Studio 15- any heat issues? is fan noisy?

Hi all,

I've been frustrated all week dealing with a new HP dv7t that arrived on Monday (9/15). The moment I powered it up, the fan started running at full speed and hours it hadn't kicked off a single time. I've never heard a notebook fan more audible or more annoying before. It would be impossible to use the system in a library or other quiet setting without distracting others. Even with fan running at gale force, the wrist rest to the left of the touchpad was always uncomfortably HOT! I did figure out how to change the BIOS setting that had the fan set to 'Always On'. But it still ran 90% of the time!

I called this morning and got my Return Authorization, so it's going back on Monday and I refused to trade it for another HP....the fan in a store model I checked out yesterday was just as loud as mine....so that puts me back to square one- looking for a new laptop!

I've decided that I'd rather have a 15.4" model than a 17", so the Dell Studio 15 is high on my list. I also love the XPS M1530, but both of the nVIDIA graphics cards offered are included in the current nVIDIA mess that's been all over the news....

So, the Dell Studio 15 with the ATI Radeon HD 3450 graphics card and either the 2.1GHz T8100 or 2.5GHz T9300 is my front-runner at the moment. But I've got a few questions for those of you with some hands on experience and knowledge of the Studio models-

What percentage of the time does the fan run during normal usage (email, spreadsheets, internet)?

Is the fan noise muted like most other notebooks? Or is it more audible?

Are there any areas of the keyboard, wrist rest or touchpad that become uncomfortably warm to the touch?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to offer your input and/or share your experience. I'm doing my homework this time around because I don't want to be returning another laptop!

 

I just got my Dell Studio and I LOVE it. The fan cycles on and off usually on low, you can't hear it. It only goes on high when you do something intensive, and even then, you can control the fan speeds manually with I8kFanGUI (For Dells only ). Also, the Studio 15 is never uncomfortably hot. It just gets warm, but not so warm that it burns like an HP.(Which is why I don't buy HP anymore.) Slot loading drive is nice too, and works with mini DVDs. Here's a video I made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGNvCO1yZWg

Doesn't get too hot for the lap even after 50 minutes of HD video rendering.

My config is 2.0 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3 GB ram, webcam, 250 Gb HDD, and an ATI Radeon 3450. So our configs shouldn't have too much difference in heat.

 

Thanks for the input. I have a new Studio 15 en route and I'm looking forward to it.

Here's what I ordered-

DELL Studio 15
Ruby Red
Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
Intel T9300 C2D (2.5GHz/800MHz FSB/6mb L2)
15.4" WXGA+ LED display (1440x900)
4GB DDR2-667 RAM
320GB HD
256mb ATI Radeon Mobility HD 3450
8x DVD RW- slot loading drive
DELL 1397-g wireless
6-cell Battery
Backlit Keyboard
Fingerprint Reader
Webcam
and 15-months of McAfee Security

This was a configuration available in the Outlet. With no discounts, if ordered NEW, it would total $1,603....it cost me $969 via DELL Outlet! To make it an even sweeter deal, this isn't a "refurbished" unit but a "Previously Ordered New" one...so it's never been used by any anyone outside of any testing within DELL. =)

What a freakin' DEAL!!!

 

You do know that the 4 GB of Ram you purchased is not fully usable with a 32 bit OS correct?

 

Yes I do, but this is an already configured unit via DELL Outlet. It's a take or leave it proposition. It's likely that the person who originally spec'd this unit wasn't aware that all 4GB wouldn't be utilized with the 32-bit OS. 3GB would have been ideal for this setup, but I'll take it like it is for now.

There was only one hardware spec that wasn't what I wanted and that's the wireless card. This one has a Dell 1397-G wireless adapter and I want the Dell 1510-N wireless. I wonder if Dell will sell me just the 1510-N and I'll swap them out myself???

 

I'm not sure, I got the wireless N card myself, don't really see a difference while swapping out the router/card for wireless n.

 

That's a CRAZY deal! I wish I had known about the outlet before purchasing my Studio. Congrats on your new lappy!

 

Dell has the 'N' cards available including 'refurbished' ones for $37.99. I'm guessing a refurbished one might just be out of a dead laptop, which is fine with me.

The difference between a Dell card and an adapter purchased for an N router may be a non-issue. I saw a test six months back or so where the Intel 4965AGN outperformed all "N" adapters with their respective routers. I also have seen tests of Intel cards outperforming comparable Dell cards...but that's not relevant here, either.

Several reviews of the Studio 15 and 17 have noted strong wireless-N performance, so that's good enough for me. I just placed an order for the new wireless card from Dell....hopefully it'll be a simple replacement job!

 

Well, I opened it up, and it looks pretty easy to change. I'm not sure if I was looking at the right thing, but everything is really nice and open. Nothing like those pain in the butt HP cases.

 

I didnt find the Fan too noisy in my Studio. It usually switches on and off and is hardly audible. However the Slot Loading drive makes a bit of noise and mine sometimes keeps on making the noise even when I am not accessing the disk inside. Its not very loud or anything but yeah, you can hear it and it gets annoying at times.

 

fan is not noisy at all...

when i load some games, i hear it go up a notch... but not really that noticable...

the right palm area, for the studio 17, is where the HDD is... and i put in a spare 80gb 7200rpm in there... so if it runs all the time, then i feel the heat on the palm rest area... but not too bad...

 

My fan is silent even when the laptop is warm. I feel it blowing the hot air out but I can't really hear it at all, very quiet. It never gets above warm for me.

 

I ran across a coupon Monday morning and called Dell Outlet to ask how I could get credit for it. The representative was really nice, but didn't seem to know what to do. I had her check to see if my original order and it hadn't started processing yet, so she canceled it. I had found another system I liked a little better and placed a new order for it and got to use my coupon!!!

The Dell Outlet price was $959.00, after the 20% off coupon- I paid $767.20 plus tax and shipping!!! I still don't believe it!

The new system is Midnight Blue instead of Ruby Red, it adds Bluetooth and includes 36 months of McAfee instead of 15 months. It has 3GB vs. 4GB on the first one, but with a 32-bit O/S anything more is really a waste. The hard drive is only 250GB vs. 320GB, but I can live with it.

So, here's what I bought (and it'll be here Friday)-

Dell Studio 15
Midnight Blue
Intel T9300 (2.5GHz/800MHz FSB/6mb L2)[/B]
Windows Vista Home Premium
3GB RAM
WXGA+ (1440x900) LED display
250GB Hard Drive
256mb ATI Radeon Mobility HD 3450
Dell 1397-g wireless card (upgrading to 1510-n immediately)
Integrated Bluetooth (370) module
Integrated Fingerprint Reader
Backlit Keyboard
6-cell battery
Webcam
36-months McAfee Security

I can't wait!