TheEumax Titan is an inexpensive way to keep your desktop cool and yourlegs from burning from the heat generated by your notebook computer.
Summary
Foraround $20 the Eumax Titan notebook fan pad is a cheap investment forthose that worry about overheating their hardware or burning their lap.The fact that our informal testing didn’t match what the manufacturerclaims is somewhat bothersome but in defense of Eumax they do not statewhat points were measured or how, making it impossible for us toperform an apples to apples comparison.
The bottom lineis we did see an improvement in temperatures and that can only benefitthe longevity of your notebook or your comfort while computing.Enlarging the size of the fans to 80mm would no doubt improve thetemperature reduction but would also increase the noise factor. Itseems the Eumax Titan fan pad is a nice tradeoff between temperaturereduction and noise level and it’s lightweight, compactness and ease ofuse outweigh the cheesy tribal graphic.
Introduction
Ifyou often push your notebook to the limits with multi-tasking, gamingor multimedia applications, you know how it can really heat up. Itdoesn’t even take intense use for the bottom of many laptops to get toohot to touch. The processor is the main culprit, and packing powerfulprocessors into such a small space means the heat must be dissipatedsomehow. For the most part, manufacturers do a good job of preventingtheir laptops from overheating, but the result, as many of you are wellaware, can be a very hot lap or desktop.
Products such as theEumax Titan notebook fan pad are designed to help cool laptops toprevent overheating or uncomfortable heat on your lap. According toEumax, the TTC-G1T Titan Notebook Cooler can reduce your operatingtemperatures a full 10 degrees or more and keep the noise level downwhile doing it.
Design
Weighing inat approximately one pound, the Titan notebook fan pad is lightweightand slim in dimension. It is constructed of what appears to be animpact resistant plastic material that is silver in color and isadorned with a trendy tribal graphic that thankfully gets covered upwhen placing your notebook over the unit. Choice of graphics aside, theunit is fairly unassuming. Measuring up at 12.8-inches wide by10.4-inches deep and 0.7-inches high, it will comfortably slip into abackpack or briefcase right along side your notebook.
Tribal graphics aside, the Titan is a functional and lightweight laptop accessory.
Uponinitial inspection, durability of the unit was a concern but the Titanhas indeed lived up to it’s name and held up quite well in it’s travelsin a soft-sided briefcase paired with a Dell Latitude D600 notebook.
TheTitan gets its power from your notebook through a built-in USBinterface. It operates at USB standard 5 Volts and draws 2 Watts ofpower. The major components of the unit are it’s four 60 x 60 x 10mmcooling fans. The fans Titan has thoughtfully put a high/low thumbwheelas well as an on/off switch with LED along the front
Performance
Connectionto your notebook couldn’t be simpler by using the provided DC to USBcable. Turn on the power switch and select High or Low speed and youare done. The Dell laptop we were using sat nicely on top of the unitand only raised it by a half an inch. We noticed no additionaldiscomfort with the raised profile.
The engineers at Eumaxdefinitely had sound pollution in mind as they developed this productbecause operating the unit at high or low speed produces only theslightest whisper. Those of you that work in a quiet home office or theloudest corporate cubicle may never notice the slight hum of the four60mm fans.
The Titan’s profile measures only 0.7-inches high, thin enough to fit in your laptop bag.
Usingthe cooler for several hours during a normal work day, which consistedof multitasking with E-mail, Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint, theunit never faltered or intruded upon our productivity and we were quitepleased that the power usage was minimal while operating on thenotebook battery. The device surely must affect overall batteryperformance, but the impact was barely measureable. If you are workingwith your laptop plugged in, or with the optional AC adapter for theTitan, this will be of no concern.
Cooling Effectiveness
Forour testing scenario, we used a Lian Li model T-3 LCD Thermometer thatis equipped with dual thermometers and powered by a separate AntecSL300S 300W power supply. One of the Thermometer leads was insertedinto the NIC compartment until approximately halfway into the notebookwhile the other was snaked into the CD-Rom compartment.
Toget a baseline measurement we left the above setup in place and wentabout our normal workday with the Titan turned off. After three hourswe took a reading off both thermometers. Thermometer 1 (NIC Bay) was107.9 degrees F and Thermometer 2 (CD-ROM Bay) was 94.1 degrees F.
Nowthat the baseline has been established we turned on the Titan to highspeed and again worked normally. After 3 hours of usage we recordedthe temperatures. Thermometer 1 was 101.8 degrees F and Thermometer 2was 88.5. The net temperature reduction was -6.1 degrees onThermometer 1 and -5.6 on Thermometer 2. This is certainly not the 10degrees stated on the manufacturer’s website, but it was a noticeabledifference. However, the fact that the Titan will create a physicalbuffer between your computer and your lap or desk will make it seemcooler as well.
Conclusion
Foraround $20 the Eumax Titan notebook fan pad is a cheap investment forthose that worry about overheating their hardware or burning their lap.The fact that our informal testing didn’t match what the manufacturerclaims is somewhat bothersome but in defense of Eumax they do not statewhat points were measured or how, making it impossible for us toperform an apples to apples comparison.
The bottom line iswe did see an improvement in temperatures and that can only benefit thelongevity of your notebook or your comfort while computing. Enlargingthe size of the fans to 80mm would no doubt improve the temperaturereduction but would also increase the noise factor. It seems the EumaxTitan fan pad is a nice tradeoff between temperature reduction andnoise level and it’s lightweight, compactness and ease of use outweighthe cheesy tribal graphic.
