Enermax Aeolus Premium CP003 review
Testing
To test the Enermax Aeolus Premium CP003 I used my Dell Studio 15. Enermax markets this product as a laptop cooler for laptops of up to 17" but as you can see on the picture below my 15.6" is already a couple of centimeters wider than the laptop cooler. I don't have a 17" laptop in my possession to test it but these laptops may not be a good match for this laptop cooler.
All tests were done on the Dell Studio 1558, to test the CP003's effectiveness I compared idle and load temperatures with and without the cooler. Temperatures of the CPU, GPU, and HDD were monitored with Argus Monitor and ambient temperature was checked with a standard thermometer. Idle temperatures were obtained after letting the laptop idle for 20 minutes with the "high performance" power profile in Windows 7, while load temperatures were recorded after finishing five benchmark runs in the Unigine Heaven benchmark. First, the laptop was tested on a regular wood table, then with the CP003 at minimum fan speed and the final test was performed with fan speed at maximum. Throughout the tests the room temperature varied from 18.5°C to 19.0°C.
Test system specifications:
First the idle results. The processor receives the biggest temperature drop, at minimum RPM the CPU's temperature drops 4°C and turning the fan speed to maximum eliminates another 2°C. The impact on the GPU and HDD was quite small.Dell Studio 1558 15.6" laptop Intel Core i5-430M (2.26GHz) processor ATI Mobility Radeon HD 545v 512MB graphics card (a rebadged Mobility Radeon HD 4570) 2x 2GB DDR3-1333 500GB SATA HDD (5400RPM)
For the load test I tried to simulate a gaming load. Once again the processor is the component that is able to take the biggest advantage of the CP003, but the difference between the minimum and maximum fan speed is only 1°C. The GPU temperature drops 2°C at minimum RPM but turning the fan speed to maximum doesn't seem to have a major impact and the same observation can be made when reading the HDD temperature chart. The cooler reduces the HDD temperature by 4°C but there's no difference between the minimum and maximum fan speed.
During the first load test the base of the laptop got pretty warm but after the other two tests the base felt very cool.
The noise level of the Aeolus Premium CP003 is a bit too high for my liking, at minimum fan speed there's a noticeable hum and at maximum it becomes quite audible. Sound level tests were obtained with my AR824 decibel meter at 30cm from the laptop. The Dell Studio 1558 is a very silent laptop, you can barely hear it in idle mode and without the cooler the decibel meter picked up a noise level of 37.8dBA, which is the lowest that my sound meter can detect. With the cooler the noise level hit 40.1dBA and at maximum RPM the noise level reached 42.5dBA.
In load the laptop's own fan kicks into higher gear and at minimum RPM I wasn't able to discern the noise of the laptop cooler. Only at maximum RPM there's a small increase in noise level, but it's not very noticeable.
Conclusion
The Enermax Aeolus Premium CP003 is an elegant laptop cooler that does a decent job at keeping your laptop cool. The product has a stylish brushed aluminum front that not only looks good but also features a large wrist rest area for increased ergonomics. While surfing the web you can leave the fan deactivated and when doing more taxing work (or playing games) you can turn on the fan and easily adjust its speed with the fan controller knob.
Unfortunately, the fan is also the weakest point of the Aeolus Premium CP003. The build quality of the laptop stand itself is fantastic but the translucent plastic fan grill is too fragile and the minimum noise level of the fan is a bit too high.
The cooler doesn't seem to be available in the US, in Europe you can find it online for around 37-50EUR.
The Good Stuff
The Bad Stuff
I give the Enermax Aeolus Premium CP003 laptop cooler a 7.5/10.
Special thanks to Enermax France for making this review possible.
Previous Page (2/3)Added: February 27th 2011
Product reviewed: Enermax Aeolus Premium CP003
Reviewer: Thomas De Maesschalck
Score: 7.5/10
Page: 3/3
