Well, here on DragonSteelMods we've posted over 400 reviews so far and the product I've got today has received the lowest score yet…

Today for review I've got the Vizo Mini Ninja Notebook Cooler, and I've got two notebooks on hand to test with it to see how well it handles the heat. The Mini Ninja is well made and quiet, it even features a pass-through USB power connection so you won't lose a USB port while using it to help cool your laptop.

So read on to check out the Mini Ninja and see if it can handle the heat or not?!

Vizo Mini Ninja Notebook cooler

Author: Kristofer Brozio

Sponsor: Vizo

Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:

Vizo Mini Ninja Notebook cooler

Model: NCL-230-BK

Mini Ninja

7" ~ 15.4" Widescreen Notebook cooler

NOISELESS HEAT KILLER

DESCRIPTION:

NOISELESS HEAT KILLER, mini NINJA, is the best guard for your notebook PC!!

Advantage :

-Real 350 mm long

-For 7"~15.4" Widescreen Notebook PC

-Aluminum Casing

-Compact, Space Saving & Portable

-Adjustable Positions for Fans

-Ergonomic Designed Angle

-Low dBA Level

FEATURES:

* Real 350 mm long for 7”~15.4” Widescreen Notebook PC

* Reduce the temperature of your notebook PC for best performance

* Aluminum casing for excellent heat dissipation

* Dual fans provide the maximum airflow and air pressure

* Adjustable positions for fans to suit your needs

* Low dBA level

* Powered by USB, no adapter necessary

* T shaped USB connectors without losing use of the USB port

* Compact, space saving, light weight, easy to carry

* Ergonomic designed angle for easy typing

* Easy to install

SPECIFICATIONS:

* Housing Dimensions : 350mm x 170mm x 40mm

* Housing Material : Aluminum

* USB Bus Power : 5V / 500mA

* DC Fan Dimensions : 70 x 70 x 15 ( 2 PCS )

* Bearing Type : Sleeve Bearing

* Speed : 2000 RPM

* Noise Level : 20 dBA

* Max Air flow : 13.72( Min:11.22 )CFM

* Rated Voltage : DC 5 V

* Rated Current : 0.24 ( Max:0.34 ) A x 2

* Compatibility : 7" ~ 15.4" notebook PC

* Weight : 600 g

SYSTEM REQUIREMENT:

N/A

PACKAGE INCLUDES:

* Notebook Cooler

* USB Bus Power Cable

( T Shaped USB Connectors )

* Screw Package

( Free Extra Screws for Contingent Use during Adjusting Positions )

A Better Look at Things

:

The Vizo Mini Ninja Notebook Cooler comes packaged in a very attractive box, it's colorful with lots of pictures and information on it, it even has a carrying handle as well.

Unpacking everything we find the Ninja itself, a USB power cable and a bag with two screws in it. The screws are used to help with adjusting the fans positions.

Looking at the bottom we get a better look at the fans, the frames of the fans have slide like grooves so you can slide the fans back and forth for better cooling performance.

On the left side is where the power connection is while the right has the on/off switch (not pictured).

The Vizo Mini Ninja is mainly made out of aluminum so it that should help dissipate heat as well, the entire product feels solid and well made.

Installation, Testing and Comparison

There's not much to the installation process, just set your notebook on it, plug the Mini Ninja into an available USB port and turn it on. Once powered on I did find the Mini Ninja to be virtually silent, I could barely hear it running, in fact I had to look to make sure it was even on that's how quiet it is.

For testing I used two different notebooks I had on hand at the time, I was working on a friends IBM Thinkpad and I have my own Dell Latitude.

The IBM Thinkpad has a Intel P4-M in it that runs at 1.6Ghz (didn't grab the model number), and my Dell latitude is a model C640 with an Intel P4-M running at 1.8Ghz. The setups for both are different, the vents and fans I mean so I thought they would make a nice comparison to get temperatures for different types of laptops. One note, on the Dell Latitude I do have Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound on the CPU and GPU.

As I said installation is easy just set your notebook on it and you're ready to go. The Ninja does bring the notebook up at an angle so it takes a bit to get accustomed to typing that way. The Ninja comes with a 'T' shaped USB connection or pass-through USB connection so you won't lose a USB port while using the Ninja which is nice. One note about the USB cable though is that I found it's not very long, I had to run it under the Ninja to reach the USB port on the other side of the IBM Thinkpad.

For testing on both the ambient room temperature was 18.6C (+/- .3C). I ran Orthos Stress Prime to get load on the CPU and ran both with throttling enabled as most people would so the CPU would slow down when not under load and run full speed once under load of Stress Prime.

Testing was done in hour intervals, one hour the system was off, then turned on doing nothing but running Windows processes and Anti-Virus for an hour, then for one hour I ran Stress Prime and recorded the results, this was done several times on both machines and the temperatures averaged out.

I ran tests with the laptops on a wooden table and while using the ninja to compare results, to monitor the temperatures I used a new little program I found called Notebook Hardware Control , the temperatures it reported were the same as SpeedFan and FanSpeed. I happen to like NHC now though as it manages and reports everything in one package instead of running multiple programs.

Here are the results from both laptops in separate graphs:

You can see that there is not much of a difference at all when using the Mini Ninja Notebook Cooler, in fact it's not even really worth using it at all in my opinion…

Even adjusting the fans I saw no difference in temperatures.

Summary:

Well, the Vizo Mini Ninja just doesn't do a good job of cooling a laptop, I was happy I had two different laptops for testing to get better comparison and the conclusion was pretty much the same for both laptops, it doesn't work…

I'm surprised by the results of my testing as Vizo normally makes decent products, but I guess not everything can be great…

Well I call them like I see them, the Mini Ninja does have a couple redeeming qualities though but they can't make up for not doing the main function of this product, that is cooling your laptop…

DragonSteelMods gives the Vizo Mini Ninja Notebook Cooler a 1.5 out of 5 score.

Pros:

-Silent

-Lightweight

-Easy to use

-Won't lose USB port with pass-though connection

-Well made

-Adjustable fans

Cons:

-Doesn't cool that well

-USB cable is not very long

I would like to thank Vizo for the chance to review the Mini Ninja Notebook Cooler and for their continued support of DSM.

review# 438