Notebook comparisons

[NoiseFreeGuy]

Hi Folks,

I've been reading stuff on this site off and on for about a year or so.
This is my first post though.

As far as noise sensitivity goes, I'm probably one of the most if not the most sensitive of members here.
I'm talking about _feeling_ emf's in my temples even when I can't hear any noise!

I'm in the market for either a desktop or notebook (perhaps both).
Right now, the easiest solution for my situation would be to buy a notebook for its portability.

What would be really helpful in this Forum is a comparison or review of all the notebooks that are being discussed. Currently everyone is naming this or that notebook and talking about its good or bad points.

It's very difficult to find the *quietest* notebook here at the moment.
Would it be possible to set something up so that subjective measurements are left aside, and just objective readings are tabulated?

Overall dB levels of the notebook at distance x or y?
Can the fan(s) be disabled permanently? Will the machine still run without the fan? etc. etc.

What is the quietest notebook system, component by component?
Which CPU, which HD, which fan etc.?

Thanks for understanding!

Mark

[jaganath]

Hi, I support the need for SPCR to do a more formal assessment of the silent notebook market, notebooks have really been neglected by SPCR to date, but of course the editorial team has limited time and resources. Meanwhile here is another notebook to add to the list:

Thread in SFF forum

Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pro V2000 (Pentium-M 1.5GHz, on-board graphics), based on the AOpen 1557 chassis. Not a power beast by any means, but the fan never kicks in during normal operation. It only comes on when running very intensive tasks (e.g. video encoding), and the computer is completely cool to the touch even after several hours of use. The only source of noise is the Momentus hard drive and even that isn't terribly annoying.

Of course, the hard drive can be changed (although when I took my laptop apart it never worked again!).

I'm in the market for either a desktop or notebook (perhaps both).

Desktops are easier to configure for silence. With notebooks it's almost impossible to confine all the components to only those which are guaranteed to be silent.

Overall dB levels of the notebook at distance x or y?

I think Dell give dB measurements for all their notebooks on their website.

[NoiseFreeGuy]

I support the need for SPCR to do a more formal assessment of the silent notebook market, notebooks have really been neglected by SPCR to date, but of course the editorial team has limited time and resources.

Yes I realise that extra work would be required for this to occur.
I just thought that users could help out the editorial team to make the task easier. They have their own machines. Perhaps they could report on basic specs if they can take measurements or find out the info from elsewhere. It would at least be a start.

Meanwhile here is another notebook to add to the list:
Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pro V2000

The notebook does sound promising. Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to change a hd if I had to.

I think Dell give dB measurements for all their notebooks on their website.

I'll have to check that out, although Dell is one company that I've so far avoided because of the hassle to check out their equipment.

Cheers!

Mark

[michaelb]

As far as noise sensitivity goes, I'm probably one of the most if not the most sensitive of members here.
I'm talking about _feeling_ emf's in my temples even when I can't hear any noise!

In that case, depending what you'll use the notebook for, you could consider getting a notebook where you could remove the hard drive and boot from cd or flash drive, such as with knoppix or damn small linux, toram. If from cd, you can then remove the cd after booting.
I don't know which (if any) notebooks will boot from cd if you completely remove the hard drive.
Maybe it's possible to leave the hard drive in the notebook, if it will spin down since it isn't being used under knoppix. There is a boot option, nofstab, which might help.

Also important to keep the fan from running under normal use. Perhaps a Pentium M or maybe an old PIII or PII (or some other low power chip; I'm no expert) and a model which has software available to control the fans. For example, I8kfangui for certain Dell models. Also try for a video card or onboard video which doesn't make too much heat.
Some old notebooks, like my very old PII notebook, don't run the fans under normal use, even without installing fan control software.

[NoiseFreeGuy]

...In that case, depending what you'll use the notebook for, you could consider getting a notebook where you could remove the hard drive and boot from cd or flash drive, such as with knoppix or damn small linux, toram... .

Hey, thanks for your tips Michael!
I don't know if even booting from a flash drive would be the answer but that's the root I'd be most inclined to go with a notebook.
I have a few old HP Omnibooks that boot from flashcards but after some parts started to wear down I started to feel the emf's in my temples.

Fortunately my PPC doesn't affect me that way, even using wifi.
and I keep my desktop CPU box in another room (run the cables through the wall).

Ric

[tjoff]

I've been looking for a ultraportable laptop for a while now.

And I have found some small and quiet laptops, as far as I know (haven't seen anyone in real life (except LG TX but that was in a crowded store so I couldn't listen to it).

Theese are all very smalla laptops with no optical drive (that is a good thing if you ask me).

LG TX Express, I have heard that it doesn't spin the fan up unless stressed although I'd look it up before making a decision based on that.

Dell X1 and Samsung Q30 both are pretty much the same laptop. Samsungs seems much nicer and smaller but the important part: Both have passive cooling. Only a 1.8" drive making noise so it's about as quiet a laptop can be (with a harddrive atleast). Ideally replace the drive with a solid-state one later.

But theese laptops are not for everyone. They are very expensive and the performance isn't that good. You could save a lot of money and gain a lot of performance if you stepped up a bit in size.

Thats why I'm looking for alternatives. I haven't found a single dualcore laptop without an optical drive (for laptops with a ~12" monitor an optical drive almost doubles the thickness and makes the whole laptop very clumpsy - unacceptable in my book).

So far I really have no idea what to get. But the LG T1 is supposed to be quiet, good looking, cheaper and a lot better than the smaller ones.
So I'm kinda leaning towards the T1 but it's a bit big for my taste (14.1", small for that size though). But then again I haven't found any good way to compare noise between laptops so there might be much better alternatives out there.

[sanska]

Hi there.

Tought I might chip in here with my own experiences. I bought an IBM ThinkPad X31 about a year ago. It's a 12'' Centrino ultraportable with a 1.4 GHz Pentium M and an ATI Mobility Radeon graphics chip.

So far I'm *very* pleased with the noise level of this machine. During normal use (web surfing, writing, reading) the machine is *dead* quiet: no fan, no hard drive noise, no keys clicking. In fact, if the lid is closed it's impossible for me to determine if the thing is on or not.

The fan will intermittently run during DirectX games (thanks to the seperate graphics chip, you can play older games quite well), when watching DivX movies (the machine has no internal DVD drive) and other heavy tasks. While it's not a pleasure listening to it, it doesn't emit that nerve-wreaking whiny sound of so many a small fan.

Consequently the bottom side of the machine can get quite warm, I wouldn't recommend using it on uncovered legs, it won't burn your legs, though, it's just uncomfortable.

The case feels very solid, the lid comes with two latches and three hinges, keys have a very nice feel to them and are standard keyboard size. The built-in mono speaker doesn't cut it, though, but using headphones the sound is OK. The screen could be brighter; if you work a lot outdoors in sunny weather, this is definitely *not* the machine for you. Battery life is about four hours (light use) with standard battery.

If you've got any further questions, ask away.

[NoiseFreeGuy]

Hi there.

Tought I might chip in here with my own experiences. I bought an IBM ThinkPad X31 about a year ago. It's a 12'' Centrino ultraportable with a 1.4 GHz Pentium M and an ATI Mobility Radeon graphics chip.

Thanks Sanska for the heads-up.
It does sound very nice indeed by your description.
I checked Amazon. They don't sell it anymore. It's now three+ years old.

Would you know of any source for new ones?

NFG

[sanska]

I bought mine at a German online store. A quick search on Google shows a couple of stores still selling it. You might have to search for its alternative designation 'Lenovo X31' or 'Lenovo 2672'. There's also someone on ebay selling a new one for a very good price (no, it's not me ).

[mb2]

"Consequently the bottom side of the machine can get quite warm, I wouldn't recommend using it on uncovered legs, it won't burn your legs, though, it's just uncomfortable."
thats the thing that puts me off about any truely fanless laptop/tablet..
i'd like one that *can* run totally fanless if i want, but that has a fan that i can put on to reduce the heat if i want.
So, do none of these allow u to adjust the fan speed? even with 3rd party apps?

totally in agreement that optical drives are pointless, hell, i dont even use one in my desktop

[LyubinVadim]

Noise is a problem - there are no questions about it. But for me it is past. I've sold my old noisy PC and bought new notebook. To compare with old PC notebook seems silent to me.
For me Lenovo looks great! I like its design. I've recently purchased new Lenovo ThinkPad X41 Tablet 1866 Pentium M 758 1.5 GHz LV Centrino RAM : 512 MB HD : 60 GB Gigabit Ether 18663RU here
on costupdate store on eBay. I’m enjoying it. I find it convenient. And it has a lot of possibilities.

[qviri]

And no optical drive.

Welcome to SPCR, LyubinVadim! Our forum policy welcomes vendors and their representatives, provided they clearly identify themselves as such.