titleAlthough a lot of us are mainly desktop gamers, there will always be a need for being able to compute on the go. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has gone on a trip and lost their power adapter for their laptop, or just had it damaged over time. Some laptops have fairly low power requirements, but a quick glance on the Asus website for example shows laptops having various power requirements from below 65 all the way up to 150 on their highest models. When looking for a replacement notebook power adapter, it’s always a plus when you are able to pick one up that you might be able to use on future devices as well as it having the power to charge your current laptop. Cooler Master has had their NA 65 and NA 90 models, but anything above 90 and you were out of luck. Today they are introducing their NA 120, their highest capacity to date. We are going to take a look and see what we think.

Product Name: Cooler Master NA 120

Review Sample Provided by: Cooler Master

Written by: Wes

Pictures by: Wes


Specifications

Input Voltage

100-240C full range

Input Frequency

50-60 Hz

Output Rating

19Vdc   6.32 A

Efficiency

Up to 88%: meets Energy Star level V

LED Indicator

Blue for power on

Operation Temperature

5-40 C

Protection

OVP / OCP / SCP / OTP

Dimension (L x W x H)

6.57 x 2.56 x 1.46 inch

Weight

0.66 kg / 1.45 lb

usna120 feature_tip



Packaging

It’s really no surprise that the NA 120 from Cooler Master came in a package that is almost entirely purple and white. When just going under the Cooler Master brand and not the storm line most of their product have this distinctive color scheme that no one else uses. This makes it easy to spot their products in a retail environment for example.

image 5

On the front you have a picture of the adapter itself along with a little bit of info in the form of the small purple icons down on the bottom. If you flip the box around you will find more information including the applications list and specifications on one side and a few more pictures on the opposite side. It’s nice that the also include a nice up-close photo of all of the different tips to help give you an idea if it will work with your laptop.

image 6

image 7

Inside you have two boxes as well as a plastic formed tray. The tray holds the adapter itself and then one box stores the power cord and the second box has all of your tips and accessories. Also packed down at the end of one of the boxes was a nice carrying bag for the NA 120 as well.

image 8

image 9

image 11

 


Performance

As I mentioned at the start, every laptop has a minimum requirement for its power adapter to be sure that it will be able to charge while you have your laptop running. Some of today’s ultrabooks require around 65 watts; mid-range and multimedia laptops can be found needing over 90 watts and some gaming laptops require even more up to 120 and 150. This is where the new NA 120 comes in. It has the power to charge almost anything on the market. Of course when it comes to a laptop that only requires 65 watts, the additional wattage isn’t going to help you. This means its best to get an idea of what you need first, or at least what you think you will need in the future. In my case, I love laptops with dedicated GPU’s, so I will need the power both now and in the future.

image 12

image 4

image 3

Because the actual wattage of the NA 120 is only relevant when making sure you have enough power for your laptop. There aren’t any benchmarks that we can do to show a performance increase over stock. Because of that, we have to consider its functionality more than anything else. For that we really have a lot less to work with than with past models from Cooler Master. With the low wattage models we saw slim designs that have built in USB plugs and even built in holders for the cords. In this case, the NA 120 is more of a replacement for a large wattage charger than an improvement. That’s not to say that it isn’t a little smaller than most high wattage laptop power supplies, but it is still much larger than what we have come to expect with their adapters. On top of that there isn’t a built in USB port, something I was very excited about.

image 1

Still, the selection of different charging tips is a great feature in itself. Unlike your standard charger, you can use this on nearly every laptop on the market just by swapping out a small plug. Because Cooler Master included a carrying bag you shouldn’t have any issues with the different tips vanishing. They also included a Velcro scrap to keep the wiring contained when you pack it all up. I found that strap to be more than long enough to be able to include the power cord as well.

image 2

image 10

The power indicator light on the NA 120 is a bright blue to show you that it is plugged in. Unlike past Cooler Master Models though, it doesn't change colors when its actually charging. I’m not sure why this useful functionality would vanish.

 


Overall

When Cooler Master first sent me the NA 120, I was excited that I would finally get my hands on one of their thin designs with a built in cord wrap and USB charging ports that actually had the power to power the high power laptops that I generally own. I would be lying if I didn’t say I was a little disappointed with the NA 120. The most interesting features of their past models were lacking from the NA 120, as it turns out this is completely due to legal issue with this functionality. This issue isn't limited just to Cooler Master of course. That’s not to say that the NA 120 is a bad product at all, far from it. It performed perfectly in our testing and its additional wattage mean it will work with nearly anything. I was more disappointed in the lack of features to make the NA 120 stand out. This is essentially a perfect replacement charger but no more than that.

Of course all of that is without taking into account its price. Cooler Master is listing the NA 120 at $59.99, an extremely low price considering that is the price range you would normally find lower wattage models. When taking the price into account, it’s easy to see why the NA 120 lacks in features. When looking for a replacement charger you may be able to find something similar in price on eBay, but if given the choice would you pick from a no named brand over Cooler Master? I think not!

fv2recomended

Author Bio
garfi3ld
Author: garfi3ldWebsite: http://lanoc.org
Editor-in-chief
You might call him obsessed or just a hardcore geek. Wes's obsession with gaming hardware and gadgets isn't anything new, he could be found taking things apart even as a child. When not poking around in PC's he can be found playing League of Legends, Awesomenauts, or Civilization 5 or watching a wide variety of TV shows and Movies. A car guy at heart, the same things that draw him into tweaking cars apply when building good looking fast computers. If you are interested in writing for Wes here at LanOC you can reach out to him directly using our contact form.

Log in to comment

We have 1759 guests and no members online

supportus