| Zalman ZM-NC2500 PLUS Notebook Cooler |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Notebook | Compact PC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Steven Iglesias-Hearst | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, 11 July 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus Notebook Cooler ReviewZalman is a name synonomous with cooling in the PC industry and they have enjoyed great success in the CPU and GPU cooling market. Recently Zalman have added Notebook/Netbook coolers to their product line-up and today Benchmark Reviews is looking at the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus Ultra Quiet Notebook Cooler, which boasts dual Intake fans, support for Notebook sizes up to 17" widescreen and a built in 3 port USB hub with a 2.5" SATA Hot Swap bay for extra convenience. The ZM-NC2500 Plus is ergonomicaly designed to minimize the user's fatigue, has built in rubber Grip-Strips to prevent your notebook sliding and also has adjustable fan speed to reduce noise where necessary.
That's about it for the intro, lets now take a closer look at the design and construction of the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus and its features and lets also see how well it performs. Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus Features
About Zalman Tech Co., Ltd.Zalman tech co., Ltd. was founded in 1999 and introduced to the computer industry the concept of "Noiseless computing." In a world filled with noisy computers, "silent" cooling solutions were sought everywhere and contributed to Zalman's rapid growth into the world's leader of high performance, ultra quiet PC cooling solutions. Zalman continues to lead in the industry through decisive R&D investments, peerless craftsmanship, intensive global marketing and generous customer support. Business diversification with innovation such as 2D/3D Convertible LCD Monitors, Heatpipe Cooled Power Supplies, Notebook Coolers, Surround Sound and Dual Stereo Headphones and FPS GUNTM Gaming Interface holds true to Zalman's promise to provide "Cool Innovations". Closer Look: Zalman ZM-NC2500 PlusThe Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus ships in a rather big box and is packaged very well, wrapped in a foam bag and held in place by two polystyrene side pieces. The box has a nice dark glossy appearance showing the Zalman brand name and model number and also showing the 'business end' of the cooler in the photo. Also in the bottom left corner are the ZM-NC2500 Plus's main features.
Flipping the box over you are presented with lots more info, important images and product specifications. Two graphs are shown on the right side, the first graph details noise level of fan on minimum and maximum settings, while the other graph shows temperatures of a given laptop under load, with and without the cooling aid of the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus. The same features printed on the front of the box are again printed round the back in eight different languages.
Here is the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus Notebook cooler out of its box, the black finish of the outer bezel reminds me of an old school chalk board while the inner vented piece almost looks metal but is actually plastic. The overall weight is just under 1kg which makes for a very light but extremely well constructed notebook cooler.
Looking now at the 'business end' of the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus, the air intake area. This is a different approach to notebook cooler design as most coolers tend to utilise a large slow central fan to provide airflow. The design of the back end looks like it comes from a spaceship and reminds me of the DeLorean from the film 'Back to the future'.
Take a peek now at the side of the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus, the design is very elegant and reminds me of the morphing spaceship from the film 'Flight of the navigator'. The plastic finish is very nice and glossy, this is a good and bad point because the very nice finish is easily spoiled by smudged fingerprints and even the lightest of scratches.
Follow on to the next section where we will get a more detailed look at the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus and its features. Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus Detailed FeaturesA closer more detailed look now at the top of the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus notebook cooler. There are a total of 970 ventilation holes on this top of the cooler, covering just under 50% of the total surface area of the top panel. I wondered if the vented area had any flex so I applied a little pressure and there was good resistance thanks to a support just above center. The Zalman logo and slogan is centered between the top anti-slip rubber pieces that are firmly attached to the cooler body. Down at the bottom is a full width anti-slip rubber strip that is also very well attached. These are important if your laptop has lost its feet or never had any as it prevents the laptop from slipping off of the cooler.
Looking now at the bottom of the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus notebook cooler reveals it also has the same glossy finish seen earlier on the side. In the top left and right corners are two 'feet' that give some extra height at the back to suit the needs of the user, more anti-slip rubber is utilized here on the feet and also in the bottom corners. A sticker with the product name and number is underneath a panel secured with one screw, simply remove the screw and slide the door down....
...and you will reveal the Hot-Swap 2.5" SATA Drive bay / USB cable storage compartment. As you can see in the image below the door is where you would secure your 2.5" drive with the four screws provided. I haven't been able to test this feature as I don't currently have a 2.5" drive available for testing. I would hardly call it convenient though, while it is hardly difficult it would certainly be time consuming to install a drive here and to 'Hot-Swap' it would take nearly as long. An open ended design where you could simply 'slot in' your HDD without removing a panel may have been better.
For the air intake of the ZM-NC2500 Plus notebook cooler Zalman have used two 50mm Axial fans with a max speed of 2250 RPM @ 23dBA which are protected by a molded plastic grill. It isn't possible to house bigger fans in here without changing the overall dimensions of the cooler. The height of the back end is 7cm and will increase to 8cm with the use of the feet detailed earlier.
In between the two rear intake fans is the I/O panel from left to right is the fan speed control wheel, mini USB power connector, three USB 2.0 ports, and an auxiliary 5v DC input for when attached devices need more power.
Included with the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus notebook cooler is the Y-type USB power/data lead. The mini USB end plugs into the back of the cooler and the other two regular size USB plugs connect to your laptops USB ports.
This concludes the Functions and features part of the review, in the next section we will test the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus notebook cooler and put it through it's paces to see how well it performs. Testing & ResultsTesting MethodologyDuring the test procedure temperatures were monitored by CPUID Hardware Monitor 1.16. No specific stress test programs were used to raise temperatures as the laptop gets hot enough on its own, instead I decided upon running a popular MMORPG (Fly For Fun) to raise temperatures. For the first test the game was loaded and once the laptop was sufficiently warmed up the game was turned off and it was allowed to cool without any assistance to give a reference temperature, then the laptop was cooled with the ZM-NC2500 Plus cooler on it's lowest fan speed setting until temperatures stabilized and finally cooled further by the ZM-NC2500 Plus on it's highest fan speed setting. Tests were replicated three times for accuracy and an average result is represented in the first graph below. For the second test the temperatures were taken while the laptop was in use (load temperatures). Once again the laptop was warmed up by running Fly For Fun and temperatures were taken under the following conditions 1) Laptop under load with no cooler, 2) Laptop under load with the ZM-NC2500 Plus cooling, with fans on their lowest speed setting, 3) Laptop under load with the ZM-NC2500 Plus cooling, with fans on their highest speed setting. Tests were replicated three times for accuracy and an average result is represented in the second graph below. Test System
ResultsDuring the test procedure the ambient room temperature was monitored and was between 27C and 28C for the entire duration of the tests. The temperatures in the graphs below are in degrees Celsius and represent the cooling capabilities of the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus notebook cooler.
As previously mentioned this particular laptop does get pretty hot while in use, after a session of gaming it was allowed to idle and the temperatures were monitored. The laptops internal cooling leaves a lot to be desired, the three temperature sensors on the CPU, Motherboard and HDD respectively were hovering at 56C ~ 57C. The Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus was Able to drop those temperatures quite considerably, knocking 20C off the CPU temperature, 14C off the Motherboard temperature and 6C off the HDD temperature. Not much difference was seen between the high and low fan speed settings.
In the second test the results are understandably different, once again there is not a big difference between the results for high and low speed fan settings, but a definite improvement was seen with the use of the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus notebook cooler. Temperatures were reduced by 9C on the CPU, 10C on the motherboard and 4C on the HDD. While the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus was able to reduce temperatures across the range it is noticeable that it tends to cool components towards the back of the Laptop (CPU and Motherboard) better, compared to the front of the laptop where the HDD is installed. This can be attributed to the rear intake design of the cooler, as the cold air will meet the back of the laptop more. Notebook Cooler Final ThoughtsThe Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus Notebook Cooler has a very elegant design although I think Zalman may have done better to make the top glossy rather than the bottom as you are more likely to see the top than you are the bottom. With that said the ZM-NC2500 Plus has its own unique design and air intake method which still works quite well. The 2.5" SATA bay is an added bonus and is nothing to be shrugged at as you are essentially getting two products for the price of one. It was rather disappointing that there was no massive difference in performance between the high and low fan speeds and it would be nice to see if a more powerful fan would perform better or not.
Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus ConclusionIn this section I am going to write a brief five point summary on the following categories; Performance, Appearance, Construction, Functionality and Value. These views are my own and help me to give the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus a rating out of 10. A high score does not necessarily mean that it is better than a different notebook cooler reviewed by another writer here at Benchmark Reviews, that may have got a lower score, it is however a good indicator of whether the product is good or not. I would strongly urge you to read the entire review if you have not already, so that you can make an educated decision for yourself. The Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus notebook cooler performed reasonably well although I expected just that bit more. Perhaps Zalman could use some more powerful fans as these fans were still very quiet on their full speed. Zalman may have concentrated too much on the silent aspect of this cooler, I am more than happy to make a compromise on noise if it means better performance. The Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus notebook cooler has a very retro futuristic design when you look at the side and the back but when you look from above it is rather plain, this could be averted by making the top glossy rather than the bottom. The Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus notebook is very light but extremely well constructed, I expected it to be quite flimsy but was rather impressed by the build quality. The Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus notebook cooler serves more than it's primary function which is to cool, it also houses a 2.5" SATA 1/ SATA 2 HDD Hot-Swap bay (running on the USB 2.0 hub) that saves the need to buy an external HDD enclosure that could possibly cost the same as the cooler itself. The ZM-NC2500Plus is compatible with laptops up to 17" widescreen. The Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus is not currently available to buy at the moment, the MSRP is $69.99, this represents very good value thanks to the added HDD Hot-Swap bay built in that essentially gives you two products for the price of one. The Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus notebook cooler was able to produce some good results and has a very nice and unique design. It is very light and has the added bonus of a built in 2.5" SATA HDD bay that will save the need to have another external enclosure or dock for adding storage to your laptop. Overall I am impressed with the Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus and would recommend anyone looking to buy a notebook cooler to take all of the features into consideration. Pros:
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