Review - The Targus Chill Mat

The Targus Chill Matt - The Notebook and Laptop Cooler I was recently given a Targus Chill Mat as a present by my other half, mostly to quit my 3-year whine about how hot my 17” Mac PowerBook gets on many an occasion.

My initial concern about the mat being too small was unfounded and not only did the item fit perfectly under the PowerBook, without making it unstable, it also looked great with its slick and shiny silver exterior. Even the black flex of the USB cable that powers the two extremely quiet fans underneath was long enough to stretch to the USB port on either side of the laptop.

The first real litmus test though came almost immediately, when, within 24 hours, I was off traveling with it. I must say I was concerned that it was a little flimsy and the plastic would crack in my luggage as it was shunted around in the taxi, on the train, along the street, up stairs and down stairs, but it wasn’t the mat itself I was worried about when I got it out of my bag at the other end, it was the little black feet that prop up the base of the laptop at the back. They had disappeared!

Much like the feet on the laptop itself that came off almost every time I slid it out of my Acme Made bag, the feet on the chill mat were NOT attached. Much to my chagrin they had come out of their slots. I emptied my bag and ran my fingers around the bottom, but could only find one foot. Alas, the other was nowhere to be seen. What a disaster!

One would have thought that with an item that people are very likely to go traveling with that they would have made a point of securing every single last bit of the it. And so it was that on my return to London I wrote an email to Targus Support Europe who informed me that my Chill Mat was in fact an American-only product and that in fact they could not help me directly. I then wrote to the US support team and got them to forward me new feet.

That aside, I do love the Chill Mat and it certainly does make a difference to the overall temperature of the laptop, though sometimes it still gets warm. I just think Targus could save themselves a lot of unnecessary support and cost by having taken a moment to make the Chill Mat a little better.

If I had to rate the Targus Chill Mat out of 10, I would give it a 7.5. I think it is a great product and for the most part it does work, it is very portable, though clearly bits can fall off and I always have the distinct impression it can squash and break when poorly packed, but overall its a worthwhile addition to my kit and I am glad that I have it.

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