Hardware Bistro

Product: LapChilla
Manufacturer: Coolink
Supplied by: Coolink
Price: 34.9USD/RM124
Launch Date: March 2009

 

Today we have another brand arrived on our doorstep; Coolink which seems a new brand to us because actually it is a retail brand of an OEM cooler maker; Kolink which was established in year 1996 so it is not surprised if you never heard of Coolink before. Let us take a look on their first notebook cooler; LapChilla where we are attracted by its 22mm cooling fan.

 

Company Profile

Coolink is a brand of the Kolink International Corporation and stands for an effective conjunction of no-frills performance, excellent quality and attractive pricing. Coolink - the direct link to affordable high-end cooling!

Kolink International Corporation is a cooling specialist established in 1996 and well known among industry insiders. Throughout the years, Kolink designed and manufactured many top-performing heat-sinks under various brand names that succeeded in international markets. An experienced R&D team and ultra-modern production plants in Taiwan ensure continuous progress, efficient manufacturing conditions and strict quality standards.

 

Features

- All-purpose design: can be used on your lap, desk, etc.
-Excellent ergonomics thanks to 2 different tilt angle settings
-Only 0.8kg and completely collapsible for optimal portability
-Super-quiet 220mm cooling fan (16dB)
-Reduces the risk of heat-related failures
-Loop-through USB connector saves USB for other devices
-Universal design for laptops with a display size of up to 15.4"

Specifications

Package & Contents

 

Coolink LapChilla is packed with an attractive packaging box; full of art. Some product specification and features are written at the back of the packaging box. Besides the outer cardboard, Coolink LapChilla is packed with another plastic bag but since there isn't additional foam for better protection, extra care is required when handling it especially courier service.

 

Nothing much comes along with Coolink LapChilla except a brief user's manual and some rubber feet. Since Coolink LapChilla isn't a complicated product, this brief user's manual is well info enough to explain its functionality and setup process. Some clear color rubber feet are included for additional surface holding for Coolink LapChilla; stick at the back of the notebook cooler.

 

Coolink LapChilla

As we mentioned before Coolink is a retail brand of Kolink and this is quite common for an OEM maker steps into retail market for stronger branding, market share as well as profit which is the main objective for any of the business. While browsing through Kolink website, we found something interesting where Noctua is another brand that cooperation of Rascom with Kolink; we believe with such strong recognition, it should clear the mist and doubt about Coolink. Without further delay, let us talk about our topic today; Coolink LapChilla!

 

Coolink LapChilla is an all purpose universal notebook cooler with dimension 12" x 10.5" x 1" (L x D x H) which can support up to 15.4" notebook and it comes with white color; a bit bored for us andwe  prefer other more charming colors like black or silver. Coolink LapChilla is only weighted about 0.8KG which is pretty light compare with other aluminum notebook cooler as Coolink LapChilla is made by ABS Kunststoff; a kind of plastic material. There is benefit for having such light weight notebook cooler because it can be optimized for portability but we still prefer aluminum material since it is much more solid and longer lasting.

 

What makes Coolink LapChilla so special? One of the major selling points of it is this 220mm cooling fan. The speed and noise of this blue 220mm fan are just 600RPM and 16dB/A which is pretty silent as 600RPM is considered quite slow else the noise will be terrible for such giant fan with fast RPM. Coolink LapChilla is a very simple notebook cooler as you can see from its back construction.

 

If you look around the Coolink LapChilla, you will find that there isn't any USB port nearby so how the fan is able to be powered up? Actually there is a USB port but it is hidden at the inner of the Coolink LapChilla (rigth top corner) so that the USB cable can be kept nicely. The loop-through USB connector is a single USB hub with one input and one output; good for those notebook which has limited USB connector.

 

Besides the giant 220mm cooling fan, Coolink LapChilla has another great feature where it can be set to 2 different tilt angle setups. Such flexibility is really great because different users may need different setting to suit their posture and work space. There are two holders at the front portion of Coolink LapChilla for users to adjust its tilt angle more easily.

 

In order to set the notebook to desired tilt angle, the top cover needs to be pushed upward (all the way back); first stop for low tilt angle or second stop for high tilt angle. There is a row of hook at the front portion of Coolink LapChilla which is used to hold the notebook when it is at either low or high tilt; to avoid slipping.

 

Installation, Testing & Performance

 

We have tested Coolink LapChilla with two notebooks; one is 15" while the other one is 17". Although we knew that Coolink LapChilla can only support up to 15.4" notebook but we found that 17" notebook can be supported as well. However since Coolink LapChilla is made by ABS plastic and due to its simple construction, it is not advised to use any 17" or heavy notebook on it as it may damage Coolink LapChilla. In term of setup of Coolink LapChilla, we found that it is quite simple by pushing the top cover upward; we choose low tilt angle since it is much suitable for our work place.

 

Test Bed

Notebook: Dell Inspiron E1720
Processor: Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7500
Memory: Kingston 4GB HyperX 666MHz DDR2
Hard Drive: 120GB 2.5" 5400RPM 8MB Seagate
Graphic Card: Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS
Optical Drive: DVD RW
Router: TRENDnet TEW-639GR
Mouse: SteelSeries Ikari Laser
Mouse Pad: SteelSeries QcK+
HeadSet: SteelSeries 3H
Operating System: Microsoft Window XP SP2
Ambient Temperature: 27 Degree Celsius

In term of the performance, Coolink LapChilla performs quite well and almost out of our expectation as it able to cool down our notebook CPU and GPU temperature around 2-5 ° during both idle and full load. The result is considered quite well with its 600RPM which is noiseless at all; we didn't hear any audible noise during the whole testing. However please take note and ensure Coolink LapChilla is set to either low or high tilt angle else it will impact the cooling performance since the air flow will be greatly blocked.

 

Conclusion

LapChilla is the first retail notebook cooler from Coolink but it performs as good as other branded notebook cooler. The major contributor of Coolink LapChilla is its 220mm cooling fan which is suitable for all kind of notebook which is able to cover the whole notebook bottom surface; solve the non standardized ventilation issue of different notebooks. Besides that its two tilt angle positions allow better typing posture at all kind of work space; lap, desk and so on. Around 35USD for Coolink LapChilla is quite reasonable but we would like to see more solid material to be used so that it can support heavier or 17" notebooks without any problem. Anyway if you are looking for a good performance notebook cooler then you should take a look on Coolink LapChilla. 

 

Pros:

* Suitable for all kind of notebooks up to 15.4"
* Low noise 200mm fan
* Great performance
* Support 2 tilt angles

Cons:

* Prefer more solid material for longer lasting

 

Thanks to Coolink for providing this sample for us to review.

 

 

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