XMG Neo 15 Gaming Laptop Keeps It Chill With An External Oasis Liquid Cooling Reservoir
You might be rocking a sweet liquid cooling setup for your desktop PC, but can you say the same for your gaming laptop? While liquid cooling in some form or another is not entirely new in the laptop space (remember the ASUS ROG GX700?), XMG has taken the idea to another level with with its Neo 15 laptop, which comes with an external liquid cooling system called Oasis.
The Oasis is essentially an all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooling kit in an aggressive looking external box measuring 186 x 203 x 75 millimeters (7.32 x 7.99 x 2.95 inches). Inside that external box is a 120mm radiator with a fan attached, the liquid cooling pump assembly, and a reservoir that can hold around 160 milliliters of coolant.
A pair of tubes with reversible 2-in-1 connectors route the coolant to and from the laptop's toasty bits. And as for filling the reservoir, there's a place at the top of the box to stick a funnel to pour the liquid into without making a big mess. Here's a look at the assembly process...
It looks pretty easy, and according to XMG, it has a dramatic impact on temps and noise. Using a pre-production unit with engineering sample hardware (CPU and GPU), XMG recorded a CPU temp of 63C at 68W and a GPU temp of 56W at 115W, with fan noise checking in at 42 dBA.
The same laptop on air cooling had a CPU temp of 90C at 65W and a GPU temp of 84C at 115W, with fan noise registering 52 dBA. XMG notes that production units will allow for higher power levels.
In the video, we can see the tubes being disconnected from the laptop without making a mess (you'll want to shut down or hibernate the laptop first), though XMG notes there can be a "small amount of leakages" when doing so. Once disconnected, the laptop is fit for travel.
XMG intends to offer the Oasis with its Neo 15 (E22) configured with a Core i7-12700H processor, GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU, 16GB of DDR5-4800 memory, and a 500GB SSD. The laptop also sports a WQHD display with a 240Hz refresh rate. The laptop by itself will run around €2,500 (around $2,825 in US dollars), while the optional external liquid cooling unit "will not exceed €200" (around $226). Both will be available preorder at the end of the month and will ship in mid-February.
In addition, it appears CyberPowerPC has adopted the same system for its Tracer VI Edge Pro, which is very clearly based on the XMG Oasis. It will be offered with a Core i9-12900HK processor, an unspecified GeForce RTX 30 series GPU (perhaps multiple options), up to 64GB of DDR5-4800 RAM, and a pair of M.2 slots for high speed storage. The system will be available early this year starting at $2,699.
