quiet laptop for college

gychang · Post by **gychang** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 8:32 am

have to get one for my daughter, I usually use newegg. Any suggestions? , prefer AMD but Intel may have to do.

thanks,

gychang

tempeteduson · Post by **tempeteduson** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:22 pm

If you're willing to go with Dell, I can offer a recommendation. I just purchased an Inspiron E1405 in October that I'm quite happy with for college duties. It's an Intel-based dual-core system that's very responsive and relatively quiet, much quieter than my old HP notebook, but certainly not inaudible (various reviews seem to agree). Not the sturdiest notebook ever, but I expected such at this price level. The main attraction was its relatively small size and light weight for a mainstream laptop, without having to shell out big bucks for an ultraportable system.

nici · Post by **nici** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 4:19 pm

Of the laptops ive used recently, the Lenovo 3000 n100 is quiet. Most of time idling or using something light like office apps, the fan does not usually spin up. And when it does its still smooth and quiet. The one i used was a top of the range model with a 2gHz Core Duo, nvidia geforce 7300 GPU and 1680x1050 screen and i ran it at minimal power management(=full speed everything), so i can only assume the one with integrated graphics are more quiet. Not up to ThinkPad standard on quality feel, but definately better than the similarly priced Fujitsus or Acers for example. It's quite a lot more expensive than that Dell though.

You should check out NotebookReview though, they have a lot of reviews and you should get some idea of what is quiet and what is not. The Lenovo was described as Cool&Quiet, with the fan coming on sporadically.

Generally Intel models seem to be more quiet than comparable AMD based systems. Avoid celerons and semprons though, they dont have as good thermal management and will consume more power and be noisier. Looking for a quiet laptop is a major pain in the bum, i tried that two years ago and found about one or two that were quiet enough, and both were way too expensive. The computers seem to be more quiet now though.