NZXT Cryo S Aluminum Notebook Cooler Review
- Posted in Featured, Reviews
- Written August 2nd, 2009 by Michael Kwan
I’ve always been impressed with both the design and build quality of NZXT products, so I had the highest of expectations when I took the opportunity to try out the new NZXT Cryo S aluminum notebook cooler. Is this hot stuff or does it fizzle under pressure?
Highlights and Features
By and large, the Cryo S follows in the same philosophy as other notebook coolers in the Cryo family. You get a jet black aluminum finish, topped off with some rubberized feet to grip the base of your laptop.
You don’t have to worry about cheap craftsmanship or shoddy materials, because NZXT has forged this product using 3mm thick aluminum construction. Believe me when I say that it’s built pretty darn tough. This also means that it has somewhat sharp edges and it may not be the most portable solution out there.
Inside the box, you’ll find the cooler itself, a USB cable, and an AC cable. You can power the fans on the Cryo S either through the USB port on your laptop or through a wall outlet. The NZXT Cryo S will support notebooks up to 15-inches in size.
The NZXT Cryo LX Aluminum Notebook Cooler, which is similar to the “S”, was rated as having the highest cooling capacity so I bought one but was disappointed when the external power connector broke after about a week. Because this unit draws 500 mA, more than some laptops such as the Mac Book can supply, I used it with the supplied external power supply but after a few days the connector started working intermittently and then not at all. I decided to try to fix the unit myself rather than bother with the hassle of returning it so I opened it up and sure enough the power connector was not physically mounted to the case but was only soldered onto a little circuit board so of course the stress of inserting and removing a connector would eventually damage its electrical connections. I cut off the plug on the connector and bypassed the USB HUB circuit board since I did not need additional USB ports and by trial and error identified the two wires of the three wires that fed power to the three fans that needs to be connected to the two power wires. I soldered these connections and taped them. Now the unit works, although it has several additional design problems. For one, it is extremely heavy, much too heavy to be used in any way except on a desk top. Second, as some reviewers have commented, it has very sharp and pointed edges — the case was obviously just cut from aluminum stock without any rounding. I poked and cut myself several times trying to use it on my lap despite its heaviness. Then, it has a ridiculous slope which has to be compensated with a 2×4 piece of wood underneath the front. And, my laptop seems to slide off the top of the unit easily. It was not designed to hold the laptop in place. The top of the unit is slippery. It does have three fans and puts out a fair, not a great amount of air, but a fair amount, and seems to have good cooling effect as indicated by temperature monitors for the inside of my laptop. However, after all of this work to fix and modify the unit, if I had to do it over again, I would not buy this unit. Is this a better unit with a fair amount of cooling capacity? (Others have a poor or low amount of cooling.) That’s hard to determine without an in store, hands on assessment, however from the published reports, the NZXT Cryo LX seems to have the highest cooling capacity, but using soldered electrical connections to a circuit board for physical mounting is a very bad design decision, yet I have seen this on at least one other laptop cooler I have used and its connector failed also. If you leave the power plug in the connector, never remove and re-insert it, and never subject the power cord to the normal stresses that will occur in the normal portable use of a laptop, well, maybe the connector will likely hold up. But in real world use, it will likely break. So, I give this unit one and a half stars. A half a start over the minimum of one star since with three fans it produces a fair, acceptable amount of cooling air flow and the variable speed control is nice. Otherwise, this is not a well designed unit and it is very expensive with street prices running at about $70.
how about the cooler thick???
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