IBM T22-23,Dell c500m ...etc

thomasmh · Post by **thomasmh** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 12:22 pm

Hi
Have anybody been using one of these computers(or computers in similar performance range) ?
I would like to know how silent these notebooks is, since they all contain PIII mobile processers. Are these as silent as the P4 mobile/centrino processers?. Please give me a recommandation for a computer in this price range.
Im goin to use it to play music, light text editors, Latex compiling, coding, eventually browsing the net. Speed is not important.
1000mhz and 256-512mb ram should be fine. I have a tight budget for this so should cost bout 1000$ new(which means i can buy for 500$ used).

Please give me info on older, slower and cheaper models you know, which are as inaudible as possible...

Thomas

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 12:57 pm

I have an X21 I bought used this January. Cost me $420 Canadian including a new battery off ebay. The CPU is a 700 MHz PIII, 500 MHz in battery life mode. I do not usually stress it, but misbehaving explorer.exe caused CPU usage to jump to 100% for about five minutes. The fan stayed very quiet.

I think generally Thinkpads have a reputation for being quiet. The only question mark is the hard drive. Mine has a five year old IBM drive, it's not FDB and has a nasty whine to it. Be prepared to cough up a bit more for a newer Toshiba or Samsung drive.

700 MHz doesn't seem like a lot, but it's powerful enough for browsing and music, which is what I mainly use it for. I'm not sure how well compiling would go, though...

thomasmh · Post by **thomasmh** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 12:54 am

OK, good to hear

How about a thinkpad T22, anybody have any kind knowledge about that specific model, regarding noise level?

thanks, Thomas

thomasmh · Post by **thomasmh** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 1:07 am

OK, good to hear

How about a thinkpad T22, anybody have any kind knowledge about that specific model, regarding noise level?

thanks, Thomas

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 8:50 am

Here's a couple threads courtesy of search...

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... inkpad+t21
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... inkpad+t23
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... inkpad+t23

VERiON · Post by **VERiON** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 5:09 am

I'm a big fan of IBM THINKPADS
I have 4 of them!

butterfly(486DX2), 600E(PII), X22(low voltage PIII-M), T23(PIII-M)

---------------------------------------------
CPU
---------------------------------------------

get a T23 instead of T22,
or X22, X23 instead of X21
because of CPU

T22 = CPU Intel Mobile Pentium III
T23 = CPU Intel Mobile Pentium III-M

X21 = CPU Intel Mobile Pentium III
X22, X23 = CPU Intel Mobile Pentium III-M

compare this CPUs!

http://thinkwiki.org/wiki/Intel_Mobile_Pentium_III-M
http://thinkwiki.org/wiki/Intel_Mobile_Pentium_III

mobile PIII is an PIII with speed step (only fixed hi - low states)

mobile PIII-M is an early Pentium M with lower clock (not entirely true, but it gives you an idea), with enhanced speed step (c'n'q eqivalent - that can switch between hi and low frequencies based on current CPU load)

more about speedstep -> http://thinkwiki.org/wiki/SpeedStep

---------------------------------------------
HDD
---------------------------------------------
replacing your HDD is a must. standard HDDs are noisy (head noise).
I've replaced hdd's in X22 i T23 with smasung MP0402H 40GB PATA
WOW! What a difference - now my notebooks are almost silent

---------------------------------------------
FAN NOISE
---------------------------------------------
On my T23 I've fixed my cpu to always low (733)
and T23 fan is always off

When @1.13Ghz fan is on from time to time. And it is loud (for my taste).

Setting CPU speed to adaptive 733-1130 - is compromise between speed and heat

But browsing net, typing text documents, and doing other light stuff there is no difference between 733 nad 1130.

On my X22 cpu is fixed low all the time (cpu is a low voltage version)
and fan NEVER turns on

---------------------------------------------
RAM
---------------------------------------------
max out ram - it makes a difference
After adding 512 MB to 256 MB in my T23 it is running a lot cooler (less hdd swap acces - hdd bottom area is cooler) althou 256MB ram in good configured XP is sufficient

---------------------------------------------
SCREEN
---------------------------------------------
Screen is little too dim for my taste (T23, X22).
This is the biggest issue with older notebooks.

But with the right angle and right settings you can live with that.

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 5:29 am

VERiON wrote:I'm a big fan of IBM THINKPADS
I have 4 of them!

butterfly(486DX2)

*thread derailing in the making*

I recently got a 601C as well. What do you run on it? Mine has just 16 megs of RAM and I don't think any window manager likes that. Do you stick just to the command line?

VERiON · Post by **VERiON** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 9:20 am

butterfly = win98lite micro (win98se with win95 explorer), office 97, corel 3, pmail, freecell

runs just fine - only small, dim screen is a real issue for me
but I'm thinking about something more robust for my butterfly - puppy linux

Elixer · Post by **Elixer** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 9:46 am

I bought a IBM thinkpad R31 with a 1.06GHz P3 off ubid.com for $300. At idle the fan never turns on, and the hard drive is inaudable when not seeking. If I run folding at home the fan will turn on, but it remains fairly quiet. It will however get fairly loud if I leave it on my bed, as the intake is on the bottom and it becomes completely blocked in this case. I've been very happy with it. I think any thinkpads in this range will suit you well. I've had a lot of luck with ubid.com for buying laptops as there are often people selling 20+ laptops at once, which keeps the price reasonable.

thomasmh · Post by **thomasmh** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 1:51 am

Thanks alot for replies everyone, especially VERiON, your input is greatly appreciated and very informative..

VERiON · Post by **VERiON** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:10 am

I'm glad that I could help.