VIZO is a company that makes some excellent, quality products, everything I have had the pleasure of reviewing has been very well made and designed. Today for review I have another of their products, it is the Xena notebook cooler, what makes this cooler special is that it includes a ‘one-touch’ backup system that uses an SATA notebook hard drive, and offers extra storage as well. The Xena, of course has fans to cool your laptop, and cools very well actually, but the Xena is far from the perfect notebook cooler, read on to see what I learned about it…
VIZO Xena Notebook Cooler w/SATA Drive
Reviewed by: Kristofer Brozio AkA Dracos
Sponsor: VIZO
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
VIZO Xena
Model: NCL-220
The World’s 1st & Only Notebook Cooler w/ a drawable 2.5" SATA hard drive bay
DESCRIPTION:
By installing VIZO notebook cooler, XENA, for your notebook PC, not only does it solve the problem of the overheated unit, but it also provides a drawable 2.5 SATA hard drive bay and 3 USB 2.0 hub ports for your storage need. The aluminum surface of XENA helps conduct heat away from the PC overheating. You no longer will be faced with the thermal problems. Moreover, XENA can expand your storage easily and efficiently with SATA hard drive bay, one touch backup button and 3 USB ports. You will save a lot.
FEATURES:
The World’s 1st & Only Notebook Cooler with
+ Drawable 2.5 SATA HDD bay
+ One touch backup function
Have a drawable 2.5 SATA hard drive bay and 3 USB 2.0 hub ports for your storage need
One Button Backup: Backup / Restore / Synchronize utility ( under USB 2.0 host )
Reduce the temperature of your notebook PC for best performance
Aluminum housing for best thermal heat dissipation
Dual fans provide the maximum airflow and air pressure
Low dBA level
Support Bus-Power and Self-Power ( 5V / 2A Adapter included )
Ergonomic designed angle for easy typing
Easy to install
SPECIFICATIONS:
Housing Dimensions:280mm x 300mm x 40mm
Housing Material:Aluminum
USB BUS Power:5V / 500mA
Power Adapter:5V / 2A
DC Fan Dimensions:70 x 70 x 15 ( 2 PCS )
{amazon id=’B0000BVYTV’ align=’RIGHT’}
Bearing Type:Sleeve Bearing
Speed :3000 RPM
Noise Level:26.6 dBA
Max Air flow:22.62( Min:18.51 )CFM
Rated Voltage:DC 5V
Rated Current:0.19 ( Max:0.3 ) A x 2
Compatibility:8 ~ 15" notebook PC
Weight:1185 g
PACKAGE INCLUDES:
Notebook Cooler
SATA HDD Tray
Power Adapter
USB Cable
User Manual
Driver CD
Find more Notebook Coolers at ShopZilla!
A Better Look at Things
:
VIZOs’ packaging is very professionally done, with an attractive appearance and lots of information and pictures.
The back of the box features all the specs and features listed, along with another picture of the Xena notebook cooler. There is also the nice addition of the carry handle built into the box.
Opening the box we find the Xena packaged very well, with the accessories underneath.
Included with the Xena is a user manual, power adapter, SATA tray, software/driver disc and USB cable.
The power adapter is the type where the prongs are interchangeable by use a clipping system so the Xena can be used worldwide if you have the other types of prongs.
The SATA drive tray is metal with a collapsible handle, and VIZO included screws for mounting.
Find more Notebook Coolers at ShopZilla!
A Better Look at Things
Continued:
The VIZO Xena notebook cooler is all aluminum in construction, and looks very stylish and seems very well made.
The VIZO logo is located in the top right corner with the XENA name/logo at the bottom center of the cooler.
The two fans are VIZO branded, they are 70mm fans powered by the USB port of your notebook.
Flipping over the Xena, we can see that the fans do come with fan grills to prevent any fingers or other things getting stuck in them.
There are also two large rubber feet located on the back of the Xena, there are tall to create a comfortable angle to type at.
Find more Notebook Coolers at ShopZilla!
–
–
–
–
A Better Look at Things
Continued:
The SATA drive, once installed onto the tray is inserted through an opening on the side that is covered by an easy to open door.
Both sides of the Xena feature ventilation holes, and you can see just how thick it is from the side view.
The back of the Xena is where you will find the real features of this notebook cooler, here is where the three extra USB ports are located, i/o switch, power input and ‘one touch copy’ or ‘backup’ button. There is also LED indicators, for power and HDD activity as well.
The Xena Notebook Cooler is very well made, as is all VIZO products I have reviewed and owned, the all aluminum construction makes it very durable but yet lightweight. The Xena appears well designed with cooling in mind, there are quite a few ventilation slits located in the sides to promote proper airflow, and being that the Xena is made of aluminum, that in itself will promote thermal transfer of the heat from your laptop to the Xena.
Find more Notebook Coolers at ShopZilla!
Installation, Testing and Comparison
There isn’t much to installation except really to install the SATA hard drive in the tray and install the included software on your computer.
After that you can ‘install’ your notebook onto the Xena, the rubber feet of your notebook will adhere to the surface of the Xena to prevent it from sliding, there is also a stop, or lip, built into the front of the Xena as well.
On the back of the Xena there is lots of room for cables, while still being able to access the ports of your notebook if need be.
Installation of the software is easy, and it seems easy enough to use, the software will allow you to select certain things to backup. The name of the software is called PCClone EX Lite, and it’s from Fnet.
The software is easily configurable, and it sort of reminds me of using NERO to copy or backup files to CD.
You can use the button located on the Xena or use a hot key combination to do your backup. The software allows you to also choose how you do your backup as well, adding files to the existing or just replacing the backup entirely. Using the software is easy, once you select the files or folders for backup and set the configuration, you are all ready to go and use the system. Just hit the button to do the backup whenever you need to.
Installation, Testing and Comparison Continued:
Ok, now that we are past that, we need to find out how well the Xena cools, after all it’s real function is as notebook cooler.
Ambient temp was 17.5c during testing. To get my idle temps I turned my laptop on and let it sit for approximately 30 minutes, and recorded the temps. To achieve load I ran Prime95 for the same time duration.
Without Xena:
Idle: 34.5c
Load: 57.5c
With Xena:
Idle: 32.5c
Load: 50.5c
Well you can see at idle there is not much of a difference but under load it kept my laptop cooler by seven degrees, not bad at all. Also the fans are very quiet, I could barely hear them at all while they were running.
That’s the good about the Xena, it works well and is quiet, now for the bad. The major drawback is that you must use the AC adapter with the Xena to power the SATA drive and fans, this means having to carry another power cable around with you if you intend to use the Xena often. While you could leave the Xena at work or home at all times and this would not be a problem, it could be sort of a dock for your laptop, but that would sort of defeat the purpose of a notebook cooler wouldn’t it?
It is nice having the extra storage and backup capabilities, it isn’t nice to have yet another cable to carry around with you. What happens if you don’t have access to a plug? You don’t have access to your data is what happens… While it’s a great idea, it’s just not that well thought through. Maybe if it was an IDE drive it might work better with less power needed, I have an external 2.5 IDE drive that only uses the power of my USB port, another option might be giving people the option of using either an SATA or IDE drive with the Xena.
Find more Notebook Coolers at ShopZilla!
Summary:
The Xena Notebook Cooler works to cool your laptop, and it is quiet while doing it, that in itself is a great thing. The idea of having extra storage is great as well, but it has to be implemented in such a way as not to cause more of an inconvenience than it is worth. The Xena does this by requiring the user to carry yet another power cable with them at all time, I personally have more than enough to carry and do not want to add another power adapter to that list. The Xena could be great if some things were changed about it, or if it was just used in one place, like work or home at all times, as it isn’t very portable. Notebook coolers need to be portable, the Xena isn’t, that’s not a good thing at all…
DragonSteelMods gives the VIZO Xena a 3.5 out of 5 score.
Pros:
-Additional Storage on SATA drive
-Very well made
-Cools notebook
-Adds USB ports
-Very easy to use and install
-Automatic backup function
-Quiet fans
Cons:
-Must use adapter
-Large, not very portable especially with extra adapter
-Have to buy special SATA drive
I would like to thank VIZO for the chance to review the Xena Notebook Cooler and for their continued support of DSM.
Find more Notebook Coolers at ShopZilla!