Asetek has developed a liquid cooling system that can be applied to laptops, much like data centers are being cooled. Most laptops use air to keep the central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) cool. The problem with air cooling is that its noisy and inefficient. In contrast, liquid cooling is virtually silent and extremely efficient. However, liquid cooling systems need a coolant reservoir, which requires space and adds weight – two things you don’t really want in a business notebook, but sacrifices that mobile gamers might be prepared to make. Asetek’s prototype fits into an Alienware M18x, where it cools an Intel Core i7 overclocked to 3.5GHz and a pair of AMD Radeon HD 6990M graphics cards. This replaces three separate cooling systems. The laptop still needs fans, but its fans run slower and quieter, while benchmarking “showed performance increases ranging from 18-23% across the board.” There is no word when or if Asetek will start manufacturing these cooling systems, but given the stated performance increases we will probably see the technology find its way into something in the not too distant future.