Saturday, September 28, 2013

Cooling Pad DeepCool N200 - Review

Okay so you have Laptop/Notebook/Ultrabook connected with power supply with or without, with other accessories connected with them either the mouse, external hard drives or so many other gadgets, well, might be!!! Now a days, laptop is an essential part in everyone's life and within homes or small offices, at least one laptop exists in their house hold items. It might be possible that particular person having more than one laptop, which they're running continuously throughout the day and then the picture starts! Well, means laptop getting hot as more number of hours you're using it. Every laptop at some point definitely gets heated - some heated a lot and some not that much but more or less it gets heated at some level of degree. Laptop/Notebook/Ultrabook got spinnable Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or Solid State Drive (SSD) and of course it got other important parts like RAM which too get heated.

Well, all these parts at some extent, getting heated is alright but our ultimate goal, always is getting the laptop cool at its best so you can juice out max from your lovely laptops/Ultrabooks. It is true that every laptop has an exhaust fan, or more number of fans which can cool down the laptop's temperature at minimum level. Still if you run the laptop for a full day, from morning till of late night, and believe me I'm also one of that person which very constantly and continuously running laptop all the day and dark late nights and even sometimes not switching off my lappy for whole two or three days, and here the temperature is rising of your laptop. As a solution, what is it? What we can do to reduce the heat/temp of our precious Hard Disk Drives, RAMs and other components which is specially the Battery?

DeepCool_N200
Worry not, we have a solution and the name is Cooling Pad which can definitely have a superb option to reduce down the temperature and putting your laptop in a cooling mode, well, at least it is a reasonable & vital option to reduce down the temp at some level. And your laptop's life can be extended from few years to even more, from one component's life to so many other components.

HDD or SSD is an essential part in any laptop along with Battery. While charging, at some point, Battery also got heated and when Battery matter comes, you try to minimize the temperature as much as you can. Though, it also depends on Battery's Li-ion's chemistry or other Battery chemistry like Li-polymer. Most of the laptop's having Li-ion chemistry and for Li-ion, more cool the battery is, their life, more durability of your battery.

Regarding the Hard disk and your valuable data which are within the hard drive, it is obvious that when you switch on your computer, the hard disk starts rotating till you switch it off your lappy. Cooling pad is the best solution in present day and there are numerous  cooling pad available in the market. One can definitely extend the laptop's life and other components of course by buying the finest cooling pad.



I bought the Deep Cool Cooling Pad and till this day of writing its review, it's been almost a year so I can tell you exactly how good it is, as per the laptop wise as well as the Deep Cool's own experience for me and why we need it. 






I bought the cooling pad from Flipkart website and first point in my mind was not too much expensive that I wanted to buy as well as having comparatively good in specs. Back in there, I'm also having HP laptop, which is 7 yr old baby and I've used that laptop (till now as well) in all the situations, conditions from using on over especially bed, table, pillows and all possible places and because of all these places I learnt that using on over bed, pillow and other places where laptop's back has been covered, it is really a bad idea. Believe me, you don't want to use your lappy in those conditions! Because it literally covers the whole back side of your lappy and which results totally jammed up the hot air which wanted to come out and also because laptop wanted to be cool, inside the circuit boards with all components as well as HDDs, RAMs and especially the battery. Cooling pad is really a fantastic piece of equipment which only doesn't provide a good stand, but a real flat mode in which laptop can really breathe very well along with it gives the laptop in cooling mode as much as possible.



Deepcool cooling pad gets power through one of your laptop's USB port. Though my laptop (Samsung) has only USB 2.0 specification types, it runs very smoothly. Needless to say till this time writing of this review, my lappy is right sitting on Deep Cool cooling pad very comfortably. The model which I bought is DeepCool N200 and fitted perfectly with my 14" lappy. In addition it can also fitted very well with 15". For 17" lappy it might struggle, but for 14" models it is perfectly suited.








While looking at DeepCool, it is a simple straight design with plasticy element as well as Aluminum mesh. The place where you place your laptop, it got covered with Aluminum mesh and below that there's one fan exists. The fan is of 120mm in its width and rotates at 1000 RPM (Rotation Per Minute) using your laptop's USB port. Upon taking the cooling pad in your hand, not too heavy, particularly having weight of 589g which is not much of the heavy weight. You can easily move your lappy along with cooling pad from one place to another with ease. Rest area are made of plastic material, beneath having rubberized points which protects your laptop to slip over accidentally. It places perfectly on tiles and on tables and won't move while you work on your laptop.



The N200 model connects with your laptop's one of the USB port and it doesn't require any additional power port. Some cooling pad comes in such a design that you don't have to sacrifice your USB port which is already connected with cooling pad. So, at the same time you can use your cooling pad running on as well as mouse or pen drive or any USB related stuffs. These kinda models you want badly when you will be using too much of your USB ports, though they are a bit expensive as well compare to this N200. This N200 model dedicatedly occupies one of your USB port.








I got the 1 year warranty from DeepCool while purchasing from online store Flipkart. However, I haven't face any of the problem while using it all along the whole day till of 1 year. It is perfectly alright which has ergonomic angles for typing longer hours. It got anti-slip mechanism which place the laptop in a very comfortable position without fearing it will slip over while you type or work on your laptop. The fan is not at all noisy and in technical terms Noise level is 22.7 dBA; in practically you won't be able to hear the fan sound when fan is rotating at its speed. The fan got rear side ventilation so you don't need to worry when you place your lappy over bed or table.

There are numerous cooling pad available over online as well as over offline stores. Some of the cooling pad which has got different fans available, you can move those fans as per your needs depending on laptop's HDD where it is situated; you can move fan placing to make cool of your components in possible ways! Though these kinda models costs you a bit more than normal single fan type. When it comes to quality and with respect to your laptop's life, you definitely want to consider the best one. The DeepCool which I bought, having not much expensive and suffice your needs in a very reasonable pricing and definitely if someone is considering this model, they can sure to go with this model.

Whatever the model you purchase, its sure that your laptop's back side will have flatten surface upon which you gonna place your lappy, and you will be able to reduce down temperature at some point. It is true that every lappy has different designs with respect to where OEM place Hard Disk, RAM. As per your lappy's design you can have a look over online stores and you can have flat surface cooling pad which you can also use over your bed, pillow and of course on your table. I'm so sure once you purchase the cooling pad of your choice for your laptop, to reduce down your laptop's temperature, HDD and all valuable data, you won't regret! Go for it!

Any comments or suggestions or feedbacks are most welcome! Cheers!

Saturday, September 07, 2013

SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 4 GB & 16 GB - A Smashing Product by SanDisk-Detailed Review

SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 4 GB
The SanDisk products are always been better and especially when it comes in the area of USB pen drives, MicroSD Cards as well as Hard drives. I've bought a lot of products of SanDisk and believe me, there's a time when I even didn't know how's SanDisk products are; ordered the SanDisk products, using it till now and yes all are performing beautifully and the experience, for me till now is amazing one, brilliant piece with such a great quality at par!

There's little late for giving review for this Titanium Pen drive. Well, it got everything, from A to Z and I'm giving 9.5 points out of 10!!! And yes, people also says, while reviewing the product if you have used it extensively and thoroughly, that's even better because you would be knowing each and every details to pen down about the product.

So starting of it, I bought this SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 4 Gig of version in November 2007 and still in August 2013 I'm using it without having an inch of a problem. Works very well with all computers in all of the operating systems like WinXP, WinVista, Linux, Mac and yes performing very well in latest OS of Microsoft Windows 7. Earlier, SanDisk used to provide U3 application which is a portable application. They are especially useful where you can run apps/software installed on your pen drive and run the program directly from pen drive without needing to install it on any computer. Few of the applications were already pre-installed like Portable Firefox browser, few games, Notepad like stuffs such as Evernote and few others. Back in UK, in our University in library we have had some restrictions to use few softwares and at that time U3 applications helped a lot, and yes, also played few games when I was tired during my research! Now, in 2013, the SanDisk has stopped providing U3 or any portable application, instead they are providing Memory Vault in which you can keep your confidential data by protecting the password and I personally think it is a great feature. But if you compare it with U3, I guess U3 wins, however, both software have their own advantages and own drawbacks.

Ultimately, you'll love this product with or without U3 application. Nowadays, almost all computers have Chrome browser, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Office and some basic applications installed which you will be needing in a day-to-day tasks and normal usage of computers. With U3 application installed on your drive, there are chances that virus might attack and all of the program, your personal data also got virus affected. To make the drive at its best performer remove U3 and use it.

 Regarding read/write speed, it actually gives the 18/9 MByte/s respectively. I've tested the drive using the popular application "H2Testw" and "CrystalDiskMark" and speed falls down in reading area of 17 to 18 MByte/s, writing area 8.9 to 9 MByte/s. Even in the sequential read/write speed, the result throws almost the same figure. The 4 Gig version of the SanDisk made hit in the market and all over the world and its very very successful and which is why they've released another 8 Gig and 16 Gig as well as 32 Gig version, however they're quite expensive (32 GB one) and I already bought my 16 GB in a very reasonable price, actually one of the lowest price from my favourite shop Amazon.co.uk !!!

Look wise, it is the real star and gem and it is incredibly tough though. The name Titanium which they have given for this USB drive, made of liquid metal and exceptionally strong one which can sustain very heavy weight, as well as rough usage. The pen drive is usually in my pocket all the time with few coins and other stuff but still performing at their best. Moreover, there's no need to worry about cap or anything like that. The capless version is really helpful; the design is kinda swipe in and out and which I really love it. While inserting you can see the blue LED blinks and for me, there's no problem as you can see that activity is going on while you work directly from the pen drive such as working on few documents, or watching movies directly from pen drive.


The newer version which I got, of 16 Gig, they've improved design wise as well as integral chip. Upon inserting, you can see the orange light instead of blue one in 4 Gig version. Also, you can note that light acts as it is breathing. If you are working directly from the pen drive, then orange light blinks continuously, which is an update from SanDisk in the new Chip design. Touching the pen drive gives you a bit of smooth feel as you can see its body is literally shining compare to the 4 Gig version where the surface of the pen drive is bit of rough and not so shiny at all. You can see the pictures of both 4 Gig and 16 Gig versions which I personally captured it and posted in here for better idea.


The 4 Gig version gives you the total capacity of 3.82 GB in FAT32 file system whereas 16 Gig version gives you the total available memory of 14.9 GB in FAT32. Within Windows there are 4 file types that you can use - FAT, FAT32, NTFS and exFAT. Each having their own profit & loss. By default in my 4 GB SanDisk pen drive having FAT32 file system. FAT32 can store the data of file size up to 4 GB. If single file size is having more than 4 GB, than you cannot keep the particular file in your pen drive whose have FAT32 file system. However, the 4 GB doesn't make any sense of this 4 GB FAT32 system rule as it is obvious that you are not going keep a single file of 4 GB because of its total available space is only 3.82 GB. Yes, if you have 16 GB, then you definitely not gonna hold the single file/data of 4 GB. And if you want to store the file, then only NTFS file system you'll require to choose.

NTFS is New Technology File System and in most of the windows based machines, the hard drive file types is NTFS only. Though if you choose NTFS, a bit of total capacity gonna reduce.  Comparing with FAT32 vs NTFS, the NTFS file system sure wins in respect of storing data as well as reliability point of view. 

FAT32 is very popular file system and now a days, the pen drive cost is highly inexpensive. I mean if someone who's having Laptop or PC and not owning pen drive, then it is a strange thing for sure, at least for me! USB port is available everywhere from computer system to stand alone players, LCD & LED TVs, DVD players and many others. These all stand alone systems mostly use FAT32 file system where you plug the pen drive and off you go to watch or hear any songs! Now technology is improving and current players can now able to read the NTFS file system as well. For example, some of the Samsung, Sony and even Toshiba LED TVs can read NTFS file system appropriately. Even if you connect the Hard drive of 250 GB or 500 GB file size, these TVs or players can read it appropriately without any error and perform the task very well.

I still remember when I used my SanDisk 4 GB pen drive in my car (the Pioneer audio system), the car system automatically able to play all the songs. For test purpose, I made my 4 gig pen drive to NTFS system and car system thrown an error. That means, some standalone players won't be able to support NTFS system. Technology is moving forward and highly flexible too. Presently the standalone players, TVs, Blu-ray players, HDD based players can all read NTFS system easily and by that means you can save a lot of money too!

As per my point of view, if you have more number of pen drives, you can made one of the pen drive to NTFS system in which data is quite reliable and access speed also matters a bit. However, you should eject your pen drive each and every time when you are going to pull from your computer's USB port else there are chances to either corrupt the files or might be some files won't be able to save properly in your drive. Though, in FAT32 the same action is recommended-eject the drive properly and legally else data would be gone or corrupt! The better you do so, the better the data of yours and longer the life of your pen drive!

SanDisk also offers to product registration over online on their site either you've purchased pen drive, memory card or HDD which gives you warranty and other details. You will required to write down the Serial number of your product, on which date you have purchased and from where you have bought it and it automatically identifies the warranty and other details after you select the appropriate category. In case, if the product is faulty or any kind of error you found, through RMA process you can get new one or either get repaired. In addition you have support of their forum as well which provides any queries and their solutions if you have over their online forums. I think that's the nice move by SanDisk! Some people have purchased the very earlier products, which are in fact a great in terms of quality and after registering over online SanDisk can give you lifetime Warranty-again a fantastic and brilliant work!

Right now in 2013, if you're planning to buy "Titanium" only model, either 4 GB or 8 or 16 GB, it is not available. Still, there are chances that you can get the "Titanium" model either from SanDisk's own store (US region) or from Amazon.com or if you're lucky then you can also get it from eBay.com. While buying from eBay, check the seller's reputation and other details! And with case of Amazon, it is always better product, but there are chances that you will get the product in bulk packaging instead of retail packing.

SanDisk is really putting effort towards their products and that's why it got a legendary name in Memory market. Although, it is also true that presently SanDisk is not manufacturing Titanium kind of products or products that they already made earlier, better quality of materials you might not able to find in today's products. But yes, you've your data in a piece of mind guaranteed which resides in your SanDisk pen drive and I believe that's the first thing that you will look for and which SanDisk definitely has! If you wanted the real deal with pure satisfaction, as per me, instead of putting money on other brands, just don't go.... close your eyes and always go for SanDisk. In the case of Titanium, in plain simple words, it is a sure hit and amazing product! A real star with Ultimate performance.