Desperate times call for desperate measures, and while we can't say with any level of certainty that
Microsoft Hardware engineers weren't toiling away on this laptop cooling stand back in the heyday that was 2005, we highly doubt that's the case. For whatever reason, Microsoft is boldly entering a new category of accessories with the introduction of the USB-powered Notebook Cooling Base, which sports a built-in fan and cooling channel to prevent overheating. The whole thing is just 1.16 inches thick, and there's even a cable management clip if you find yourself in need. In somewhat related news, we're also being greeted by a new Special Edition line of
Arc Mouses (mice?), which arrive in frost white, eggplant purple, deep olive green and marine blue. As for pricing, you can expect the breezy pad to land this July for $29.95, while the critters are available later this month for $49.95 a pop.
posted Mar 10th 2009 9:19AM
Kinda like the Belkin I'm using now. Oddly enough it looks like it might look good with my white MacBook. I might pick one up when they come out. I love MS hardware for the most part.
indeed. their mice are immortal.
I'm still using an old Optical Blue from the week it was released, and its the best gaming mouse money can buy.
Whatever happened to Intel's External Chilled Air Docking Station?
All your laptop base are belong to us!
I'd say go for it, but why do many of these things have such a small fan? I use one myself, but the fan is like 14mm. Does their fan spin twice as fast? (Noise)
wow, welcome to last year. MS this is horrible....you have joined the ranks of Targus and Belkin....
Not really, they just wanna help people stuck with overheating macbook and macbook pro...
"Targus and Belkin" and Logitech - This isn't new. They've had a nice little accessories line for a decade, with broad cross-platform support.
Only one fan?
Exactly what I was thinking. Not to mention it's a small fan. Mine has 4 and can supposedly (when new), move 40 cfm of air. I don't think this could possibly move much air at all.
It's one fan and most laptops have only RAM or a network card in that position.
Jesus... what's happening? Where did all this extra heat come from?
I'm too afraid of purchasing a wristwatch in 2015 because it might overheat and blow my hand off.
Jesus has declined to answer you. Also, stop buying your wristwatches from the fleamarket. Everything from there explodes eventually.
please do not awaken me from the boredom induced coma until this device appears on clearance racks everywhere!
If this has the same cooling capabilities of the Xbox 360 Fans - I HIGHLY recommend against this purchase!
Irony plays a part in this one, wasn't Microsoft the same company the produced the 360 which ahs some over heating issues of its own, haha
What is more ironic is Microsoft is producing a device similar to those third party coolers for the 360 that they claim voids the 360s warranty. WTF
@ Tarnation:
I think that Microsoft has every right to deny repairing your console if you use one which draws power directly from the power supply. The 360 operates VERY closely to the capacity of the power brick, and you've got a device which is drawing power from it BEFORE it ever reaches the console (the Nyko Intercooler). If you were dumb enough to use that particular intercooler then you deserve to have your warranty voided.
Now, is this "Vista Capable" or "Vista Ready"?
Both Global Warming Capable and Global Warming Ready.
it looks like the belkin cooling pad... wth microsoft.
If you need this, you bought the wrong laptop.
Let me stand on my knees and blow you! I Couldn't agree more.
@buttman
Dude that's just disgusting.
The word you're looking for is kneel.
I would assume as a blogger you know it is mice and not mouses, in which case i don't get the deliberate mis-use?
Yeah I was wondering about that myself. Wth Engadget? I know this is just a blog and I don't expect National Geographic quality articles, or even proper punctuation, but plural of "mouse" is "mice", not mouses, even if we're talking about the device and not the mammal. (I'm not usually a grammar nazi but this really struck me as weird.)
When talking about the plural of a computer mouse "mouses" is acceptable. :)
Ok so ive done a flip, at first i thought that was bad blogging based on sloppy knowledge of english. Now ive just done a bit of reading and what would you know, its actually a debated term. "Mice" was coined for the animal and as such as a computer mouse is different it is debated wether it should share the same term. So engadgets "...of Arc Mouses (mice?)" i can only assume is a reference to the fact that niether term is officially correct. Kudos Mr Murph, verry suttle.
more info (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_plural_of_'mouse'_on_a_computer)
According to the Oxford English dictionary, [computer] mouses is actually taken as correct!
Maybe this will prevent the overheating on the 17" Macbook Pro's.
Nope, that would would only come from Apple cost $99.99, have its own proprietary power connector and only work with the latest MBPs
kal - except that would mean having to admit they made a mistake in the first place. yeah right!
You guys are all idiots. It's obviously meant to double as a space heater, duh!
@sinai- no they wouldn't; GoNintendo was right, the heat from macbooks is a FEATURE. The Apple $100 iCoolport is ANOTHER FEATURE which allows you to control the amount of space heat your MB creates. It is recommended for everyone wishing to be attractive / maintain their attractiveness.
I wonder this would feel like if someone happened to sit on it.
^ add "what" between wonder and this. :(
This would be good if SGI made it, not these joke companies like MS and Apple.
Apple should bundle this with their new not-so-cool 17 inch macbook pro.
I wouldn't trust MS's cooling solution.
They can't even cool their own hardware.
I do not believe Darren Murph is the best person to report Microsoft news.
I could really use this for my MacBook Pro.
My sister has a red arc mouse and I really like it. They are not too expensive at Sam's now.
Your sister definitely wants a red sanitary napkin
Melting MacBook? Microsoft to the rescue!
OK, so much about Windows 7 not being resource hungry! Does it come standard with the install disk?!
will my 360 fit on this?
personally, i just find this article's wording hilarious.
Eggplant purple?! Not exactly one of the more attractive adjectives in the book...
What Microsoft needs to do is re-release its line of trackballs from a few years ago. They're fetching inordinate amounts on eBay and Amazon Marketplace. I wonder why they stopped making them; good balls. So to speak.
Does this mean it's safe to operate a xbox360 in a tilted position?
Wonder if I could reverse this to heat my coffee?
I'm still waiting for Microsoft to release a USB-powered cooling necktie.
Yes Darren mice, it's a plural of mouse. Writers these days eh ?
50 comments for a cooling pad.
And there are more expensive, such some "cooling pad" developer for macbookpro that literally are only a piece of blended aluminum.. and cost over $50
does it plug into xbox360?
This is needed for all those times that Winduhz takes over your CPU for an hour straight attempting to "index" your hard drive, even after you've tried every trick in the book to disable it. And it's intermittent. Explorer (Windows, not Internet) truly sucks....
I can always _hear_ when Windows is indexing on my desktop 'cos it takes over 50% of a dual-quad-core and the PS fan has to kick into high gear just to keep up!
This'll be the first Microsoft product that fails to suck.
I don't think that these cooling bases do as much as people thing they do.
Screw this, they should be working on new Zunes! The current model of Zunes were great.. a year and a half ago. The whole product has gone stale, especially since Apple released the current generations of iPods, makes the Zunes look like crap. This is bs, where are the next gen Zunes?
Not a bad idea by microsoft, they could really help out HP and DELL with all of their over-heated laptops! Good affordable price too WOW! i bet apple would sell this for like $200 since money is their main concern and not the satisfaction of the costumers
All laptops have the same design fault. The cooling port is blocked off by lap, pillow, rug etc. Cooling Stands help, but not because of their fans. The small "centrifugal fans" necessarily suck in their centre and blow on their perimeter. The CPU fan sucks air from directly beneath up into the laptop and out the sides. A Cooling Stand fan sucks down and sideways from the same space the laptop is trying to suck up. This doesn't help. It takes power and makes noise. However the Stand does solve the real problem but doesn't need the fan to do it. It conveniently and cheaply makes sure the normal laptop cooling air passage is not impeded.
Here's a solution with hobby store materials.
hahyonhwatha
http://1journey.net/1candle/cp/cooling.htm