Ultrabooks Attracting Unpopular Fans
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Intel's Ultrabook initiative might have been met with early skepticism, some of which still remains, but by and large, the light and powerful form factor is proving popular. It's also creating demand for small size components that can be squeezed into a pancake thin frame. As time goes on, expect to see Ultrabook models start to adopt 4mm micro fans that were originally developed for the handset market.
Citing sources entrenched in the cooling fan game, DigiTimes reports Acer's second generation Aspire S5 Ultrabook will rely on 4mm micro fans to keep its insides nice and chilly, or at least from burning up. Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and LG have all shown interest in using micro fans as well.
Those who develop cooling fans tell DigiTimes that 4mm is as thin as it gets with current technology, and while they were originally intended for handsets,4mm fans are a bit too loud for devices designed to sit up next a person's ear. That problem doesn't exist with Ultrabooks, which currently use 5.5mm or 7mm fans, depending on the model.
Switching to 4mm micro fans will drive up costs, though not by much. A typical fan used in today's Ultrabooks runs about $1.15 to $1.20, whereas 4mm micro fans can cost around $1.60 to $1.70.
Image Credit: Jaro Thermal
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Wingzero_x
February 22, 2012 at 2:26am
How about just running an OS that doesn't run a lot of unnecessary processes in the background?
doggitydogs
February 21, 2012 at 5:01pm
A 4mm fan couldn't possibly do anything useful, considering that that is less than a fourth of the diameter of a dime.
I've never really paid attention to the size of case fans (I just buy what size the manual tells me to), but I assume that the number of millimeters (80, 120, etc.) is an approximate measurement of either the diameter or the radius of the fan. The article states that the current fans used are 5.5 or 7 mm, and that still seems ridiculously useless to me - a spinning piece of plastic the size of my thumbnail doesn't seem like it's going to do much to cool down a 13-inch laptop.
dgrmouse
February 21, 2012 at 6:57pm
After reading, I infer that the author was referring to the depth of the fans where you're talking about their width or height (normal to the fan's axis). There's a pretty vast difference between the two.
doggitydogs
February 22, 2012 at 8:27am
I certainly hope so; I am certainly aware that there is a difference, and that it seems like the author might be talking about depth, but saying "120mm fan" always implies a fan with a diameter of 120mm, saying "80mm fan" always implies a fan with a diameter of 80mm, et cetera.
I think these are probably 20mm fans that are 4mm in depth, and these are just extremely poor editorial skills, rather than 4mm fans.
aarcane
February 21, 2012 at 4:27pm
Perhaps a Peltier plate or a TEC would result in better performance. Both ION Cannons and Water cooling are candidates, but have too many potential side-effects. An Ion Cannon can only function as an exhaust fan, and leads to a highly charged environment not conducive to electronics, whereas a fluid system would potentially leak, and still have huge exhaust requirements. a nice Peltier would simply transfer heat to the chassis and away from heat producing components such as RAM, CPU, and NAND flash.
Typo91
February 21, 2012 at 8:18am
I just googled that and found a picture of one next to a nickle. HOly cow those are small! how could a fan that tiny really stand up to a long period of use?? one good chunk of dust would seem to clog it, hope those ultra books use a filter or something.
I know from experience that laptop fans arn't the best, and mostly they dont take much abuse or dust well.
Why dont they have some kinda of charged ion flow fan for electronics yet... like that cool Ionic Flow air filter.
Better yet make the fans pop in and out like a battery. There is no way a 4mm fan will last the life of the device.
Damnlogin
February 21, 2012 at 8:43am
Nice idea but i think they should use some sort of water cooling method. Water cooling may add too much weight and cost too much though :/
Ghok
February 21, 2012 at 9:40am
Be sure not to mention to an airport security screener that your laptop is watercooled. :P
Peanut Fox
February 21, 2012 at 9:18am
There is also space constrictions with water cooling when you consider running tubing. Although if someone wants to consider flat tubing I'm sure there could be something to be had in that.
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