Price : Too low to display
Targus Chill Hub XC for Laptops 13.3 Inches to 17 Inches AWE01US2 (Black)
This review is from : Targus Chill Hub XC for Laptops 13.3 Inches to 17 Inches AWE01US2 (Black)
The Best Cooler I've Tried (and I've tried a lot!) . After literally trying 5 other notebook cooling fans and promptly returning them to the electronic's store from whence they came, I decided to spend some actual money and try THIS unit. Retail was $49 (I did recently see one on Overstock for $9 + $12s&h). Please note that the unit I'm referring to is rectangular, NOT the one which is hourglass-shaped (Targus seems to have 2 versions of this cooler with the same part #), and that this unit is the BIGGER of the two; one is for notebooks up to 13", the other (this one) is for notebooks up to 17". I tried the smaller/13" and it cooled decently but it was just too small and my laptop didn't sit well on it; the feet weren't even touching, which made the laptop rock like an uneven table when I typed, which obviously was NOT an option for the longterm.
I'd begun with the $9 fans and found that's about the quality of cooling they provided. They literally weren't helping cool the laptop. The 3-fan unit by GearHead was too small for my 15" Dell, and the fans were biased toward the front of the cooler, which is kinda dumb because in my experience it's the rear of the laptop which gets the hottest.
So I decided to try this Targus. I didn't really need the hub but decided to try it. I later realized Target sells the same cooler minus the hub for around $35, so I considered returning the Chill Hub and going for the fan-only unit from Tar-jay. But I figured a few extra USB ports couldn't hurt and decided to keep the Chill Hub. Plus, my wife and I were leaving for a 1-month vacation in Israel in the morning and I simply did not want to deal with more exchanging and whatnot. Also, a minor observation was that the non-hub version is grey, whereas the with-hub version is black. FYI.
I read reviews saying the hub didn't work. When I tried it, it worked for my camcorder but I haven't been able to get it to recognize properly my external hard drive I use as a back-up. But I do have 4 other USB ports on my laptop and wasn't buying the cooler to be used as a hub, anyway. If the Fry store had had this same unit minus the hub, I'd have gotten that one; but, like I said, a few extra USB ports can't hurt.
As far as the performance of the cooler, it is phenomenal in its cooling ability. The cooler has little feet which swing out from the rear/underside, allowing it to be propped up. This provides better cooling as well as tilting the notebook up a bit, which does make the keyboard easier to see because you're looking at it a bit more head-on. The little feet have a pair of secondary, smaller feet which swing out from inside the first set of feet, allowing the unit to be propped up even higher, about 1.5 inches. The two big fans (which are VERY quiet, by the way, something which for me was CRUCIAL because I detest noisy computers) move a lot of air. The cooler has a switch so you can turn the fans off, put them on LOW or HIGH. And with the cooler propped up to its highest, I have found over the past 2 weeks that the cooling pad cools the laptop so well that the underside of it is literally cool, as in not hot; it feels about the same as when the computer is not even on. It's that good. Without any fan at all, my Dell Inspiron 6000 (which I bought about 5 years ago) does get rather hot underneath, so for it to literally feel cool to the touch is remarkable. (Interestingly, my good buddy is a professional computer tech and he told me that these notebook cooling fans were invented after some guy allegedly burned his cojones while using his notebook on his lap. I think we know what HE was DOING, ie LOOKING AT which facilitated his computer getting close enough to the bare skin of his man-parts to, again, allegedly, actually cause a burn to his body.)
There is a nifty storage compartment on the underside of the unit where the USB cord can be stored. I personally am not using it because I have a special compartment in my backpack which I've been trained to use, but it is there and could be quite handy.
On the downside, and the only reasons I gave the fan 4 stars instead of 5, is for a couple of rather minor issues. At times the cooler does make a bit of noise, a bit of a rattling sound, like something is vibrating. Usually this happens only when I have the cooler & laptop on my lap rather than on a table. You can't really extend the little feet while the fan & laptop are sitting on your lap/legs, such as when you're sitting up in bed. So the fan rests directly on your legs(plus the fans suck in my leg hairs). With the decreased air space beneath the cooler, cooling effectiveness is reduced so the laptop internal fan kicks on periodically. It's either this or some weird angle which causes the noise. But it's seldom and can be alleviated by adjusting the position of the fan or the laptop or both, or by putting the fan on a book. On the upside with the noise issue, this unit is very well-built and sturdy, so hopefully it won't begin to bend or warp like my original fan did, an issue which causes the fan blades to begin striking the inside of the plastic case, causing NOISE.
Something else to keep in mind is not to move the fan too much while it's operating and the fans are running. The spinning fans act like gyroscopes. Spinning gyroscopes resist motion. I've found that if you move the fan around a lot while it's running, like if you're looking at the underside and flipping it upside down and stuff, the fans will twist slightly inside the case and the blades will touch the plastic slightly. This can't be good for the bearings on the fans. So apart from moving it on and off your lap, don't go swinging the thing around while it's running.
Also, if you extend the little plastic feet while the fan is on your lap, the feet dig into your skin and start to hurt after awhile. While at home and sitting on the sofa, I have a make-shift lap-desk I created using one simple piece of cheap fiberboard harvested off my cheap computer desk after the cheap fiberboard broke and the tracks for the rollers broke loose, rendering the keyboard tray useless. Or so I thought. Turns out that it's the perfect size (about 3 feet long and 14 inches in depth) to sit on my lap and hold my fan&laptop and mouse pad, with enough room left for the tv remote. You may want to find such a piece of wood.
Also, one other issue to watch out for rests with the USB power cable. The plug for the hub end is small, looks a bit like a firewire plug, or like the plug on a digital camera or camcorder. Something happened and the cord got smashed and the little metal plug is bent at an awkward angle relative to the plastic to which it's attached. It still works and seems stable despite the angle, so I'm hesitant to try and bend it back into place. I'm sure a replacement would be very inexpensive. But it's something to be careful with. I read another reviewer's review saying she had a similar issue with the little cable after her toddler got too friendly with and close to the laptop.
All in all, it's a great fan and the cooling capacity is the best I've seen, hands-down. I definitely recommend it.
The Best Cooler I've Tried (and I've tried a lot!) . After literally trying 5 other notebook cooling fans and promptly returning them to the electronic's store from whence they came, I decided to spend some actual money and try THIS unit. Retail was $49 (I did recently see one on Overstock for $9 + $12s&h). Please note that the unit I'm referring to is rectangular, NOT the one which is hourglass-shaped (Targus seems to have 2 versions of this cooler with the same part #), and that this unit is the BIGGER of the two; one is for notebooks up to 13", the other (this one) is for notebooks up to 17". I tried the smaller/13" and it cooled decently but it was just too small and my laptop didn't sit well on it; the feet weren't even touching, which made the laptop rock like an uneven table when I typed, which obviously was NOT an option for the longterm.
I'd begun with the $9 fans and found that's about the quality of cooling they provided. They literally weren't helping cool the laptop. The 3-fan unit by GearHead was too small for my 15" Dell, and the fans were biased toward the front of the cooler, which is kinda dumb because in my experience it's the rear of the laptop which gets the hottest.
So I decided to try this Targus. I didn't really need the hub but decided to try it. I later realized Target sells the same cooler minus the hub for around $35, so I considered returning the Chill Hub and going for the fan-only unit from Tar-jay. But I figured a few extra USB ports couldn't hurt and decided to keep the Chill Hub. Plus, my wife and I were leaving for a 1-month vacation in Israel in the morning and I simply did not want to deal with more exchanging and whatnot. Also, a minor observation was that the non-hub version is grey, whereas the with-hub version is black. FYI.
I read reviews saying the hub didn't work. When I tried it, it worked for my camcorder but I haven't been able to get it to recognize properly my external hard drive I use as a back-up. But I do have 4 other USB ports on my laptop and wasn't buying the cooler to be used as a hub, anyway. If the Fry store had had this same unit minus the hub, I'd have gotten that one; but, like I said, a few extra USB ports can't hurt.
As far as the performance of the cooler, it is phenomenal in its cooling ability. The cooler has little feet which swing out from the rear/underside, allowing it to be propped up. This provides better cooling as well as tilting the notebook up a bit, which does make the keyboard easier to see because you're looking at it a bit more head-on. The little feet have a pair of secondary, smaller feet which swing out from inside the first set of feet, allowing the unit to be propped up even higher, about 1.5 inches. The two big fans (which are VERY quiet, by the way, something which for me was CRUCIAL because I detest noisy computers) move a lot of air. The cooler has a switch so you can turn the fans off, put them on LOW or HIGH. And with the cooler propped up to its highest, I have found over the past 2 weeks that the cooling pad cools the laptop so well that the underside of it is literally cool, as in not hot; it feels about the same as when the computer is not even on. It's that good. Without any fan at all, my Dell Inspiron 6000 (which I bought about 5 years ago) does get rather hot underneath, so for it to literally feel cool to the touch is remarkable. (Interestingly, my good buddy is a professional computer tech and he told me that these notebook cooling fans were invented after some guy allegedly burned his cojones while using his notebook on his lap. I think we know what HE was DOING, ie LOOKING AT which facilitated his computer getting close enough to the bare skin of his man-parts to, again, allegedly, actually cause a burn to his body.)
There is a nifty storage compartment on the underside of the unit where the USB cord can be stored. I personally am not using it because I have a special compartment in my backpack which I've been trained to use, but it is there and could be quite handy.
On the downside, and the only reasons I gave the fan 4 stars instead of 5, is for a couple of rather minor issues. At times the cooler does make a bit of noise, a bit of a rattling sound, like something is vibrating. Usually this happens only when I have the cooler & laptop on my lap rather than on a table. You can't really extend the little feet while the fan & laptop are sitting on your lap/legs, such as when you're sitting up in bed. So the fan rests directly on your legs(plus the fans suck in my leg hairs). With the decreased air space beneath the cooler, cooling effectiveness is reduced so the laptop internal fan kicks on periodically. It's either this or some weird angle which causes the noise. But it's seldom and can be alleviated by adjusting the position of the fan or the laptop or both, or by putting the fan on a book. On the upside with the noise issue, this unit is very well-built and sturdy, so hopefully it won't begin to bend or warp like my original fan did, an issue which causes the fan blades to begin striking the inside of the plastic case, causing NOISE.
Something else to keep in mind is not to move the fan too much while it's operating and the fans are running. The spinning fans act like gyroscopes. Spinning gyroscopes resist motion. I've found that if you move the fan around a lot while it's running, like if you're looking at the underside and flipping it upside down and stuff, the fans will twist slightly inside the case and the blades will touch the plastic slightly. This can't be good for the bearings on the fans. So apart from moving it on and off your lap, don't go swinging the thing around while it's running.
Also, if you extend the little plastic feet while the fan is on your lap, the feet dig into your skin and start to hurt after awhile. While at home and sitting on the sofa, I have a make-shift lap-desk I created using one simple piece of cheap fiberboard harvested off my cheap computer desk after the cheap fiberboard broke and the tracks for the rollers broke loose, rendering the keyboard tray useless. Or so I thought. Turns out that it's the perfect size (about 3 feet long and 14 inches in depth) to sit on my lap and hold my fan&laptop and mouse pad, with enough room left for the tv remote. You may want to find such a piece of wood.
Also, one other issue to watch out for rests with the USB power cable. The plug for the hub end is small, looks a bit like a firewire plug, or like the plug on a digital camera or camcorder. Something happened and the cord got smashed and the little metal plug is bent at an awkward angle relative to the plastic to which it's attached. It still works and seems stable despite the angle, so I'm hesitant to try and bend it back into place. I'm sure a replacement would be very inexpensive. But it's something to be careful with. I read another reviewer's review saying she had a similar issue with the little cable after her toddler got too friendly with and close to the laptop.
All in all, it's a great fan and the cooling capacity is the best I've seen, hands-down. I definitely recommend it.
Targus Chill Hub XC for Laptops 13.3 Inches to 17 Inches AWE01US2 (Black) Reviews
does the job but now very well . I bought this cooler about a year ago and it still works. It cools pretty well and it has a mini usb that connect to a usb on my computer. It also has four usb ports on the back. The extra usb ports are nice. It also has a switch on the back that can turn the fans off, low, or high. I am not saying it is amazing but it gets the job done. I can say it is reliable. I mostly use my laptop as a desktop computer but like the ablity to pick it up and go. So I can not comment on the lap comfort for this product. It is relatively quiet but it does drain your battery down pretty fast when the laptop is not connected to the wall. I have a 17" HP and it will get scortching hot if I dont use it. The two fans are nice and it cools "ok". I would give it a 6 or maybe 7 out of 10. I can say it does the job which is to blow air on the laptop and it is reliable. I believe it also came with a cord to plug it into the wall but it has vanshed. The cooler has a special plug just for that also. It is light weight and thin.
does the job but now very well . I bought this cooler about a year ago and it still works. It cools pretty well and it has a mini usb that connect to a usb on my computer. It also has four usb ports on the back. The extra usb ports are nice. It also has a switch on the back that can turn the fans off, low, or high. I am not saying it is amazing but it gets the job done. I can say it is reliable. I mostly use my laptop as a desktop computer but like the ablity to pick it up and go. So I can not comment on the lap comfort for this product. It is relatively quiet but it does drain your battery down pretty fast when the laptop is not connected to the wall. I have a 17" HP and it will get scortching hot if I dont use it. The two fans are nice and it cools "ok". I would give it a 6 or maybe 7 out of 10. I can say it does the job which is to blow air on the laptop and it is reliable. I believe it also came with a cord to plug it into the wall but it has vanshed. The cooler has a special plug just for that also. It is light weight and thin.
Targus Chill Hub is good insurance . Great product. Works as described and provides a USB hub. Sits better on your lap than the laptop itself with out blocking air flow.
Targus Chill Hub XC for Laptops 13.3 Inches to 17 Inches AWE01US2 (Black) Opinions
Exactly Served the Purpose . I researched the options intently, to find the most effective, least noisy, and smallest profile with USB ports. Additionally, I needed a cooling board that would slip in easily next to my 17 inch HP laptop (low profile), when in my carry bag. Also one that would be suitable on a airplane, to cool and protect my legs, as well as free standing on a table top, that would elevate if desired. Many of the cooling boards I looked at were only designed for desktop use, the underneath side was open and the fans exposed. Happy to report, the Targus Chill Hub matched all my criteria, while supporting a 17 inch laptop.I have a maxed out HP dv7tqe series, that generates some heat when the CPU is pushing all 8 cores. The cooling hubs dual fans quietly cools the laptop, keeping the surface cool to the touch. If set on a surface, the fans do generate some sound, as would be the case for most any motor reflecting off a surface, but it is negligible. Exceptionally well built, hardy plastic housing for carry and long life.I will probably purchase Velcro tape, as to attach the laptop to the board, adding some stationary support. The fact that the board and laptop cannot be connected is a complication when carry is required or movement is incurred. A small issue, but a usage problem that no board seems to address.
Exactly Served the Purpose . I researched the options intently, to find the most effective, least noisy, and smallest profile with USB ports. Additionally, I needed a cooling board that would slip in easily next to my 17 inch HP laptop (low profile), when in my carry bag. Also one that would be suitable on a airplane, to cool and protect my legs, as well as free standing on a table top, that would elevate if desired. Many of the cooling boards I looked at were only designed for desktop use, the underneath side was open and the fans exposed. Happy to report, the Targus Chill Hub matched all my criteria, while supporting a 17 inch laptop.I have a maxed out HP dv7tqe series, that generates some heat when the CPU is pushing all 8 cores. The cooling hubs dual fans quietly cools the laptop, keeping the surface cool to the touch. If set on a surface, the fans do generate some sound, as would be the case for most any motor reflecting off a surface, but it is negligible. Exceptionally well built, hardy plastic housing for carry and long life.I will probably purchase Velcro tape, as to attach the laptop to the board, adding some stationary support. The fact that the board and laptop cannot be connected is a complication when carry is required or movement is incurred. A small issue, but a usage problem that no board seems to address.
Nice cooling board. . Actually I bought this to help cool my compact desktop. I noticed the bottom of my desktop was getting HOT. This board helps circulate the air under my desktop and helps keep it a little cooler. The quality seems fine. The fan switch is stiff but I'm just going to leave it on so thats fine too. It has flipout stands like keyboards but when you leave them retracted this provides a flat surface, perfect for my use. The unit seems plenty strong enough to take a sizable load sitting on it. I also like the fully functional USB ports on the unit. I give it four stars.
Good pad...cools by 10 degrees . I bought this pad because of the reviews on both Amazon & other sites. I have an oversized Dell, but the fan still sits in the area the fan goes thru. I ran a diagnos on the unit...bam 10 to 12 degree cooler (thats alot)....and the usb hub is awesume too
Cons Review
Great Cooler Crappy Switch & Jack . The Targus Chill Hub XC fit my 17" HP laptop well, did an excellent job of cooling and was quiet enough not to be noticed, but shortly after I bought it, the power cut off and on intermittently. After it completely died, I tore it apart and found that it had two problems--a faulty switch and a flimsy jack for the separate cord. Why they needed a switch, or a cord that could be lost I have no idea, because this product would have been perfect with a permanent cord and no switch. How hard is it to pull the plug from the USB port? It shuts off when the laptop is shut down anyway.
This product was over-engineered but has sub-par quality. Pick something else.
Update: I've since bought a Zalman ZM-NC2000Black Notebook Cooler (Black) and could not be happier with it. It's made entirely of sturdy aluminum, fits my 17" laptop perfectly, does a great job of cooling, and on low speed you can't even hear it running. The top has holes drilled over 2/3 it's surface, and blows air evenly across the bottom of the laptop. My laptop sits solidly on it without rocking or slipping. It does have a cord, but it's a male-male USB, so it's possible to find a replacement. The cooler has a USB outlet, leaving you with as many USB outlets as you had before.
The Zalman cooler has surpassed my expectations of what was available in a laptop cooler, and is really well engineered & built. A much better alternative to the Targus Chil Hub XC.
This product was over-engineered but has sub-par quality. Pick something else.
Update: I've since bought a Zalman ZM-NC2000Black Notebook Cooler (Black) and could not be happier with it. It's made entirely of sturdy aluminum, fits my 17" laptop perfectly, does a great job of cooling, and on low speed you can't even hear it running. The top has holes drilled over 2/3 it's surface, and blows air evenly across the bottom of the laptop. My laptop sits solidly on it without rocking or slipping. It does have a cord, but it's a male-male USB, so it's possible to find a replacement. The cooler has a USB outlet, leaving you with as many USB outlets as you had before.
The Zalman cooler has surpassed my expectations of what was available in a laptop cooler, and is really well engineered & built. A much better alternative to the Targus Chil Hub XC.
Chill Hub XC. . . The "XC" stands for "Xtra Crispy". . So for this price, you'd expect a pretty kick-butt notebook cooler, right? So did I, and I was sorely disappointed by the Targus Chill Hub XC when I finally got it home and tried it out.
First, a word on build quality. Who the heck designed the fan switch on this thing? It's terrible. It's stiff, barely sticks out (so you can't reach around behind and slide it without looking at it) and feels cheap. Jeez, Targus, spend an extra two cents and put a decent switch on your devices! And on top of that, you might consider printing the voltage of the AC adapter socket somewhere on the device or in the manual. Isn't that a law in America?
Now, the real reason I found the Chill Hub fell short of expectations: It actually made my system run hotter!
I did tests using SpeedFan, which measures CPU and GPU temperature. I did not use SpeedFan's fan-speed adjustment features, so everything was just relying on the Chill Hub and my computer's own fan settings. The computer is an ASUS G50VT-X5 with a GeForce 9800M GS running on an external 1080p display. The system was recently dusted/cleaned and had Arctic Silver reapplied to the CPU and GPU. The Chill Hub was meant to take the cooling a step further. My results were really quite surprising!
Without Chill Hub XC under the computer:
- Windows 7 Aero desktop = 59 C GPU
- Dragon Age Origins (medium/high graphics) = 79 C
With Chill Hub XC under the computer, fans off:
- Windows 7 Aero desktop = 64 C
- Dragon Age Origins (medium/high graphics) = 81 C
With Chill Hub XC under the computer, fans at 1st setting:
- Windows 7 Aero desktop = 65 C
- Dragon Age Origins (medium/high graphics) = 83 C
With Chill Hub XC under the computer, fans at 2nd setting:
- Windows 7 Aero desktop = 65 C
- Dragon Age Origins (medium/high graphics) = 84 C
Yes, you're reading that right. With the Chill Hub XC, my GPU temperature went up about five degrees Celsius. The higher the fan setting, the hotter it got. Scores for CPU cores showed similar changes, but I didn't record the actual numbers, so I won't get into that. GPU temperature is a bigger concern, anyway.
Now, this may be because of a design quirk of the ASUS G-series computers, which have some funky cooling setups for their tight space and beefy mobile GPUs, and maybe the Chill Hub is just not meant for gaming computers and is more aimed at people who don't measure their GPU temperature while they're playing Farmville on their Dell, but for me, five degrees is enough for me to determine that I essentially paid Targus fourty-five bucks to make things worse. THANKS, TARGUS! You've made a product that not only fails in its assigned task, but actually does the OPPOSITE of what it's designed to do!
Needless to say, the Chill Hub XC is going back. No way am I eating the price of this thing just to watch my system get hotter. Your mileage may vary, but for me, this thing is a disaster waiting to happen.
I will point out the few positive points about this thing, though. Just to be fair:
* Design is flat. No curves, no cheap plastic legs that will break like the Belkin does.
* The USB hub worked fine for me. No complaints.
* The size was right for my beast of a laptop, which is unusual for these devices.
That being said, it's still worthless for my gaming laptop, and I feel bad knowing that there are people out there who don't measure system temperature who are probably unknowingly making things worse by using this device. It fails in every respect as a laptop cooling device, and is therefore one of the few items I've ever reviewed to get only one star.
First, a word on build quality. Who the heck designed the fan switch on this thing? It's terrible. It's stiff, barely sticks out (so you can't reach around behind and slide it without looking at it) and feels cheap. Jeez, Targus, spend an extra two cents and put a decent switch on your devices! And on top of that, you might consider printing the voltage of the AC adapter socket somewhere on the device or in the manual. Isn't that a law in America?
Now, the real reason I found the Chill Hub fell short of expectations: It actually made my system run hotter!
I did tests using SpeedFan, which measures CPU and GPU temperature. I did not use SpeedFan's fan-speed adjustment features, so everything was just relying on the Chill Hub and my computer's own fan settings. The computer is an ASUS G50VT-X5 with a GeForce 9800M GS running on an external 1080p display. The system was recently dusted/cleaned and had Arctic Silver reapplied to the CPU and GPU. The Chill Hub was meant to take the cooling a step further. My results were really quite surprising!
Without Chill Hub XC under the computer:
- Windows 7 Aero desktop = 59 C GPU
- Dragon Age Origins (medium/high graphics) = 79 C
With Chill Hub XC under the computer, fans off:
- Windows 7 Aero desktop = 64 C
- Dragon Age Origins (medium/high graphics) = 81 C
With Chill Hub XC under the computer, fans at 1st setting:
- Windows 7 Aero desktop = 65 C
- Dragon Age Origins (medium/high graphics) = 83 C
With Chill Hub XC under the computer, fans at 2nd setting:
- Windows 7 Aero desktop = 65 C
- Dragon Age Origins (medium/high graphics) = 84 C
Yes, you're reading that right. With the Chill Hub XC, my GPU temperature went up about five degrees Celsius. The higher the fan setting, the hotter it got. Scores for CPU cores showed similar changes, but I didn't record the actual numbers, so I won't get into that. GPU temperature is a bigger concern, anyway.
Now, this may be because of a design quirk of the ASUS G-series computers, which have some funky cooling setups for their tight space and beefy mobile GPUs, and maybe the Chill Hub is just not meant for gaming computers and is more aimed at people who don't measure their GPU temperature while they're playing Farmville on their Dell, but for me, five degrees is enough for me to determine that I essentially paid Targus fourty-five bucks to make things worse. THANKS, TARGUS! You've made a product that not only fails in its assigned task, but actually does the OPPOSITE of what it's designed to do!
Needless to say, the Chill Hub XC is going back. No way am I eating the price of this thing just to watch my system get hotter. Your mileage may vary, but for me, this thing is a disaster waiting to happen.
I will point out the few positive points about this thing, though. Just to be fair:
* Design is flat. No curves, no cheap plastic legs that will break like the Belkin does.
* The USB hub worked fine for me. No complaints.
* The size was right for my beast of a laptop, which is unusual for these devices.
That being said, it's still worthless for my gaming laptop, and I feel bad knowing that there are people out there who don't measure system temperature who are probably unknowingly making things worse by using this device. It fails in every respect as a laptop cooling device, and is therefore one of the few items I've ever reviewed to get only one star.
Bad Cooling Pad . This thing sucks. It barely produces any cool air at ALL, even on the highest setting. My little air purifier blows more cool air out of it then this "cooling pad." I would suggest going with something else, anything but Targus.
When you get down to it, all it really is, is an expensive, plastic, laptop stand.
When you get down to it, all it really is, is an expensive, plastic, laptop stand.
DO NOT PURCHASE FOR 17" OR 17.3" LAPTOP!!! . I went to the store to look at this first and thought that it would work great since I wanted a laptop cooler that had extra USB ports. I had previously ordered the Targus laptop case from Amazon and was satisfied with that. When I got it in the mail from amazon, I tried it out, but was appalled at the weak plastic construction of the vents and the cheap quality of it. I could bend the vent slats with my fingers!!! Yeah, sure, the plastic makes it MUCH more lightweight & portable if you are traveling with it constantly, but otherwise, it is FLIMSY! What shocked me is how flimsy it really is for the price that I paid for it! It IS true that the fan on/off switch is difficult to maneuver back and forth, as well.
I did not have problems with the hub ports working properly, but the USB connector for the chill hub WAS a little "sticky" to get plugged in initially (on the cooling pad part, anyway). Also, the fan IS VERY quiet on the highest level.
But Overall, it does NOT support the weight of my 17" laptop and was a little bit wobbly on it. The chill hub is just TOO small for my laptop, thus preventing it from receiving enough air flow in order to cool it down all over, on the bottom. I was not happy with it and sent it back immediately for a full refund. I felt that Targus made a mistake in advertising that this cooling pad would fit up to a 17" when in reality I did not think that it did at all.
If you own a 15" laptop or smaller, and travel with it all the time, this chill hub will work great for you, despite the plastic construction. Anything larger than a 15" laptop would most likely be too heavy to set on this Targus chill hub. I am currently setting my sites on something that is aluminum with extra ports, rather than plastic. I'm willing to pay the extra money for something that is larger in dimensions, sturdy enough, and durable enough to cool my laptop properly. Hope you find this helpful, and here are couple of links:
Rosewill 15.4" - 17" Notebook Cooler with 4-Port USB Hub Model RNA-7600W. Finest Aluminum Faceplate, Dual Silent Fan, Quiet & Cool, Built-in 4-Port USB2.0 Hub, Additional power adapter to ensure sufficient power supply for external USB devices.
Zalman ZM-NC2000Black Notebook Cooler (Black)
I did not have problems with the hub ports working properly, but the USB connector for the chill hub WAS a little "sticky" to get plugged in initially (on the cooling pad part, anyway). Also, the fan IS VERY quiet on the highest level.
But Overall, it does NOT support the weight of my 17" laptop and was a little bit wobbly on it. The chill hub is just TOO small for my laptop, thus preventing it from receiving enough air flow in order to cool it down all over, on the bottom. I was not happy with it and sent it back immediately for a full refund. I felt that Targus made a mistake in advertising that this cooling pad would fit up to a 17" when in reality I did not think that it did at all.
If you own a 15" laptop or smaller, and travel with it all the time, this chill hub will work great for you, despite the plastic construction. Anything larger than a 15" laptop would most likely be too heavy to set on this Targus chill hub. I am currently setting my sites on something that is aluminum with extra ports, rather than plastic. I'm willing to pay the extra money for something that is larger in dimensions, sturdy enough, and durable enough to cool my laptop properly. Hope you find this helpful, and here are couple of links:
Rosewill 15.4" - 17" Notebook Cooler with 4-Port USB Hub Model RNA-7600W. Finest Aluminum Faceplate, Dual Silent Fan, Quiet & Cool, Built-in 4-Port USB2.0 Hub, Additional power adapter to ensure sufficient power supply for external USB devices.
Zalman ZM-NC2000Black Notebook Cooler (Black)
Feature Targus Chill Hub XC for Laptops 13.3 Inches to 17 Inches AWE01US2 (Black)
- Integrated 4 port USB 2.0 hub allows you to connect devices while keeping your laptop cool
- Variable speed dual fans provide unsurpassed cooling and prevent overheating
- Three level height adjustment allows the user to select the most comfortable and ergonomic setting
- Protects your work surface from heat generated by laptops
- Supports laptops from 13.3" to 17"
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Product Details
EAN : 0092636249687UPC : 092636249687
MPN : AWE01US2
Brand : Targus
Color : Black
Weight : 2 pounds
Height : 2 inches
Length : 17 inches
Width : 11 inches
Binding : Personal Computers
Manufacturer : Targus
Model : AWE01US2
Publisher : Targus
SKU : DBCN4359
Studio : Targus
Where To Buy
You can buy Targus Chill Hub XC for Laptops 13.3 Inches to 17 Inches AWE01US2 (Black) on Amazon . Click here to Read More
