I am looking for "relatively quiet" laptop for a college daughter. The usual configuration, but prefer 17" screen.

Mainly for general web, etc, likely with XP or Vista. She request 'quiet" one since the old one I am inheriting is due to "loud noise".

which one is under $800 with relatively quiet fan?

gychang

Have you considered a netbook (Atom based small notebook) over a full sized notebook? Dell's Inspiron Mini 9 (out now, $400-ish) and Mini 12 (out next month, $550-ish) are passively cooled and come with XP, in your price range, silent and have SSD's which means NO MOVING PARTS. They are also small, light weight and portable which makes taking notes in class a lot easier.

If she needs screen real estate for after hours (DVD's etc.) look at getting an external monitor to sit on her desk. The Mini 12 plus an LCD screen will get you in the $800 range just right.

A 17" notebook will require a good deal of power for that big of a screen.

That power will require an active cooling fan.

That price point will dictate that the cooling be fairly loud.



Get her a small quiet notebook and a lcd tv with dvd player for her room that she can also hook the notebook to if needed.

My Eee PC 1000HA works just fine with a $100 17" 5:4 LCD monitor. It is a little funny to see it with a USB keyboard, mouse, and DVD burner all plugged in.

The all-in-one "nettops" are a possibility. If they just would make them slightly more portable. Most students seem to plug in their laptops in class anyway.



MSI Wind Neton M19 18.5" 1366x768 Touch Screen $500

I've lugged my 20" iMac home a couple of times and it is a little ungainly.

The 10" Eee PC 1000HA is a nice size--just a tad big.

seems like a good idea, Eee on the road and separate LCD and USB keyboard/mouse for stationary work...

Does Eee quiet?

gychang

It is audible but pretty quiet. This model has a fan and a normal notebook hard drive. As mentioned above the Dell Mini 9 has no moving parts. I wanted the hard drive and a bigger keyboard.

The integrated GMA 950 video in these netbooks has a 400MHz RAMDAC and can output up to 2560x1600@85Hz, so you can use them with big displays.

I am not sure how people function without HD, just with SSD. I am learning quickly thanks for the input.

gychang

just get portable external 2.5" HDD, can get up to 320GB these days.

I'll be blunt to you gychang, I do think there is not very much chance of getting a new laptop that is "quiet", under $800 (even with rebates) and has a 17inch screen. You should try to convince her to allow a 15.4in screen instead. You will have allot more choice.

The best bet would be to get her a second-hand laptop. I am at loss to recommend any particular model as I am biased in favour of ThinkPads (I have owned in total of 5 in the last decade).
The cheaper the laptop that you buy, the more money that you can spend on stuff like the external hdd to store her data on.

daughter has a right to change her mind...

She has given up on idea of quiet 17", now she will consider net computer, particulary since mini9 is fan less. 17"LCD and regular keyboard will be stationary at home. Now the question.

1. is the external 40G HD way to go or
2. 32G USB memory stick, as here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 2E16820134

what are the +/- of each setup?, will the externalHD faster?, whereas the memory stick wil truedly make the whole thing very portable.

would very much like expert opinions.

gychang

If it's extra storage she's after then I would highly recommend the Seagate external 2.5" hard drives. I would recommend one of these for portability, price and storage capacity balance:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148339

thanks for a great suggestion, anyone know the speed difference with USB memory card?, some go up to >32G at a similar price.

gychang