Testing

I tested this with my old Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop, which uses a 2.8 GHz P4 desktop CPU that is not exactly known for its power efficiency. Basically, this baby can get hot. Prime95 was used to stress the system to generate maximum heat output. SpeedFan was used to determine temperatures as it works with a variety of systems but most importantly supports Dell laptops. The laptop placed on a flat wooden table top during the tests.

I first tested the system without the cooling pad, then let it idle for about 30 mins before repeating the tests with the cooling pad. Ambient temperature was maintained at 20 C. Since the cooling pad can be used on either side, I tested both with it blowing air onto the laptop and with it sucking air away from the laptop. The results are shown below, after running Prime95 for some time.

As you can see, the Titan G4TZ worked best when it was set to blow air onto my laptop. This is because there is an intake vent for the CPU's heatsink on the bottom, so naturally, having air blow onto it in the same direction is more helpful.

Because the cooling vent on the bottom of my laptop lined up with one of the fans, this obviously helped with the process. Not all laptops may line up so well, but with four cooling fans there's a good chance at least one will. The noise wasn't that bad, and was comparable to a quiet whisper. If you're used to absolute silence, you'll still notice it, but most laptop fans on high-speed are much noisier than this.

Conclusion:

When I was in my first year of university and living in residence, there was a buddy of mine whose laptop was always overheating and shutting down. He had to resort to raising it off the table using four decks of playing cards and pointing a fan at the gap. This cooler would've been perfect for him. While this isn't needed for everyone, if you have a gaming laptop or a larger desktop replacement that generates a lot of heat, this could come in handy.

It's a little on the big side, so it's not very portable, and because it draws power from a USB port it'll also decrease battery life, but I believe this is more meant for use "at home" rather than on the road. This pad also does not have any tilt adjustment options like some other pads out there, and is quite thick, so if you're using it on your table you might have to make an ergonomic adjustment or two. However, its ability to expand and support a wide size of laptops is definitely a huge plus.

Pros:

• Supports a wide size of laptops with its expanding design

• Four 70mm fans aid in cooling

• Aluminum construction on both sides, and can be set to suck or blow air

• Rubber feet ensure that there's no slipping

• Fairly quiet

Cons:

• No tilt adjustment like some other cooling pads

• Adds more overall thickness to your laptop setup

• Draws power from USB so will decrease your battery life

Many thanks to Titan for making this review possible.

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