With a bit of extra help, thanks to a laptop cooler from CoolIT that relies on TEC (thermoelectric cooling), Intel managed to push the overclocking limits on Extreme Edition powered notebooks. The cooler isn't ready for the mainstream as yet, but it looks very promising.

The only downside to the solution is the pure bulk of the cooler, as it's bigger than most laptop docks and it requires its own power brick. It cools the air that is fed to the air intakes on the notebook to a much cooler than ambient temperature, although it's far from sub-zero.

This cooler air allows notebooks with an Extreme Edition CPU to overclock higher, as the cold air allows the CPU to run at a lower temperature without any need to change the cooling system inside the notebook. Although the picture below only shows 3.55GHz, Intel has hit 3.7GHz using this cooler combined with the notebook in the picture.

The notebook itself is a Taiwanese OEM design that you'll most likely see cropping up under different brand names in various markets, but it looked like a solidly built machine; but we weren't that keen on the super glossy coating. Although in this case the notebook cooler from CoolIT has been designed specifically for this notebook, the company is working on more flexible models that will work with a wide range of notebooks.

The company still isn't sure about what price point they'll be able to sell the coolers at, but they're aiming toward US$150 to start with, but will hopefully be able to make them even cheaper if there's enough demand for them. They will add a bit of noise as the TEC elements are cooled with additional cooling fans at the rear of the cooler, but this might not be a huge concern for the target audience.