Dell’s new laptop cooling system sucks

Barry Collins Read more November 30, 2010

Dell has introduced a new “Hyperbaric” cooling system on its latest range of Vostro laptops.

The Intel-designed system sucks cool air into the laptop instead of blowing hot air out, as is normally the case. The air is sucked in on the left-hand side of the laptop, passes over key components such as the CPU, and is then expelled from the right-hand side of the machine.

Dell claims its 13in Vostro V130 laptop is the “first ultra-thin laptop” to offer the Hyperbaric cooling.

This is because by blowing air across the components, you create more intense convective cooling and often get more cooling flow through the platform

Intel says the new cooling system is more effective than traditional fans, and will help keep components cooler and reduce fan noise. “By using cold air directly from the outside and then directly blowing across the hot components, you create a more efficient cooling solution,” Intel’s principal engineer, Rajiv Mongia, told Yahoo News.

“This is because by blowing air across the components, you create more intense convective cooling and often get more cooling flow through the platform.”

The lightweight (0.45kg) laptop will be powered by either ultra-low voltage Core i3 or Core i5 processors, and support up to 4GB of RAM and 640GB of hard disk storage.

Dell UK didn’t seem to have updated to the latest spec at the time of publication, but the Vostro V130 will be available worldwide.