Having unwrapped the NotePal ErgoStand the first thing you'll notice on the front is just how much of it really is mesh – giving a good view of the 11-bladed fan lurking beneath. There are four large rubber pads in the corners of the meshed area to give good grip on just about any sized laptop, and at the bottom you can see the two slots where the 'props' (as Cooler Master calls the anti-skid holders) are inserted. The 'props' can be adjusted left and right not only to allow for holding the wide variety of sized laptops supported here, but also so that you can access any front I/O connectors your particular laptop may have – a nice touch which shows the level of thought that has gone into this design. Finishing the look off is a nice small Cooler Master badge at bottom left.
From the rear of the unit the sheer size of the fan is even more apparent, with the aerodynamically designed air intake taking up a fair amount of the available space. There are two cable tidying clips to the sides and just above the air intake, which are another very thoughtfully provided feature allowing for cabling running behind the unit to be kept nice and tidy, and there are also a pair of rubber feet positioned near the bottom of the unit for maximum grip on whatever surface you have the NotePal ErgoStand on.
To the left side of the NotePal ErgoStand and recessed just underneath the surface are the power switch, power led, variable fan speed control and optional DC power input. The variable fan speed control will take the fan from 700rpm at it's slowest all the way up to 1400rpm at it's fastest. The controls all feel solid and well made, reinforcing those earlier first impressions that this is a quality device.
To the right side is the Mini-USB which is the power input connector, and also a 4-port USB 2.0 hub which is of course fully backward compatible with the USB 1.1 specification. The User Guide does state that if you are using too many USB devices it is of course possible that the Mini-USB power input will not be able to provide enough power for all the attached devices, and hence that you should attach a seperate 5v DC power source to the left-hand side connector and that this connector needs to be of the following specification: 5v DC +/- 5%, 2A, Connector ID: 1.35mm, OD: 3.5mm (I could not find this specification mentioned elsewhere, even on the website)
