Frore Systems (opens in new tab) is probably a name you've never heard of, but if it really could put an end to laptop cooling fans, I would certainly give it credit. The company recently unveiled the AirJet. It is what the company calls "the world's first solid-state chip for active device cooling."

This tiny device appears to be about the same size as a laptop fan and interchangeable, but has the potential to provide much higher cooling performance, yet is much quieter.

The idea is that multiple AirJet modules can work together on top of a conventional vapor chamber, super-cooling the connected processors with their innovative air cooling technology. a set of oscillating membranes in the AirJet module generate a powerful intake airflow, from the top The bizarre idea is that the air is sucked in and discharged across the heatspreader, pulling heat away from the vapor chamber and finally out through a specific point.

It is said that both the chassis and PCB must be designed with this system in mind, but only a set of three vents on the back of the device is needed, meaning that the intake vents on the underside of a high-end laptop will be eliminated. There would be one long intake vent and one exhaust vent on each side of it.

Of course, we have to take Frore System's word for all of this, as we have not had a chance to check out an AirJet-equipped notebook. But if AirJet performs as well as it claims, it could be a bit of a game changer for notebooks.

The AirJet minis are designed to be mounted on thin and light laptops and tablets, with four mounted on a 12-inch laptop and a pair on a 10-inch tablet. Frore Systems says that with four units on a laptop, the processor can operate The company claims that it can achieve a "quiet" 27 dBA while maintaining power at 20 W. It is also theorized that a 10W thermal limit for a mobile chip could double the performance of the processor.

The AirJet Pro is a larger sibling, designed for larger laptops such as ultra-portable 15-inch devices. The idea is that three Pro versions can be crammed inside, working in unison to cover a thermal limit of 28W with a noise level of 29dBA.

However, one "handheld gaming device" case study (opens in new tab) [pdf warning] uses a single AirJet Pro to cool the 15W APU at its heart; Steam Deck (opens in new tab) is not a genius Even one can discern this in the press materials put out to tout the technology. It makes sense; the Deck is an easy-to-open device, completely open to being tinkered with.

And if AirJet can silence Valve's handhelds and still run cool at top speed, that would be welcome. Since the device is active, it must also be powered, but the AirJet Pro's maximum power consumption is 1.75W, which may not be much different than the power usage of a fan setup.

Intel is reportedly already working to include the AirJet cooling system in its Evo platform. Josh Newman, Intel's vice president of mobile innovation, is quoted as saying: "We have worked deeply with Frore Systems to integrate AirJet into the Intel Evo platform.

"People are looking for attractive, innovative laptops, and they want better performance than ever before, and AirJet delivers faster, quieter, thinner, and cooler devices.

But the elephant in the room is the mention of GPUs. All the talk seems to be focused on CPUs or APUs. Mobile graphics cards are the real heat source for gaming laptops, and despite Frore's opening statement that "gaming laptops and more, just got cooler," I'm not sure how much of an impact that has. I am not sure how much this will affect mobile gaming laptops.

If it takes 3 AirJet Pro modules to keep a 28W CPU running, how many would it take to run a 35W CPU and a minimum spec RTX 3060 GPU at 60W? This seems like a lot. And probably too many to reasonably expect that Frore could fit them in an ultra-portable gaming laptop.

Still, if Frore can make standard notebooks quieter and do the same for gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck, then Frore is definitely on the right track. Fingers crossed that we will see it.