Dell has announced an ultraportable laptop with a new technology from Intel that sucks in outside air to keep the system quieter and cooler.
Dell's Vostro V130 is one of the first laptops to incorporate Intel's Hyperbaric cooling technology, which uses an internal fan that draws air into the laptop to keep it from overheating. With most existing designs, the internal fans are used to push hot air out.
The air that's pulled in is channeled toward key components to keep them cool, such as the CPU. The air is drawn in through the left side of the laptop, and the warm air is then expelled out the right.
The system allows the fans to run at lower speeds, which results in a quieter laptop, said Rajiv Mongia, a principal engineer at Intel. It also leads to a cooler laptop, according to Intel, because the cooling system is more efficient.
"By using cold air directly from the outside and then directly blowing across the hot components, you create a more efficient cooling solution. This is because by blowing air across the components, you create more intense convective cooling and often get more cooling flow through the platform," Mongia said.
Intel has not measured the impact of Hyperbaric cooling on the battery lives of laptops, Mongia said.
The laptop is targeted at business users, a Dell spokeswoman said. It has a 13.3-inch screen and weighs 3.5 pounds (0.45 kilograms). It is powered by ultra-low-voltage Core i3 or Core i5 processors from Intel. It has a six-cell battery that offers four-and-a-half hours of battery life, according to Dell.
The laptop has up to 4GB of RAM and up to a 640GB hard drive. It also has an HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) port, 802.11n wireless technology, a 5-in-1 media card reader and a webcam. WiMax broadband and a SIM card slot are optional. It's priced starting at US$429 and is shipping worldwide.