Silent Notebooks (not including netbooks)

Please help me create a list of silent notebooks (not including netbooks), by silent I mean that you can't hear the notebooks fan from a distance of 1 meter in idle/browsing or light office work. I'm not worried about harddrive noise, as these can be replaced by SSD. Please include notebooks that are currently available.

Thanks

Here's what I have currently (I will update the list as people write in):

Apple Macbooks
Lenovo T500
Lenovo X200
Dell Vostro V13
ASUS UL30
Sony VAIO CW
HP 2510P

 

I have to say my CW is virtually silent, if not REALLY quiet.

 

Thanks, added.

 

12.1" HP 2510P. With a SSD at idle, just hear the C2D whine.

 

What's silent for one, is not silent for the other.

You might want to check Notebookjournal.de and Notebookcheck for accurate measurements of noise levels.

 

Well, if you can't hear anything from a distance of 1 meter, then it's silent, it should not be a subjective opinion

Yeah, I know, but it's always better to have an actual person writing about their experience.

 

Under load or idle?

Just an example, Vaio CW under load can be quite loud, according to Notebookjournal.
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/laptop-review-sony-vaio-vpc-cw2s1-nkrt-1101

 

My Envy is mostly quiet, or I am used to the sound...but as Phil says, for me the Envy is only a breeze in the background, for other this thing is a jet engine...

The best thing to do is to see the laptop and listen if it is loud or not. Other than that, you will get here subjective responses.

 

Idle/browsing/light office work, thanks.

 

Yeah, but used to the sound, then it's not silent

 

Yeah, that is what I meant. For me, my Envy is silent, and so are now other laptops (except a MacBook 13 which under load is worst than a helicopter).

That is why, my besdt suggestion is going to the closest BestBuy or any other PC vendor and try them out, one by one, so you get an idea of sound, and how you tolerate it. It could be that a slightly louder laptop won't bother you at all, after all, just reading xx number of dB won't help that much as listening yourself.

 

I think you are underestimating how subjective hearing is

My last few notebooks have al been very quiet to me (while surfing): Acer 1810tz, HP DM3, Macbook Pro 13.

Sony Z was audible.

 

Well, one thing is tolerance, that is definately subjective, but to listen to your notebook in a silent room and decide whether it's silent or not, should be objective, just as objective as having an apple and an orange in front of you and decide which is which, either you hear the fan from 1 meter away or you don't. Tolerance level is another matter, hope you understand

Let's at least try to create a list.

 

Well, I don't really agree, but ok.

According to what I've heard/read the new T410 is quite quiet.

 

I don't agree either. What one person can perceive from one meter can be completely different for the other person.

The only objective way is with equipment, like Notebookjournal publishes. For example:
Noise level Vaio CW
Under load dB(A) 37,30
Idle dB(A) 27,10

Also, you can have two identically specced Acer 1810tz. One can be quiet, the other can be loud. This is because of variances in fans, CPUs etc.

 

Well, those measurements are not 100% accurate either, an example:

How can the Dell Vostro V13 (28,2db in idle) be more quiet than a Dell Mini 1012 (28,8db in idle), when the Dell Mini doesn't even have a fan?

 

Taking into consideration that any given laptop of any batch will have the same amount of sound (make it a constant), still, the moment you change from model A to model B, it changes to a different "constant".

Now, if you want to consider the hearing capacity of all of us like a constant too, then I think we could agree that A or B model is quiet or not. But unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. And for me, model A might be quiet and B loud, compared for example with Phil who might think that B is quiet and A loud. As this is fully subjective to each user.

But if you want a list with the quietest laptops registered, those that Phil pointed out are very good.

Things like CPU whine, and HDD spin, fan if present, etc.

A SSD being used will be quieter than an HDD.

 

Could be caused by HDD noise, CPU whine or other varaibles.

But frankly I believe the Dell Mini does have a fan. Do you have the link to the review?

 

Serg, I agree that if this topic was about how quiet a notebook is, yes, that's subjective, but it's about silent notebooks, a notebook you can't hear at all in a silent room, most of the notebooks I have posted in the first post of this thread I have tested myself, and they are absolutely silent from a distance of 1 meter, even some of them, you really have to place your ear very close to the machine to hear anything.

All Dell Minis (old and new) are fanless, here's the latest review:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Mini-1012-Netbook.25429.0.html

 

Well they explain it in the review: "Because the Dell Mini 1012 doesn't have a fan, the Western Digital HDD makes the only audible noise."

 

Yeah, I know, but the db I mentioned are in idle, not the harddrive.

 

When they talk about idle they mean the notebook is in idle but the hard drive is still spinning.



Source: http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/15079/14

 

nah.. silent means 0db, no noise, ever. quiet, then again, is user dependent

 

Well, like everything else in life, it's not an exact science, 0db is probably unrealistic even in a silent room, there will always be background noise which can be measured, but in any case, I do believe in silent notebooks in silent rooms.

 

my computers can only make chip noise. no fans, no hdds spinning. depending on the chips, that's about 100% silent.

my laptop does have a fan, though..

 

Do you a desktop PC without a fan

 

yes, media center, desktop, home server. all without fans. and except the home server, all without hdds (ssd based).

silence is a new feeling for me, after years of "silent fans" everywhere.

 

Yeah, I have the same feeling when I work with a silent system, it's so nice...that is the reason I started this thread.

 

i just noticed two effects.

1) you suddenly hear all other noises (like my 24" screen having a tiny fan in to cool itself?!!?)

2) you suddenly feel much more alone if the noise-carpet gets very low. i start to now like to have a tv running just for the audio-noise if i'm feeling lonely. with fans, that feeling was less occurent.

 

Yeah, I know how that feel davepermen...it is a strange thing imo

 

Well I was happily surprised at how quiet my T5010 is. It's not silent, but a lot quieter than any other machine I've had to date *thinks of her iMac with the large booming sound every time she opens it*

 

1. Yeah, I know what you mean, if I turn off the sound of my Pioneer Plasma TV I can hear the fan, that's the price to pay for the best picture quality

 

You had an iMac Bob?

Those things are BIG...at least the 27" one is very nice and big and huge screen...but I haven't noticed the fans yet...

 

my Dv5 is pretty silent when surfing but becomes loud when playing games and videos... quite an achievement for this noisy notebook because i had to undervolt like hell to make it run cool and for the fans not to come up!

 

Most modern notebook hard drives are virtually silent, even when seeking, and definitely when idle, so the worry about hard drive noise is really without substance.

For what it's worth, under light load or idle, for all of my intents and purposes my M6400 is silent, with fans off, at least right now in the winter (normal room temperature, though). And that's a pretty substantial machine, with dual-500GB hard drives, quad-core processor, and M3700 GPU. The fans do come on sometimes under light load, but at their lowest setting you can barely hear them. Like others have commented it depends on your hearing acuity and environment, though. In the middle of the night, with the refrigerator off and no other devices producing any noise, you would definitely be able to hear my fans at low, if you have good ears. You may even be able to hear the hard drives, but only if you're very good...

 

i hear all the hdds in all sort of laptops. quite sensitive to high noises i am.

and what i can't stand hearing is the scratching when it searches some files.


but yeah, hdds where much worse..

 

Yes, Bob had and till does have an iMac, I have the older 24" version though; was a "gift" from my godfather >.>

That thing makes a ruckus not to mention the top gets insanely hot since that's where the single vent is.

 

Heh, maybe it's just me getting old, not the hard drives getting more quiet...

Seriously, I can hear my drives if I put my ear right near the case, but from where I usually sit when working on the laptop, they're quite. To me...

 

Many Clevo laptops have a "silent mode"; which, as the name suggests, makes the laptop virtually silent.

 

I wish more companies had "silent mode", do you have more info about this feature?

 

On my M860ETU, "silent mode" seems to cut the fan off, and it drops the CPU to the lowest multiplier (6.0x in my case). I have an SSD, so it's definitely much quieter than ambient sound. I have to put my ear right above the laptop to hear anything at all.

 

My Acer Extensa 5230E-2177 makes no noise. I've even swapped for a faster T4300 processor. The fan hardly ever comes on. I've only heard it while running Passmark tests. And it's not audible from 10 feet away even when it is on.

Great cheap computer!

 

Lenovo Thinkpads are pretty much all very quiet, due to their very good heat dissipation and quiet fans:
Lenovo Thinkpad T400, T500, W500, R400, R500, X200, X200s, etc. etc.

 

IDK... that must be the CW with the GT230 and a like a T9600 or something. Idle I have to put my ear up to the side of the computer and see if the fan is even running. I also believe it may have something to do with internal components, such as a different fan manufacturer. I've taken apart several Sony's of the same model and they have had different fan brands... mine is Panasonic.

 

Asus UL series notebooks are very quiet. Actually pretty much all of the ULVCs are pretty quiet especially if they aren't being paired with a hot GPU (which they aren't)

 

Yes! There are a few model exceptions (14' T43 being one of them) but for the most part i love ThinkPad cooling, very good design to still be able to fit a fairly extensive roll cage in the chassis and screen and still have great cooling. Apart from my 7200 RPM HDD my T61p would be silent. Perhaps an SSD if prices drop to HDD prices... That will be a long time but whatever. My Hitachi Travelstar is not a slouch.

 

If the vent on my Vaio TT isn't blocked or whatever, it a pretty quiet machine even under load.

 

There are expections, our X61 is not silent, even with a new fan replacement.

 

must be you but seriously, i see a WAST variety of hearing capabilities surrounding me. i meet a lot of people who don't hear much, or recognize that they hear stuff. i'm the other extreme, i hear anything (i can hear people on the phone from about 10m away..)

and the more i learn about creating music and sound design, the more detailed i hear.. and the world gets more and more noisy

i'd love to get a complete passive notebook one day.. ULV ftw

 

Note to self: be aware of what is said on the phone if davepermen is around.


Me on the other hand, my hearing is great, but thankfully I can block all those annoying sounds. For example, if I am watchign TV, listening to music and someone on the phone, I can block the phone and just concentrate on the music (phone normally is someone saying "don't forget to do this or that" so you get it...^_^)

As for my laptop goes, while not being the quietest laptop around, the Envy is bearable and gets covered under music.