Hi everyone,

im new as a forum member but been reading spcr since years

i´ve managed to make my desktop system really really really quiet.
Now i somehow want to be mobile with my pc - therefor i was thinking of a notebook.

since i was having alot of fun doing videoediting and also making alot of music on my pc i thought that notebooks wont give the needed pleasure with all my wanting needs. i dont play alot of games anymore - but love to try them out. right now im hooked on trackmania sunrise and keep building tracks like crazy. my passivly coold gf4 ti4200 is giving enough power to keep my happy now (but wont for long ) .

i was wondering if u guys could help me find a notebook i would be happy with.

to sum up want i want:

a cpu which will do fine for my needs - videoediting - musicmaking - a little gaming ( my pc has a p4 2.66 which is - i guess - just fine for my tasks )

ram : i think ill have to go 512MB (my pc: 512MB dualchannel )

a SILENT ( or really really really quiet ) notebook ( since it will be right in front of me and NOT under a desk, like a pc ) - silent fan/cooling.

a very very silent hdd in the notebook ( the more capacity the better )

a GOOD screen ( not meaning size but brightness and viewing angle and so on.. )

a fairly good graphics chip - something i dont have to hate myself when i want to play something like trackmania maybe something as good as a gf4 ti 4200 or ever a good notch better! ( i can simply exchange the gfx card in my pc if i am not happy with it - not so in a notebook, so it should be a GOOD choice )

a rj45 jack

no moden needed

at least 2 or 3 usb 2.0 ports - a firewire port would be good too!

keyboard light ( as all ibms have or backlighted keyboard like ibooks ) would be nice - but i could live without.

a single pcmcia slot should do.

a GOOD soundcard ( right now i have a terratec dmx 6fire 24/96 ) i will probably have to go with a usb thingie since i wont have the same in a notebook as i have in my pc now but i dont know what notebooks can offer me... )

an optical drive which can also burn cd-rw and dl-dvd ( but thats optional and i can choose that myself anyway..)

size and weight - i cant tell what size i prefer - ill see what i can afford. weight - well it shouldnt be too heavy but if everything else meets my standards ill live with that fact.

price range - there isnt really any. ill set it to around 1500 to 2000 €

i live in austria but i also buy online.


thanks alot for reading this and your time. if u have ANY way of telling which way to go, id be happy to here from u.

i thought of ibm notebooks - since i had a few ( r30, r31 , t20 ) but then again maybe a apple notebook would be fine too ( i could get used to mac OS - thats not a prob ) and they look damn cool - but i guess a ix86 notebook will maybe give me all i need. not sure.

NOTEBOOKS:
I have no experience with any MobileAMD-based laptops, but nowadays most Pentium M based laptops are very silent.

In some models the fan doesn't come on at all for normal tasks. The Ultra Low voltage models (900mhz -1.1 ghz) generally have no fan in them at all.

CONTROLLING NOISE:
Finally, for Pentium M notebook computers, you can now also control the voltage and cpu speed (and thus control noise and power draw) as documented here:

http://notebookforums.com/showthread.ph ... dervolting
(Somewhere in that thread the topic of doing the same thing with a Mobile Athlon comes up adn I believe you can do the same thing with them)

I know that the Pentium M IBMs and Dells and Gateways are generally quiet from my own personal use; but there are reports on the notebook forums (notebookforums.com and notebookreview.com) that some people are unhappy with the fan noise on their Pentium M Asus, Acer and Toshiba models)

The Pentium M is not the best at video editing however, but then again, a notebook in general is not the best for video editing so I do not know what compromises you want to make. The Mobile Athlon 64 would be better but I have no experience on their noise output in the models that offer them. If you do go AMD, look for Turion branded models with a published TDP of 25 watts and not the Turions with 35 watts; also let us know if you find any.

GRAPHICS:
Pretty much any discrete video card you get will be better than your current desktop graphics card.

The ATI x300 and NVIDIA's 6200 are generally implemented without a fan from what I've seen. *I think* either of these cards exceed your current desktop performance but it's been a while since I've seen benchmarks for a ti4200.

The next step up are ATI's x600 and x700 and Nvidia's 6600. The ATI models have a lesser published power draw (the x700 uses 11 watts versus the 6600's 18 watts I believe). All are much better than your current card but from your usage this may be overkill.

All of the current generation notebook video cards have drivers that dynamically control power and thermal characteristics. So in other words, if you are not playing games they shouldn't be generating a lot of heat and noise.

RECOMMENDATION?
Given that you are perfectly happy with your current computer setup, I'd suggest (from what I know) a mid-range Pentium M with an x300 video card, such as a Dell 6000 (widescreen) with a 1.5 ghz 400fsb and a 64mb x300 video card (go for 128mb on the video card if you want). You can check with Dell, but the 1.5ghz cpu *may* be the low-voltage model.
(Pentium M's come in "Normal" 27 watts TDP, "Low Voltage" 12 watts TDP and "Ultra Low Voltage" 7watts TDP").

To be honest from what you describe, I think it's plenty of power for you; if you were doing serious video editing you may want to look at 1GB and a faster hard drive but it doesn't sound like you need it (and they could be upgraded later)

---------

Personally, I just ordered a new notebook/tablet pc, the Toshiba M4. I anticipate it to be very loud based on reports of the M3, but I also know that you can control the cpu speed/voltage by either using Toshiba's own software or other the software described at notebookforums. For my use I get the best of both worlds: a quiet computer for most of the time, a capable gaming laptop when I don't need it to be quiet.

Hi sgtpokey,

thx for the answer. this is what i found http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/produ ... tab#tabtop

its in german though, but i guess data specs are understandable

i think i found my trackmania sickness wont be supported by apple - too bad. i´d LOVE to try but dont wanna miss the pc-feeling ( software wise ) - dont ask me why i am writing this, cant explain it myself.

video editing isnt VERY serious but i really enjoy it and dont want to be too dissapointed when doing so with a notebook - maybe ill do fine anyway.
i would also consider amd - but have even less info on them and powerout than u do... so any help is appreciated.

x300 will probably do 4 me but i have to check some benchmarks.

thx again for your time - i will keep checking the web for more options based on your recommendation!

i think i cant get hold of a dell. its hard to get one here in .at

asus notebooks are on stock where i live. a friend of mine has one - i cant tell which model exactly, but it seems to be whisper silent. customer service is also good - it got stolen and they replaced it without a hassle.

i just cant get an overview which one i should take - too many models. i definatly need 1 firewire port. 2x usb would do too. dvd dl burner and a cpu which aint too hot - centrino? but which is capable of keeping up with my p4 2.66 desktop chip. 512MB ram (dual channel would be VERY nice). cant tell if 12 inch is too small. 14 would do i guess. i have a 15" TFT screen on my table which i am used to. 60 or 80 gig HDD. ( is 5400rpm enough? or should i go 7200rpm? - i want it quiet though! then again i want a very small bottleneck - hard to comprimise....

help....


thx for reading.

cheers

but which?

x300 graphics - at least ?

60 gig hdd

512 RAM

AND is there an IBM with a firewire port onboard?

X , T , R - series?