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Netbooks Need Cooling Too

At COMPUTEX Taipei 2008, we were offered our first glimpse at Choiix notebook accessories. The brand would be an off-shoot from parent company Cooler Master, offering a range of fashionable laptop accessories. The Air-Through was announced at that time, largely targeted at owners of thin and light laptops like the MacBook Air. It offered active cooling by way of a couple of fans and it also had a USB hub to give the Air a little more functionality.

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At CES 2009, Choiix expanded on this philosophy by revealing the Mini Air-Through. The design itself is very similar, except everything has been scaled down to accommodate netbooks of seven to ten-inches in size. There is only one fan here and the USB hub has been relocated to the more angled back, but it’s functionally the same. That’s a good thing. The Mini Air-Through is one of the very few cooling pads out there catering to the netbook market.

Always Bet on Black

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In like manner, the original Choiix Air-Through was only offered in a plain white and gray color scheme. This was supposed to be in line with the color scheme that you’d find with a MacBook or a MacBook Air. Well, not everyone wants a white cooling pad. In the immortal words of Wesley Snipes (Passenger 57), “Let me give you a word of advice. Always bet on black!”

Apple users and other notebook owners told Choiix that they wanted a black version of the Air-Through, so Choiix followed up by creating the darker variant. Personally, I think the black edition looks a lot better.

Zipping Through Airport Security

When travelling as a techie, it can be a pain having to take out your laptop every time you need to pass through airport security. Not only is this process inconvenient, it also presents an unfortunate opportunity for your precious notebook to get scratched or damaged. The recently updated TSA regulations provide specifications wherein you can use a properly designed laptop bag to get through security without removing the notebook. Recently, we reviewed a bag from the folks at Tom Bihn called the Checkpoint Flyer that met these regulations. However, the high-end price made it only practical for frequent flyers. Targus answers the need for more frugal bags.

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One of the entries from Targus in this market is the new Venture. This bag, available in both backpack and topload styles, will fit notebooks as large as 15.6-inches and it expedites your airport security experience by way of the Zip-Thru design. The laptop is isolated on one side of the case, whereas the other side is used to store the rest of your goodies. The “Checkpoint Friendly” Venture Backpack is $100 whereas the Venture Topload is $80.


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