Discussions

Electronics + water historically don’t mix well.  Nevertheless, liquid cooling may hold the key to maximizing power on notebooks by using an external radiator to cool over-clocked parts.  What if you could take your current notebook and increase the clock speed just by sitting it on a new cradle on your desk?  That’s what I’m selling!  Correction: what I want Asus to sell to me anyway.

Externalizing notebook upgrades with a water-cooled dock

It is a simple but powerful idea: Instead of being limited to squeezing stuff notebook into a chassis (which is difficult and crowded to service) we would buy a dock to extend it’s performance.  Imagine being able to turn a lightweight portable PC into a beastly computer capable of gaming, HD video, and whatever else you could throw at it just by setting it down on a cradle to power up, then undock to power back down to a practical computer without having to lug a massive gaming rig at all times.

The docking bay would be a simple device future-proofing device that basically did two things:

(1)  Add power. Internal components on the PC could run hotter (when safely over-clocked) if water cooled through hollow entry points of contact that allow the external radiator to absorb the heat, so higher clock speeds would be possible without weird part swapping.

(2)  The docking station could contain additional GPU’s, hard drives, or bays to extend the multimedia capabilities and ease of use with your entertainment center.  When you’re not using it, you can leave it behind and shed the fat, just like this gamer docking bay concept.

Water-cooled laptops: faster, quieter, and misunderstood

Like broccoli, water-cooling has a bad rep.  Many think the concept is an electrical disaster waiting to happen because common sense tells us that water and electronics simply should not mix.  Then again, we need look no further than our high voltage refrigerators and central air conditioners to see how safe and practical the marriage of motors, electricity, and liquid can enhance a device’s cooling abilities.  Nobody’s getting shocked while reaching for lettuce or their thermostat. 

Still, water cooling does have its cons. Computer fans and heat sinks are cheaper and work for years without the need for any kind maintenance (however noisy) so the cost of the PC goes up.  There’s also the possibility that a coolant can leak, so a user must periodically check the water and pumps. So, why bother?

Noiseless computing & powerful performance for those who dare

No fans. No blowers.  Being able to steal heat from the CPU, memory, bridge, and graphics processor without the noise of fans allows PC components to clock in at faster speeds, which is why gamers love this tech so dearly.  Obviously, if you combine this passive cooling technology with active (fans) you can push hardware even further, but such measures will quickly result in bulk too cumbersome to carry.  Gamers and geeks may be more inclined to find a radiator outside of their computer “cool looking” than your average person, so how do we leverage this powerful technology without making everyone haul around the Asus Frankencomputer? 

I believe the answer is the dock. It would be no stranger than the giant rectangle that silently sits under most monitors already, and it would greatly enrich the investment and lifecycle of the difficult to upgrade notebook.

Ideas around the WePC community on this topic

Some cool ones have already been submitted.  A few of my favorites include:

Less is more. The description for the Tiny Computer with Gaming Docking by MadS is so short it could be Tweeted, but the idea is huge.

The multiple docking system by ddennisdlmd:  A highly portable notebook at the core with various cradle options, including a gaming cradle that adds peripheral or more clock speed/power/speaker juice.  It also begs the question: Why can’t an overclocked watercooled dock also be wireless so we’re never anywhere near the heat?

The ViZion concept: A no-fuss computer with lean interiors to make room for speed essentials and room for the water cooling to keep it cool and quiet.

The EXTREME XD by Dtoid_Mix is a value-priced notebook with an external GPU option for future proofing. The inventor imagines a modest to high-end processor while also acknowledging that some of us might want that 3.8 GHz watercooled boost.

Do over-clocking and docking accessories interest you? 

Asus is genuinely interested in hearing your feedback about water cooling, docking stations, and factory-overclocked performance tweaking.  If this is is relevant to your interests or if you have an idea/concept you’d like to share, sound off in the comments below!