the cardboard box it came in was thicker than it was!I am very impressed with the Zalman ZM-NC3 and hopefully this will keep up the good work in the future.UPDATE - It's now 21/05/2014 and the cooler is still doing its thing and keeping my laptop alive. Just a thought, I have my cooler (and laptop on top of it) on a plastic tray affair, so it doesn't come into contact with the duvet. I have tried it on the duvet directly, but I think it would compromise the efficiency. I am certain that without this cooler, my laptop would now be in laptop heaven.UPDATE - 19/04/2017 - Finally my cooler died. Not sure if it's just that the wire has come loose from the usb connector. I think that 4 years worth of service has been quite reasonable, but now I need to either see if I can fix it, or bow to the probably inevitable and get a new one.UPDATE - 21/04/2017 - Rather surprisiingly I have a further update. It turns out that the connection to the usb connector was loose. After watching some youtube videos I was able to remove the loose connection and resolder the offending area. I didn't have my own soldering iron, but a friend did, and the job was surprisingly straightforward. So the upshot is that my fan is back from the dead!

I have a Sony 12" laptop that gets quite hot and uncomfortable on my lap and after much deliberation and having had a few Zalman fans for other cooling needs before, opted for this no-frills and simple cooler. It has a single LARGE fan that stops my laptop cooling fan from kicking in. Result is that the laptop runs cool (via the software temp monitor hooking on to the hardware) and overall noise is way down: The purring Zalman is far quieter than the Sony cooling fan.It is light and sufficiently sturdy to hold my laptop and I simply can not see why on earth you'd pay more (sometimes 3 or 4 times more) than a tenner for something heavier with silly bits-n-bobs that could easily go wrong to perform the same basic cooling task. The USB plug itself forms a socket so that the overall available USB slots remain, effectively, the same.I haven't given it five stars because I can not determine its longevity. In time I shall review that too.

£15 is not such a great amount of money - you barely feel you've spent it; however, a cooler for your laptop is a serious decision. This is why I have done extensive research on both Amazon and Ebay before deciding upon this particular cooler. There are many aspects to be taken into consideration when purchasing a laptop cooler: how many fans does it have (or, in other words, will it sound like a plane engine or not), is it branded or a no-name (warranty might prove useful), what laptop sizes does it fit (I should have put this first), is it just plastic or does it also have metal (I personally wish for a sturdy cooler pad), can you place it in your lap or does it tie you to a desk, what's the RPM, is it noisy or not (imagine watching a movie and not hearing the dialogue because of your laptop cooler!) etc.I have browsed through hundreds of laptop coolers / pads: some of them were obviously just cheap items (no-names), others simply looked incredibly cheap, others had 5 fans (Jesus, imagine the noise!), others has LED fans (sorry, not into the bling-bling factor), some were just plain plastic and almost had "easily breakable" written on them, others had various useless features, others didn't have their fan(s) enclosed and consequently forced the user to place the cooler on a desk etc.This one, however, is simple, neat and sturdy. And also incredibly quiet. It's true, the RPM revolves somewhere around 600, but that is absolutely fine for my needs (I have a Dell Vostro 1520 laptop). It does cool the laptop and decreases temperatures, the 20 cm fan proving to be really serious. It's not a heavy cooler pad, but it's big - I am confident that it suits 17 inch laptops perfectly (my laptop is 15.6 inch).The entire upper part is metal mesh, the rear being plastic. It also offers a cable management option. It has rubber feet, so it can sit hassle-free on a desk, but you can place it in your lap also, without being afraid to interfere with the fan. I am really pleased with how sturdy it is: it really looks like it could last me a lifetime.All in all, it's a well-deserved 5-star rating from me. Buy with confidence - Zalman quality.