travelmate 3000 (3002wtci) too noisy

I just recently bought an acer travelmate 3000 (3002wtci). Like many others, I've found the fan noise unacceptable. In a 21C room, the fan turns on almost any time the system is not idle. I've tried underclocking the CPU to its minimum level using ACER epowermanagement, and this does not correct the problem. I cannot watch a DVD with this laptop without the fan turning on, and the fan noise is louder than much of a movie's soundtrack, and certainly louder than any desktop system fan. On louder airplanes such as 757s, the headphone volume is poor to boot. Couldn't make out movie dialog with noise canceling headphones (and powerdvd set to noisy environment+headphone, and max volume).

With 3rd party aps, I've checked the CPU temperature and it's 46C when idle, and 48 to 51 when running a simple application such as powerdvd. I even RMA'd the laptop with acer and they simply claimed "No abnormal fan noise". In fact, this thing runs so hot that the temp goes to 70C compiling a linux kernel (at which point the fan runs even faster&louder). Don't get me started on acer linux ACPI support

Anyways, there doesn't seem to be a way to replace the sunon maglev fan in this thing, so I'm planing to return it. Recommendations for a replacement? I originally preferred the acer design over the asus w5a because I don't really need the extra weight of a built in optical drive, and really wanted to have the system ultraportable. Time to wait for the thinkpad z series?

 

Well, if you want a new notebook, complete the FAQ in the hardware forum and we'll recommend something to you.

As for fan noise, try the following:
Start>Control Panel>Power Options>and set it on "Portable/Laptop" mode.

Worked for me on my Acer.

Also, you could just go out and get a cooling pad. I bought one, and the fans on my Acer rarely turn on, and if they do, it's low speed and they're not noticable.

 

Dell X1 has no fan, but uses ULV Pentium M so performance won't be as good. If you want a small Thinkpad, I would look at the x32. The Z series is a bit of an unknown at the moment since no one has had one yet. Supposed to be based on a Leveno machine.

 

Thanks, will check that, as I've returned the acer.

Which would bring up acer's epowermanagement, which I mentioned I setup, and I did actually set it to even lower power levels than the default laptop settings.

Seems like it wouldn't really be an ultraportable anymore if I'm lugging around a big heat dissipating device to keep its fan from turning on.

If yours a) rarely turns on and b) is not noticable then I guess you don't have a 3002wtci. I know other models of acer laptops must not have these heat and noise issues. The fan on mine would turn on just running acer's default screen saver program, and I could hear the fan from across the room over my desktop (15 feet away from both).

 

I haven't liked the thinkpad X series because the drive bay is not big enough to replace with a 2.5" 7200rpm drive (which is desirable to keep the laptop from being so I/O bound in performance). Also would like my next laptop to be widescreen for dvd viewing purposes (and was hoping for better performance than the x1...) Asking for too much?

 

I think you are confusing the x32 and x40/41. The x32 uses a standard notebook hard drive and can be upgraded to 7200RPM if desired. The x40/41 uses 1.8" hard drive which use 1.8" hard drive which only comes in 4200RPM speeds. Asus W5a is worth a look, not sure on the hard drive. MSI 1012/1013 as well.

 

Yes, you're right I was thinking of the newer X series laptops with 1.8" drives. I liked the x32 when it came out, but now that others make bigger displays laptops that are just as light... 1024x768 is pretty cramped for X windows.

 

Try undervolting with chc. I have managed to set the voltages on my TM291LCi in such way that the fan only turns on when running at full power (1.4 GHz), and even then only intermittently.

 

I tried chc (1.9b02), and lots of things were greyed out - I don't think I could select voltages. chc let me decrease the mhz speed to 600mhz, just like acer's epowermanagement and the fan would still come on at that level. It would tend to go off&on every half minute or so at that slow speed.
Anyways, the laptop is en-route to the retailer. I'm a bit annoyed that I have to eat 15% restocking fee for the experience and acer won't acknowledge a problem.

 

If you need portablilty, the 12" screen will come in handy and I wouldn't want a higher resolution on that small of a screen.

 

Right, but widescreen 12"ers get you more resolution than the 4x3 12"ers, and better shaped resolution at that for dvd playback. Without adding weight.