Cooler Master NotePal X3 - Laptop Cooling Pad with 200mm Blue LED Fan

It's only been a few days since I received my Cooler Master NotePal X3 but it's been great so far. It cools my laptop down significantly. It was getting to the point where whenever I had my laptop on for more than an hour, it was burning up. Using the cooler master, I don't feel much heat at all. I do sometimes re-position the laptop so that it directly over the Cooler Master fan. The fan is directly in the center of the board, which is good, but my computer gets the hottest on the left side. It's no biggie - I may run it slightly askew for a few minutes and it's back to normal. I'm not really sure why they chose to go with the X shape - if it's just a visual thing, then I wish they hadn't done that. If it were rectangular, it would cover the whole computer and I probably wouldn't have to do the askew thing every once in awhile. (It cuts in about 2.5 inches in line with the tab key placement if you use an HP Pavilion dv6.)The case design is decent. It's plastic, but it seems solid enough for its purpose and the edges are smooth. I have made sure to only run it on a hard surface so that the blades don't get damaged. For the price, I want to keep this in good condition for as long as possible. This is designed to be run on a desktop - if you want to use it on your lap, just put a separate board or a lapdesk on your lap first (that's what I've done). The rubber feet hold firm so that there is no slippage.The front opening is nice that it blows cooler air up underneath the trackpad. Not cold air - just cool enough to feel good on your wrists.I keep the blue LED light off. It doesn't really serve a purpose. When it is in use, the computer completely blocks it, so what's the point? The only reason that I can see is that it does make it stand out from other cooling pads that you see when you're scanning down the list on Amazon. If that's the reason, then it certainly serves its purpose.The speed is adjustable on the fan, but I always keep it at full blast. You can turn it completely off if you want, but I don't know why you'd want to do that. The noise is barely noticeable.I guess it's convenient that you can do that, but if you wanted to use it without having the fan running, you could just unplug it.So far, I really like it and I wish I had gotten it sooner. I'm glad I have it now, though.------Unrelated to the product functionality, I really like the package that it came in. (I appreciate good packaging design.) It could also be useful if you wanted to travel with it - there is a handle. I'll probably keep it just in case, (heh), I have need to use it.

I purchased this cooler for my 15-inch Macbook Pro. If you're not a macbook owner, then you should know they get extremely hot due to a lack of a proper cooling feature.Performance: I figured the NotePal X3 would be the best cooler out there for my Mac. The fan is huge and hits the entire bottom of my Mac evenly to somewhat cooldown the surface temp. (My computer relies on it's aluminum casing to "wick" heat.) Put simply, heat wicking alone doesn't work at high performance levels. The X3 helps as much as it possibly could considering my laptop's poor design. The fan can only speed up to 850 rpm +/- 15%. The breeze you get definitely isn't akin to a leaf blower...but I figure it's okay. All in all, this would work much better with a laptop that has a cooling design of pulling IN air through bottom vents and OUT the back.Build Quality: The X3 is constructed of lightweight, sorta "cheap" feeling plastic. Seems durable enough though. Just don't drop it. The top is a metal mesh that's perfectly flat. It relies on your computer's rubber feet to sit it up off the cooler and let the heat get out and/or...blow it into the computer's intake vents. (no rubber supports on the X3 itself) Since my mac's "feet" only sit it millimeters up off the surface, the former doesn't work too well either. (no intake vents on mac) The X3 also features sturdy rubber feet to keep it steady on whatever (flat) surface you put it on. These are on the flip-up feet to prop it at an angle as well. Once again, seems sturdy enough. Says it fits up to 17" laptops. I put my mom's 17" computer on it and it only went over both edges of the X3 by a half inch or so. Therefore, it would seem like it's suitable for cooling a wider area such as that. Go any larger with your laptop though and it'll look like you're trying to balance a book on a baseball.Noise: At top speed, the fan gives off 23 db (according to box). It's not exactly white noise...it's a little different. There's a lower "rumble" to it. At first I thought something was wrong, but things seem fine. I suppose it's the large blades whipping the air. That's good right?Other features: Lights...okay cool feature. I don't ever really see them unless I'm gaming in near darkness. It's really just an "ooo" factor for your friends.USB Port: Yes it has a low power USB on the side by the fan speed dial labeled "USB Out". It powers my wireless mouse. Given that the Macbook only has 2 USB ports, this was a win for me. It won't power anything like a webcam though...stuff like that requires more juice.All in all, I give it 5 stars if I were using it with a PC laptop with proper cooling design. However, for my use, It'll have to suffice for 4 stars. But that's not it's fault. Go Cooler Master.