Vizo Xena Mini Notebook Cooler Review

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Product: Xena Mini; NCL-120
Manufacturer: Vizo
Supplied by: Vizo
Price: 28USD/RM100
Launch Date: Oct 2008

Vizo is one of the computer peripheral manufacturers that always produce unique and great products including their notebook coolers. After we have reviewed Ninja HS from Vizo which is a dual fans high performance cooler, today we are going to review their latest notebook cooler; Xena Mini. Vizo Xena Mini is a slim and flexible notebook cooler which is only cost around 28USD.

Company Profile

VIZO Technology Corporation is a leading global manufacturer and designer of computer peripheral products serving customers around the world. Established in Taiwan in 1992, VIZO has expanded and now operates in the market completely reorganized and prepared to meet the demand for high quality products which are "Made in Taiwan".

We have the best team and own completely innovative technology. Our company's philosophy is simple: share results among the employees, build trust with our customers, maximize efficiency in our work and innovation in our designs. Utilizing many years of experience and a mature skill set, VIZO is able to provide PC users an incredible variety of "Do It Yourself" products and peripherals.

Features:

- Adjustable widths to fit 7"~15.4" widescreen notebook PC
- Built-in an ultra quiet cooling fan for excellent heat dissipation
- Reduce the temperature of your notebook PC for best performance
- Easy-slide system and user-friendly mechanical design provide stability and simple adjustability
- Powered by USB, no adapter required
- Convenient USB cable storage design
- Compact, space saving, light weight & easy to carry
- Ergonomic designed angle for easy typing
- Easy to install, no tools required for the setup

Specifications:

- Dimensions : 220mm x 90mm x 20mm
- Unfold Dimensions : 320mm x 105.5mm x 42.6 mm
- USB Bus Power : Yes
- DC Fan Dimensions : 70mm x 70mm x 15 mm ( 1 PC )
- Bearing Type : Sleeve Bearing
- Speed : 2300 RPM
- Noise Level : <20 dBA
- Rated Voltage : DC 5 V
- Rated Current : 0.13 A
- Compatibility : 7" ~ 15.4" notebook PC
- Weight : 240 g

Package Includes:

- Notebook Cooler

! Caution
If you would like to adjust width of your cooler while PC is on it, please remove your PC first, adjust width and then place the PC back on top again.

Package & Content

Vizo Xena Mini comes with a transparent packaging and it was sealed. The packaging is very simple and attractive with Vizo traditional colors; green and white. The full specifications and features are written at the back of the packaging box. There isn't anything else come along with Vizo Xena Mini besides the cooler itself.

Vizo Xena Mini

For the first time looks at the Vizo Xena Mini, you may wonder why it is so small and is it only for netbook like Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and Acer Aspire One? Basically Vizo Xena Mini body width can be extracted further to support notebook from size 7" to 15.4" which is pretty good idea and definitely good for those are looking for a flexible notebook cooler and carrying them around. Vizo Xena Mini width length is only around 220mm in fold condition and 320mm in unfold condition.

Here is the unfold condition of Vizo Xena Mini and it can be fold and unfold easily without requires any huge amount of force; good for lady. The unfold condition is required for 15.4" notebook and if the notebook is smaller than 15.4" then users can unfold it according to the notebook size and of course take note of the notebook ventilation system and try the best to ensure the Xena Mini fan is located under the notebook ventilation area to maximize the cooling.

Vizo Xena Mini is powered up by a single 70mm fan with 2300RPM and less than 20dB. As we mentioned before, the fan of Xena Mini is not as flexible like Ninja HS where it cannot be adjusted to cool down the notebook ventilation area exactly so users require to check whether Vizo Xena Mini is suitable for their notebook or not.

The USB cable of Vizo Xena Mini is hid at the bottom and it is kept nicely and neatly. User can keep back the cable easily without any troublesome at all as most of the time keeping the cable nicely and fast is a problem for computer users. The USB cable is long enough to reach any USB port of a notebook from any angle. One of the weakness of Vizo Xena Mini is this notebook cooler doesn't come with any USB hub which may impact certain of users especially for those who are having slim notebook with very limited USB ports.

Besides that width extraction of the Vizo Xena Mini, here are two more things that users need to take note before place the notebook on top of Xena Mini. First one is the foot pads where there are two food pads included to reduce the noise and direct vibration from the Xena Mini on the notebook itself. Second thing is the pegs to allow easier keyboard typing by lifting up the notebook around 20°.

Installation, Testing & Performance

Nothing much to talk about the installation where users just need to open up the pegs, foot pads, adjust the Xena Mini width according to the notebook width and lastly will be the USB cable connection to the notebook in order to power up the Xena Mini fan.

Test Bed
Notebook : Dell Latitude D620
Processor : Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7500
Memory : 4GB 666MHz DDR2 Memory
Hard Drive : 120GB 2.5" 5400RPM 8MB Seagate
Optical Drive : DVD RW
Operating System : Microsoft Window XP SP2
Benchmark Software: Speed Fan

Base on the CPU and video card temperature testing with and without Xena Mini, there are some improvement on both processor and video although they are just around 2°. Basically by lifting up the notebook, it already have better airflow ventilation. One of the reasons for the little temperature improvement may due to the fix fan location of the Vizo Xena Mini as if this fan cannot directly blow/provide the fresh air to the notebook system ventilation then the performance will be affected. We will highly recommend users to check notebook ventilation system before purchase Xena Mini.

* Different notebook will have different result with Vizo Xena Mini and it could be better than our results here as the Xena Mini fan doesn't really located at the bottom of the notebook ventilation.

Conclusion

Vizo Xena Mini is a very creative and nice notebook cooler for notebook from 7" to 15.4" where it is easily to be kept, carried around and it is light as well. These are some of the critical factors for a notebook users to purchase a notebook cooler because we believe notebook users will not purchase a notebook just use it at home so these good features definitely are required. Furthermore with the cost at around 28USD, Vizo Xena Mini is considered cheap for a branded manufacturer and thank to Vizo for producing such great device with acceptable price or cheap.

Pros:
* Tool-less design
* Cheap
* Slim & flexible

Cons:
* No USB hub
* Some fan soft noise is hearable

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