HOLIDAY ITEMS ARE COOL AND KEEP YOU THAT WAY
 Newer designs and technology are making today's portable computers run cooler but if your current model is getting too warm, you may want to consider placing it on Antec's Notebook Cooler. As the name implies, this platform onto which you place your notebook PC is designed to keep it cool. The Notebook Cooler's aluminum surface is mostly composed of air holes through which a continuous supply of air is pumped via its two built-in fans hat draw very little power and barely make a sound at 29.5 decibels. Power comes from your computer's USB port. And you get that port back since the Notebook Cooler has an extra one of those as well. The Notebook Cooler's shape gives you a clear, unrestricted access to any of the ports and devices located on any of your computer's edges. ($39.95)
www.antec-inc.com
Keep a light in your Windows
 Festive colored lights strung across the tree, around the home and the back yard are a symbol of the holiday season. So why not add strings of colored lights to your computer. But instead of merely stringing ordinary lights, why not make it something functional as well. Radio Shack has introduced their line of "Illuminations" USB cables that literally glow with different colors as you plug them into any USB port. Start with a three-pack of the Illumination USB cables ($49.99) that come in electric blue, green and red. The plugs glow at each end of the cable. You can also get an Illuminations Mini 4-Port Hub ($14.99). The small square-shaped hub sports a glowing electric blue dome that accommodates a USB cable on each side. Plug in the different colored glowing USB cables into this hub and let the merriment begin. In fact it looks so cool that you'll leave them attached to your computer throughout the entire year. The cables and the hub support USB 1.1 only, however there is an Illuminations 6-foot blue USB 2.0 cable available ($24.99).
www.radioshack.com
Liquid cooled computer
Keeping a computer cool is one of the secrets to enhancing its longevity as well as its performance. With the fastest processors available, over-clocking that pushes those fastest processors to be even faster, massive amounts of memory and additional performance hardware that makes the video images want to scream, the heat is definitely on. In many cases, adding bigger fans, heat sinks and the like that try and disperse all that added temperature just isn't going to cut it. Enter in liquid cooling. That's right. Liquid cooling. And here you thought that electronic devices and anything wet don't mix. Well they do if you keep them in the same case while maintaining their separation from each other. Most anyone who owns a high-performance car knows that liquids cool things far better than mere airflow. So it stands to reason that if liquid cooling works for horsepower-intensive automotive products, it should work for multi-gigahertz PCs too. And it does.
 Systemax has their new line of Double-X Extreme Gaming PCs for gamers. The systems sport a windowed case through which you see a bright green neon glow that emanates throughout the entire case. Just looking at this speed demon makes you want to sweat. Running through this powerhouse is a liquid-cooled ventilation system that keeps you from frying eggs on this baby. These systems are fully configurable with your choice of optical media drives, RAID systems and lots more. If you're looking to push the computing envelope, these monsters rock. Prices depend on features and options. Check the website for more details.
www.systemaxpc.com |
