Usage and Testing
Getting the X-Wing setup and pretty simple, first put it on your desk then set your notebook on top. Then plug it into your computer via the USB connection. When I plugged the X-Wing into my notebook Windows 7 automatically recognized it and installed the necessary drivers. After the drivers are installed you can go ahead and turn the power on.
Once you have the power on you can adjust the fan speed however high or low you want it by pressing on the fan adjustment touch-sensitive buttons on the front of the X-Wing. There is also a display on the front that will show you how fast the fan is spinning and the temperature. The touch-sensitive multimedia keys work great and are a nice addition if you do not have multimedia keys on your laptop.
To test the X-Wing we did our normal routine, turn the fans up all the way in our Dell XPS M1210 then do an idle and load test with Prime 95. Here are the results of that test.
As you do see the X-Wing did not do well at all. With the fan turned all the way up it only made a 1 degree difference during load, which is definitely not acceptable for a notebook cooler.
Final Thoughts
Well this sure was a different notebook cooling pad than we are used to seeing. It had some really cool features that we have not seen on other notebook cooling pads like the multimedia keys, temperature display, and the fact that all of the keys are touch-sensitive. All of these features really set this notebook cooling pad apart from other ones out there.
The thing is though that this is a notebook cooling pad and its cooling performance was very, very poor. With the fans turned all the way up we only saw a 1 degree difference at load temperature and the idle temperature was the same. The fan inside the X-Wing is very small, I think that if GlacialTech put a larger more powerful fan this could really be a great notebook cooling pad.
Overall ThinkComputers gives the GlacialTech X-Wing notebook cooling pad a 5 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Multimedia keys
– All buttons are touch-sensitive
– Fan speed and temperature display
Cons:
– Horrible cooling
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